here in new york, bret stephens, foreign affairs columnist for the "wall street journal." i am pleads to have both of them on this program. i want to begin with a column that's gotten a lot of attention certainly in terms of people i know who care about these kinds of issues called the price of obama's men dasty where you talk about the the debate to have the wisdom of obama to forgo a similar strike under similar circumstances in 2013. said mr. obama will never outrun justifications for their actions in syria and can't outrun their lies. >> after john kerry engineered the agreement by which syria was supposed to relinquish its stockpile of banned chemical weapons, information began to emerge pretty quickly thereafter that the syrians were cheating on the agreement. it started filtering out in 2024. the "wall street journal" had a front-page story on the fact in 2015 and in 2016 jim clapper former director of national intelligence acknowledged it to a congressional committee. throughout the entire period, however, leading figures to have the obama administration -- of the

joining me here is bret stephens, a columnist for "the wall street journal." want to begin with a column that got a lot of attention. "the price of obama's mendacity." there's always this debate about the wisdom of barack obama's decision to forgo a similar strike in 2013. that's the beginning. mr. obama and his advisers will never run out of self justifications for their policy in syria. they can't out run responsibility for the consequences of their lies." after president obama, kerryent putin, and john went through the agreement for syria to ban the stockpile of chemical weapons, information began to emerge that the syrians were cheating on the agreement. it started filtering out in 2014. the wall street journal had a front-page story on the fact in 2015. even16, jim clapper acknowledged it to a congressional committee. throughout the entire period, however, leading figures of the obama administration, including the president, secretary of state, and susan rice kept insisting that the obama administration, that the deal had gotten 100% of the chemical weapo

>> i think one of the smartest pieces i've read on this amongst many bad options from bret stephens inption. change the regime to one you like or we're going to do it for you. there's peril no matter what we do. what we can start doing is offering asylum to members of that regime. we need to put sanctions on individuals in that regime so it really is in the end about regime change. what we're seeing in north korea is what happens when you get somebody like gadhafi to give up his nuclear weapons and then you go in there and destroy him. so there's some real consequences to previous actions. >> what are the u.s. options to foster regime change if the chinese won't do it? >> again, you do offer asylum to members of that. you slap on sanctions. again, there aren't very many good options whatsoever. one thing people aren't talking about is what we really need to do in terms of hardening our own defense against emp. i know they're a ways away from icm capabilities but may not be that far away from satellite possibilities. so this is something we must deal with. let's start with the chinese a

. >> stephens' mother said she preferred he killed himself versus officer shooting him. >> bret: liven cleveland, thank you. the u.s. is under relentless attack, that from homeland security secretary john kelly today. kelly is a warning of a new and deadly connection responsible for increased crime and violence in the streets. here is chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. >> transnational criminal organizations are building a relationship with foreign terrorist groups for financial gain. >> the nexus between criminal networks and terrorist networks is real, and i would predict would get more sophisticated. >> in his first major speech, homeland security secretary john kelly predicts if foreign terrorist launch a successful plot like another 9/11, their operatives will not -- >> individuals get through the united states through the southwest border. trying to prevent that from happening. >> two chicago men were indicted on isis related charges. kelly said the nation is in an instant of an un-presented spike in homegrown terrorism. 36 cases in 18 states over the last 12 m

. >> bret: foreign policy and that news conference today, also, my interview with italy's prime minister, stephenes, mollie hemingway, charles lane, and jason riley, and had an institute senior fellow. jason, i'll start with you. your thoughts on the iran nuclear part and north korea first? >> i have seen some mixed messages. you have met us -- i'm sorry, secretary of state rex tillerson saying it looks like he may be n might be following the letter of divide here. you have trump saying but they are violating the spirit of the law. yesterday, sean spicer told martha maccallum, we are still reviewing end, we haven't reached a conclusion. i think we want to see the administration get on board in terms of how they're going to handle it. what we do know is, if they don't, the future is north korea. and we see what a menace north korea has become because they have a weapon. we cannot let iran get to that point. >> bret: charles? >> the president says they are violating the spirit, but they don't say exactly how they are violating the spirit. and he understands he ran against it and the deal has all ki