Here is more of what is ahead . Anything but peaceful at the conference amounted at ending syrias civil war. Just a few minutes. I cant promise you. Theres no way that the man who led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to government. The focus has been on ending it. Its important for americans to recognise that we have young men and women in harms way. We need to see the job all the way through. After saving the game for seattle attention. That is a result youre going to get. That was immature, i regret doing that. We begin with bitter words and accusations that broke out almost immediately. Syrian peace talks began in switzerland, where opposing sides in the conflict met for the first time. Syrian foreign minister walid almuallem was defiant, becaming the rebels for atrocities and the destruction of the syrian culture and strongly rejected secretary of state john kerrys assertion that syrias president legitimacy. Translation we have come here as representatives of the people and the state. Yes, but no one no one, mr kerry, in the world has the right to give legitimacy or to withdraw legitimacy from a president , a government, a constitution or a law or anything in syria, but syrians. This is the right of the syrian people, and their constitutional duty. The syrian foreign minister refused to leave the podium despite numerous requests from u. N. Chief bank banki moon. Can you a wrap up in one or two minutes. No, i cant promise you. You live in new york, i live in syria. I have the right to give the forum. Yes, of course, i do not object to that. This is my right. For more on the talks im joined by Al Jazeera America correspondent nick schifrin, who is at the talks in montreaux switzerland. Good to have you back. Surprise. We knew going in that the u. S. And the Syrian Opposition felt Bashar Alassad had to go, and the syrians say assad had to say. Said. There is no way no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. One man, and those who supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage nick, with dim et rickly opposed position, how will they get anywhere . Theres a lot of people here that say they are not going to get anywhere. What the u. S. Officials im talking to say is wait a minute, yes, the rhetoric is a cas between the two sides. Everyone is staking their claims, everyone is saying the worst thing that they could when it comes to starting peace talks. But at least they are here. But the two sides are in the same room. Its the first time that happened in three years of war that killed 130,000 people. The u. S. Points out we are all here and great on one thing, the geneva 1 communique. Something that everyone signed and agreed to before they came here. In that communique it says that all the governments here, all the delegations agree to move forward to create a transitional government. It will not include current president Bashar Alassad. The u. S. , the u. N. , the russians that back syria that are on the same page is the Syrian Government that used its stance, suggesting that Bashar Alassad will not go anywhere, that he might run for president again. The u. S. Say thats because they sign that, if the rhetoric is negative, the us hopes the syrians will stick to the pledge and consider creating a traditional governor. Banki moon said his hope for dialogue had been stopped by the syrian foreign minister, who went into a diatribe accusing nations of supporting the insurgence, supporting women to engage in sex business and incest. And a defender against terrorism is what Bashar Alassad is portraying himself. This is what they believe. Theres no sense that president Bashar Alassad, and his family have any sense that they want him to stop. Theres no sense that in order to give up weapons and the violence that the opponents say that the u. S. Says, that he is unleashing on the civilian population. The u. S. Is trying to find a pressure point. President obama came up to he stepped away and said that hes happy theres no second or third middle eastern war that the u. S. Is involved in. Given that, cary is trying to find another pressure point. That is why kerry said again and again that Bashar Alassad was isolated. He was the only perch. It was about the family. Its kerrys attempt to communicate this notion that he cannot continue to act with impunity. Hes isolated and no one was supporting him. Russia and iran are supporting him. Theres no evidence that Bashar Alassad feels the pressure, and no evidence that Bashar Alassad violence. The conflict was not just inside the room. Outside. This is a symbol of how far apart the two sides are. A few feet from me in the hall i witnessed a confrontation with a prosyrian journalist and opposition. They were yelling, screaming, accusing each other of being terrorists. On the other side of the hall there was a progovernment rally where people asserted loyalty. At the same time you had opposition fighters and representatives chanting and creating a mock funeral. It shows how far apart the two sides are. Theyve been far apart for three years, the u. S. Hopes that at least this starts a dialogue. Nonetheless on friday morning they are supposed to stand side by side or sit across the table from each other. Theres no sense that therell be a break there. Theres no sense that concrete details will come out of that immediately, the u. N. Is hoping to get baby steps, a prisoner release, or some kind of localized ceasefire. Theres a lot of pessimism as to whether this conference will produce results. Therell be mediation on thursday. Lets hope something comes of this, there are millions and millions of people suffering displaced, refugees and so many have died and been