riveted by religious hatred, savagery of unimaginable proportions. then you come to israel and you see the one democracy that upholds basic human rights, guards the rights of all minorities, protects christians. christians are persecuted throughout the middle east. most americans understand israel is a beacon of civilization and moderation. i would suggest to presbyterian organizations fly to the middle east, come and see israel for the embattled democracy that it is, and then take a bus tour. go to libya, go to syria, go to iraq and see the difference. i would give them two pieces of advice. one is make sure it s an armored plated bus. second, don t say that you re christians. prime minister netanyahu, as always, we thank you for your views and for joining us this morning. thank you. i spoke with republican senator rand paul from kentucky who has been a strong voice against military intervention in iraq.
behavior, and we must respond. i m going to support the president s call for action. i don t want to take off the table an option that might or might not be available to a president of the united states to secure our country. i didn t find that a very appropriate response regarding boots on the ground. there will not be american boots on the ground with respect to the civil war. we urge the president to up his game and inform the american people, what does it mean if assad wins and the opposition loses? the president has said bashar assad must go, so our policy has to be to implement what the president of the united states has said. my credibility is not on the line. the international community s credibility is on the line and america and congress credibility is on the line. not a one member in my district in south carolina or the e-mails of people that have contacted my office say, go to syria and fight this regime.
are not comfortable with some of the defense operations we want to deploy for our friends in eastern europe. and then you look at the fact that syria is deploying missile defense technology to syria, and, ralph, you know, it looks like we re getting walked all over in that venue as well. sure. because, again, putin will live up to what he says. if we destroy syrian military technology, putin will replace it. let me put the relationship in an everyday perspective for you. putin is a classic sadistic schoolyard bully, and obama s the geeky kid with the thick glasses and the armful of books. and putin enjoys beating on obama, and obama will always give up the lunch money, always. but let me there s a very, very short poem by a.e. houseman that just nails this. the russian bear is huge and wild, it has devoured the infant child. the infant child is not aware it
questions that chairman of the joint chiefs of staff martin dempsey did not respond to. i would have chosen to use my time on that. bill: that s a good point too. but what duncan seemed to be saying your credibility in benghazi is going towards my vote now whether or not i authorize a military strike on syria. look i think he is speaking for a lost members of the republican conference. there are republicans not just because of benghazi but if you look at the way the obama administration conducted affairs overseas particularly in this region who are not confident that the president will act the way that they think he should act in order to earn their vote on something as serious as going to war. bill: john bolton, two days ago, made the argument many on the right are making too and that is, if you give the authority to go after damascus and assad, if you give that power to the president, where will his head be on this issue next? what they talk about is the difference between friday a
really want a secular government. this is why two years ago the president of the united states needed to come out and have cia vetting opposition groups for those that are supportive of american causes and want to get rid of bashar al assad with a democratic government, and he didn t do anything. he was absent. he put this red line out a year ago. i didn t want hear people complain about it then, by the way. but he s been completely absent in terms of supplying the rebels. are there bad factions in syria? yes. is there any good outcome to syria? not really at this point because the president s been absent in leadership. martha: you raise a great point and something i ve thought about, did we miss our moment in syria? and if you do miss your moment, can you get it back, and is it more dangerous to act than not to act? well, i don t know if we ve missed our moment. i think there is still a shimmer of hope, a glimmer of hope there. but on this specific thing that we re debating here in