tries to engage to some level it really changes the mix in dealing with syria. as long as the united states doesn't engage with whom what went on a long as they continue doing the age when he's around doesn't know we're dealing with around because this is something that the saudis over are very unhappy about needless to say. oh yeah they are indeed. also i mean that's a real problem but. like to just check who with the with hillary this question of a secular state that secular state that people talk of probably as having existed under the regime of the controls in that secular state in accordance with battery doctrine were exercised largely by in a clique of the alawite community we're no political dissension was permitted no factions were allowed to arise during half of the last it's time nor during bush zero s. so there was the feeling among the sunni's among the or less among the christians because they did feel more protected no question of ancient two rivalries and suspicions and resentment of alawite domination and. made it somewhat less of a secular state

it was strangling the people of syria. and they did want to have a free syria that we in the united states whitfield very compatible with and kinship with. but as far as jihadists have been pouring into the country, as mike mentioned, even to a larger degree than we saw in iraq. and again, our alpha allies -- our close allies, israel, saudi arabia, others as well are right there. we do have a stake in terms of what happens. so i think that our interest in the region are shifting and i think we're in the middle of having a shift. but i'll tell you, i really think that the united states still needs to be engaged. and that the canonization of syria might very well happen. the king of jordan came to see us a few months ago in the foreign affairs committee and to come out and started drawing and showed how you would have a division of syria, and that is essentially what assad is plain for. i think assad at this point doesn't care about the north, doesn't care about a lot of the area. but he cares about this enclave, large encla

it's certainly too early to syria i mean we still have to wait and see how the syrian declaration goes with the whether the process of him in torreon destruction goes well and that will take probably another year or so. but i think the nobel peace prize and the prize of the alternatives nobel awarded to me are really recognizing well over two decades of work that many of his particularly the opi study you and there are many many inspectors that are now in syria have done for a long long time and we've we've we've been very actively pursuing building a world free of chemical weapons and over fifty five thousand metric tons of now been destroyed globally in six countries so the peace prize is the nobels are really not a function of syria as far as i understand and in those twenty years that you just mentioned you personally have been involved in a b. elimination of chemical arsenals in six countries and i understand that this is a very sophisticated a very complex technical and technological process i wonder how while notable it is to politics any of you well i mean i think the process o

syria successfully destroys all of its chemical weapons production facilities and. the reports continue to surface about rebel fighters using toxic elements. what looks like a spot for a tropical beach holiday. here for others is more like a living hell on earth. to our noses in our report from inside guantanamo bay prison we look at the allegations of torture and abuse as officials try to convince the world that the inmates.

it would have made the war in syria an american war in syria there is really no alternative to a political settlement and there is another very important reason for that and there is another very important reason to i mean for to put an end to it it's that the the terrorists al qaeda affiliated groups are really gaining the upper hand visibly the so-called moderate opposition in syria so unless there is a political deal between the government and the so-called moderate opposition they will not be able to overcome the terrorist onslaught and syria will be facing the prospect on the international community of syria becoming a kind of platform for. terrorist activity in the region in the region and beyond and after the break in and the peacemaker is that possible that her steals the show on the u.n. general assembly or stay with us. it was a terrible mistake and very hard to take on. once again so long here is a plane flight path that had sex with her right there looks let's call it. as it was please. please. please. listen. to the. choose your language. killing spree killer though in the fin

well first of all i don't think syria is going to break the u.s. saudi relationship is certainly going to frazzle it and make it more complicated but syria is not a nation of threat to the united states and so the united states certainly doesn't want the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction chemical biological weapons and some of that is aided by saudi arabia arguably well that's it's a concern thet the saudis are supporting rebel groups in syria some of which are certainly terrorist in nature. at least some of some of the participants are i don't think the saudis are intentionally supporting terrorists but they are providing arms and support to rebel groups which i suspect the united states would just as soon. have go away at this point they need to deal with a stable regime in syria in order to make the chemical weapons inspections effective and this is something the saudis don't don't like but does this mean that the entire relationship goes down the drain because of a serious policy disagreement i don't think so we've head bumps in the

