i'm not sure it would have. >> warner: on that loathe note, we'll leave it there, joshua landis, andert zarate, thank you. >> woodruff: we turn now to newly released audio recordings that give us insight into the nixon presidency. over 300 hours of secret tapes, recorded at the white house during the spring and summer of 1973, cover a tumultuous period, when revelations about the watergate scandal were gripping the country. on the night of april 30, 1973, president nixon took a series of phone calls from supporters and advisers following a televised address in which he announced the resignation of his two top aides after they were implicated in the scandal. yesterday, we reported on the praise he received from a man who would follow him in office, ronald reagan. he also got a congratulatory call from george h.w. bush. and here's part of the call from the influential southern baptist evangelist, billy graham: >> woodruff: that same night, president nixon spoke with defense secretary elliot richardson, whom he had just announced would become acting attorney general. in the speech, mr.

i'm joined by robert zarate, policy director, and joshua landis director of the center for middle eastes from the yesterdayuniversity of oklahoma. does the west have an obligation to intervene militarily? >> yes, i think the west has an obligation-- the united states in particular has an obligation to intervene militarily and not just because of what happened in the suburb of damascus but because of what happened the last two and a half years since the assad regime began the conflict with the syrian people. approaching one million people are displaced internally and it's destabilizing the entire region. >> warner: joshua landis how do you see it? is there almost a moral duty to interveep at this point? >> the international community has a responsibility in this situation to do something to alleviate human suffering. a third of syrians have displaced. two million outside the country five million inside the country. it's a country of about 22 million to 24 million people. the problem, as dempsey has outlined, is we don't have a partner in this. the syrian opposition is dominated by islam