ambassador ryan crocker weighs in on the it couldtentious peace talks. why can't america's military seem to win wars outright anymore. should violent rap lyrics help put the author behind bars? you might want to think twice before buying a smaller car. hello. i am antonio morrow. welcome to "consider this." more on what's ahead. >> anything but peaceful today at the conference that is aimed at ending syria's nearly three-year-old civil war. >> i can't promise you. >> there is no way that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy of the government. >> the focus has been on ending the war as opposed to winning it. >> it's important for americans to recognize that we still have young men and women in harm's way and we need to see this job all the way through. >> after saving the game for seattle. >> the best quarterback. >> sherman is getting the attention? >> a receiver like crabtree. >> that was immature. i regret doing that. we begin with bitter words and accusations that broke out almost immediately as syrian

ambassador ryan crocker weighs in on the it couldtentious peace talks.hy can't america's military seem to win wars outright anymore. should violent rap lyrics help put the author behind bars? you might want to think twice before buying a smaller car. hello. i am antonio morrow. welcome to "consider this." more on what's ahead. >> anything but peaceful today at the conference that is aimed at e

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadists while russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov welcomes the genuine change of stance. meanwhile in iraq the government has been unable to push. out of the city of fallujah with the u.s. stepping in to help while strong describes what they saw involvement can lead to any good. distance state spent nine years applying hellfire missiles and drones and automation in attacks of all sorts of kinds and none of that worked is the definition of of mental illness to keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results introducing weapons into iraq at this time from the united states will likely have as much success this time as it did the last time i mean this is kind of deja vu all over again do you do the same thing again it's really quite amazing i mean we have to remind our viewers here there was no al qaeda in iraq before the invasion and now they have i mean come on i mean what is the learning curve here with all of the distortions that the result of meddling right murde

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as that you had it and over russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov welcomes the change of stance that button on karada is no change with its turkish foreign ministry is still insisting assad must go expert in middle east history and politics jeremy salt says the rise of al-qaeda groups is a much bigger threat to take hits now. islamic state of. iraq in the levant has already threatened to carry out suicide bombings inside turkey and in fact carried out one bombing last may in the border town right how they were to more than fifty people so this is a very dangerous group to be describing his evil but the ground is changing very rapidly in syria and we know what's going on now is that the not distracted allies need to go to geneva with a credible syrian opposition that the most they don't have because the syrian the free syrian army is not credible the syrian national coalition has most aboard inside syria. and as the jihad is group the islamic state of iraq and the band gains momentum in syria across

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker said that agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadi russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west manwell oxon writer a german journalist who has just returned from syria says the moderate opposition there is as good as extinct but the term syrian opposition is as strong as it could be this these groups are neither syrian nor real position so they don't have in their interest the good the benefit of the people or of the country these groups are very very often influenced by the west by turkey by the goal of states we have to imagine or to see those groups more like militant gangs like a sort of mafioso those groups who claim about themselves that they reproduce and the moderate position of the mob moderate rebels still want to have any influence on the bit where we know in the meanwhile that the fights on the ground are told by slamming extremists. infighting within the ranks of syrian rebels is threatening the russia u

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihad is russia's foreign minister of course welcome the change of stance manual of the writer a german journalist who has just returned from syria says the moderate opposition is now extinct. the term syrian opposition is as strong as it could be this these groups are neither syrian nor opposition so they don't have in their interest the good the benefit of the people or of the country to screw ups are very very often influenced by the west by turkey by the goal of states we have to imagine or to see those groups more like militant gangs like a sort of mafia so those groups who claim about themselves that they represent the moderate opposition of the moderate moderate rebels don't have any influence on the battlefield we know in the meanwhile that the fights on the ground are told by islamic extremists. u.s. have ganesan relations are put under more strain since joining me is over a security deal which washington sees as essential are hit after american troops accidentally kill eight mistakin

