it's not clear how the crash happened, but according to an official at the hospital, the about us had just left indianapolis. thank you so much for being with us. let's get you back to programming now. this is "gps," global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. the escalation of violence between israel and its enemies has made many wonder, is this the dawn of the third antti fada and how does it relate to the other fires now burning in the middle east? i have terrific panel to talk about that and the inevitable question, how is president obama handling these and other foreign policy challenges? and the crisis that hasn't gone away between russia and the west over ukraine. it may not be atop the

headlines, but it is far from over says my guest sweden's foreign minister, car bilt. and why was a french bank fined $9 billion by the u.s. government? i'll tell you how america is wielding a unique weapon that is the economic equivalent of a killer drug. also, washington is dysfunctional and can't fix the student debt problem, but i will take you up a mill high to a place in america that has figured out a fix. >> so you have seen that there are two different approaches, right? but first here's my take. the obama administration's decision to seek $500 million to train and fund moderate elements of the syrian opposition has been greeted with bipartisan support in washington. the general consensus is that if the administration had done three years ago what it is doing now, the situation in syria would not have turned into a

bloody sectarian civil war. but almost all elements of this conventional wisdom are wrong. the administration is caving in to the classic washington desire to do something in the face of a term tragedy without any clear sense as to whether it has the ability to improve things or to make matters worse. senator lindsey graham said the syrian people started this revolution through peaceful demonstrations. he's just one of many to make the case that it only turned sectarian and violent because we allowed things to deteriorate. graham explained, radical islamists are hijacking the revolution. in fact, radical islamists have been the core of the opposition to the assad regime from the very beginning decades ago. bashar al assad's father came to the coup in the 1970s.

he faced an armed islamist insurgency that spread across the country's major cities. between 1979 and '81 it killed more than 300 supporters in aleppo alone. assad in turn ordered crackdowns that killed some 2,000 islamist opponents. the islamist terror campaign spread, even moving to damascus, the capital city, where in 1981 they exploded a car bomb in the city's center that killed 200 people and wounded 500. then in 1982 came the up rising and the gruesome massacre in the town of hama where between 10,000 and 20,000 people including women and children were slaughtered by government troops. since then the regime has organized itself for war against the islamists and they, in turn, have been preparing for opportunities to war against the regime. today, according to james

clapper, the director of national intelligence, there are more than 1500 separatist groups with between 75,000 and 115,000. there are foreign fighters from neighboring countries. the most effective groups are all radical islamist groups, isis. but now washington is going to vet this vast disperse opposition of 1500 groups when it is not on the battlefield and find moderates. good luck. the complexity of washington's tasks can be seen in the american attitude towards isis. when the group battles the malaki government in iraq, it is deadly and must be ruthlessly attacked, but when it crosses the now nonexistent border between iraq and syria, it is a

line with america's stated goal of regime change in da mass kick. with this whole goal in mind, it's difficult to believe that three years ago a modest american intervention of arms in training which is all that is being advocated would have changed the trajectory of events in syria. can anyone be willing to have a moderate intervention of arms and training is going to find genuine democrats, have them win against assad and also against the radicals and also stabilize syria or is washington's newaktive vimp more likely to throw fuel on to a raging fire? for more go to cnn.com/fareed and read my "washington post" column. and let's get started. let's start with the

kidnapping of three israeli teenagers has erupted into something that looks this week like the prelude to war. i want to talk about the conflict and how it relates to the other things happening in the middle east so i have impaneled a very smart group. richard haas is the president of the council on foreign relations. he was a top official in the george w. bush administration. we have the anwar is a dad professor. he's president obama's former envoy for middle east peace. brett stevens is from the wall street journal and the top writer and editor at thomson reuters. christine. she is a member of parliament in canada. shibley, very simply, why is this happening? people have thought certainly in israel that there's the wall that had prevented terrorism, the economy was doing well. from the outside world it seemed as though the peace process

