robin wright, your thoughts on that? it's a limited bit of information. it could be rifles, could be grenades. who knows. >> i suspect at this point there is a very small quantity or very small type of weaponry. the real problem is a quarter century after we armed the mujahide,n, we are still buying back parts of stinger missiles and there's a real concern about we you arm any faction, how can you control and prevent those arms from going to other militias, being sold to other people, other parties, and extremist groups in syria? there's a real concern. >> charlie wilson's war became osama bin laden's war. with the same weapons. >> absolutely. the idea of a no-fly zone also is full of problems. look at when we were in iraq, we were there in a no-fly zone for over five years and took a another ten-year war to get saddam hussein out of power. the idea a no-fly zone is going to be decisive in any rapid way in changing the dynamics on the ground, adding to pressure on president bashar al assad is vulnerable. there's no quick fix. that's the problem. >> richar

>> robin wright said, chris, there's no quick fix to the syrian problem.'m not even sure there's a slow fix. i don't think there's necessarily a fix at all. that said, we can sit here for a few minutes and talk about the downsides of doing this and that. the downsides are all too real. not doing anything is also costly, particularly what we said. >> let's try diplomacy then. you've got the expertise there. put that cap on. is there any diplomatic solution that would end this war and turn it over to some sort of -- the president's still talking today about a political transition whereby the assad regime gives up, allows a transfer of authority, and somehow saves itseits skin, i suppose, or else why would they be in that process? is that feasible? >> no. >> okay. is there a russian escape route for them? >> look, at some point it's possible things get bad enough the russians may change their policy, mr. assad may decide adasha is in his future. the rest of the alowites are going to stay and fight. if they didn't, all the people on the sunni side which afree

a man with strong feelings on all this, newt gingrich, the former presidential candidate, also robin wright of the u.s. institute of peace and former diplomatic correspondent. welcome to you both. robin, let me start with you. the question keeps being asked how serious is this. we've had this kind of bellicose threatening from north korea as long as i've been alive. is it any more real now? is there a particular threat because we have a new young certainly unpredictable leader there, or is it just the same old stuff? >> i think you always have to worry about north korea. of all the countries on earth, it is probably the most unpredictable. it is the most isolated and it's hardest to deal with on a diplomatic framework. so its movements since december with the firing of a three-stage rocket with the third -- only the third time it's done a nuclear test in february, that you have to worry about any of the follow-up steps. and what is he trying to do. and the reality probably is kim jong-un is doing three things. one, he's flexing his military and political muscle at home, he's proving himself

and actress robin wright celebrates her 47th. >>> here's a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. rowers stranded at sea talk about the dramatic rescue. and the judges from "america's got talent" preview their new season. keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm richard lui along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a great start to the week. . . . >>> new this morning, strong winds knocking down trees and power lines all over the bay area. live in san mateo where one family received a shocking wakeup in the middle of the night. >>> big brother is watching. the latest bay area city talking about buying a drone. >>> help is on the way for college graduates. >>> right now, live outside to san francisco. you can see the giant flags flapping strong in that strong wind out there on this monday, april 8th. this is "today in the bay." >>> good morning to you. it is 4:30. i'm marla tellez. >> i'm laura garcia cannon. strong winds slamming the bay. winds knocking d

wright has the details for us from los angeles. good morning, david. >> reporter: good morning, robin.his was the series of 50 concerts that never happened because the 50-year-old pop star dropped dead of acute propofol intoxication during the rehearsals. the family is now trying to blame the concert promoters. in a grim encore, his life and death will play out again in court. in a case starting this morning, it's expected to offer the most in-depth details yet of the superstar's final days. >> a lot of money at stake. what his life was worth from the point that he died forward, how much could he have made? >> reporter: the superstar's mother, kathryn jackson, and others filed the case saying that concert promoter aeg live is ultimately responsible for his death. claiming they forced him to complete the tour despite red flags. >> who was conrad murray, the man who killed michael jackson who is in jail, who was he working for? >> reporter: aeg argues conrad murray was an independent contractor, hired by michael jackson, not them. but the jackson family insists the company should have ve