nicholas burns, danger on either front -- anger at the u.s.r other nations for not getting involved or for getting involved. guest: the first thing to remember is we have a lot of friends in the world. some of the people that have been bombing us, let's take 9/11, that was osama bin laden and al qaeda. we were right to strike back against them in afghanistan in october, 2001. i live in cambridge, massachusetts, and right across the river, two weeks ago, we had a bombing. the two young men who are alleged to have carried out these bombings, they went to school and live just about one mile from the studio. from what we know about them and why they undertook this terrible action, i do not recognize any legitimacy in what they did, and nobody in boston or around the country does. these were young men with evil in their hearts, and they chose to set off bombs in crowded places and to maim little kids and innocent people. the united states needs to stand up against that kind of terrorism. we are not the cause of it. we did not bring this upon oursel

host: nicholas burns joins us from boston at the harvard kennedy school.here is a recent pc did for "the boston globe." "syria is melting away." he writes -- here is a tweet from becky -- if iran and syria are allies, could ran perceive u.s. intervention in syria as an attack on iran and retaliate? guest: they might not like it, they will oppose a we do, but they will not see it as an attack. iran is a difficult, brutal regime, but it is a rational government and it will not take us on because we are a lot stronger. that is a different issue on what we should do to stop them from becoming a nuclear weapons power, but one of the reasons there is a benefit to support rebels in syria would be to decrease terrain in influence in the arab -- or rainy and influence in the arab world. host: joy, california. democrats line. caller: i actually agree with one of the republicans that called in that we should not have to fight these fights alone. we should have more help from our allies. i disagree that we have to be the leaders of this. of these conflicts. -- you can

nicholas burns, danger on either front -- anger at the u.s. or other nations for not getting involved or for getting involved. guest: the first thing to remember is we have a lot of friends in the world. some of the people that have been bombing us, let's take 9/11, that was osama bin laden nd al qaeda. we were right to strike back against them in afghanistan in october, 2001. i live in cambridge, massachusetts, and right acr the river, two weeks ago, we had a bombing. the two young men who are alleged to have carried out these bombings, they went to school and live just about one ile from the studio. from what we know about them and why they undertook this terrible action, i do not recognize any legitimacy in what they did, and nobody in boston or around the country does. these were young men with evil in their hearts, and they chose to set off bombs in crowded places and to maim little kids and innocent people. the united states needs to stand up against that kind of terrorism. we are not the cause of it. we did not bring this upon ourselves

ambassador nicholas burns, now professor at the harvard kennedy school and a global post columnist.rns, nice to see you. >> thanks, chuck. >> well, what did -- what did you learn yesterday from the benghazi hearings that you didn't know going in? >> well, chuck, i would say this first, i think congress has a right, an obligation to ask questions. we lost four fine public servants. we have to learn the lessons of what went wrong in benghazi. what did we learn? i don't think the facts have changed. there was some compelling testimony and i know quite sincere yesterday by the three gentlemen questioned and all good public servants, but i don't think the facts have changed since the investigations of last autumn, since the accountability review board led by both ambassador tom pickering and admiral mike mullen, the facts are that it was a terrible tragedy, that there were lapses of leadership at the state department, that's what the accountability review board said. but as to a cover-up, i don't see it. i don't seat evidene the evideny kind of cover-up on this. and as far the charge tha

former state department official nicholas burns. >>> we're getting reports too, interesting, in the samekets fired from syria, we're told, have landed in the golan height, which of course was formally syrian territory, now controlled by twisrael. they're playing it down, saying fired erroneously as a byproduct of the internal conflict in syria. so playing down, not saying it was an attack from syria into israel, saying it was sort of a misfire or something. but very interesting. we'll keep an eye on that. >> is the problem, these miss understanding, you don't want people to react to things that are not even correct. we'll keep a close eye on that breaking news. >> yes, that just crossed. >> will friday's stock market really last? that's the million dollar questions. i'm also a survivor of ovarian a writand uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that. my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that last two weeks or longer, be brave, go to the doctor. ovarian and uterine cancers are gynecologic cancers. sympto

coming up in 45 minutes, we will talk to former undersecretary of state nicholas burns about the reported use of chemical weapons in syria. joan walsh of salon.com. and as part of our spotlight on magazine series, we will discuss ted conover's discussion on the meat industry. "washington journal" is next. >> good morning and welcome to ""washington journal," as wednesday, the first day of may, 2013. president obama marked the of 100 day of his second term where he fielded questions on topics from syria to guantanamo bay to the health care law. we want to hear what you think of his second term so far. the numbers to call are on your screen.

we will hear from former under secretary of state nicholas burns who will join us to talk about thatvery same topic. salon.com androm the progressive agenda. -- and wrote an investigative article on the meat industry. as tomorrow morning -- that is tomorrow morning. the up, we will take you to supreme court justice clarence thomas, who was in pittsburgh speaking to law students about his career, the evolution of his political beliefs, and more. it is about one hour. [applause] [inaudible] >> i have not evicted her. the story of your life growing ,p is really a remarkable one justice thomas. do you know what part of west africa your family came from? >> i think they lost the itinerary. [laughter] 1700s.t was in the i don't think anyone quite knows. for those who are from the deepest -- deep south, much was unwritten. into theirare genealogy now. i have no idea of much of my own genealogy. some of my relatives told me we do not want to know. is no.e answer it is unfortunate. that is one reason why in the last few years we have tried to focus our -- on trying to retain some of what is l

diplomat nicholas burns on syria's syria -- civil war. >> tomorrow, the woodrow wilson center host william raven speaking about the future of special operations fortune -- forces. at 2:00, a pentagon briefing with chuck hagel and philip hammond. live coverage here on c-span and sees when.org. >> ronald reagan made mistakes on defense. the defense budget was not just a waste of money in those eight years. it is what created the war machine we have used to create so much havoc in the world and anger andmuch problems throughout the world that were totally unnecessary and that made us and them to real power. that was a real negative. on the other hand, he did for the first time since eisenhower stand up for limiting the state. big government is not a solution to every problem. it can way down the private economy. therefore the idea of entrepreneurs, the idea of technological change and the idea that people should make their own decisions without some big nanny and washington, he stood for all those things. i agree with those things. that puts the plus and his column. fiscally, he lost it. he r

on our next washington journal, we will talk to former under secretary of state nicholas burns about chemical weapons use in syria. onn joan walsh of salon.com a progressive agenda. as part of our spotlight on magazine series, ted connor who went undercover as a meat inspector, will discuss his article on the u.s. meat industry. we will also take your phone calls, e-mails, and feed. boston to journal, each morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern -- washington journal, each morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> general martin dempsey said u.s. military forces stand to take action in syria is called on but says a no-fly zone could be hard to implement. he sat down with reporters for an hour. the christian science monitor hosted the event. >> i am dave cook from the monitor. our guest is general martin dempsey. this is his first visit with our group and we are grateful to him for making time in his busy schedule. he graduated from west point in 1974, and since then has served his country and a wide range of places and positions. early in his career he was an english professor at west point. more recent