plus, david jo johansen. performance. performing. we beginning with the civil war in syria as russia addition in, the united states steps russia digs in, united states steps back. cost $500 million, an expensive endeavor. the pentagon says it was also a total failure. mike viqueria has more from washington. >> conceding failure. secretary of defense ash carter says the u.s. is pulling the plug on the program to train and quip syrian rebels. >> we're looking at ways to achieve basically the same type of strategic objective which is the right one. >> reporter: the idea was for the u.s. to train syrian fighters in a third country, either jordan, turkey or saudi arabia and send them into syria to fight i.s.i.l. initial price tag, $500 million. president obama unveiled the plan in august of last year. >> with this new effort we'll provide training and equipment to help them grow stronger and take on i.s.i.l. terrorists inside syria. >> but taking on i.s.i.l. is not the goal for most rebel fighters in syria and recruitment was the problem