Headquarters in new york. Were following breaking news. New and dramatic reaction after the United States and its allies launched missile strikes against the assad regime in syria. In response to last weeks alleged chemical attack. President trump tweeted out Mission Accomplished but is it . What happens next has everything to do with what the assad regime decides to do and has everything to do with what the russian government decides to enable as well. This hour the way forward and the next move to expect from syria and its allies. We begin with new video from the French Ministry of defense. It shows night vision shots from the cockpit of a French Military plane. French Officials Say it was taken during last nights missile strike on Syrian Government chemical weapons facilities. The pentagon says the United States, the United Kingdom and French Forces carried out a Successful Mission firing 105 weapons at their targets. Those missile strikes high on the agenda at this, an emergency meeting of the United NationsSecurity Council. It was called by russia but at the end of the vote, russia failed to convince the u. N. To condemn the coalitions military action. Ambassador Nikki Haley SaysPresident Trump is ready to act again. The Security Council has failed in its duty to hold those who use chemical weapons to account. That failure is largely due to russian obstruction. I spoke to the president this morning, and he said if the Syrian Regime uses this poisonous gas again, the United States is locked and loaded. When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line. President trump tweeted his pleasure with the mission this morning, calling it a perfectly executed strike, adding these two words that are coming under some criticism now, Mission Accomplished. We have correspondents covering the story from different angles. Hans, let me start with you. What is the latest from the pentagon . Were getting little bits more out of the pentagon and the United Kingdom and france about how this mission happened. Reporter theyre claiming its a success, a tactical success. It had limited objectives but those were just to take out those three locations for the development, production and the storage of chemical weapons. Weve heard over the last 12 to 24 hours the legal justifications somewhere along the line of the doctrine of selfdefense and in Critical National interest. Yes, the pentagon and the white house did notify congress, the administration was very clear about that but this didnt expressly ask congress for authorization before they went in. Where theizati situation is deg and theyve gotten to the heart of Bashar Alassads capabilities. Why didnt they want get all of . They wanted to avoid killing any civilians and killing any russians. Any further response from the white house . Yes. Can you see the contours of a campaign taking place here. Geoff, geoff, let me interrupt you for a second. On the topic that youre talking about, mike pence is talking in peru. Lets listen in. Okay. Proud of our American Forces and our allies who conducted this attack with such professionalism and brought about an extraordinary success. The president has also made it clear that the United States of america is prepared to sustain this effort to reestablish the deterrent framework that exists in order that the Syrian Regime and its patrons know that there will be a price to pay if chemical weapons are used again against innocent men, women and children. Ive been heartened by the support thats been expressed here at the summit of the americans and from leaders around the world. Many World Leaders here at the summit in lima have expressed support to me privately, many are publicly for the joint action last night and expressed appreciation for President Trumps strong leadership and the efforts of our armed forces. So we stand against, as the civilized world has for more than a century, we stand against the use of chemical weapons, against innocent civilians. And mamerica with the strong sport of the United Kingdom and france took action last night to bring our instruments of power to bear to see to it that the Syrian Regime understands and its patri patrons understand th a price to pay for the use of chemical weapons. We had bilateral discussions with a number of countries. I met this morning with the president of peru. I also spoke with the president of colombia and with the Prime Minister of canada and the president of mexico. We had in each case a substantive and meaningful dialogue about our relationships with each country. The focus of this overall summit is on the tierney and humanitarian catastrophe that is venezuela. We appreciate the strong leadership of the new president of peru and their country in formulating this summit around that principle. First organized around dealing with corruption, which is an issue ill speak about before the Plenary Session today, an issue of great importance and significance. Effort ins wil nevertheless, the United States will be supporting a declaration today that will have many signatories here at the submit of americas, condemning the repression, the collapse of democracy and the humanitarian crisis in venezuela. I just completed a meeting with president santos of colombia, and he expressed appreciation for the Additional Resources that we announced yesterday that will be flowing into colombia to assist their efforts to deal with nearly a million refugees from venezuela. There are a sham elections approaching in the weeks ahead in venezuela but as the opposition leaders expressed to me yesterday, the world is not deceived. Leaders across this region are not received. Democracy has collapsed, a dictatorship has risen, and to have in maduro a leader that will not allow humanitarian aid into his own country as people are starving and people are dying is unconscionable. Im encouraged, i know President Trump will be encouraged. I want to go back to jeff bennett right now who has been keeping an eye on what the white houses response has been. The picture you were painting is that