wasn't going well, but things were stable. >> well, of course, if we start with the killings, the abduction and the killings of the palestinian youth, the question is why hasn't it erupted into what we had now? that is because we had a charged environment that reminds me of 1987 and sometimes worse. part of it is if you look at the majority of palestinians and israelis, they believe a two-state solution will never happen again. the palestinians don't see a way out especially after the negotiation with israel. when you add all of this together and you add to it on the israeli side a fear that if there is no two state, there's a demographic danger to israel's jewish majority, you have a charged up environment that was bound to explode. >> you might have been able to keep a lid on it but underneath the pot was boiling? brett stevens of wall street journal editorial page for which you write has an editorial this week that says the only solution

here is to completely destroy hamas and you advocate or the journal advocates a land campaign, israel to go back into gaza, some kind of temporary occupation of gaza. >> not a full occupation of the gaza strip, but what i do think is right is israel has to occupy the territory that separates gaza from egypt. what we found out is that hamas is firing rockets up to jerusalem and hyfa and that's unacceptable for any state whether the missiles are accurate in hitting the targets or not. the problem, fareed, is this is the third time israel went to war in 2005. you have this pattern of recurring violence. i don't think in the long run that's a smart and acceptable strategy to allow hamas to

remain in gaza with a power base. you can't eradicate it entirely but you can as a political force and political entity. one of the beneficiaries of that action would be fattah, would be mahmoud abbas. what i think hamas is trying to do, the strategy is to gain the upper hand in intrapalestinian politics by starting a third antifada. >> it would cause a lot of international consternation. >> you can do things militarily against hamas but there's no way you can destroy it politically or territorially. the canal reach more and more inside israel. 25% still leaves 8 or 9,000 missiles. you can't destroy them militarily. that would strengthen them. we're the real source of resistance. what you have to do more than anything else is think about how do you weaken them.

the only way i know to weaken them is strengthen the fattah. if bebenetanyahu wants to do something, put out big ideas on the table. do something for mahmoud abbas and fattah to do. split hamas away. break the coalition between hamas and fattah and say only these people can deliver. you, hamas, can only bring misery down on the palestinian people. be tough with them but put forward a serious diplomatic solution. >> what do you think? >> i'm with richard and be with shibley. what we have learned is that what seemed like a tolerable status quo normal wasn't really a normal status quo. what i think is really important but what shibley said is this concern that you have on both sides that there isn't a solution, there's not something tenable for us to reach for. that's a situation in which the extremists are going to triumph. which is why i'm with richard.

what you need is for the mature players to come up and say, look, geography means we are destined to live together. here's a solution that we can all live with and we can work towards. >> what i like from richard is what are the big ideas? the israelis and palestinians were negotiating intensively with the mediation of john kerry and the state department and it failed. so obviously you'd like to say, let's pull a rabbit out of the hat and have a great idea. these ideas have been well explored. what israel finds is a tremendous amount of existence from abbas and fattah. this very opportunistic activity from hamas, the real problem is that hamas cannot be allowed to emerge from this war looking like the hero of the resistance, looking like it got away for a third time with at least in a certain kind of context a

propagan propagandaistically pattern. >> when they survive which is what they're going to do -- >> what is the idea? >> we are going to talk about big ideas in foreign policy when we come back. stay with us. i will ask the panel be to come up with big ideas but also to tell us about president obama and his big ideas. how is he handling all these crises when we come back? >> announcer: fareed zakaria "gps" brought to you by charles schwab. own your tomorrow. all our money.ter kid: do you pay him? dad: of course. kid: how much? dad: i don't know exactly. kid: what if you're not happy? does he have to pay you back? dad: nope. kid: why not? dad: it doesn't work that way. kid: why not? vo: are you asking enough questions about the way your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab

and we are back talking about the whole world, but i want to move from israel/palestine one step further, which is the arab world. the economists had a cover story this last week called the tragedy of the arab world or something like that. the basic point was if you looked at 2011 there was all this hope of the arab spring. basically it has been completely

