he had unparalleled access to bashir in syria. so he has prerevolution experience with syria and leveraged his contact with the syrian opposition to i think to offer a unique vision. and the reason, i'm going to be brief but the reason i like engaging this panel's experts because sometimes i feel like as syrian-americans we have conversations amongst ourselves and hard to see it from the outside while this is a well-informed group and, they, they will share with us how they see it from the inside. we're going to begin with mr. hooper, presenting first and then dr. heydemann, then andrew tabler. thank you. >> could i ask everyone to stand please for a moment of silence. in respect for the suffering that the syrian people are enduring in this terrible war. [moment of silence] >> thank you very much. on behalf of the three of us, steve, andrew, and i, we would all like to thank the coalition for democratic syria for arranging this and for inviting us to speak to you. you've, you've all seen this democratic cause and this movement thr

this summer bashir al assad is running for re-election.unning out of time to come to some sort of deal on its nuclear ambitions. russia has been seen as key to all of that. the assumption that all falls apart now. >> candy, russia in each much these areas is not acting because it wants to do a favor to us. it's acting out of self-interest. we had cooperation out of russia on iran, on afghanistan, on the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty and syria. in each of these areas russia is acting out of its perceived self-interest. that interest hasn't changed. in that sense it's like italy cooperation will continue. >> likely but you're not for sure. there's been no sort of heavy duty thing going on since crimea happened. >> we haven't seen a pull back in that cooperation. our teams are working together on iran, negotiations. that's continuing. >> thank you very much. we appreciate it. >>> when we return, the deadline to sign up for obamacare at the end of this month and the entire administration is out and about trying to run up the score. >> the bigger numbe

so does that picture influence and increase the resolve of bashir, that's one? number two, if we were cape ab, if we are capable and i hope we are, of, reaching an agreement with the iranians on their nuclear bomb efforts within six months is there a possibility that iran could change its behavior and then on march 20, 2015, you would have a better report? >> it is very noticeable to me, jane, that the government in damascus praised putin for his efforts on crimea and welcomed the actions of the russians took and i think, ba shar looks with the russians along with iranians as his two big protectors internationally. i'm sure he takes great satisfaction from the recent events in the crimea. that's why they issued that statement. i do hope as we talk about the regime and the russians, the russians are plussing up weapons supplies going into damascus and their political support at the u.n. remains strong although the agreement of the russians to a u.n. security council resolution in february about human hahm access was first small chink in the russian position which

god for facilitating this and for being here now and patriarc john working with us and president bashirad and his communication with the katar and help to us and i would like to thank them and not for getting the real mediator doing this for the same of god abraham and now we are too tired of questions because we spent nine hours on the road and we would like to thank you all and all those who participated in the operation to get us out where we were. >> reporter: the deal was brokered by the qatar and lebanese government, in return for the nuns release 150 female syrian prisoners were freed by the syrian government. >> translator: there are some who are imprison ended in the jails and released except major crimes, they were taken off the list and the number is more than 1 50. >> reporter: the women were brought where they had been held to lebanon and they were then transported to a border crossing on the lebanese, syrian border. low g -- it took several hours for the operation to be completed. >> translator: it was done through a mediator between the kidnappers and the involved was not

with a husband and wife and the area is dominated by the group hezbollah and happening the president bashirand the front in lebanon says it carried out the attack. >> what is going on is the battle inside syria is paralleled by a battle in lebanon and groups who have now established themselves inside lebanon several of these groups are directly fighting against hezbollah and some of them like in lebanon are saying as long as hezbollah is fighting in seer yeah, supporting the assad government they will fight against hezbollah in lebanon. >> reporter: and they have been deadly attacks since sending fighters to help the president assad. last month twin bomb ings killed at least 8 people and injured 120 others and civilians are caught up with a search of violence mirroring the war being fought next door and i'm carolyn malone, al jazeera. >> reporter: voicing anger over a meeting between the president and u.s. counterpart in washington on monday and discuss the draft peace deal between israelis and palestinians in the work since july and many areas of deep disagreement between the two sides as

michigan and texas special envoy for serie a debut rubenstein says his government cannot allow president bashir al assets for jean to conduct diplomatic operations in the us he says in the three years since the conflict started in syria. assad has refused calls to step aside rubinstein says the syrian leader as directed toward gays his own people and created a humanitarian catastrophe. but he stressed the us will maintain diplomatic relations with syria he said us ties with the syrian people will endure long after the side leaves power. the special envoys statements. the masters syrian embassy officials suddenly announced he had suspended consular services they offered no explanation for the move. the crisis in syria continues to deepen the un has appealed to the international community to support refugees out of the middle of the violence they say more than two and a half million people have fled to other countries. some japanese business leaders worry that rising tensions over the situation in ukraine could hurt economic ties between japan and russia. but people in both countries are still ke

