mr. indyk: thank you very much. or and challenge of serving president bill clinton in the white house in his first year in office and i was handling the middle east. experience between the three of us when it comes to presidents, both , when itn and democrat comes the foreign and national security policy. i was reviewing the record from andmiller center timeline was reminded that in clinton's first year of office, in february, it was world trade center bombing that few people will remember. the initial one, six people killed and 1000 injured. in june, clinton ordered the first use of force in his presidency against saddam hussein in retaliation for the attempted assassination of george h.w. bush on a visit to kuwait during the first year of clinton's presidency. famous don'tad the ask, don't tell policy that caused a huge ruckus and political blowback. in september, we had yasser arafat shaking hands on the septembere lawn, the 13 of the accord. october, black hawk down and the whole reaction t

mr. indyk: when it comes to approachu outlined an which, i think, if i am interpreting it correctly, really leaves the issue of political transition to later. that from your point of view, the first thing is to preserve and try totions resolve the conflict and then deal with the political transition. is that fair? mr. shoukry: not really. it is not a sequential issue. it is an issue that has to be addressed all at once. from the perspective of the political process, because we cannot continue abdicating the same process that we have witnessed over the last five years and expect different results. the status of conflict and destruction continues. it is apparent that none of the proponents is able or capable of their success. we should change course. to change course means community. the united nations security council, the you when envoy, must initiate political process among all the participants. they must reach an agreement that is inclusive of all of the political entities in syria. we take i