dashed. libya is a mess. iraq is a mess. syria is a mess. israel/palestine has flared up again. their argument is this is a very deep rooted culture that is resistant to modernity for all kinds of reasons, the arab culture, islam oil, you know, it's not going to change. are you that pessimistic? >> it's a silly argument. in fact, the public empowerment that emerged with the arab up risings was going to transform it overnight into a democracy is a silly one. what do we have that's happened with the arab up rising? we've had the new person empowered by the american revolution. in the short term it was bound to be more problematic. once you weaken the state and empower everybody, everybody doesn't agree with each other, the left and the right, the religious and the secular,

that's a recipe for much more conflict and competition for power within. the old bureaucracies don't go away. they're all going to vie for power. you open it up for international intervention. the weak state allows for international intervention. in the short term it's messy. the optimism isn't for the short term, that's what's with us to stay at some point is going to force more and more participation. that's what we see today. >> let me ask you to move to obama. how is obama handling these -- i think everyone agrees these are deep structural changes that will be difficult to predict but given that. >> i think people have to understand they're going to get worse before they get better. they're going to get worse before they get worse. the president of the united states over two administrations

has made it worse. what we have done is erupted a flawed old order. we have essentially knocked the skids out from under the old order and we've been unable or unwilling to put anything better in its place. american commitment to quote, unquote, regime change from iraq through libya has taken this old order and has helped destroy it. it's not ready for something better. >> was it inevitable? what could we have done? the place was in chaos. it didn't seem as though gadhafi could survive. >> we did not have -- >> civil war or regime change. >> two things. i disagree. we did not have to -- things had actually begun to calm down before the united states and europe got involved. gadhafi was i think on the verge of re-establishing something of consolidating his authority. again, even if you disagree with me, where was the aftermath? it's not enough for the united states to and europe to say

gadhafi is eavil. he has to get out. where was the follow-up? >> i think setting aside the morality and ethics, it's actually absolutely unrealistic. it is not a foreign policy realism to yearn for the old authoritarian regimes. the world has changed. we shouldn't be overstating our own western agency in other parts of the world. sure, we can act, would he can push things at the margins, but really what is happening is you are seeing these young cohorts absolutely empowered by the digital age and by globalization and they are saying, we do not want these old corrupt authoritarian regimes. they're not equipped, it's absolutely right. richard is right that the revolutionaries don't have the follow through and the woes doesn't have the follow through plan, but it is really a false hope to -- a false nostalgia to say it was better.

the long term is more hopeful. you had the prague spring, hungarian uprising. things didn't get better but the leaders of those revolutions turned out in 1989 to be ready for primetime. >> here's something i have to ask you about before we go because it is something the united states has control over. president obama said in a famous speech in germany, america has to listen to europe more carefully. it turns out he was listening very carefully to the germans in particular. how serious is that germany would expel the head of the -- i can't remember anything comparable. >> increasingly germany is dominated by a society who doesn't think of the united states as a liberator. they see the united states as invader of iraq and through nsa. we have a serious problem on our hands. i say this from my time in government and the question of what you do in terms of

espionage. you should only contemplate it in extremists. >> you have always said that tapping chancellor merkel's phone was idiotic. >> it was a sloppy consequential -- >> you just put your finger on it. sloppiness seems to be the order of the day with the administration. it's one thing after the other. no idea that mosul was about to fall into the hands of isis. no further planning for bergdahl. the president after the nsa, what's remarkable about this, after the nsa scandal it turns out there is ongoing spying in germany. so you have an administration that is constantly surprised not only by events but by its own actions. you don't have a sense of adult responsibility coming out of the white house. >> just on this, i think you know obviously this is a bad episode but it's not going to be strategically problematic for the president.