and it from afghanistan to to syria to many other places is. combatants and civilians interchange and violate the gray zone speed tween combatants and civilians the opposition in syria of any of them has a pattern of bringing armed soldiers. into hospitals which entices attacks on hospitals by the government forces both are violations of international humanitarian law and it divides happens because of the fuzziness of the lines we are somebody is out of combat and still carrying weapons go into a hospital and you are going to have these people are entitled to the same protections as we are not argue we are arguing that they are in in total to get medical treatment we tell them that it is a violation of the law to bring their arms to the hospitals so it's the geneva convention in term of behavior are very clear and it is also very clear that exactly the behaviors which are outlawed by the conventions are repeatedly developing as a pattern of behavior in the syrian conflict because both sides basically to behave according to patterns which are ou

crescent which actually at the present moment is basically the only organization working in the whole of syria we certainly make the best of our efforts together with the saarc to have impartial and independent humanitarian aid coming to all who need it at the same time it's also up for us that we do not get access to all those places who need access so we are the first ones to be frustrated about the fact that the concrete expression of a neutral and impartial your many tyrian aid which does not discriminate is sometimes virtually impossible to realize in the present circumstances in syria but if i could follow up on that if there is a discrimination of what are the main reasons for that discrimination because we often hear the assad government being criticized for starving people to death but i wonder where whether the main reason for that is a political reason or it's just a matter of security a matter of resources or something else well it's definitely the context of the combat zone which are the main reasons and it's the behavior of both sides in those combat zones which which makes acces

is not interested in the future of syria interested in a trans national islamic. state so they're not interested in this kind of talks anyway they are respected. in the rebel ranks serious fighters well funded will well armed dedicated but. their money you the rebels just don't see a future for. syria they want their own country well it's very interesting hilary if we look at some of these foreign founder of fighters up to ten thousand there are some estimates and so even more fighters in syria now than there were ever in afghanistan and that the civil war in syria is only been going on for two years i mean these people fighting for syria what are they doing there and is anybody outside the the exiles can they control them in any way shape or form it's i think clearly they cannot control and we've seen over the past two years that the so-called london eleven can't control them their sponsors saudi arabia and qatar can't control them i think they are not listening to any outside backer for the benefit of syria they're very much for themselves whether it's for a pan

politicians are doing this in the middle east and in syria that was blind cooper u.s. marine and activist. and more than a thousand people gathered this week in santa rosa california to protest the failed shooting of thirteen year old andy lopez it was just a week ago that the teenager was shot and killed by a county sheriff who saw lopez holding a pellet gun that resembled an a k forty seven rifle according to the police account to sonoma county sheriff's deputies saw lopez carrying what appeared to be a rifle and immediately called for backup the officers then allegedly repeatedly asked lopez to drop the weapon and when lopez turned to face the officers one of them deputy erik gal house opened fire shooting the young boy seven times the parents and the community of andy lopez are frustrated over the shooting they say didn't have to happen and they brought that frustration to a rally this week where they carried signs that read quote we are all anti lopez the whole damn system is guilty and andy lopez didn't have to die to talk a little bit more about the controversie

on syria in which he said there was a red line that syria could not cross with chemical weapons made them have high expectations that the president would deliver on that and he hasn't in fact he backtracked and greatly disappointed the saudis by agreeing to the weapons inspections in syria instead of arming the rebels and pursuing a regime change which had been the stated policy of the americans before that so the saudis started to believe i think that they couldn't trust the americans they couldn't trust president obama to keep his word on what he was pursuing and it's interesting that the hear you say that because you mentioned syria just now and prince bandar of course is believed to be the main architect of the saudi efforts in syria as well as the kingdom's broader vision for the middle east i know that at the time when you were the ambassador he was serving as the saudi ambassador to washington and you obviously math many times what kind of impression did he make and he says he's somebody who would talk before thinking in other words when he sas dad they will be a major shift i

the only way to get syria under the sea is if the u.n. security council decide to do it as it decided to do it in libya so libya was a case where all the countries the fifty member of the security council decided to justice because libya was not member but it's a good accounting of that by working both justice but i think it is also one of the main reasons why all those man all those members of the u.n. security council that supported the i.c.c. referral back down no longer want to back a day i think they're. lot of questions about the execution of the i.c.c. mandate in libya but before we go there can i ask you one question that is only conventionally related to syria and it is about a ugandan rebel leader joseph kwame i know that during your term as chief prosecutor you were very passionate about the need to bring him to justice and if you compare the lord's resistance army that operated in uganda and later in congo and the militarized opposition i think there are a lot of similarities now both fought against the oppression of the gover

