we're joined by former undersecretary of state nicholas burns. how do you assess the power struggle that is going on right now? >> well, jeff, this is a big and dramatic moment in the course of the egyptian revolution. you have, if you will, the new egypt represented by mohamed morsi and the islamists and muslim brotherhood against, versus the old egypt in the court system, people appointed by a mubarak and the issue of course as you know is will there be a constitutional assembly that will proceed with a new constitution, will that proceed or will the court strike it down. i think the islamists have the advantage right now. morsi does because he has tremendous public support from his movement, and there will be dueling demonstrations on tuesday. i would expect the muslim brotherhood dominated that demonstration to be the larger one. >> the other question is what account u.s. do, what should the u.s. do? >> this is going to be a difficult balancing act for the obama administration because, of course, the united states must support the continuatio

joining me tonight is ambassador nicholas burns, former under secretary of state and ambassador to nato. he's now professor of diplomacy and international politics at the j.f. kennedy school of law at harvard. let me thank you both for being here tonight. >> you bet. >> thank you. >> ambassador burns, let me start with you. you've been a diplomat for a long time. what's your reaction to what happened today? >> well, first, i certainly think congress has an obligation and a right to ask questions. that's their right. their mandate and duty. this was a great tragedy in benghazi. it's wrong to focus on ambassador rice. she was one of many officials trying to put forward an accurate assessment of what happened. she was asked to go on these morning shows. she said what any other administration would have said had they been in her place that day. i think it's unfair to single her out by any objective standard. she has been an effective purposeful and impressive ambassador of the united nations. she has many, many qualifications to serving e in higher office. i've been in both positions, servi

ambassador nicholas burns, thank you so much for joining us.eciate it. >> thank you. >>> okay. let's head back to gaza city and arwa damon. ar arwa, despite talk of a cease-fire, it looks like israel is not exactly ready to ease up. >> reporter: neither is hamas at this point. throughout the entire day we have been seeing rockets fired from gaza toward israel and, of course, the israeli intense responses to all of that. now, just in the last hour and a half the tall building behind me, i don't know if you can see it at this point, was hit. there were two missiles that slammed in fro one side. a third one in the front we were seeing dark black smoke billowing from it. a senior member of islamic jihad, he was the information head of their military office. that building also though is where islamic jihad's television station operates out of. they're not the only journalists who were there. that building was used by a number of international organizations until it was actually hit yesterday as well. shortly after the strike on that building, we the

joining me now, nicholas burns former state department spokesman and former ambassador to nato.e may have to interrupt if the president comes to the microphones in staten island where he's looking at recovery efforts, of course. what is your takeaway from the controversy over benghazi and david patreaus and his resignation over pressure to resign as cia director? >> benghazi was a tragedy for the united states, a major security meltdown there. obviously tough questions have to be asked. and they are being asked and secretary clinton has convened an accountability review board and will testify once the board has made its findings known to the administration. i think that's an orderly process and it ought to go forward on that basis. obviously there are all sorts of congressional committees looking into that. we would be remiss if there was a rush to judgment. all sorts of accusations made against the administration, many i find to be unfair. i think we all ought to wait until the facts are in before we begin to cast, make judgments. >> you know susan rice very well. you are an am

. >> suarez: i'm joined now by veteran diplomat and former ambassador nicholas burns. hisham melhem, washington bureau chief for al arabiya tv. mr. ambassador, as you heard from the reporters earlier in the program, the shooting has stopped but has it really ended the conflict? >> ray, it certainly hasn't ended the conflict. i do think there's a fairly good chance that this cease-fire will hold for two reasons. first the israelis had had a very, very tough week. their entire civilian population in the southern part of the country has been in bomb shelteres, out of school, out of work. they had the terrible bombing in tel aviv today and rockets fired for the very first time in jerusalem, where several hundred,000 palestinians live. they have made the point they will defend their country, their iron dome missile system responded very, very well. on the palestinian side, i think egypt, turkey, and qatar will make sure hamas adheres to the cease-fire terms. they will put enormous pressure on the hamas leadership to cease and desist. i think in the immediate sense we'll see

professor of history, nicholas burns was an undersecretary of state under president george w. bush. they join me now. welcome to both of you. nicholas, are you there? oh, good, there you are. i just wanted to make sure. ken, i wanted to start with you. >> yes. >> if israel decides to conduct a ground war, what might that mean? what would that look like? >> israel will only conduct a ground war if it feels its civilians, christians, arabs, muslims and jews are not being bombarded. >> rockets have been falling the past two days, doesn't look like it's going to stop. so ground war? >> ground war possible. benjamin netanyahu said we're only interested in a surgical attack. that might go into something broader. whether they use aircraft, just ground forces remains to be seen. the goal, of course, is to stop the attack and stop the hitting of the israeli civilian population. >> nicholas, what does this mean to the wider region if israel decides to go ahead and conduct a ground war? >> well, the first thing i would say is that israel has a right to defend itself and hamas started this. that

nicholas hudson of daly city faces felony charges. police looking for more suspects. >>> muni is honoring the driver of that burned bus. the agency chief says alan yam saved the lives of eight passengers. he told the passengers to sit tight until police came and then got everybody off the bus safely when the crowd started to attack. >> i called for help. that's the first thing i think about is calling for help. and then i calmed down and let my passengers know it will be safe. the police will be here. >> yam has been a bus driver for muni for two years. >>> cbs 5 chief meteorologist paul is here doing a rain dance. >> they're doing a rain dance because it's going to rain tomorrow and they get free chicken sandwiches. a win-win, right? we have a big change coming. yesterday, record highs, 80s for three straight days, 50s for highs starting tomorrow for many of you. peek outside, bay bridge cloudy. high def doppler picking up showers off-shore. much colder air will be the legacy of this. cold enough for some snow showers to fall at some select locations right here in the bay area this friday: mount diablo, mount saint he

nicholas hudson earlier this week. he is being charged with three felonies for his role in the fire that burned a muni bus. police also charged a man for smashing the bus window. anybody connected with this destruction will have to pay part of that $700,000 replacement cost. >>> chevron is laying out its plan to fix the damage from a massive fire in august. it will use chrome al loi to replace the pipes. it hopes to get all repairs done early next year and have the refinery working back at 100%. >>> some 3,000 intats in jail under the three strikes law could be resentenced or released altogether. proposition 36 passed in tuesday's election. we talked to one co-author of the new law and to a man who fought against it. >> we were sending people away for life for stealing a loaf of bread, petty theft, simple drug possession. >> if they can see the train coming down the tracks yet the guy only stole a loaf of bread or he -- he -- he managed to get the purse away from the girl without putting a bullet in her head, then they're not going to be able to charge for three strikes. >> for the record the amendment cou