i want to go back one minute on obama's middle east policy. i think they got two things right. the solution is not in the hands of the u.s. and military intervention certainly is not going to fix things for the united states. that thing they got right. what they didn't get right is they were lured by the romance of public empowerment and that is luring. they forgot who writes the checks. >> final thought. >> final thought on germany. i don't think this is about germany turning against the u.s., i this i this is about a fundamental u.s. goal. this is when the u.s. needs more multi-laterallism. the world is a complicated and dangerous place, and you guys need other countries to help you out so when you spy on your friends, it makes them less friendly especially after the president has said to chancellor merkel i'm not going to do it anymore. >> you're saying this as a canadian. >> i'm saying it as a canadian politician. we love you guys but please don't spy on zblus that being said, you know your phone is

probably tapped. >> i'm not that important. >> thank you all. fantastic conversation. when we come back, did the united states bully a french bank into paying a $9 billion fine? was it smart? we will explore bnp paribas. the cadillac summer collection is here. ♪ ♪

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world segment.

i'm sure you heard of the paris based bank bnpparibas. they agreed to pay a staggering $8.9 billion fine, larger than its annual profits. it must have violated a slew of laws, right? actually, no. it hadn't violated french law or e.u. law or any of the obligations under the w.t.o. or u.n. it hadn't violated a french/american treaty. they violated a set of unilateral american sanctions passed by congress that were never affirmed or followed by the european union or france and neither the buyers or sellers in any of the transactions bnp was involved in were americans. >> bnp went to really elaborate lengths to conceal prohibited transactions. >> so what was washington's hold on bnp? it all centers on the central role that the dollar plays in today's globalized economy.

you see, even if two foreign companies want to do a deal, assuming it is a large transaction, the deal is likely to be denominated in dollars. the currency that everyone has access to is available in ample supply, is a symbol of stability, and as a result, remains the world's reserve currency. but here's the catch. if the deal is denominated in dollars, at some point it has to go through an institution with an american banking license, which gives it access to the federal reserve system. without this access no bank can really function in the global economy today. welcome to america's economic nuclear weapon. in fact, it's even more lethal because unlike nukes, only america has this weapon. in some ways this power has grown as economies have become more globalized and trade and capital flow around the world. it is this weapon that is real force behind the iranian

sanctions, the reason that iran simply cannot conduct much international trade anymore. it is this weapon that lies behind the threats to ramp up sanctions against russia, that if acted upon would ensure that russian banks, companies, and business men named would lose access to the dollar window and, thus, make all their transactions more difficult and expensive. now this might seem a good thing when you consider what bnp has pled guilty to. aiding and abetting the tyrannical moderate, even genocidal regime in sudan. it has been brought to the negotiating table. russia should worry about the cost of its actions in ukraine, but, but, but the problem is that this is a unilateral american power that is prone to abuse. right now in wielding this weapon, a handful of american officials are prosecutors,

judges, jurors and hang men. they accuse a condition, determine that it is guilty, threaten to withdraw access to the dollar and then levy fines. the economist says that the legal process used against bnp paribas with no rules, no checks and balances, no appeals process was, quote, closer to an extorsion racket than justice, end quote. in america's usual chaotic and entrepreneurial system, this means that local regulators can pursue their own agendas for self-serving motives. in the bnp case, new york's regulator got a portion of the size. the capriciousness with which the you u.s. has sometimes used its authority has led to growing resentment around the world from france, to moscow, to beijing. for now the dollar reins supreme, but if these actions proliferate, it will fuel the search for some alternative

system that does not place countries at the mercy of any and every american regulator. this dollar window is somewhat like another favorite american weapon, the killer drone. when used in a carefully controlled set of circumstances for vital and justifiable reasons against truly nefarious people, it serves a powerful purpose, but if used too often or loosely, carelessly and arrogantly, it can produce a backlash that undermines the basic objective. bnp got what it deserved, but perhaps it is time for the united states to set up a proper system with checks and balances that determines when this exorbitant privilege of having the world's reserve currency can be used as a deadly weapon of economic war. next on "gps," my guest, sweden's foreign minister said that putin's invasion of crimea