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadi and russia has long been warning of the threat of some opposition groups in syria and what they pose foreign minister lavrov has welcomed this realisation of this in the west. now infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. a brokered peace conference that is due in less than two weeks time the world's top diplomats are in paris right now to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part but journalists john right white believes that the s. and c. long ago lost its status on the ground. it seemed clear there seems to be very little credibility on the ground it can deliver nothing on the ground over the rebel factions or what associated people. see or most of them and we have the faith to other groups so the u.s. administration is increasingly desperate to try and coupled together some kind of. syrian opposition and they can do business with this city in a position of the city national council you know really only exi

beginning to look like the lesser of all evils the former us ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that the sun is not as bad as that hunts. russia is a pro as foreign minister rather circuitous route welcomed the change of stance. grandma sue ryder a german journalist who has just returned from syria says the moderate opposition is now extinct the term serial position is as strong as it could be this the schools are nice the scenery and an oral position so they don't have in their interest to the benefit of the people are of the country the school to start very very often influenced by the way it's like turkey by a glyph states we have to mention or tissue builds towards more like belief in things like that sort of mouth gets old school works quickly enough open so that the retreat center of the moderate position of the mother daughter and i don't have any influence on the back window and the midwife that the flights home grown talent by sending an extremist. today of russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov meets the head of serious opposition union to press them to attend

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as as you heard is russia has long been warning of the threats some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west well infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's to listen two weeks from now the world's top diplomats from paris at the moment to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part but michel chossudovsky is director of the center for research on globalization i spoke to him earlier he says talking to them is not going to solve the issue of terrorist groups flooding syria. the syrian national council is virtually a defunct organization in effect we have to. ask the question is this a civil war between opposing factions within syrian society or is it in fact a war of aggression western leaders are now becoming very aware of the consequences of what's happening on day it's interesting to hear that many are suspecting now that

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the hotties russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west but turkey's prime minister meanwhile is still insisting the upcoming peace talks in geneva should seek the removal of assad here's political analyst care ward call maine on that. it's hardly surprising that arizona would come up with such a ridiculous line he's been behaving most to radically since the very start of the war. talking about regime change is not on the agenda obviously we're doing this themself under a threat of regime change in turkey so he's probably the last man in the region who would want to be talking about regime change at this stage of course you can't have political negotiations if one side say it's ridiculous preconditions and of course regime change is never really been an option in syria absolutely impossible to stage a regime the only way you can have regime change in syria is if the regi

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker he's agreed that assad is not as bad as the as you heard is russia has long been warning of a threat some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west well infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's due in this and two weeks from now and the world's top diplomats are in paris right now to pressure syria's main opposition group that's the syrian national council into taking part in let's discuss what might come out of it i mean the one issues political analysts are writing covering the middle east and she joins us live from beirut. the first day of talks then in paris it's over and yet the syrian national council has failed to give a definitive answer on whether it would attend those future talks in geneva why such hesitation. well i do because the external opposition and that has been backed by foreign governments hostile to syria's president bashar assad has spent the better part of two and a happy

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker he's agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihad is and russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose with foreign minister lavrov welcoming the realisation of this in the west well infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's due in less than two weeks from now the world's top diplomats are in paris to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part well let's discuss what might come out of it with michel chossudovsky he's director of the center for research on globalization he's live in berlin michelle so these western leaders they're all undertaking a last ditch effort to persuade the syrian national council to take part in these forthcoming talks in geneva will they succeed. i think the fundamental issue is to address the nature of the conflict the syrian national council is virtually a defunct organization they've been meeting in spain and called of a spade with other opposition groups but in

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker said that as it is not as bad as the jihad is russian foreign minister sergey lavrov welcome the change of stance now my money and right a german journalist who has just returned from syria says of the moderate opposition is now extinct. the term syrian opposition is as strong as it could be this these groups are neither syrian nor opposition so they don't have in their interest the the good the benefit of the people or of the country these groups are very very often influenced by the west by turkey by the goal of states we have to imagine or to see those groups more like steve militant gangs like a sort of mafia so those groups who claim about themselves that they represent the moderate opposition of the moderate moderate rebels don't have any influence on the battlefield we know in the meanwhile that the fights on the ground are told by slamming extremists. u.s. afghanistan relations are put under more strain stalling negotiations and the security deal which washington sees as essential it was american troops accidentally killed a todd

