then we re not going to have influenced the day that assad falls, with the people who will succeed him, and most people, andrea, as you know, now think that we re not going to see an easy transition at all. in fact, it may be that the violence gets worse after assad leaves, so i do think the united states needs to go back to the drawing board. we need to be more assertive. 70,000 people dead and that total is going to mount. hundreds of thousands of people now outside the country as refugees. hundreds of more thousands people on the roads. they ve left their villages. they can t live where they had lived before. this is a desperate situation, and it requires much greater american leadership. nicolas burns, ambassador, thank you very much. thank you. for being with us today. and up next, the political briefing. the simpson-bowles reboot. you re watching andrea mitchell reports. only on msnbc.
terrorist circles, and there are real concerns there. it s a difficult prospect, but i think they have to look at that, and perhaps even reconsider the efficacy of a no flight sfloen that would take ka president assad s advantage over the rebel fighters. nicolas burns, thank you very much, ambassador. great seeing you again. thank you, andrea. up nergs, the republican establishment strikes back. this is andrea mitchell reports, only on msnbc. at optionsxpress we re all about options trading. we create easy-to-use, powerful trading tools for all. look at these streaming charts! they re totally customizable
three other americans. so i pledge to you this. i will not let their patriotism and their bravery be obscured by politics, number one. number two, i guarantee you i guarantee you that beginning this morning when i report for duty upstairs everything i do will be focused on the security and safety of our people. ambassador nicolas burns. the director of the future of depp lomasy project. great to see you. john kerry, a big change from hillary clinton. not so much in policy, but in sort of direction, stature, coming from the senate more so than from the political world. he has come from a world of foreign policy.
i need something for my cold symptoms. [ sniffles ] we ve got dayquil for day and nyquil for night. [ thuds ] you didn t see that. [ male announcer ] right now at walgreens dayquil and nyquil are just $10.99 with card. zimplt with the white house having retreated over a battle of susan rice because of op zegs for secretary of state, the administration critics are now trying to prevent the president from nominating former secretary chuck hagel to be secretary of defense. joining us now is nicolas burns, former state department undersecretary and ambassador to many countries and to nato, and you were one of the significanttories to a letter saying what is going on here, basically. what is your objection to what is going on in washington? well, andrea, it s an extraordinary situation when you have people who are rumored to be cabinet nominees, before their nomination, and certain groups would launch attacks against them. that s what happened to susan
have the facts. i read the report. i don t want to second guess anyone. certainly not my former colleagues. i can tell you this. we have lived in the age of terrorism, andrea, for the past 25 or 30 years. and everybody i know at the state department wants to do a good job and wants to protect themselves and especially their colleagues who are serving out in the front lines, people like embassy stevens. the fact is the state department never had enough funds to fully fund security and that makes it a very difficult job so that the mind-set has to change, certainly. that s a real takeaway of the report, the accountability review board s report and he is an eminent person whom people will listen to but i think both branches of government, the legislative branch and executive branch need to work together and that message shouldn t be lost in all the attacks, well, the allegations now made against the state department. thanks so much, nick burns. thank you for joining us today. thank yo