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as things heat up in israel and elsewhere, at least we can take some solace that russia has been easing up on ukraine, right? wrong. on tuesday after leaving a meeting with president obama, nato's secretary general andres rasmussen told reporters that

russia was playing a double game. despite parliament revoking president putin's authority to invade ukraine, russia continues to mass troops on the border and aid the pro-russian separatists in ukraine accord to go rasmussen. another voice speaking out loudly, publicly and damningly was my next guest, carl bildt. he was swedes den's prime minister. he is now the scandinavian nation's foreign minister. carl bildt, thank you for joining me. >> thank you. >> you gave a tough speech at the atlantic council this week in which you said russia's annexation of crimea has only one parallel in modern history in the last 30, 40 years, and that was iraq, saddam hussein's annexation of kuwait. that was, of course, met with a massive international coalition that repulsed that intervention.

what is one to conclude from the fact that there is no such -- no such forceful counter measure in this case? >> well, i mean, in the case of saddam hussein and kuwait, of course, there was a resolution by the u.n. security council. now russia is a member of the security council so that will never happen. they are going to block everything that is related to this, but i think it is important that we are extremely firm on how grave the violation of international law is that russia has undertaken in the case of crimea and that we make very clear to russia that the invasion, the occupation and the annexation of crimea will have consequenc consequences. we'll never accept it and it will be burdened on our bilateral relationship for as long as it lasts. we're not going to undo the occupation immediately, but we must be very clear that it is not acceptable. it was not acceptable in the kuwait case. it is not acceptable in the crimea case. it is not acceptable in any future cases either.

>> do you believe that the west has responded with enough in terms of putting costs on russia for this? there have been some sanctions from the united states, even fewer from the eu. it seems not a lot compared with the gravity of the situation you describe. >> no, but i think there has been other indirect costs to russia that has been and has to be even more substantial. it's true that the formal sanctions or restricted measures have not been that extensive but there is no question it has unsettled russia. it has also made and made by president put tune, he has made russia an unpredictable country. if there's anything that a businessman wants to have is predictability. i think virtually all decisions to invest in russia are on hold for quite some time to come. russia desperately needs technology, capital, trade with the west in order to undertake the modernization that russia

needs beyond just the military sphere. >> i was in sweden, your country, last week, and i was struck by the fact that in sweden, and in finland even more so, there is a conversation taking place that would have been unthinkable two years ago, which is should sweden be a part of nato? should finland be a part of nato? these are conversations being had, of course, because of various russian statements and actions which have made people worry about their security in that region. >> that's true. i mean, there's no doubt that we are facing strategic environment, not only in northern europe, all over, that is more fragile, perhaps more threatening, perhaps more dangerous. that has led to debate about eventual membership of nato, finland or sweden. i don't think that will happen imminently. it requires a wide consensus in our countries, that is not there at the moment.

the fact that the debate is there is a significant sign. >> do you think president obama has handled the ukrainian situation well? >> i think so. i think there has been leadership coming out of washington on these issues. the perspective of the world from washington is a fairly complex one at the moment. everything is very, very complex at the moment, but the ukraine/russia situation is one where it's fairly clear-cut what's happening, fairly clear-cut what our policy should be and also been fairly clear-cut that we can only be successful if we act together. the europeans unite with acting together with the united states. nothing is perfect but i think it's been better than he's giving credit for. >> tell us where you think this will go two years from now. where will we be? >> i don't know, but i think the number one thing that we need to do is to concentrate to help ukraine. this he have a very difficult security situation with the destabilization that's going on in the eastern most part. we need to support their peace efforts. we need to try to engage the

russians with that. we need to have the economy which is in miserable shape, i think there is a readiness among the people of the ukraine who are more united than ever to accept the deep and comprehensive and painful reforms that are going to be necessary. i think two years from now there's a realistic opportunity of us having turned the corner with ukraine in terms of the economy, in terms of political stability and i hope that one would then see in moscow as well that this is a matter of fact invaluable to this world. >> pleasure to have you on as always. >> always a pleasure. next on "gps" the great burden of student debt in america. washington hasn't been able to figure out a way to fix the problem, but i will take you to a place that has found a novel solution, that gives kids a jump start on college as well when we come back. that's keeping you fm the healthcare you deserve.