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as that you hold it while russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov welcome to the change of stance but in turkey that's no change with its foreign ministry is still insisting assad must go let's not talk more and as. a soldier expert in middle east history and politics at bill candy university mr jeremy salt welcome to all very nice to see you here so they can turkey suggesting the kind is actually better than assad remaining in power no i think the turkish foreign minister is saying from his point of view that there is bad as each other. of course is quite dangerous because the group he's referring to she's like state of of of iraq of the levant has already threatened to carry out suicide bombs inside turkey that carried out one bombing last may in the border town of write how they were to more than fifty people so this is a very dangerous group to be moralists describing his evil but the ground is changing very rapidly in syria and we know what's going on now is that the united states and allies need

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadi russia has long been warning of the threat of some opposition groups in syria pose foreign minister lavrov has welcomed of the realization of this in the west infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that is it due in less than two weeks time the world's top diplomats are in paris right now to pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part meanwhile u.s. secretary of state john kerry has already expressed his confidence that the council will participate in the peace talks but journalist john white believes that the c n c excuse me the s.n.c. lost its status on the ground a long time ago. it seems clear there since he spread a little credibility on the ground it can deliver nothing on the ground over the rebel factions or what associate people. see or most of them and we have the straight people to other groups so or the us administration is increasingly desperate to try and couple together s

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is not as bad as a jihadi as russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realization of this in the west my well option writer a german journalist who has just returned from syria says the moderate opposition there is good as extinct the term syrian opposition is as strong as it could be this these groups are neither syrian nor real position so they don't have in their interest the good the benefit of the people or of the country these groups are very very often influenced by the west by turkey by the goal of states we have to imagine or to see those groups more like militant gangs like a sort of mafioso those groups who claim about themselves that they reproduce and the moderate position of the mob or moderate rebel still into this any influence on the better we know in the meanwhile that the fights on the ground are told by slamming extremists infighting within the ranks of syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peac

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker agreed that assad is just as bad as the jihadists now and europe is also backtracking on its approach to the syrian crisis in the opinion of my committee. the europeans are basically backing off from a little bit of support for the opposition and and certainly because of the the inability to distinguish. the different the different elements within the opposition and invariably what will happen is that if you put to start to pass weapons to the opposition it evidently will fall into the hands of the extremists because they are just much more. in addition to be a more radicalized they are also. more fierce fighters and they have shown that against the opposition the syrian opposition the original syrian opposition. meanwhile in iraq the government has been able to push al qaeda linked militants on of the city. with the u.s. stepping in to help quell stuck debates whether its involvement can lead to any good. you know distance states for nine years applying hellfire missiles and drones and automation in attacks of all sorts of kinds and

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker he's agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihadi russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose and foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west well infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's two in less than two weeks from now the world's top diplomats are in paris at the moment to pressure syria's main opposition group that's a syrian national council into taking part well for more insight on the forthcoming peace conference i'm now joined live by writer and journalist john white. john. we know that really not much progress was made in this first day of talks in paris to persuade the s.n.c. to join those future talks in geneva john kerry those express confidence what do you make of what's going to happen tomorrow in the next round of talks in paris. well you see john kerry has called him and i would describe it more as the aspiration and seemed clear they are saying see very little credibility on the

ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker he agreed that assad is not as bad as the jihad is russia has long been warning of the threat some opposition groups in syria pose foreign minister lavrov has welcomed the realisation of this in the west well infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia u.s. brokered peace conference that's two in less than two weeks from now and the world's top diplomats are in paris at the moment to pressure syria's main opposition group that's the syrian national council into taking part but michel chossudovsky he's director of the center for research on globalization says that talking to them is not going to solve the issue of terrorist groups flooding syria . syrian national council is virtually a defunct organization in effect we have to. ask the question is this a civil war between opposing factions within syrian society or is it in fact a war of aggression western leaders are now becoming very aware of the consequences of what's happening on they it's interesting to hear that many are suspecting now that sad ma

beginning to look like the lesser of all people former us ambassador to syria iraq and afghanistan ryan crocker of greedy that assad is not as bad as the and russia has long been warning of the threat of some opposition groups in syria and what they post foreign minister lavrov has welcomed to visit britain realization of this in the west. now infighting within the ranks of the syrian rebels is threatening the russia a us brokered peace conference that is due in less than two weeks time. the world's top diplomats are in paris right now the pressure syria's main opposition group the syrian national council into taking part but journalists john brought blake believes that the smc long ago lost its status common ground as you could do it in the video too critical of dunedin. it can deliver nothing on it and hold the rebel factions that were associated with piercing studio most of them circling of the tricky. two other groups. so the us administration is increasingly desperate to try and cool to get some pain or that city or position of the business to the city will position itself to sitting up to

. >> joinings now from college station texas is ambassador ryan crocker, serving as united states ambassador to syria, iraq and afghanistan and is the dean of the george bush school of government and public service. great to have you with us. let's start with the syrian president, bashar al-assad, and the main reason we are negotiating there in geneva, you advocated in a new york times oped that the u.s. should engage with the regime. syrian rebels were not happy. it's not barack obama's position. why would that work. it's simple. the regime is not going away. bashar al-assad is not going away. we could wish it otherwise, buts we have to deal with the world as it is. if there is ever going to be a negotiated solution, we are going to need to start talking directly to the syrians, not bashar al-assad, but members of his regime. >> you wrote that bashar al-assad is more rigid than his father and many westerners hoped he would be different. you were firm in that belief, that that has not changed, and you wrote that you think he'll end up winning the war in a bloody way, little by little as time

down the road where the kind of sharing of information that took place after 9/11, if you read ryan crocker's comments on the record in a remarkable article in "the new yorker " several months ago about the head of the kutz force in tehran, rein describes the extent to which he were sharing information with the iranians about the al qaeda threat. again, from what i know, this, unfortunately, is another example of iran's ability to ride several horses at once. it's clear that iran has liaisoned with al qaeda -- even as it is threatened by al qaeda. you know, the question of what to do in iraq and syria and how to get this very dangerous threat under control and who are the right allies is an absolutely central strategic issue for the administration right now. i'm glad the head of policy planning is sitting in the front row and that he has to sort this out because it's really a hard one. the idea that we would end up sharing information with iran about mutual adversaries, that's happened in the past within and -- with al qaeda and in afghanistan and it is entirely possible it will happen before

. >> ryan crocker said the price of disengagement is -- has greater consequences than intervention. >correct. >> this is exactly what you're saying. >> david, what do you think? >> we have to engage. there's almost a hangover from iraq. we need to move past iraq. engaging doesn't mean invading with 150,000 troops. you can have special forces there, training iraqi troops. we have to move past iraq, and this administration -- >> you say that, iraq is the reason why we've moved so far past it, nobody intervened in syria and al qaeda has grown up again. >> what do you see now, given all that's happened, what do you see as the steps forward? how do you deal with what's happening in iraq now and by comparison, syria? >> i think the epicenter is syria. malaki has made a lot of mistakes and we have to be engaged with what's going on in iraq. but the center of disruption in the region right now is syria. and we are nearly totally absent from that -- >> not totally absent. >> just a word on iraq. i think the starting point there, i totally agree with everything christiane said. the starting poi

