now back to what he knows best, which is terror, assassinations, car bombs and the like. >> it doesn't appear foaud, it doesn't appear to have changed. >> i think the u.s. has in a way, for better or worse, has taken time-out from the middle east. i think there's kind of an almost admission on the part of the obama administration that the troubles in the region are very huge. the troubles in the region are huge because of the absent indication of american policy towards syria. it all begins and ends to a considerable extent in the -- it all begins and ends with bashar al assad. american power spared him and now he's on a rampage. >> what do you think about that, david? obviously the foreign policy concentration of the obama administration has been to turn