there now obviously syria is not a party to the i.c.c. that ok if you believe the un referral but i wonder why would you adverb bring nader into the question because as you know the idea of nader acting as court martials for the i.c.c. is a total no go for both russia and china and if you believe in the impartiality of the court while good you need not and they go in the in the picture ok maybe we need not feel bored or the concert i was trying to explain is. we can use in a much more smarter way into a major international criminal court but normally. people say ok but just additions you wouldn't have no influence that's why i would mention me to the forces if there is a prospect of an international criminal investigation that would be enforce it that would be people we arrested vend that would create incentives to do a different location a real negotiation to stop the crimes that's all the consulate to present is the pragmatic approach but mr moran the company why would we need to involve both the i.c.c. or possibly nato what again becau

now the resolution on syria is obviously so the resolution on syria is obviously a victory for russian diplomacy but the resolution has in a way also restored the u.s. credibility that was kind of lost in recent years so with the inability to make a joint decision it at one time saying do you think or we'll see more decisions like that well i hope we will i mean the most important thing about this resolution is that it's really paving the way for the implementation of this project of eliminating all chemical weapons. in syria and making sure that no chemical attacks can be possible in the future so it's a very good success for russia and i think good success with it for the united states because we have been working together very closely with our american colleagues on this and of this resolution allowed the united states to avoid this very sorely and delicate issue of the possibility of use of force in syria of course for us it's a very important result of the option of this resolution is that the use of force in syria is not regarded anymore internationally as something which. can be

that is a problem in syria. if you look at the fighting force that is doing most of the fighting with assad, it comes from the elite force of that enjoys privileges that has been equipped, trained the most while the rest of the armed forces is almost dismantled. it is not functional. in order to move toward again democratic order, you have to reform the structure. for the security agencies and for the armed forces, and we looked in the experience of many countries and we have good relationships there. the second question about the question of being skeptical about syria moving for democracy. like any country, there are forces favorable and forces that are unfavorable for democracy. in today's world, the thing we learn from each other, we are not going to go through 200 years in order to become democratic. what is happening in the world today, look at the arab countries, and i teach about the transitions in the arab countries, and you look at different models of transition. some of them have been much more succes

hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things considered i'm peter lobo syria's last chance as the dates for the geneva conference are being arranged there is every reason to believe the assad regime may sit across from an empty chair syria's rebel oppositions on the ground are hopelessly divided the syrian political opposition in exile is divorced from the brutality on the battlefield so what can geneva two point zero hope to achieve. across not geneva two point zero i'm joined by hilary leverage in washington she is a professor of international relations at the american university and author of. new book going to run and in new york we cross to richard murphy he is a former u.s. ambassador to syria and currently adjunct scholar at the middle east institute in washington all right crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it hillary fund go to you first in washington dates are being said but who's going to show up the assad regime is made it very clear that they would like to show up but who's going to be across the table and a

syria. syrian president bashar al-assad denied the attack and sent a warning to the u.s. >> he should expect everything. >> reporter: but politically obama gardnered support. >> the chemical massacre cannot be left without a response. >> reporter: and when russia threatened to veto any resolution authorizing force at the u.n. security council, military action seemed any further off. >> the security council has to be brought in. >> reporter: stepping back a bit. obama decided to ask congress to approve the use of military force against syria. but that plan changed when, in september, u.s. secretary of state john kerry made an off the cuff comment saying if syria gave up its chemical weapons then military action could be avoided. something the russians jumped at and that led to a plan to eliminate syria's chemical weapons. based on that agreement, the global chemical weapons watchdog set deadlines for syria's disarmer. and sent weapons inspectors in. syria has now met two deadlines in that pro

syria met two deadlines. last week they submitted a plan outlining how it would destroy chemical weapons reserve. on thursday, a day before the deadline it was announced that syria destroyed the equipment needed to create new chemical weapons. the next deadline is the middle of this month, where the formal plan will need to be approved by the intersectional atomic chemical agent's committee. part of that will be how the government will destroy 1,000 tonnes of toxic agents. that's in order to meet the deadline of destroying its stockpile by next year. >> we have breaking news from syria. israeli war planes hit a shipment from russia to the syrian port of latakia. the shippment was said to be russian missiles. we cannot confirm the report at this time. as soon as we have more information we will bring it to you. >> earlier we spoke with michael luhan, the spokesman for the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons, about the steps moving forward. . >> there's a variety of technological options for de

