or how to prop up assad. more sophisticated than not is an examination of the quandaries that america faces and the possible dilemma that would result from an over attempt to oust a serious assad from power. as a commentator, and i'd invited the vice chairman at the center for national interest and former undersecretary of defense in the george w. bush administration to comment on bob's exposition of his essay for us. >> thank you very much coming jacob. it's a great pleasure to be here. bentley described the article. the article has a narrow principle which is that maybe things we can do. no-fly zones, no bombing zones and military experts can comment on that. one thing that we should not do is regime change or toppling the regime. you may say that is obvious. nobody is really discussing not. the new cycle will shift. in 10 days we may be in a new cycle or inuit ministration will say it all options are open so to speak. a listed mapping that i wrote a piece. i also wrote the piece to point out some relevant

charlie: how did the conversation end with assad? dexter: i think he made it clear to us that he is not going anywhere. he talks about this election they had in 2014 where he got something like 90% of the vote. he said i'm the captain of the ship. the captain of the ship does not abandon, does not jump overboard in the middle of a storm. i'm steering the ship. charlie: is by definition the reality we are looking at mean the obama policy failed? dexter: there are two policies. one is syria and the other is iraq. we've kind of -- charlie: this was about syria. dexter: we are preserving the iraqi state and holding that together. charlie: or was the president right? dexter: i think president obama has made it clear that he thinks if we try to do more in syria, we are just going to make it worse. you get yourself involved down in the weeds in the middle east and you are just going to get tangled up and make it worse, but president obama has been very clear assad must go. that is the overall objective of american policy and has been. charl

and assad hasn't gone anywhere. so, you know, if the united states has clearly failed in that objective, i think. >> rose: second paragraph of your piece. in the five and a half years since the uprising in syria began, it has become the most catastrophic war of our young century. assad most vilified national leader in the world, as many as 400,000 syrians are dead and some 11 million, nearly half the country's population, have been driven from their homes. hundreds of thousands have fled to europe, hundreds of those have drowned in the mediterranean. assad has been branded a war criminal, bombasted for government's use of torture, bomb batteredments of cities and use of chlorine gas. most countries including the united states severed diplomatic relations. president obama called repeatedly for him to step down. he has remained in power thanks in large part to the west's reluctance to involve itself heavily in the conflict and a the sitessive military intervention on behalf of russia, iran and hezbollah, aleppo, you g

assad's prisons. and there is this bizarre, i've never understood it this bizarre focus on recording every death. that's why we know the numbers. recording the deaths and putting a number on that body and cataloging this. for some reason, to tail tear -- otalitarian regime have done this, from the soviet era, to the nazis to pol pot. and for whatever reason, this practice continues. the foreign affairs exe heard agonizing testimony to syrians caught in this horror, including the brave syrian defector known o the world now as caesar, who testified to us the shocking scale of torture being carried out within the prisons of syria. it was his job for the regime to document this with his camera. throughout all of the suffering, the administration has failed to use the tools at its disposal. time after time when given the opportunity to take steps to stop this suffering, the administration has decided not to decide. and that itself, unfortunately, has set a course where, here we sit. and we watch, and the v

rush are all assad -- bashar al-assad. >> dw was recently told that there would be no east aleppo byhristmas. was he right? >> he probably meant that it would not be held by the opposition forces any longer. it really looks like he is very correct in assuming this. it could be a couple of days until the rest of it falls to the hands of the regime. >> what does this mean for the humanitarian crisis in that part of the city? >> it will probably continue as long as the fighting goes on, basically once it's over, the situation will get better for the civilian population. there will be no reason to bomb eastern aleppo any longer. >> the lombard since -- bombardments will stop. >> he has achieved his goals and really restructured syria in the sense that most parts of the country that he wants to get a hold of, namely the areas where his a la white coalition is to live, it's under his control now. once eastern aleppo's -- eastern aleppo falls, the western strategy of seeing him toppled and replaced by another regime will have failed. >> i spoke with several former residents of aleppo earlie