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when it comes to student debt in america, the numbers are truly staggering. in 2012, 71% of new bachelor's degree graduates had debt averaging over $20,000. student debt has quadrupled topping 1 trillion dollars.

congress passed legislation to refinance student loans and it went nowhere. president obama's recent transaction doesn't solve the problem either. we wondered if there was a solution for the problem outside of washington and found an interesting one in the denver metro area. it's the next installment in our multi-part series, where america works, looking at local leaders getting things done despite the dysfunctions in washington. like millions of students across the country, salamasina celebrated her high school graduation. she's not your average high school graduate. in the same month she graduated from college with an associate's degree. >> i think it's definitely life changing. all of this hard work, it seems like it paid off. she has 13 brothers and sisters so money in the family doesn't come easily. >> even something as simple as -- >> but the courses she took at

the community college of a roir ra were completely free. she and her three sisters, who have taken free college classes while in high school saved over $70,000 on tuition. she and her sister melinita are the first college graduates in the family. >> if my parents had to pay for college for all of us, i don't know if it would be possible so concurrent enrollment has helped my family financially. >> concurrent enrollment is a program that allows high school students to take college classes for credit. the program has exploded in the denver metro area where courses are being offered free of charge. in denver's public schools and the nearby aurora public school system, 1 in 3 seen yours took the classes. >> you have the general themes but you need to pum specific details. >> that's a big deal because

students who take college courses in high school are known to vastly outperform their peers. one study showed that such students were more than twice as likely to go on to college than those who didn't take college courses. >> you know, we've had some visitors from outside the country, too. >> the denver area's success was a collaboration between jon barry, the former superintendant of aurora public schools and dr. linda bowman, former president of the community college . barry served with secretary of defense dick cheney, retiring as a two star general. he and bowman faced big challenges in aurora. less than half of students were going on to college when berry signed on in 2006. >> we were losing way too many people when it came to realizing their potential, and we brainstormed. >> bowman and berry decided to get aurora students of all

stripes into free college classes. >> sometimes it's one of those things where it's so high, the college, getting them to go to college. why don't you take this one course. once they get past that and they can pass it, they realize this is not a mountain they can't climb. >> but at the time colorado state law allowed only juniors and seniors in high school to take just two college classes per semester. so bowman and others advised then governor bill richer to change the laws, a new measure sailed through the state legislature 100-0. still, bowman and berry faced a huge challenge, integrating two massive bureaucracies with tens of thousands of faculty and students. >> it was kind of, you know, let's try this. let's see how this works out. >> so you have seen two different approaches, right? >> one idea, develop qualified high school teachers to become adjunct community college professors so they could teach college courses in the high

schools allowing the schools to share costs. >> esp plus c -- >> bowman and berry saw dozens of high school teachers become college professors. >> because? a little louder please. >> thanks to their strong partnership, concurrent elrollment has grown dramatically. in 2006-2007 there were only 26 students taking college classes. during the last academic year there were over 1200. at the community college of aurora, 1 in 4 students is now a high school student. >> psychology tells us that -- >> in fact, concurrent enrollment became so widespread in aurora's high schools, that a college accreditation body paid a visit declaring four of the schools to be official locations of the community college. they said what's happening here in aurora needs to be done around the country. >> statewide in colorado, around 1 in 5 of all juniors and seniors took college classes

last year thanks to changes in the law that bowman helped bring about. >> this program actually changed lives. >> in aurora, fafita actually got her college degree before her high school diploma because her college graduation ceremony was nine days earlier than high school graduation. >> i'm just in debt to this program for everything it's done for me and for the people who have made it possible. >> stay tuned. we'll have two more installments of where america works in coming weeks. up next, a russian coverup, but this one isn't about spies or scandals, this one is about skin. i will explain when we come back. okay, movie night.everyone wins.