in this case, syria, of course. so in other words, arsenal one is one of the core prohibitions asking them to fly them out, ship them out is really asking for an exception over one of the core prohibitions. while the idea was raised in the framework treatment, concluded between the united states and russia in geneva about half a month ago, the decision by the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons does not include that particular option. >> if i could turn to you, how significant is it in the world of chemical weapons and simply the terms of the treaty. if syria is fully disarmed, and what assurance do we have that syria will be fully disarmed? >> well, i think what we're asking for is called the complete declaration from syria, which we're expecting any day now, which will basically assign what kind of amounts, what kind of weaponry, where they expect it to be and accordingly we'll have an assumed full overview. when that happens the job is at least less speculative. at least seen from the outset righ

nor can i syria. they been this place there large iraqis so jordan is an old friend doing a great deal with that friendship and for that friend to maintain stability and help maintain the demographic balance in this country to be that stable platform in the region. shifting around, we had each a in egypt has gone through two major political spasms since 2011. it would be difficult to overstate how important initiatives to the united states into the region and to the west. egypt has enormous social and economic and political challenges, which ultimately prompted the departure of morrissey and the defendant of the military. united these relationship with cj is extraordinarily. we are attempting to navigate the shallow water where we are right now, but it's hard to overstate how important egypt's relationship is to the united states into the west. in the center of all of that, and we have our old friend and dear friend, is real. we have the emergence now of a potential for progress on middle east peace,

intervention in syria calling for the politician to be arrested and tried for treason we'll speak with the marine about his actions later in the show. it's thursday october thirty first four pm in washington d.c. i'm lynn neary david and you're watching our t.v. . we begin today with the latest revelation to leak regarding the national security agency and italian magazine called panorama is now reporting that the spy agency has targeted the internal communications at the vatican along with the in going and outgoing phone calls of future pope francis according to the reports the n.s.a. was intercepting calls from in and out of the rome residence where the cardinals stayed during the papal conclave additionally the magazine details how the n.s.a. has been categorizing those phone calls into everything from foreign policy objectives to threats to the financial system that can spokesman father federico lombardi quickly dismissed these allegations and said quote we don't know anything about this and in any case we don't have any concerns about it the n.s.a. has also responded to the allegat

. >> syria met a crucial deadline. the government filed details of its poison gas and nerve agent programs and an initial plan to destroy them. the declaration was in line with an organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons. they hope top eliminate all of the weapons bu 2014. kilhemy douchiuke heart has mor >> the prohibition of chemical weapons otherwise known as opcw to destroy its lethal stockpiles by next year. syria handed over the details of its poison gas and nerve agent program thursday ahead of its october 27th deadline. opcw is not releasing what their report says but it did say the syrian government disclosed 23 chemical weapons sites. >> the head of the team said last week the country has so far been cooperative. >> we have had very good meetings with the syrian government at most 7 ario levels. there is continued strong cooperation with the secretary general and the director of op cd and opcw and we build on this because we have one shared goal which is elimination of the program, which is of bene

i liken syria to a forest fire. the really big ones cannot be >> reporter: yet after the thousands of american troop deaths and billions of dollars spent in iraq before the u.s. pull-out in late 2011. there is some pushback on capitol hill to maliki's requests. in a letter to the president yesterday, mccain and five other senators of both parties urged mr obama to press maliki to formulate a comprehensive political and security strategy that can stabilize the country. high on their list of complaints: iran's influence in iraq, and iran's use of iraqi airspace to transit military assistance into syria to support president bashar assad and his forces. iraq's ambassador to the u.s., lukman faily, says baghdad has told iran it won't tolerate such overflights of weapons. but until promised u.s. fighter jets are delivered next fall, he insists, there is little his country can do. >> we think it's a bit unfair for others to ask us to stop a plane or to stop a plane while we haven't got the capabilities to force down a plan

access anywhere everywhere to anyone in syria. girl looked very much like the regime under which saddam hussein was put when the united nations was looking for the. weapons of mass destruction in iraq. and this year ian said look we would be ready to negotiate for the sites to be visited but this one is urgent people died and this happened only a few days ago why don't you send your expertise no wait then the hearings asked us and we did send our experts who took these samples in full accordance with the organisation precondition of chemical weapons rules we ensured the uninterrupted custody of the samples said it was delivered very not b. c w a certified laboratory into was analyzed in moscow and the results available to the security council we made them available i think in late june or july and we are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that. this was the.