as to my position on president assad, assad as president has actively tried to kill his own people. help has bombed them with barrel bombs in a most terrible way. he has brought untold suffering over his people. if you look at aleppo and other places. when you talk to the refugees who have fled here to germany, they will be able to tell you their own personal story. the great majority of them fled assad. so i don't see him as an ally. >> translator: thank you very much. mr. president, you describe your hopes rather more -- great historical terms. let me break this down to months and years. the fact that steven bannon was made as chief strategist, the fact that prominent republican representatives did not decide to join this transition team. what makes you confident president trump can be a partner to the world and europe and germany? if you hear those words of praise of the president with regard to you, this -- what he said, can this not sort of demand too much from you and from germany? because too many is demanded, too much is expected from you, too great are the expectations you

. >>> assad, as ally? the syrian president calls trump a natural ally who could help his government and russia fight terrorists. how does that square with you new and horrifying images of the syrian leader attacks his schools and children and hospitals instead of fighting isis? i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." >>> tonight we're sorting through conflicting reports about whether donald trump's transition effort is mired in turmoil or, as the president-elect says, it's going so smoothly. trump took to twitter overnight to deny reports of disarray, insisting a very organized process is under way and he is the only one who knows the, quote, finalists for his cabinet. this as his son-in-law becomes a lightning rod. amid the comings and goings at trump tower, trying to reassure reporters that things are methodical and that the team will not rush to put names forward. pence was in washington this afternoon getting advice from vice president joe biden. we're also following new concerns about the i

does it mean he wants to keep assad? where do you put him on that spectrum? >> i think it's a mistake. he works off of emotion. he works off of impulse. he wants to make america great. they are completely inconsistent. exactly right. he doesn't want to get in wars and he wants to do worse, whatever that is. he wants to buddy up to putin. he hasn't really ever dpsh you're a guest here you tend to be somebody. but he opposes the iran deal. he is not confident to try to avoid war. what is it? >> it is a total contradiction. i don't think it's he's without any thought. what he looks at is a bad deal. in other words he is the art of the deal guy. that's why president obama said yesterday in his press conference so far it is working. they are saying it's working. don't mess with it donald. >> he has never been taken. >> i am voting for -- he said he wanted to bomb iran totally for >> he just likes loyalty. she no walk in the park either. his temperament is probably worse. >> it has become a -- rudy has no idea what he is doing. we think he is mr. national security

so as to my position on president assad, assad as president has actively tried to kill his own peoplehe has bombed them with barrel bombs in a most terrible way, he has brought untold suffering over his people if you look at aleppo and other places. when you talk to the many syrian refugees who have fled here to germany, they will be able to tell you their own personal story. ask the majority of them, the great majority of them fled from assad. and most of them not even ned the i -- fled the i.s., so i don't see him as an ally. [speaking german] >> translator: thank you very much. mr. president, you describe your hopes rather more in great historical terms. let me break this down to months and years. the fact that stephen ban nonwas made as chief strategist meeting mr. be percentage, and the fact that prominent republican representatives did not decide to join this transition team, what makes you confident, against the background of this that president trump can be a reliable partner to the world and to germany? now, madam chancellor, if you hear those words of praise of the president

said heresident assad might have a natural ally is donald trump?: get a phone conversation with the chinese premier. he is reaching out to international leaders, some who have had a different perspective towards the u.s. during the obama administration. is questions about how donald trump will run his foreign policy because he has the foreignnose at policy establishment. katty: what are you hearing? anthony: they are having difficulty trying to make peace with donald trump. a member of the george w. bush roteign-policy team w yesterday saying how members of the establishment should work with donald trump. that they have a duty to help him. donald trump tweeted that they were angry and arrogant. that they cannot work with him. you're seeing names floated for high-level foreign-policy positions that are not experts. rudy giuliani been floated as a secretary of state. he has very little foreign-policy experience. katty: mr. trump has 4000 posts to fill. it always takes a long time to get them all filled. but this seems to be moving slower than previou

