you know, the international community can't do anything because if assad falls, al-qaeda takes over, you know? the it's either assad or al-qaeda. that's the ryan crocker view. it's also the assad regime's view. that's actually been the assad regime's narrative from today one when it was entirely false, when it was a nonviolent, non seq. tape, broadly democratic uprising that represented a real cross-section of syrian society. i mean, you look at those original seven to eight months of the uprising, there were many christians involved in the protests. there weral a whites, there were kurds, there were secular u.s.es. that has now -- asaws add that time was -- assad at that time from day one was saying this is an extremist, al-qaeda, foreign conspiracy. it was wrong then, but he intentionally made it less wrong ever today. partly by opening his jails and letting some of the, some of the islamists he had behind bars out onto the streets. >> they weren't all in jail either. >> well, that's right. but these, vacuum that nader just described, the bloodbath, okay? because it was a completely one-way, now we're at a three-way

seriously interested in the further radicalization of the effort on either side by iran with assad's folks or by al-qaeda with the opposition which we both have to contend with. one of the things that units all four outside powers who count in syria, saudi arabia, iran, russian and the united states, is their extremelike of sunni fundamentalist terrorism. whether that can bring about a change there or not i don't know. russia is not deeply involved in the discussions that secretary kerry is having with the palestinians and prime minister netanyahu. netanyahu put down a harker. i'm not sure in fact whether netanyahu is counting on the president's absolute necessary city to pay attention to ukraine to kind of soften up the issue, but i don't think the president was very soft today and that message came through fairly tough. i think that in a way, the calculus here ha has to be if te president is going to hold tough with what kerry has negotiated or wants to negotiate, up to the point where as president bush did back in 1988, it takes israel to election, that will be a very serious, very important commitmen

al-assad. fighters have reportedly withdrawn from parts of northern syria. they were told it leave or face expulsion by the al qaedaiated al nusra front after a rebel commander was killed in a suspected i.s.i.l. attack. the war in syria will be on the agenda when a major israeli lobbying group meets in washington d.c. a topic - negotiations with iran over the nuclear program. patty culhane has more. >> when apec hosts their annual meeting in washington, they want attention. with a huge convention hall they are to welcome 14,000 supporters. it's a much-attended event. last year they spent $3 million, not including grass roots effort at the state level. that is it directly trying to influence members of congress and the executive branch. apex members fan out over the capital. they are expected to accomplish what their lobby failed to do, get enough support. it set the terms on any final program. that could expose a weakness for apossiblying, which has seen as -- apec, which has seen as aligned with the israeli battle. >> they win the battles when the american jews agree with them, when they are against the people, th

al qaeda. >> if we're more cautious than syria, there won't be a man or woman alive that opposes assad. >> the question is much bigger than syria. i watched today both the president and the secretary of state make a commitment and a focus on crimea that i thought was sort of amazing because we have less leverage in crimea than we do in a lot of other places. it's much like the red line over syria and the red line over this and red line over that. "the washington post," which is hardly a right wing publication, in a recent editorial said that for five years president obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality. and this strikes me that you're getting a very grim -- i mean, i agree with you entirely that this is putin. this is not obama's fault. this is putin. but the fact is this is the same putin who since 1999 has been in charge of russia. he is a former kgb colonel. he's a totally ruthless person. and doesn't that require his president and our foreign policy and our military policy to have a kind of realism that's very tough minded? >>

the proliferation groups and plans or rhetoric fueling the violence that offers opportunities for al qaeda to gain foothold in local communities. bolstering the assad regime and antagonizing arab states. the spillover from syria is dangerous and troubling. alarmingas been and uptick by affiliated brigades. at the same time, hezbollah protecting the shia communities now extended into syria tradeking assad regime. having said that, that is a challenge the committee obviously wanted to pivot our attention. ukraine is the 800 pound gorilla at the moment. we can't ignore it. nor can we can nor that rush is a common element in both countries. the russian support for assad in syria make clear that putin's game isn't 21st century statesmanship. 19th century gamesmanship. they understood the fight wasn't just with their government corrupt leaders, but for the future of their independent nature -- nation. we need a policy that checks and .ounters russia not international law, not even those commitments that has and made personally. a process the ukraine was engaged in to the displeasure of the russian government. i want to note that i welcome the response to

or pull back and seek congressional approval for any action against syria. they feel the u.s. has not been supportive enough to syrian opposition groups that assad and al qaeda become increasingly popular and strong. so the opposition is now infiltrated with real jihadis and that is becoming a national security concern in terms of people who are now spreading potentially through europe and potentially targeting the united states from syria. >> look, you mentioned all of the extremists who are operating on the ground in syria, 2500 of those are saudi nationals and they know that and the americans know that and that's a big topic of conversation. right now the president is having that bilateral meeting with king abdullah. and actually just in february the king issued a very rare royal decree in which he said any saudi national traveling abroad with the intention of joining jihadist movements can be jailed for up to 20 years. it was a very harsh move and it was seen as overture before the president arrives and similarly the president was expediting review of as you know his syria policy. which resulted in exactly what you were saying. >> there were a lot of thi

al-qaeda is enormous. but that is, you know, it remains this leaves a very big practical problem. which is what if, let's say, asad were toppled either from within or without. if assad to go without tomorrow and the nonal-qaeda affiliated factions. it could going on for a long time. you have all the syrian activists talk about having a program to get rid of the foreign fighters. how does one dislodge them? they have set up shop in a way that is rather more -- formidable. >> the longer it drags on the more complicated it is to bring about a solution and, you know, patch it back together. at least promote stable disaition planning. it gets more complicated. >> if there is an agreement on the transition of government that represents the different factions in syria it's a good quo. i think one of the qee elements in a peace plan not a transitional government. there has to be a security plan in place as well. we don't want to see, you know, further chaos. particularly one of the legitimate concerns. there are minority groups that deserve protection. that has to be built in to. that's why i personally as much as i support the intervention to turn the tide of the war. we'v

or european union. interests of russia so it's a crusade. i mean it is a serious say al qaeda linked rebels have seized control of the mainly christian town of assad are kind of flags have been raised over on the nine churches there armed militants and now set to be a serious coastal province of latakia it's all of them forcing up to two thousand menials to flee their homes residents claim their time was supported by mortar fire probably the turkish border those reports however have been denied by ankara this is the latest in a string of at times by hardline islamist on as nick and religious minorities in the water will stay out of this giving our representatives of the i mean community in the time care told us what happened. so how the. local residents managed to evacuated the very last moment before the attack on their homes everybody has moved to latakia we've put the military in other buildings in the city center we gave shelter to everyone from the city that's around one hundred fifty families not only armenians but also other nationalities who live in our country every single person left their home to allow the syrian army to beat the terror

that is the emerging that the international community can't do anything because al qaeda takes over, it is either assad or al qaeda. that is the ryan crocker view and the regime's view. that has been their narrative from day one when it was entirely false, when it was a nonviolent, nonsectarian, broadly democratic uprising that represented a real prospect -- cross-section of syrian society. look at those original seven to eight months of the uprising there were many christians involved in the protests. there were kurds, there were secularists. that has -- assad was saying from day one this is an extremist al qaeda foreign conspiracy. it was wrong then but he intentionally made it less wrong every day, partly by opening his jails and letting some of the islamists he had behind bars out into the streets. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> here is a look at the best-selling nonfiction be books according to wall street journal. ..