to the raid leaving bin laden dead. he said he was on the fence about the raid previously, but now said he supported it in a private conversation with the president. as we walked out of the room and walked upstairs, i told him my opinion, i thought he should go, but follow his own instin s instincts. it would have been a mistake. imagine if i said in front of everyone, go or don t go, and his decision was a different decision. the white house not saying which version of that story is accurate. new overnight, syria president assad makes a surprise visit to moscow meeting with his strongest ally, vladimir putin. in the first trip abroad sincere ya s civil war erupted in 2011, assad thanked putin for military operations against insurgents. putin describes syria as a friend and promised to continue support in the region. assad already has returned to