that would be welcomed in damascus by assad. focusing his energies on removing assad disengaged the conflict in syria. there is an expectation that trump will ignore the aspect of the war and may withdraw as well. likely left interested in removing assad from power himself, with was the goal of the obama administration. and thosefor assad who say trump is likely to give the syrian government and russia a blank check to carry out their bombing in syria. genie: thank you for that. nadia reporting from beirut. in the united states co, trump has traveled his transition team again. he dumped two advisors and is facing major backlash from an one. rallypresentative has behind its speaker, paul ryan. >> celebrating the recent electoral victory, republicans in the house of representatives are staying united. on tuesday, house gop leaders voted unanimously to renominate all ryan from wisconsin as speaker for the upcoming 2017 session. >> this leadership team is unified. this entire house republican conference is unified. we are so eager t

assad at: i don't like all, but iran, russia or killing isis.under the obama administration, the u.s. plan of action in syria was largely to support so-called moderate rebel troops fighting bashar al-assad and the islamic state organization. there is now speculation that trump could stop financing these rebels after he said last friday that he has no idea who these people were. which many members of the us-led coalition fear sould put an end to assad' diplomatic isolation. hasa: in iraq, the army defeated islamic state jihadist but the ancient sites will never be the same. iraqi officials are looking to see if any of the runs can be salvaged but some of the most important sites have been completely destroyed. robert parsons is in the city and sent us this report. to believet's hard it now, but this was once one of the most magnificent archaeological sites in the world. it's here that a king 3000 years ago built his power. many of the statues and frescoes from that time were preserved, the highest quality, but all of it destroyed an act of wonton

we are just not getting help or interest from those parties supporting assad, and assad as a consequence has been emboldened. but this is a man who has destroying his country, turning it to rubble, populationits scattered or killed was worth it for him to cling to power. -- power, when he had the option to peacefully engage in a transition i could've kept the country intact. -- that could've kept the country intact. that's his mentality. it's not a mentality we support. that's a mentality that the russians and iranians have been willing to support. at this stage, we are going to a change in how all parties think about this in order for us to end the situation there. our ability to go after isil can be sustained. there is doubt there will continue to be extremist forces in and around syria because it still will be in chaos for quite some time. there will be elements in iraq, just as there have been elements in afghanistan even after the taliban was swept out, even after we killed bin laden. i think we can effectively reduce the risk, and take their

but neither putin or assad fought them. >> so, i mean, it's unfair, you think, to see assad as a secularo kept a multireligious society together. >> every dictator in our world for some time could have these different ethnic groups together. it's a new world. and the greatest threat to american interest is the collapse of the traditional alliance. now instead of looking at middle east. by the way, american military doing a good job by pushing isis. i think the world will be won fairly soon. president trump look at nato. make sure poland and allies by the way across pacific japan and south korea they are reassured that america is still a leader in the freedom. >> i think that's a good point. mr. cass trof, thank you for joining us. really interesting. up next, megyn kelly live on the set. you'll have to keep watching to find out what that segment is about. don't go away. liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. liberty did what? yeah, with liberty mutual all i needed to do to get an estimate was snap a photo of the damage and voila! voila! (

so the west has to choose assad, iran, and russia or isis. >> why does assad and iran for that matterighting back against isis or would they be if we weren't there. the united states swat supported the administration and the half measures, but the russians are perfectly content as is assad and the iranians to let the united states take on isis and go after the capital of raqqa and that has it's own complications with the turks and various sunni rebel groups, so if we ever do go to the negotiating able to, they're in an extreme position of strength. >> what are the implications of that going forward? giving everything they're doing around the world and trying to exterminate christians around the world. to attack american citizens. in one sense we don't have a choice, but to go in and back the group going after isis. >> you're absolutely right and i don't mean to say that we should not be going after isis. i think we should be doing more in arming the groups against isis. i just want to be very careful is the notion that we should work with the russians against isis. the russians don't