the entire world stands aside as bashir al assad hugs his russia and iranian protectors.nd the winding corridors of the depraved dictator's mind, consider syria's promise to rid itself of chemical weapons. the choreography amounts to a classic enactment of the cat and mouse game so carefully played by middle east pirates. last september, as civil war raged, assad grate agreed to give up his deadly staff actor report service of the sarn gas attack his own people. hundreds died a grisley death in what is believed to be one of several attacks on such forces. president obama rushed into a deal mediated by the russians, who demonstrated they could make peace better than a winner of the nobel peace prize. it was also the typical obama retreat, saving out of a tight spot by quelling on international bureaucracies. in this case, the united nations and the righteous sounding organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, opcw in the hague. their original agreement with syria, which had no or else clause, called for removal of all chemical weapons by february 6th, 2014. the

steven bashir said he is hiring outside attorneys to defend the state's same-sex marriage ban. >>> coming up, president obama calling on governors to call for backup when it comes to raising the minimum wage. we'll be talking to connecticut's governor, dan malloy, who's hosting the president this afternoon. >>> and did you catch harry reid going off on the koch brothers? >> what is un-american is when shadowed billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system. >> could outside money turn the senate red? that's coming up after the break. en we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your aut

living inside syria. , the head ofhe smc operations for the military is general bashir. he is fighting daily battles against the regime, who lost his son fighting these battles. he is and ask syrian army ex-syrian army general. he knows about the operations. .e is the first to fight them.guys, we met with we saw their plans. we know they are doing things right and correct and we should support them in order for them to restructure and have organized military operations in syria and not to go back to the way that it was managed, the chaotic way, unorganized way, on courtney did way. way.coordinated thingould like to add one about the representativeness of the coalition and delegation. it was raised only by the regime and by russia, in particular. -- we think we could say cannot talk about representatives without having elections. as a founding member of the coalition, i could say that it came after a series of attempts to create a body. to fight for the ideals. under the circumstances that we live under, to what extent are we doing that or not? we cannot claim that we rep

. >> an estimated 150,000 people have died in syria since the start of protests against bashir al-assad's government three years ago. coming up a next a negotiator with syria's opposition talks about the conflict. it features former u.s. diplomat james hopper who called on the obama administration to arm the opposition an conduct airstrikes. >> we know, i mean, freedom doesn't come free of charge. we are facing the most brutal regime in syria, a region game with experience of 30 years managing civil war in lebanon, 15 years managing terrorism activities in iraq. we are facing this regime which is armed to the teeth with allies backing him 100% with weapons, money and even militias and manpower on the ground. while for us we are fortunate to have our own people who are ready to sacrifice their lives and to sacrifice the lives of their families and to give all what they can give to the success of the revolution. while our allies it is very clear to you, all of you, have limitations of support to us. so this support has limits in armed supplies, limit on political front and really, this is h

she now works in constituent services in the office of kentucky governor steve bashir but we make clear she is not here to represent him today. so, al, i guess i'm so interested in this it particular topic because in had kentucky, in particular, red state america as a whole but kentucky in particular, because this is one of those states it's trended so red at the federal level when it comes to presidential elections. i think mitt romney carried it by 23 points. we have the polling there on same sex marriage. it's very unpopular in the state. and yet democrats can still win at the statewide level in kentucky. they still do well. this announcement by jack conway, politically ambitious attorney general for the state, how is it going over for him in the state now? >> i think it's to his advantage in the democratic primary. it may not be in the general election. 75% against gay marriage ten years ago. only 55% today. there's no praf that mark a twain ever said that he want ed to be in kentucky when he died. but we are culturally slower to accept such things partly because, as the polling ind

when you talk about the red line not bashir al-assad, he did cross the road line, he went and gave hismicals up rate i do not know what they're talking about about the red line. if he says well i put the red line in if you put chemicals -- use chemicals, i will do some big companies that i will give my chemicals up. we'll go to dave and went for a response. leadership is a very important concept of something that i look a lot at particularly in the world policy journal. it is wisdom more than brute power. that is what really needs to be in the industry, wind of and industry -- wisdom and consistency. in terms of building a consensus around the use of our power. we do have an enormous am our around the world, but we cannot in any case continue to be the world's policeman. that has finished in iraq, and iran. and we have to be consistent, and we have not been. we need to be wise, and we have not often been. unfortunately, it is too late to exercise that wants whatever hits the fan as if it's now. we cannot go back and say suddenly were going to be consistent and wise, paul was into the b

the head of the smc, the head of operations for the military is general bashir. he is fighting daily battles against the regime, who lost his son fighting these battles. he is and ask syrian army general -- an ex-syrian army general. he knows about the operations. he is the first to fight. these guys, we met with them. we saw their plans. we know they are doing things right and correct and we should support them in order for them to restructure and have organized military operations in syria and not to go back to the way that it was managed, the chaotic way, unorganized way, on uncoordinated way. >> i would like to add one thing about the representativeness of the coalition and delegation. it was raised only by the regime and by russia, in particular. yes, i think we could say -- we cannot talk about representatives without having elections. as a founding member of the coalition, i could say that it came after a series of attempts to create a body. to fight for the ideals. under the circumstances that we live under, to what extent are we doing that or not? we can