there is a coordinated response. You have mike pence in lima, peru, where President Trump was supposed to be, you have nikki haley. Theyre talking about something accomplished that is a much bigger problem than the chemical weapons attacks. Thats right. President trump is supposed to be at the summit of americas through sunday night but a Senior Administration official tells us one of the reasons that trip was cancelled was because they knew this military action was coming and they didnt want the president overseas while it was happening. But to your earlier point, yes, the Vice President is singing out of the same hymn book as the Senior Administration officials in just the last hour. Here is the Vice President again. Hes taking questions now, ali. Okay. In a sustained way that syria understands there will be a price to pay if they ever use chemical weapons again. We carefully examined the possibility of a response by syria, or by its allies, russia and iran in this calculation and the president made the decision to target the chemical weapons facilities, having counted all the cost and the potential of those decisions. Mr. Vice president , in the year between the u. S. s first strikes on syria and these latest strikes, syria carried out a number of suspected chemical weapons attacks. Why do you think that the action that the u. S. Took last night will change the regimes calculus in any way . The action last night at President Trumps direction with the strong support of our allies in france and britain was focused exclusively on the Chemical Weapons Program. And we believe that it has significantly eroded and crippled the ability of the regime to produce question calls that theyve been using against innocent civilians. The attack a year ago was against a military base that had deployed that type of ordinance. This attack the president made the judgment was to be focused on the actual chemical weapons regime itself and our hope is that syria and their patrons got the message. But syria should know their supporters in russia and iran should know that the United States and our allies and the civilized world are prepared to continue this effort until we are assured that chemical weapons will never be used again against innocent civilians in syria. Reporter you say the capabilities were crippled but they do still have the ability to carry out chemical weapons, correct . We believe we degraded their program and severely degraded their ability to create chemical weapons. But this was also about establishing a deterrent framework. Working with our allies as President Trump reach oed out t the United Kingdom and france, almost daily telephone calls, negotiations between our various National Security teams to arrive at the targets, to arrive at the strategy and then the president made the decision to go, it was all in an effort to do everything in our power, not just to destroy aspects of the Chemical Weapons Program but also to send a message to syria and to their patrons in russia and iran that there is a price to pay if they ever use chemical weapons again. Reporter when you talk about a framework, other than additional military strikes, what does that look like . Obviously the United States t d tried in 2013 to cut a deal where assad was going to get rid of his chemical weapons, clearly that has not happened. What does your Administration Plan to do to make it happen in this case. And the president tweeted Mission Accomplished and do i think thats true and was it wise of him to use that phrase . The president s decision was to use military force in concert with our allies, to make syria pay a price for using chemical weapons against innocent men, women and children. Think about that for just a second. The images have seared the conscience of the world and troubled every american. And this president worked with our allies to come to the place where we used the instrument of American Power that is military force to degrade their ability, but also to send a very clear message, that there will be a price to pay if syria ever uses chemical weapons again in the future, and that price will involve the use of military force. That being said, we, as the president also said last night, while we dont look for an openended commitment of military troops on our mission to destroy isis in syria, we are reaching out and have been in recent days to our allies in the gulf states to invite a greater participation, a greater level of support so that American Forces, Syrian Democratic forces, our coalition in the region that has been so successful on our primary mission in syria, which is to defeat and destroy isis, will be in a position to facilitate a political solution. Ultimately thats the hope is that we have managed to restore a deterrent framework so that the brutal assad regime understand that chemical weapons are no longer available for them to use without paying a very high price. But our ultimate objective is to destroy isis in syria but be a part of what will be a widening effort across the world to achieve a political settlement in the long term. Reporter what chemicals do you believe were used in that attack . And why did the United States not wait for the inspectors to finish their work in syria and to make a very clear determination [ inaudible ]. Let me say all along the way, it a process when youre dealing with a brutal and tyrannical regime like syria, the ability to obtain evidence we went in with the was in that they conducted this attack, and a high confidence that at minimum a chemical weapon of chlorine was used in this attack. I will tell you that that investigation is ongoing and we may well ultimately determine that sarin was in fact used in in attack, as it had been in the past. But the president made this decision with high confidence of our intelligence community, supported by our allies, that syria had conducted the attack and dropped these chemical weapon bombs and ordinates at inopi innocent civilians. Reporter there were two very important leaders of mexico and canada. What are