assad has shown he will kill his own people. he will continue to do that.ion is over the next few months, will president obama act. i don't think so. and what will president trump inherit. some people argue that the syrian forces simply aren't strong enough. there's 250,000 people there, a large number of rebel fighters, they won't be able to take east aleppo. but what will the american public think as president trump comes into office if you have what we have today, 50 people dying a day, the chemical weapons attack you mentioned, no hospitals. president trump has said he will sort of pull us out of syria. how will that look to americans, how will that look to u.s. allies in the region? the violence is escalating. >> what can be done? if someone were to actually act right now, what can be done? >> well, there's a decisive move, a move that president-elect trump has talked about which is to pull back, to not arm the rebels, to let essentially syrian forces retake aleppo with russia's support and just say the united states isn't going to do anything to stop

, bashar al-assad.e: some hold their tongue, desperate for safety wherever they find it now. there is nothing left of the lives they knew. aleppo has endured war for the past four years, but not like this. this latest offensivby syria's military, backed by its friends. militias from iraq, iran, lebanon. >> the situation has become worse than ever. since 15 days, i've been under heaviest bombing ever. we haven't seen this before. lyse: in the past few days alone, they captured one , andict, then another almost 40% of rebel territory for east aleppo is back in government hands. president assad's supporters sense victory. on social media, an aleppo mp denounces the rebels as terrorists. a well-known nun rejoices, saying aleppo and its families will be united again. "time to regret, but also to build a better future." but for many in east aleppo, hope, life, has been ripped away. >> there is so many, many casualties here. some people have died. people in the streets are talking to themselves. they are going

you have to do something like that with the royal family of assad. give them the alawites, some lilt canton where they can live happily and free the rest of the country to be sunni. maybe that's too complicated, but maybe the russians can make that happen and it will end the bloodbath. it can be done. >> this is absurd. that's what president obama has been trying to do, use russia to cut a deal with assad. it doesn't work, because these people don't have the interest in -- >> maybe there has to be a more sophisticated approach, which is, we're beginning to break up the country. >> but then the question becomes, chris, what do we give putin in return for that great favor? do we give him the baltic states? do we go easy on nato in europe? this is what the people i talked to today, the diplomats from europe were saying. they're worried -- you know, supposedly the president went over there, oddly enough, the sitting president depose over to europe to reassure the european allies that the incoming president is okay with nato. yeah, nato, maybe. but what a

assad said just yesterday he hopes trump will be an ally.> whether he can do, or live up to his promises, or not. that's how we're very cautious in judging them, especially as he wasn't in a political position before. so we cannot say anything about what he's going to do. but if -- that's if, if he's going to fight the terrorists, of course we're going to be allied with the russians, with many other countries who want to defeat the terrorists. >> so, jason, will president-elect trump be an ally of syria's bashar al assad? >> well, carol, i appreciate the questions, but let's face it, that's assad doing some statesmanship, and he's trying to do a little bit of gaming before this. remember, right now we have a president in power, so we actually have the executive branch able to operate. what president-elect trump is going to do as he's promised and laid out in his foreign policy speeches is make sure the interests of america is first. we have soldiers in harm's way, as you point out, every day right now in combat. so what's most important is t

so, as to my position on president assad, assad as president has active hi tried to kill his own people. he has bombed them with bare many bombs in the most terrible ways. he has brought untold suffering over his people. if you look at aleppo and other places. when you talk to the many syrian refugees who have fled here to germany, they will be able to tell you their own personal story. and the majority of them, great majority fled from assad. most of them not even fled the i.s. so i don't see him as an ally. >> translator: thank you very much. mr. president, you describe your hopes rather more in great historical terms. let me break this down to months and years. the fact that stephen bannon was made as chief strategist, and the fact prominent republican representatives did not decide to join this transition team, what makes you confident against the background of this that president trump can be a good partner to germany and europe? madame president, if you hear those words of praise as president with regard to you, this, what he said, can this not sort of demand too much from you and