injured. Joinings now from College Station texas is ambassador ryan crocker, serving as United States ambassador to syria, iraq and afghanistan and is the dean of the George Bush School of government and public service. Great to have you with us. Lets start with the syrian president , Bashar Alassad, and the main reason we are negotiating there in geneva, you advocated in a New York Times oped that the u. S. Should engage with the regime. Syrian rebels were not happy. Its not Barack Obamas position. Why would that work. Its simple. The regime is not going away. Bashar alassad is not going away. We could wish it otherwise, buts we have to deal with the world as it is. If there is ever going to be a negotiated solution, we are going to need to Start Talking directly to the syrians, not Bashar Alassad, but members of his regime. You wrote that Bashar Alassad is more rigid than his father and many westerners hoped he would be different. You were firm in that belief, that that has not changed, and you wrote that you think hell end up winning the war in a bloody way, little by little as time goes by . I certainly do believe that he is more rigid, less flexible than his father. I was ambassador to syria at the time when his father died and he took over. I had the chance to have several one on one meetings with him, and i came to realise that he grew up under the system. His father had a relatively liberal education for the place and time. Not Bashar Alassad. I posited who outcomes. The one you mentioned the momentum may shift, and he may get it backyard by bloody yard. The other possibility is at some point it will settle down into a stalemate. I dont think a rebel victory is likely. I think we can be grateful for that. You have millions displaced in the meantime if this goes on and on and on, if there is a stalemate. You are concerned and think it is better to have Bashar Alassad in place, than to allow the opposition to win the war . Well, its not a question of the International Community, the United States or anyone else allowing anyone to win the war. Why . We have to be modest about our ability to control events, we cannot control the outcomes. Unless the United States and the International Community intervene and throw serious military force behind the Syrian Opposition. John kerry spoke at the peace talks on wednesday, and he just talked about how the Bashar Alassad regime is a terrorist regime, backed by iran, that it has hezbollah, that it crossed over from lebanon and says Bashar Alassad is making them a magnet for terrorists. It doesnt sound like someone interested in engaging the Bashar Alassad regime. What do you think about what john kerry said . I think there is plenty of terrorism to go around on both sides of the fight in syria. Certainly on both sides of the assad regime, which has committed atrocities, and not just with poison gas. As we consider what we want to see, again, aside from what we can effect. We have got to consider what the nature of the opposition is. The real opposition are not the people sitting there in geneva, these couple of days, they are elements like al nusra, elements like the Islamic State of iraq and syria, led by abu bacar. These are basically al qaeda. So i make no apology for the Bashar Alassad regime. Its despicable, its guilty of gross acts of terror. Crims against humanity. The other side is not a whole lot better and could be worse from regional stability. Were they to take power. On the eve that reports were released with the alleged torture and killing of the detainees. The president , the opposition group, talked about it in a at the peace commence on wednesday. Lets listen to that. We call for an inspection. If this is happening, i would like to know what you make of the report. You mentioned the poison gas. If we have evidence of these other war crimes, what should be do . I agree with mr james jatras, if it can be done, an investigating body, if it can be assembled and get into the country and do an investigation, i think that will be very important. Because we have convicted nar tifs here. There is no way from outside that we can really ascertain the truth. I hope there could be that kind of commission. I would say, though, that such a commission would need access not only to regime facilities and investigate regime activities, they need to take a close, hard look at what the opposition has done and is doing. It was a rocky start to the peace talks. Do you think something rocky can come of them . Today was the opening session. Friday the parties, themselves, will sit down face to face, and i understand therell be preliminary work done by a u. N. Mediator with both sides during the course of thursday. So well find out on friday. I would be quite modest in my expectations after what we heard from all the parties to this conflict. But i do think there are some outcomes that could be achievable. For example, agreement to allow increased amounts of humanitarian assistance. More help for the internally displaced and perhaps some local ceasefires. If that were to be the outcome on friday, then i would consider this a conference that succeeded beyond my expectations. Lets hope they succeed. Its been a pleasure having you on the show. No one doubts americas military strength. After struggles in iraq and afghanistan, has the u. S. Lost an ability to win laws. Should a mans viability rap lyrics be used against him in a murder case. And what is tracking on the web. We have a sad state of affairs in relation to antidepressants, and why many cannot shake them. What do you think our indepth series on education continues. How does math keep boys out of jail . Thats an indirect equation, i would