your hopes for a deal on nafta within the next month . Secondly, did you ask president nieto to help fund a border wall . Let me thank you for the other question. Let me say last night the objective of the mission, the command are in chief gave our military forces and our allies was completely accomplished with swift professionalism. I was heartened this morning to at least hear initial reports from the pentagon that despite having fired between ourselves and our allies over a hundred cruise missiles that there were at this point no reported civilian casualties. We hope that continues to be the case. But that was the report this morning. But as i said before, the pre president and i couldnt be more proud and the president affirmations this morning, to go in and destroy key elements of the infrastructure in syria was completely and professionally accomplished. The meetings with mexico and canada were very productive. I will tell you, with regard to mexico, the topic of funding of the wall did not come up. I think president pena nieto understands he and President Trump have a difference of opinion on that, but we spoke at great length about areas where we are making great progress. We spoke about changes that mexico is deliberating over their own immigration policies that will impact transnational migration. I spoke, as the president has, i appreciateively, and we talked a great deal about nafta. I will tell you that in my conversations with Prime Minister trudeau and with president pena nieto, ill leave this summit very hopeful that we are very close to a renegotiated nafta that will be a better deal for the American People and will have the kind of fairness to it that will permit us to go forward in a productive mutually beneficial relationship with the peep of mexico and the people of canada. Its not done yet. There are still issues that need to be resolved, but we believe there is a real possibility that we could arrive at an agreement within the next several weeks for a renegotiated nafta that will be a better deal for American People. Reporter russia today condemned the u. S. Action and it seems the u. S. russia relationship has gotten a little frostier on this issue now. Whats your message to russia . Our message to russia is that youre on the wrong side of history. It time for russia to get the message of President Trump last night. Youre none by the company you keep. It was 2014 when then secretary of state john kerry negotiated an agreement that he would represent and that administration would represent, eliminated 100 of the chemical weapons in syria and russia agreed to be the guarantor of that agreement. And now we see the atrocities, the horrific images emerging from the brutality of this monster in damascus and all the while we understand that russia has been standing by aiding and abetting and supporting this brutal regime. And the time has come for russia to join the family of nations in condemning the assad regimes use of chemical weapons and demanding that they live up to the commitments that they made in 2014 under the last administration. Denying on the world stage, offering resolutions that were properly rejected at the u. N. Security council a few hours ago is not a pathway toward a better relationship with the United States of america and the wider world for russia. Russia and iran are on the wrong side of history, and last night President Trump called on them, called on them as we call on every nation across the world to join us in condemn beiing the uf chemical weapons. And again, sco restoring the ki framework whether it be in syria or anywhere else that these kind of weapons that have the capacity to suffocate and murder innocent men, women and children are never used again in the world. Roberta. Reporter at the beginning of your meeting with president nieto, he made the comment in his remarks that there needs to be Mutual Respect in a relationship. I wonder if he brought up with you some of the President Trumps recent remarks about putting National Guard troops on the border and other issues . Did he bring that up and, if so, how did you reassure him . The United States of america has a strong president and mexico has a strong president. And we also talked about the fact that mexico respects the right of the United States of america to defend our border, respects our national sovereignty. We also focused on the areas where we are working in great are concert every day. So we spoke a bit about that. We talked through those differences. Some of which we set aside for a later date, but i have to tell you, i left the meeting with the president of mexico grateful for his leadership and more confident than ever that we are very close to the kind of breakthrough on issues of immigration, of drug interdiction and of a renegotiated nafta deal that will be a benefit to both of our peoples and will set the stage for much better relations for many years to come. Vice president pence in lima, peru, where the president was going to be. Pence is there in his stead. Joining me is general barry mccaffrey. You were listening to this. Three main takeaways i had from this. Vice president pence said that the attacks significantly degraded syrias Chemical Weapons Program, it reestablished a deterrent framework and sent a message to syria and its patrons, russia and iran. He then confirmed having been asked a couple of times by reporters about the president s tweet earlier, where the president tweeted Mission Accomplished because certainly anybody who covers whats been going on on syria thinks its not clear the mission is accomplished because we took out a chemical weapons iffacility. Theres no question that last night was a competent lily execd minimal attacks to send the message were not going to accept the use of chemical weapons, particularly against civil populations. I think the other purpose, which i think secretary mattis was working on, was to not get on the escalation ladder upward. I think it was an appropriate use of military power. Did it accomplish anything . Very