if trump will be supportive of assad and assad will control the rest of the syria and he will declareictory and continue to be a president for the next 14 years, as he has promised, then that will really be the last nail in the coffin of the aspiration of the people of syria who rose up in the beginning of this five years ago for freedoms and liberties that we enjoy and all support. nermeen: i want to thank you both for joining us, dr. sahloul, fofounder of thehe american rerelease coalition for syria and senior advisor and former president of the syrian american medical society. he has visited aleppo five times since the war began. he was a classmate of bashar alal assad. bassam haddadad is director of the middle east and islamic studies program. thank you for joining us. he is associate professor at george mason university, co-founder of jadaliyya. he is director of the arab studies institute. he wrote a piece for the nation last month headlined, "the debate over syria has reacached a dead end." when we come back, we turn to trump's policies that are cononcerned -- people are concer

juppe insists there will be no return to peace in syria with assad him power. -- assad in power.aura: thank you for joining us here on "france 24." why should voters choose friends were feeling -- choose friends what beyond -- choose francois fillon over juppe? >> france are struggling. fillion -- fillon is advocating a profound transformation, a radical transformation of the french society, to get back on the proper trajectory of growth and excellence. trya: didn't alain juppÉ to bring about those reforms himself in the 1990's, because he failed? every french leader realizes there is a huge black -- backlash. there is ongoing protests. isthat's where fillon revolutionary. the difference between 1995, when there was very social policy, executed with alain policy, whichal we did not vote for, fillon has chosen to be very clear up front about the program. he's doing that in three years. to be clear to people on what they are voting for. he thinks that, if the democratic contract is clear be mandated by the people to execute the french transformation, which more and more people in f

so as to my position on president assad, assad as president has actively tried to kill his own people. he has bombed them with bombs in a most terrible way. he has brought untold suffering. when you talk to the refugees who have fled here to germany, they will be able to tell you their own personal story, and the majority of them, the great majority of them fled from assad. and most of them not even fled the i.s. so i don't see hip as an ally. >> translator: thank you very much. mr. president, you described your hopes rather in more historical terms. let me break this down to months and years, the fact that steven bannon was made as chief strategist and that prominent republican representatives did not decide to join this transition team. what makes you confident against the background that president trump can be a partner to europe, the world and germany? madam chancellor, if you hear those words of praise of the president with regard to you, what he said, can this not sort of demand too much from you and from germany because too much is demanded, too much is expected from you, too g

i've been looking at different players and watching assad and i've been good at this stuff over the years because deals are people and i'm looking at assad saying maybe he's better than the kind of people we're supposed to be backing. now it's such a mess over there with everybody involved and the it's not that big an area. the airspace is limited so now what are we going to start world war iii over syria? >> joining me, senator bob corker of tennessee, chairman of the foreign relations committee and possible pick to be the next secretary of state. what do you make about what you've been hearing. trump says he's oppose to the iraq war, he supports russia in being our partner with syria. he opposes the nuclear deal with iran. those positions? >> syria has two efforts under way as i know you know well and one is the effort against isis but there's a whole other conflict under way and that's the civil war that's taking place between "moderate syrians" kurds and others against the assad regime so you have two efforts under way so i think we could, in fact, coordinate with russia as it relates

one wants to work with russia and bashar al-assad to defeat islamic totalitarianism.ision isone's broadly similar to current french policy calling for assad to step down and accusing russia of committing war crimes in syria. millions are expected to vote in sunday's primary which may well decide the country's future president. genie: in iraq the islamic state groups main stronghold of mosul is now completely cut off and isolated. that's according to iraqi forces working with kurdish troops and shia militias to retake the city. the town 50 kilometers west of mosul is the latest to be targeted. mark thompson explains. militias rolled through a key road in the battle for control of mosul. the fighters known as the popular mobilization still face pocket of islamic state group resistance. control they have taken of the root to the jihadis de facto iraqi capital. our goal is to cut off the roads surrounding most to the west of the city so they can't get any supplies. the peshmerga are barricading the north and the east is also blocked. mobilizationr dominated by iranian bac