delivering aid to syria one of the main obstacles there well the main obstacle is definitely the expansion of war fear of the combat in syria which leaves the civilian population trapped amongst fighters of the government on the one side the armed opposition on the other side and the challenge is indeed to negotiate access and independent humanitarian actor to negotiate access with both sides this is increasingly difficult and the problem as far as i understand you work in conjunction of with the syrian arab red crescent and they have an extensive network on the ground so theoretically speaking you would have a much larger access you many of the neighborhoods in syria than some other humanitarian organizations i wonder from your own experience on the ground do you aid providers in syria discriminate between supporters of the government and opponents of the government indeed our most important partner is the syrian arab red crescent which actually at the present moment is basically the only organization working in the whole of syria we certainly make the best of our effort . wants to be fru

russia doesn't want to see syria explode because you know what syria is a lot closer to its neighborhood before it you get blowback in the united states in the u.k. it's twenty hours away by car from damascus to chechnya you get my drift here everyone thinks it's russia trying to protect its friend it's by geopolitical i just know it's about a region because explode and they explode in a really vicious fashion jordan lebanon and said you are so i don't rushes because action is a better stakes a way for me to go to islands of the owners because. not doing killed in a civil war is that your position nobody would say that it wasn't your people that doing something that is little were doing nothing and allowing one hundred a lodger to be heiress richie your problem is that a lot of that is going on like me as even across the political will on the roads this is surely you son you said at the beginning of this thing that that we could that we could each take a turn and ok you go ahead and finish the russian line with. the line of peter lavelle to my mind ok not talking about facts on the groun

in syria fighting continues, today, international inspectors started their work on destroying syria's chemical arsenal. it is a daunting task in the middle of a civil war. paul has spent extensive time covering this conflict. he was honored with an emmy last night for his coverage. i spoke with him last night. in a speech he gave last night, you said it is getting harder and harder to report on syria. why? what is changing? ofit was striking to me that the five shortlisted nominations in our category out of 6, 5 of those were for syria. it has been a tremendous couple of years of reporting. as you say, in increasingly difficult circumstances. the bbc started going to the opposition areas just when the protests against the assad regime were turning into an armed uprising. it then became a full-scale civil war. now we are seeing that civil war take on increasingly sectarian tones and we are seeing more and more following jihadists -- more and more fallen jihadists. the risk of kidnapping is very high, either ideological kidnapping by jihadists. there is a fact walk -- a fatwa issued by

do you think it is the sole responsibility of syria is syria the only party that is responsible for making sure that this is our moment initiative is ended successful. according to the chemical weapons convention yes it is according to reality and the practicalities we know that it cannot be so there is an effort by other member states to help the effort along and if you look at the security council resolution it's asked the secretary general in consultation with the director general for p.c. w to make recommendations to the security council by next monday and then the security council will decide on exactly what will be the mandate there are questions that are unanswered. and that was a quick preview the interview with the you on high representative for design meant affairs and you can watch the full dodging and walls up on lakes today. it has nothing to do with poker or gambling but israel is cheered in the setting money online marketing big governments views of the break we tell you why the move is sparking controversy that stay with us. barba the kind of american ideology is that is th

conflict with syria if you look at syria in particular those points i mentioned about one hundred percent of the neo con ask has been met and for all intents and purposes moving toward chemical weapons disarmament and having the president already declared he's willing to attack is is a way well i mean planned i mean it is this it's interesting what you say i think it makes it sound like success is defeat here bruce you want to jump in go right ahead. yeah well i think grant misses the forest for the trees the fact is american people by overwhelming margins like four thousand to one i spoke to maybe two dozen members of congress after the recess who had consulted their constituents on whether we ought to initiate war against syria whether for gifts of chemical weapons or otherwise and it was that staggering opposition that caused the president to flinch and decide no he'd look for another alternative to avoid embarrassing defeat which had been of overwhelming in the house of representatives now the reason why this is a turning point is that in no other situation since the cold war ended ha