little. Clearly if you have wanted to try and degrade or cripple the Syrian Armed Forces ability to use these weapons, you have to go back to the delivery systems, fixed wing and helicopters, go back to the commanding control, killing a bunch of syrian colonels and generals to make the thing hurt for assad. But at the end of the day, look, there is civil war. Chemicals may have been used, as many as 85 times. Assad is on the verge of winning. A half million dead. Hes a minority religion the shiites are 12 of the population. The on reason hes still in office is Russian Military power and the Iranian Revolutionary guards and hezbollah militias out of lebanon. So i dont think much was accomplished except a very competent military attack decide to signal International Condemnation of chemical weapons. To the degree that nikki haley was at the United Nations today saying the president draws red lines and if those red lines are crossed, the president enforces them, sure. But this is a small red line in the greater context of the number of people who have been killed in syria. Theres a russian and syrian propaganda effort that is suggesting that everything that assad does with the backing of russia and iran is to fight isis and to fight terrorists, but in fact, of that half a Million People who have been killed in syria, most of them were not terrorists. No question. Its not just happening as many as 12 million are internal external refugees. The place is devastated. It will take 25 years to recover from all this. By the way, assad are never, ever govern syria again. 75 of the population is sunni muslim realize this guy is a mass murderer. But i think, you know, in the short run its clear to me that there is no political will in the United States or in europe to decisively intervene. Last night there were no Arab Sunni Muslim partners involved in these air attacks. Saudis, egyptians, jordanians. The question then arises what was accomplished. Probably very little except a political signal. What should be accomplished . How do you look at this, general, as somebody who has had a great deal of experience in combat and conflicts around the world. These are the types of things we look back upon like cambodia, like rwanda, like bosnia, and we always save we should have done something earlier. What is the thing were supposed to do to prevent more death and destruction of innocent people . Well, im a great pessimist in the ability of military power, u. S. Military power to solve problems of this nature. Richard haas, the council on Foreign Relations talks about every time you see a straight line, you see a potential war. So the middle east is structured in the National Lines that are filled with war be and tribal and ethnic initials. The question arises how could you get a regional conference with diplomatic, economic peacekeepers to try and rechtifirech rectify these situations . I think there is little appetite for that among the regional players. By the way, nobody in the history of mankind ever negotiates away when theyre winning decisively. And assad is winning decisively. So im a great pessimist. I would feel better if we had significant support for refugees along the borders of syria. Theres a Huge Population in jord aan and turkey and iraq. Thats possibly an area in which at least we could have humanitarian impact on the situation. But were not going into syria to solve this with u. S. Military power. We could if we went to the American People and said heres what were about to do is take on another iraq operation. General barry mccaffrey, thank you for your guidance on this. I want to pick up right where the general left off. Joining me now is the executive director of syria deeply. It probably the single best source for information on what has been going on. And its just perfect how the general led into this, laura. The attacks from last night from the people ive been talking to inside syria, they dont feel that it necessarily helps their cause. They feel that it is the Syrian Government, in fact, more than isis that has ruined their lives and led to so much of the refugee crisis both within and outside of syria. Whats your view as an expert on the people of syria and the suffering theyve gone through on last nights attack in. I think many syrians agree with the general that this strike didnt have significant impact. It did signal a willingness to strike, an absolute firmness around chemical weapons but it didnt significantly set back the regime. If youre a supporter of president Bashar Alassad, youre very happy today, youre celebrating and were seeing those seecenes in the street. Not on because he got out of thissin scat this unscathed b also because the rest of the world, the western world, has signalled theyre kind of okay with him staying in power. But there are millions of people, as you know, not on outside the country but 6 million inside the country who dont live in their homes anymore. They live in shelters and camps so to them today is a signal thats not going to change any time soon. A text i got from somebody from syria said today after the attack the u. S. Have said that we want to stop assad from using chemical weapons but it basically means he can continue to use other weapons and can continue killing Syrian People. Of the 465,000 people counted, estimated to have been killed since 2011 in syria, the majority of these people were not killed by chemical weapons. And it really worth stating. Bashar alassad doesnt want those refugees necessarily to come back home. Theyre not people who agree with him. So hes in a more powerful place, firmly in power but also in a situation where its pretty governable. He may not need to use chemical weapons ever again. The fact is theyve thrown everything they can, the government of syria, at winning as much territory as possible. It down to just a few pockets they no longer control for the moment in syria. Once they get those back, theyre fully back over all of syrian territory. It is nobody thinks that isis was good for syria and but what do you make of