is a deal cut with assad? or what happens there? that, i don't have that answer.t is very complex. this president, new president, is given a hand that not a good hand. but he has to stabilize the region, we have to solve the problem of radical islam. and the muslims themselves in the region, must defeat radical islam, this is not a u.s. fight, this a muslim fight, we can help lead it with them globally, this is a global challenge, but they must, determine how they are going to defeat this evil ideology. charles: thank you very much general. >> thank you. charles: thank you for watching at home, every night 6 p.m., dvr the show, lou dobbs is next. lou: 52 days now until president-elect trump's inauguration and the transition team it under attack from all corners it seems, much of the recent sniping concerns mr. trump's potential choice of secretary of state. today saying he was quote very impressed after meeting with retired general, david petraeus, at trump you to either afternoon. and -- trump tower this afternoon, and mitt romney still on a short list, transitio

is against assad and russia supports them.countries are actively fighting inside syria against islamic state and the al qaeda spinoff in the name of combating terrorism. russia uses the terrorist tag to bomb other groups, including rebels supported by the u.s. and there are syrian civilians in the middle of all this. devastated by the fighting and destruction, syrians are fleeing by the millions into neighboring countries. straining resources and creating a global refugee crisis. here's the argument. u.s. and russia agree on the need to end the war, but not how. for years, the u.s. insisted that assad must go, but has soften their stance on the dictator. russia wants to keep syria sovereign and independent by backing assad. neither side has had enough of an advantage to get the other to compromise on terms for peace. or have been willing to do so for the sake of syria. juliette: that was one of many quick takes you can find on the bloomberg, and you can find them on bloomberg.com. that's all for "bloomberg best," this week. th

if anything, greater. >> support for assad?sfl none. >> leon panetta largely supports the president's deal, but says the policy lacks one crucial infwreed yent. >> what is missing is the larger strategy of containing iran and making clear that even though we've negotiated this agreement, we are not going to allow iran to be able to exert their influence in that region. they have to deal with them from a positionnot from a position o. >> and there are those who believe that without that american led containment strategy, a middle eastern war is all by inevitable. >> president obama has said since the nuclear deal was finalized, that he believes that saudi arabia and other countries in the middle east will have to share the region with iran and he called for what he said would be a cold peace. unfortunately, i suspect it's more likely to be a hot war. >> many fear that hot war may involve the kinds of weapons the president spent more than seven years trying to control. >> it's not going to occur immediately, but ds it's going to

he sees bashar al-assad as an interlocutory. echoing the opinion of the conservative french in the national assembly. we have seen a french part of the french conservatives going, in one case, meeting with an going to crimea -- meeting with putin and going to crimea. it is a policy that obviously you can imagine a lot of people will frown on and see as dangerous. and seeing this as ignoring some of the brutal realities of this war and of the intervention itself. he sees it as realpolitik, pragmatism, and sees the current policies getting us absolutely nowhere. he also sees russia's bolstering army making him more effective genie: that is douglas herbert. also in france, the interior ministry says it has arrested at least seven suspects who are planning a new potential terrorist attack. those suspects are of french moroccan and afghan origin. two were arrested in our sigh -- in marseille, and one in the eastern city of strasbourg. >> a counterterrorism operation led by the interior ministry under a judicial mandate to play saturd

there's no end in sight for hezbollah's support for the assad regime. got instability throughout iraq, yemen and the gulf. and more and more our allies are unsure about the future of america's resolve. we must send a clear got messag that american leadership is a sure thing. i also feel very strongly, you know when we all went to school when we were kids, we learned about separation of powers. well, the legislative branch, this congress has an important say and an important role to play and we will continue to do that. so this legislation will provide for an immediate snapback of sanctions should iran cheat on the nuclear deal. these sanctions must be in place to demonstrate to iran that there are consequences for noncompliance. in 10 years when this legislation expires, we'll have another discussion. i sincerely hope that by then iran has exceeded to every demand of the international community to stop its ballistic missile program and put an end to its destabilizing activities around the region. but in the meantime, hope won't safeguard our interests.