we are clear as he is, that assad has no role in a new syria. and has asked our help to ensure that women and children who are being detained are achieved in the run upto geneva. these are things restrongly support and ask for support of other nations in the world including allies and supporters of the assad regime to bring these things about. the united kingdom will continue to support theco in addition in its efforts to protect the syrian people through the more than 20 million pounds in support to the opposition we have provided this year. this provides services to the syrian population, including search and rescue training, power operations, between now and geneva two conference, we plan to announce a further package of uk support, including substantial non-lethal support to the national coalition and working with the general of the free syrian army supreme council. and this is likely to take the form of communications medical, and logistics equipments, and will help them to save lives on the ground. none of us have lost site of the deetenin

>> with respect to syria? syria wasn't the topic of our conversation. the topic of our conversation was their nuclear program. we have not seen a significant change in that period of time with respect to syria. and needless to say it would certainly be welcome and it would be a very important sign with respect to good faith in terms of resolving the regional issues and showing a desire to have stability over business as usual. so we would certainly welcome it but it was not a topic of the conversation and i want to stress that. we were uniquely talking about how we would proceed with respect to the nuclear negotiations. and -- ect to assad sand the time frame, it means what it says. the language is very clear. the language says that there, you know, should be no delay in this process, that this will not be open ended and that it ought to if you're acting in good faith be able to be completed in, you know, within months, within some period of months. now that gives you a time frame. and, you know, i think that it would be wrong to prejudge what that is.

there is no civil war in syria. this is a war against terror that recognizes no values nor justice nor equality and disregards any rights or laws. so, confronting this terror in my country requires the international community to act in accordance with relevant -- particularly resolution 1373. measure to --ary passage for terrorists coming from different countries of the world. mr. president, the city of new york and its people have terrorism and were burned with the fire of extremists and bloodshed the same way we are suffering now in syria. hit by some countries the same terrorism we are suffering now in syria claim to be fighting terrorism in all parts of the world while supporting it in my country? existence about the of moderate militants and extremist militants have become a bad joke. and the senseless one. terrorism means only terrorism. it cannot be classified as moderate terrorism and extremist terrorism. therefore, i would like to ask call those who kidnapped children in order to sell their body organs outs

you will see that it is actually syria syria who was it was being told you have to be responsible for ensuring the security you have to be response for destroying the chemical weapons and so that's basically the obligation that's laid down when you exceed to the chemical weapons convention now we know already that syria is having great problems and cannot destroy actually the chemical weapons but on the other hand they will have to be some multilateral assistance or help from major countries but how that is going to work we don't know yet what miss came the reason i asked those questions this question is because it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a desire moment as a technological or technical goal and as armament as a political goal and i think it's easy to see why some countries would be in favor of technological design on land you know the present the sob physically doing away with its stockpiles but they may be not so excited about that politically fairing that that would empower his regime so the possibility of a conflict of interest is there now you are some

the syria regime uses conventional weapons and death is reported in syria. for people in syria the chemical weapons deal was really nothing more than the international community working for its own national interest, getting rid of these chemical weapons which poses a threat to the united states and its ally israel. >> reporter: so for the second time in two years it has gone to a body rather than an individual. 1400 people or there abouts in one particular chemical attack close to damascus in late summer and as you point out hundreds of thousands of people killed elsewhere by more conventional weapons. i'm going to come back to you in just a moment if i may and i'm going to talk to mr. breton, mr. breton gordon who is a chemical weapons consultant and is in turkey and let's talk about the work of the organization since it started i think in 1997, set up as part of the chemical weapons convention. the headlines are about syria but of course the work is worldwide. >> yes, no doubt, you are right. they did an incredible job in iraq taking sadam's chemical arse

and wish it further success in syria. >> but some people in syria aren't happy about the announcement. a spokesperson for a rebel coalition says the nobel committee does not understand the situation on the ground. [ speaking in foreign language ] >> the spokesperson went on to express concern that awarding the prize to the opcw will focus global attention solely on chemical weapons.