the analysis that the president also uses that assad uses, that the russians use that this war is mostly over because mostly isis has had to sacrifice its territory over what it governs. For a lot of searions, their major fight is those who oppose the assad regime. Theres a sense theyve been let down by the outside world, theyve been made a lot of promises. President obama said in 2012 that he wand Bashar Alassad out of power, that it was unacceptable for him to stay. Weve soon so many war crimes since then and so many dead since then and now there is still a signal hes not going anywhere. For those displaced internally and, ter externally, whats the process here . There are children who have grown up either in refugee camps or in the streets of lebanese cities or jordanian cities or turkish cities who have never seen the inside of a school. They are malnourished, they have diseases theyve never had before. Defeating isis in terms of taking back their territory was just a small part of the overall picture in syria. For these people who have been suffering miserably and living a nightmare for so many years now, theyre scarred and picking themselves back up given. You look at that human misery, it not good for anyone. It creates lots of problems and dangers in the long term for the u. S. Thank you for the work you do as executive editor. Overcrowding, and overheating. Weve got aging roadways, aging power grids,. Aging everything. Youre kinda bumming me out clive owen. No, wait. It gets worse. We also have the ageold problem of bias in the workplace. Really. 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[ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. Quiet. Im blasting my quads. Janice, look. Im in a meeting. Janice, look. [ chuckles ] look, look. Im looking. Its easy. You just answer some simple questions online, and you get Coverage Options to choose from. Youre ruining my workout. Cycling is my passion. Ive been promising you im going to have a conversation about just why russia is even in syria. This is russia, this is syria. Theyve had a long history with the soviet union and lart russia s later russia as maintaining the 19th century idea of great power status. In the 1950s, the soviet union invested 250 million of aid to syria. By 2011 when the Syrian Civil War began, russia had 4 billion worth of weapons contracts with the assad government. Bashar alassads father, he was a military officer who trand in russia for years. He mast erered mig fighter jets which soon became the back bone for the air force. But underlining all of this is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, one that the soviet union used and now the Russian Federation maintains and continues to use as a naval base. This is very relevant because the Mediterranean Sea is warm wart. Tartus is the only port the russians have, only port south of finland that gives them access to the mediterranean and southern atlantic. The or seat athers are on the b or the caspian sea. It really, really important for the russians to have an outpost on syria. This is a Russian Naval base. So syrias location is vital to russian interests as a global naval pow and its ambitions in an old style order of nations. Without at assad government, without Bashar Alassad, none of this access to the mediterranean and ultimately to the atlantic and the rest of the world is guaranteed to moscow. I want to take the story back to syria, right inside. I want to speak to mahmoud who is a syrian journalist and for the past year has lived here in the United States. He was forced to leave syria and he know what people inside that country are suffering. The message is the world and america may be missing the point here and that while chemical weapons are awful and they should not be used against i innocent civilians, what the assad regime has done to people inside syria is much worse than kwepo chemical weapons. Absolutely, ali. First, thank you for having me. I consider the strikes took a place yesterday night as a pathetic strikes. Why . Now the Syrian People are more desperate and more depressed because they think that regime now is stronger. That for two reason. First, Bashar Alassad still capable to produce chemical weapons. Second, the message the countries seasoned to Bashar Alassad is you could kill your own people in any kind of weapons, but do not use chlorine and sarin gas. Lets remember two weeks before the Chemical Attacks took place. All but 1,000 People Killed in ghouta. And the People Killed by the Chemical Attacks were in a shelter, a basement shelter escaping from the barrel bombs and air strikes. And because they were in a shelter, they got trapped with the gas. So mahmoud, let me ask you. Barry mccaffrey told me this could not be solved for 25 years . What do people who are opposed to the assad regime in syria want us to do . What does success look like . I have heard that President Trump tweeted Mission Accomplished. With all the respect of President Trump, i would like to ask question. Which mission will these strikes stop . The syrian conflict . The answer is no. Will these attacks stop the refugee crisis . The answer is no. Will these attacks stop the extremists . The answer is now. The extremists justify themselves as result of the regimes repression. All of these problems, there is no resolution for all of these problems, not just in syria, by the way, in all the region if this regime is still in power. The americans have said very clearly that regime change is not an option for them. Short of regime change, short of a mission to get rid of Bashar Alassad, is there a potential solution that will stop the killing in syria . Unfortunately the only solution is a political solution, but the problem here, there will be no any solution for all of this if this regime is still in power. Lets ali, lets think about how all of that began. All of that began as a civilian revolution and the people just demanding some freedom and the Syrian Regime response was launching an open war against its own people. Now we hear every