amy: alia malek, your response? >> she raises important points, but the reality is, we don't know we cannot aluate trump's motivationbecause we have no real answers on the collusion th rsia. if it is true that trump is really friends with putin, then this is a kind of theater. this is what a lot of syrians are saying today, it is a performance to make it look like there is independence between the two world leaders. we are at day one. do i think there is some sort of articulation of a coherent policy from this administration as to what to do in syria? absolutely not. we are sort of speculating at this point. until we can know with transparency with the relationship is between this administration, the election, and the ssians. amy: lina, if you could respond to what phyllis said and also let's go to the comment of tulsa gabbard that i was just --king about, who just said she warned the attack could escalate to nuclear war, saying -- "it angers and saddens me that president trump has taken the advice of war hawks and

we were begin with alia malek -- we begin with alia malek, author of "the home that was our country: a memoir of syria" and we have lina sergie attar syrian-american writer from , aleppo. she is co-founder and head of the karam foundation, a charitable organization assisting syrians inside and outside country. phyllis bennis is a fellow at the institute for policy studies. your response to this news of this first u.s. attack on the syrian government, on the syrian military in response, president trump said last night, to the gas attack on tuesday? >> yes, that is what he said. but what is actual motivations were r remain to be seen. my reaction is that there are a few things that are clear. one, president trump is distinguishing himself from his predecessor and he is showing is a man of action. he has asserted or the is created thee appearance of asserting and independence from russia, which given the intrigue surrounding the russian involvement with his election, is something that would have a benefit to him. most importantly, what is missing, we don't really know what effect this w

fred malek. last but certainly not least, we'd like to recognize and honor our nation's veterans who as president nixon said in serving god and country having sought not glory for themselves but peace and freedom for all. as a special tribute to all those serving or who have served, honorably in the armed forces, the university of southern california trojan marching band will play the armed forces medley. when you hear the hymn of your branch of the service, please stand and be recognized. art, take it away. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ applause ] thank you. very special. ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege to introduce the eldest daughter of president and first lady nixon, tricia nixon-cox. >> thank you. and welcome to the richard nixon library and museum and birthplace. today, we celebrate the opening of the meticulously researched historically accurate new addition of the library. thank you so much for being here. you make this special day even more special. and i'm so glad we can sh

. >> alla malek is a civil right lawyer born in baltimore. she's her child's attorney in the department of justice. in the works in the west bank and lebanon. if you a masters in journalism from columbia university. her books include, a country called america, a us history retold. arab life and her new memoir, the home that was our country, about syria. we will be discussing it today. elliott ackerman is the author of green on blue and dark at the crossing. he lives and incidental and covered the syrian wars since 2013. his writings have appeared in the new yorker, east east

. >> alla malek is a civil right lawyer born in baltimore. she's her child's attorney in the department of justice. in the works in the west bank and lebanon. if you a masters in journalism from columbia university. her books include, a country called america, a us history retold. arab life and her new memoir, the home that was our country, about syria. we will be discussing it today. elliott ackerman is the author of green on blue and dark at the crossing. he lives and incidental and covered the syrian wars since 2013. his writings have appeared in the new yorker, east east atlantic and the stories have been included in the best american short stories. he's a former marine and served five tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan where he received the silver star, bronze star for valor in the purple heart. welcome everybody. [applause] when we think about the arab spring, it's this thing in 2011 that started this glorious fire and it seemed to stir into asia, 18 days of furious energy, and egypt that brought down libya and laid in. yemen and bah

i'm really excited to lead the conversation today with alia a malek. as mentioned, is she's a civil rights attorney, a journalist, a powerful advocate for refugees, butted the we're here because she's the author of her new week, "the home that was our country." it's an incredible story about her going back to syria and discovering her own family history and telling the story of syria's past, the present that she lived at the time and the future that it has now become. and i just wanted to start, alia, with asking you why you decided to go back when you did to tell the story of your grandmother and renovating the home that she lived in. >> hi, everybody. thanks for coming. thank you, leyla, for doing this. thank you, word, for hosting. well, i think as a lot of us can attest in this room, because there's a lot of former cairo correspondents, that moment in february of 2011 it seemed like something was about to give in the middle east, and, you know, i've said this before, but it felt like i had been waiting for that moment since 1967 even though i wasn'

. >> woodruff: finally tonight, reflections on coming to the united states from author alia malek, whosiders the various journeys syrian refugees take on their many roads from damascus. >> in september 2015, i felt i had to drop everything to go to turkey to travel with syrians, as they hurriedly made their way to europe, trying to beat the rapidly closing of borders. as a syrian american, their fate was one i had only accidentally been spared. i couldn't help thinking of how different these circumstances were from how my own syrian family had ended up in diaspora, of how my mother, pregnant with me, herself had left damascus. unlike the dangerous mediterranean sea crossings and the trek through the balkans, her trip itself wasn't treacherous, and it wasn't undignified. she was traveling to baltimore to join my father, a medical resident at the university of maryland. while emotionally painful for her journey couldn't have been easier. she had left on her terms. she could have stayed. she wasn't facing imminent death or displacement, as people are today. indeed, both my parents meant t