my name is fred hopp. i am a senior fellow at the career center. i am delighted to see such a large crowd this afternoon. one thing that everybody in this regardless of on, political orientation or anything else, is that on days like this in washington dc, is a good thing to have indoors. center and oure cosponsor, the public international law and policy group, i would like to welcome you to this discussion, this conversation with ambassador rapp on war crimes it in syria, the challenge of promoting accountability and protecting civilians. if you would like to join this discussion online, please use the hashtag #acsyria. we would very much welcome the cosponsorship of the public international law and policy group. the pro bono law firm, whose leaders have participated in a blue-ribbon committee that has forared a discussion paper a tribunal that could ultimately prosecutors syrian tratrocities. the reason we are here today is to hear from a former colleague, whose work i admired it continue to admire very much, ambassador steve rapp. he is the amba