say. Algebra is the answer part of our week long lndepth series. Only on Al Jazeera America. Al Jazeera America. We open up your world. Here on america tonight, an opportunity for all of america to be heard. Our shows explore the issues that shape our lives. New questions are raised about the american intervention. From unexpected viewpoints to live changing innovations, dollars and cents to powerful storytelling. We are at a Tipping Point in americas history Al Jazeera America. Theres more to it. The United States is undoubtedly the greatest military power in the world. Has it forgotten how to win wars . According to a provive article in the l. A. Times by a professor of International Relations and former ltcol in the army, and i quote for more im joined by the professor, the best selling author of many books, including breach of trust, how americans failed their soldiers and their country. You say that the u. S. Military is second when it comes to skills and gadgets, and that it struggles to finish the job. Did this start with vietnam. . Is the problem with the military overseers. I think the problem has many aspects, but the most important and probably the most difficult for americans to reckon with is that military power is an inappropriate instrument to deal with the conditions that exist in places like afghanistan and iraq. We came out of cold war, the United States came out of the cold war, having convinced itself that military power was an allpurpose tool. In many respects Operation Desert Storm in 1991 seemed to affirm that conclusion. All of our experience since, whether you are talking somalia in 1993 or the post 9 11 wars, that was a different story, we are using the wrong tools to solve the problem lets talk about afghanistan. 9 11 . No, i think we needed to. The george w. Bush administration demanded after 9 11 that the taliban cough up osama bin laden, dismantle training camps. The taliban refused to do so. I think it was necessary for us to demonstrate that any nation providing sanctuary for terrorists intent on attacking us needed to be taught a lesson. We needed to make clear to the world that that was unacceptable. What doesnt follow is we needed to stay for after a decade trying to create a stable political order. That turned out to be a task we cant handle. President obama spoke out about the war in afghanistan a week ago, id like to play part of it and get your reactionism. I think its important for americans to recognise that we have young men and women in harms way, and Coalition Forces making sacrifices and we need to see the job all the way through what would seeing the job mean in afghanistan. What would winning the war mean in afghanistan. There are reports that the u. S. Plans to draw down to zero troops by the end of the president s term. Of course, the president is understandably vague about what finishing the job is. There has been many definitions overtime. At this point the Obama Administration administration would be satisfied with extricating all or most of u. S. Forces and not have the hamid karzai regime collapse at least not until obama leaves office. That may be the most practical definition of success. What we need to remind ourselves of is the distance between that definition of success and the definitions touted in the immediate wake of 9 11. Recall that the invasion of afghanistan was touted, was named Operation Enduring freedom. There was an expectation that somehow we were going bess toe freedom on the peopleful afghanistan. It was absurd and hasnt come to fruition. You dont have an argument with going in, but we went too far in defining what we thought winning the war would be. Absolutely, and we went too far in articulating a global war on terrorism. Its that formulation, engaging in a war on terrorism that creates a rationale for going from afghanistan to iraq, the invasion of iraq. There was no justification for that. Another mismanaged war from which we are trying to recover. We are seeing how things are falling apart there. There was the intervention in the former yugoslavia in kosovo and bosnia. That seemed to work. I think thats probably the closest case you can get to post cold war interventions that produced unbalanced outcomes, albeit the occupation of kosovo ended up taking a much longer time. Let me emphasise my argument is not that there are never cases where military power has utility. There are cases. I think that the problem with policy makers in the United States over the past couple of decades is that they have tended to think that all problems can have a political solution. Excuse me, a military solution. We went into libya and helped overthrow muammar gaddafi. Its been a disaster. Its a mess there. Qaeda. A question that comes to mind is is the problem intervening in countries where there are parts of the population, mostly muslim states. I dont think id phrase it that way. I think id phrase it that theres a problem with inspecting that foreign intervention in societies that are in the process of immensely complicated transition, transition to modernity, trying to reconcile religious traditions with the 21st century. To imagine that a bunch of american soldiers can facilitate that transition in a relatively short period of time is a delusion. The people themselves, whether we are talking about libyans, iraqis, av caps, egyptians, and irrelevant. A lot of throughoutprovoking information. Switching topics. Violent rap lyrics are at the center of a case before the Supreme Court. Vonte was convicted of a murder of a drug dealer in 2008. A prosecutor was allowed to read 13 pages of skinners lyrics that included a higher court overturned skinners conviction saying the lyrics sho