we are just not getting help or interest from those parties that are supporting assad and assad therefore has been embodien, a man who has decideed that destroying his country and town it to rubble and saying seeing the population scattered or killed, was worth it for him to cling to power. when he had the option to peacefully engage in a transition that could have kept the country intact. that's his mentality. that is not a mentality we support. that is a mentality that russians and easterns automotive group "play of the day"s have been willing to support. but at this stage we are going to need to have a change in how all pairs think about this in order for us to end the situation. our ability to go after isil can be sustained. there is no doubt this will continue to be forces in and around syria because it will still be in chaos for quite some time. there will be elements in iraq as there have been elements in afghanistan after the taliban were swept out and after we killed bin laden but we can reduce the risk and take their key external operators off the field. what i am probably most

we've said that assad must go. it's almost six years into the war. assad is not going anywhere.the sanctions have helped the chinese going into europe. trump can come in and say, hey, i'm an adult -- >> and i'm not the guy who made these conditions. >> yeah. i'm going to work with you. i think it's very easy for trump to say assad is not my problem. isis is. russia, help me hit isis and in return assad can be part of the solution. >> so he can pivot without having having to pivot. he can do something that obama couldn't pivot to do because obama decided to go down a road with respect to assad. >> i think if you recognize reality. the americans frequently have a problem when you're lining up for a field goal and that's fine but you're pushed back 30 yards and should have the team to punt. instead, you're trying to kick the field goal. >> what are you more worried about? russia, the relationship with china? something else? what's the thing that the u.s. should be focused on? i know they should be focused on more than one thing. >> what we're going to be focused on is immigration a

he suggested working with assad against isis and president assad himself said trump could be a naturalin the fight against isis. are we looking at a fundamental shift in long-standing u.s. policy there? >> i think that remains to be seen. we have an enduring interest, the united states in our coalition partners, 68 countries have worked together to defeat isil. we've made an progress in iraq and also in syria. and we're going to continue to take the fight to isil and do so with a coalition that is committed to success. you know, if you understand fully what assad has been up to, he's been slaughtering his own people with extreme brutality. most of his effort is not directed against isil. it's directed at the domestic opposition. and so for the united states to throw in our lot with assad or the russians absent a political transition, absent an understanding that our efforts are actually focused on the terrorists rather than on the opposition, doesn't make a great deal of sense in my estimation. >> reporter: so you think there's a fundamental misunderstanding by the incoming administrat

and if assad is also fighting i.s.i.s. we ought to get together with him and the russians. what we haven't heard him fully explain here is, that would put us on the same side of the fight with the iranians as well and as you know he's got pretty strong opinions about iran. >> stewart: at one point david candidate trump said, dismantle the disastrous deal with iran. how could he do that? >> one railway he could do that is simply announce that the united states was reimposing sanction he in iran, nothing in the nuclear sphere, in fact, the iranians have abided to the deal, but putting sanction he on them for their support of terrorism, for their support of hezbollah, their action he in syria and so forth. if they did that the iranians might say hey look this is not within the spirit of the agreement, you took sanctions that we removed from the nuclear deal and simply reimposed them with another excuse. that's something the united states said it would not do during the obama administration. that would probably serve to unravel the deal, that it is probably the iranians who wou

do we of assad in the current policy from obama is that assad must policy is that go.s and said we don't want him to go and we're going to move military hardware to challenge the u.s. policy. so the first question we have to ask ourselves, are we going to continue the assad policy or find a different way to destroy isis and limit what is going on in syria and allow assad to stay. >> that is a tight rope because are you going to step on russia's toes or play ball with russia. we have a common enemy foe here that is isis but a lot of the money that isis is getting could come from someone we are supposed to be siding with. >> there is no question. and we've negotiated with russia wrong. we have always used arguments, even when i was in the bush administration, we used moral arguments to persuade the russians to do something. and that doesn't work with the russians. they think in the terms of economic ties. they want to talk about who will get the oil. what part are they going to get later. there is a whole bunch of issues, is it a bad -- >> is it a bad idea to work with r