day these talks about, oh, we dont want to enter civil war, this is not our job, but this is how this civil war started and people still dying every day. And here there is the question of the principle. Every day we hear, oh, the american principles is aovoidin any Chemical Attacks. Is this the only american principle . What about the genocide we are witnessing here in the 21st century, genocide . What about rwanda . What about never again . All of these questions are i ask the American People about. Theyre good questions, mahmoud. Thank you for taking time to explain for us what it is like for People Living under the oppressive Bashar Alassad regime. Next up, a reporter who witnessed the attack will tell us how people on the street are reacting to what happened. Whoooo. When it comes to travel, i sweat the details. Late checkout. Downalternative pillows. And of course, price. Tripadvisor helps you book a. Hotel without breaking a sweat. Because we now instantly. Search over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Dont sweat your booking. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Amandas moms appointment hello mom. Just got rescheduled for today. Amanda needs right at home. Our customized care plans provide as much or as little help as her mom requires. Whether its a ride to the doctor or help around the house. Oh, of course tom, i am really sorry. Ive gotta go. Look, call right at home. Get the right care. Right at home. New today leaders of france and britain say theyve spoken to President Trump by phone. They say they discussed last nights missile strikes on syrias chemical weapons facilities and that they were all satisfied it was a Successful Mission. Joining me is independent journalist danny mackey, who is inside damascus. Danny, were you able to hear the strikes and have you been able to see any of the damage . Actually, incidentally yesterday evening in the early hours, i was not able to just hear the strikes but the strikes actually awoke me. It began with 10 or 11 different rockets in different areas of damascus. And after the syria air defenses fired back, another wave of jets and cruise missiles targeted areas around my neighborhood and around different areas of damascus. This continued for about 50 minutes to an hour where you had this battle in the skyline of damascus. It was something which is really out of a film because you dont expect to be in this situation where youre actually coming very close to a u. S. Tomahawk missile. So in the initial hours of the strike, it was pretty traumatic, it was quite shocking from the perspective of many civilians in damascus, after the previous 48 hours where it seemed this was going to turn into something between russia and the United States. After the attack, which lasted for about an hour, it became clear that three Different Military targets were struck around damascus and other Research Facilities targeting the supposed Chemical Weapons Program. The mood in damascus since that. It started off with a sense of fear and concern but now its a sense of jubilation, if youd like. Ive been for a very short period into the streets of damn discussion. Youve seen proassad protests within the centers of the squares, in the main areas around damascus. Youve soeen the syrian pages posting pictures of assad going to work as normal but after that it was a message of what you could describe as defiance to the United States and it show as message that these people are definitely defiant and have taken their own actions in this war. Independent journalist danny makki inside damascus. Tensions remain high in the middle east after the United States, United Kingdom and france launched those attacks in an already unstable region. Rami, thank you for being with us. We were just talking to somebody in damascus, in talking to a syrian journalist, we were tacking about the russian involvement there. I think its time as we close up the hour to pull back to about 5,000 feet and discuss what has changed in 24 hours in the most unstable region in the world . What has changed is that yet one more american and European Strike militarily against an arab target has taken place and that has almost changed no serious conditions on the ground or in diplomatic relationships. And the jubilation that was described in damascus is the sense that we have seen here many, many times over the years where a foreign power or Regional Power attacks you and you survive. Kind of a defiance. The lesson is theres a limit to what military power can do. Thats the real lesson. In syria, many people doesnt want the assad regime to stay in power, some do. From the days of rome until now, you can hit a target, you can kill people but you cant change the geo politics on the ground, thats has to be done by the people. Thats the point that general mccaffrey just made. As a military man, he said we cant think that these things solve these problems but there is no meaningful second path under way to bring resolution thats in any meaningful way being pursued. Well, there is but it hasnt got i dont know anywhere. Turkey, iran and russia and hezbollah determine whats going to happen. Russia, iran and turkey, their president s have met twice and theyre meeting outside syria to determine the future of syria. The u. S. Will gradually get out of this situation the future of syria will be determined now as it was a hundred years ago as the country was set up by foreign powers and the Syrian People will hopefully have a play in this. Rami khouri, thank you for joining us. My friend richie louis picks up the reporting from here. Whoa. This looks worse than i thought. Mike and jen doyle . Yeah. Time for medicare, huh. I have no idea how were going to get through this. Follow me. Choosing a plan can be supercomplicated. But it doesnt have to be. Unitedhealthcare can guide you through the confusion, with helpful people, tools and plans. Including the only plans with the aarp name. Well that wasnt so bad at all. Thats how we like it. 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