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president obama visited texas this week and addressed the problem of unaccompanied minors crossing into the united states. it brings me to my question this week, which country received the most new asylum claims last year? france? germany? turkey? or the united states? stay tuned and we'll tell you the correct answer. this week's book is "beach reading for nerds" john brock man's "the universe." it explains the major fascinating debates and advances in understanding, well, the universe. it deals with cosmic inflation, the big bang, the aftermath of the big bang. basically some of the most

fundamental questions of physics all elegantly lucidly written. i have to confess, i didn't always understand everything, but i learned an awful lot. and now for the last look. this is the world famous bolshoi theater in moscow. a statue of apollo, the greek god of music riding his chariot has sat atop the bolshoi's portico for more than 150 years. in the 1990s the statue joined the ranks of princes and emporers when it was added to the nation's curbs si. it decorates the front of the 100 ruble note. last month it was requested that the central bank remove this iconic image. it seems he is offended by the greek god's clothing or lack thereof. you see, following a recent theater restoration a more modest version of the bolshoi statue was unveiled with a

strategically placed figure leaf. the bill doesn't match the statue and finds them unsuitable for children. it echos a growing conservatism in the russian government. the parliament unanimously passed anti-gay legislation banning propaganda of nonsexual relations to youth. who knows what the law means, but what we do know is that the fine for a person breaking it is steep, up to 100,000 rubles to be paid in denominations other than hundreds, i guess. that's about $3,000. president putin has strongly supported this anti-gay legislation. something tells me, however, that mr. putin will not be as offended by the lack of clothes. remember this famous image of the bare chested macho man of the euros. the correct answer to our "gps" challenge question was, b, germany, which had 109,600 new

asylum claims last year. the united states was second with 88,400. a large percentage of germany's population is also foreign born. 13 pi 13.1% compared to the u.s.'s. thanks for being part of my program this week. program this week. i will see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. i'm aaron mcpike. here are the big stories we're following at this our. more airstrikes are coming aimed at hamas sites. the israel defense forces dropped leaflets in gaza warning them to leave. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the idf is ready for all possibilities echoing what a spokesman told wolf blitzer friday. >> what about tanks, armored personnel carriers, formal invasion of gaza as has occurred

in the past? >> we're preparing that possibility. i mean, it's not something we wanted to do but in the past five or six days we have brought up the forces and indeed there is a substantial force on the border with gaza. if the order is given, we are prepared for that type of activity. the gaza health ministry says 168 people have died. it intercepted two rockets over tel aviv were fired. a scary crash in indiana this morning as a grayhound bus and a car collide. officials say at least one person is dead and more than a dozen were hurt. it's not clear how the crash happened, but according to an official at the hospital, the bus had just left indianapolis. mexican police may have found the body of an american missing for the last six months. harry devert disappeared in a violent part of mexico during a

motorcycle trip. his motorcycle and remains were found in a shallow grave. his mother is in mexico to try to identify his body. police are also running dna tests. i'm erin mcpike in washington. "reliable sources" starts right now. good morning. i'm brian stelter, and it's time for "reliable sources." this is called pebble beach where you always see reporters doing live shots. i'm here for an exclusive interview with the brand new press secretary, josh irwin. we also have a lot more coming up for you including a fascinating conversation that we are calling the arms race. it's about women, television news, and attractiveness. hear how the on air dress code has changed quite a bit over the years. we'll also tell you about two very different books involving hillary clinton and why one of her