negotiated settlement on the nuclear weapons issue. that isn't going to happen. but a serious national policy of changing the mullahs in tehran, putting in a different government there and of overthrowing assad requires looking at this whole problem of syria in a much larger framework which we are not doing now. >> gregg: could syria's conflict unless it is sunshine stopped migrate someplace like turkey and lebanon and iraq which would arguably allow al-qaeda to profit from the opportunity? >> i think you have to see this conflict in syria as part of larger ongoing struggle in the middle east between iran on the one hand and sunni arabs loosely led by saudi arabia on the other. that is why the stakes are so high here for the arab states. they want assad to fall because they want to reduce iran's influence in the region and iran