do we get rid of assad? the current policy is from obama is assad must go.we are going to have to move military hardware in to challenge the policy. the first question we have to ask ourselves is, are we going to continue the obama policy that assad should go? or are we going to have to find a different way to destroy isis and limit assad and allow him to stay? that is a tough question. >> that is tough, are you going to step on russia's toes or play ball with russia? clearly we have a common enemy foe here, and it's isis. a lot of the money that isis is getting can come from someone we're supposed to be siding with. >> yeah, there is no question. we've always negotiated with russia wrong, we have always used arguments even when i was in the bush administration, we've used moral arguments to try to persuade the russians to do something. moral arguments don't work with the russians. they think in terms of economic ties. they want to talk about who is going to get the oil, what part are they going to get later -- i mean there are a lot of issues that the russi

so it's very hard to figure out how you get rid of assad right now. russia and iran are in the driver's seat in syria. aleppo will probably be crushed before donald trump is sworn into office. and really -- >> so do you think trump is going to take a back seat approach to those countries that are in the driver's seat in syria, iran, russia? >> let's put it this way. there was some question as to whether hillary clinton would try a no-fly zone in syria. while there are a number of hardliners regarding assad in the republican party, john mccain and lindsey graham being two, that's not the tack trump took during the election. now, john bolton, if he were secretary of state, maybe he would try to push him in a different direction. for now trump wants to focus on isis and al qaeda in syria and iraq and elsewhere, and let the russians sort it out. the big contradiction comes in regarding iran. iran is a major ally of both russia and syria in this fight. russia wants to sell $10 billion of sophisticated arms to iran. >> ambassador, we're going to have to int

even speaking to me is considered a crime by the assad regime.y' re afraid the law will be killed and arrested. and now it is down to one hospital where they think is going to be bombed. >> i think it is an important issue to drill down on. donald trump's friendlyness to russia and the assad regime can deal with isis, is that realistic? >> that was what i was alluded to earlier? there is a perception in syria and around the world really that the trump administration wants to have better ties with russia and that could give the assad regime a free hand of what its want to do. they feel like they have a free hand and they looked like they have been doing to eastern aleppo for months. >> genocide. >> many have called it genocide and the people certainly believe that it is genocide who are living there. you are talking about a pocket of city that's surrounded and is under attack. the government of syria and russia will say that they have offered many times for cease-fire and they say the people in the area should surrender and handle over the roughly

is he going to be too close to russia when it comes to confronting assad and syria.ar weapons is a big concern here in europe. what about the u.s., european union trade talks? is he going to suspend that with nafta? there is a lot of questions that europeans have than the center of our foreign policy is great britain, france and nato. they got a lot of questions and the questions are about things he has said and not necessarily what they expected him to do. they worry about the position he's taken but, you know, he's president elect trump, we should give him a little space. i would like to do that, too like president obama did today and hillary clinton, very gracious. there is a lot of worry out here. >> when we think about the talk of donald trump and the ongoing fight of isis and what that means, do you think that the global community will back donald trump on any type of military idea that his administration come up with to continue to fight against isis and the obama administration? >> well, i don't think he will get support. i hope that donald trump does not put

it's also a major opponent to assad. objectively what's happened is that the united states has given a few weapons to the rebels but mostly tent really important game-changing weapons away from rebels and attacked its enemies which is isis and al qaeda franchise. now what trump, i think, will have -- there will be a shift with trump on this but it will be that he'll basically drop the pretense of supporting the other side. perhaps cut off even the weapons that are coming and allow russia to come in and finish the job. that probably was going to happen any way under obama. >> a colleague of mine, katie, a german television executive said that america has officially lost its moral authority in the world and that somebody else is going to step in. i think syria is a perfect example of a situation where on humanitarian grounds there is a disaster occurring, and it has been occurring for years. but in terms of direct american interest, things that's we get in that sense, there isn't any. it's a humanitarian crisis. so how do