ryan crocker and the late -- were very skilled at negotiating in arabic, but usually just as a matter of course, we will produce an english agreement, and arabic agreement, or whatever other liquid and this is one of those issues which united nations does a great deal. we could go back to u.n. security council resolution 242 with israel must withdraw from the territories rather than the territories and united nations went into quite some detail about which versions would be the tiebreakers and so forth, and open debate with regard to what the definite article meant for the lack of definite article meant and so forth. that said, first of all, we have many, many skilled diplomats, but it doesn't matter how good you are at a foreign-language its regional security officers prevent you from leaving from the embassy compound. i think in iraq today, we have a fortress, and yet we don't have enough security, i have heard, to have 12 excursions outside the embassy walls everyday. and when you talk about a compound with over 1000 people and only 12 people are allowed to leave per day, and judas

ambassador to iraq ryan crocker. and former marine capt. bing west, who spent a lot of time in iraq, particularly in anbar, and has written several books about the war. test gentlemen, we thank both. bing west to you first, what is going on in anbar province? >> well, i think judy that al qaeda has made a big mistake. they went into the cities believing the cities would uprise with them, something equivalent to what the votecong did in 1978 in the tet offensive and the people have no intentions of uprise with them and the major tribes have turned against them. and so i think al qaeda actually has overplayed its hand. >> woodruff: roy an crocker, do you see it the same way, al qaeda moving in, traying to get a foothold, overplaying its hand? >> we've seen this before, bing and i, and i think he is exactly right. al qaeda overplayed its hand in the o 5ee, '06 period that had the population ready to turn to us in at wakening. and we're seeing another play of their hand again, raising the black flag of al qaeda on iraqi soul. and the advent of

quote, from nine formal officials, including former ambassador ryan crocker, the bill will threaten the prospects for success in the current negotiations and thus prevent us and our friend with his a stark choice. military action or living with a nuclear iran. do you have any response to that, in light of what's happened today and the increasingly closer relationship there seems to be between iran and the united states? >> we all have aspirations that negotiations can work, but those distinguished individuals also largely opposed all of the sanctions we led against iraq for quite some time. they had a different view. i think no one disputes that it is the sanction that is i and others have authored that ultimately have led iraq to the negotiating table. and so what we have done is build upon that and given the president the time, a year, to conclude an agreement with the iranians and at the same time be ready for the possibility that they may not succeed in a negotiation. if we wait until we determine whether or not a negotiation can succeed and if it fails and then try to move, the tim

as you remember the ex-head said maybe assad is better than the opposition and ryan crocker, important ambassador and spokesperson for the state department now retired had said the same thing, roughly. that he expects assad to win. so assad i think had begun to feel that perhaps theres with a changing mood in the west. he discovered in geneva there is no change in the west. kerry was very dramatic, this is about regime change. he said that assad is the reason for the jihadists there, he is the magnet. and until he goes, jihadists will not go. >> okay. >> and that was his assertion. >> let me ask you very briefly, andrew. are you as pessimistic? >> i'm pessimistic in terms of for we were leaving-- relieving the suffering on the ground. i think is no mistake president obama talked about syria three time in the state of the union speech, he talked about surprisingly supporting the moderate rebels. dealing with extremism in syria is as simple as the assad regime t has to involve working with the opposition, the moderate parts we can work with. >> thank you so much again. >> pleasure. >> wo

down the road where the kind of sharing of information that took place after 9/11 if you read ryan crocker'semarkable article in "the new yorker" several months ago about the head of the quds force in tehran, ryan describes the extent to which we were sharing information with the iranians about the al qaeda threat. you know, again, from what i know this, unfortunately, is another example of iran's ability to write several forces at once. i mean, it's clear that iran has liaisons with al qaeda, even as it is threatened by al qaeda. the question of what to do in iraq and syria, and how to get this very dangerous threat under control and who are the right allies, you know is kind of absolutely central strategic issue for the administration right now. i'm glad the head of policy planning is sitting in the front row, and that he has to sort this out because it's really a hard one. the idea that we would end up sharing information with iran about mutual adversaries, that's happened in the recent past with al qaeda and in afghanistan. it's entirely possible it will happen before too long. >> the th

>> ryan crocker, going through his hearings talked about the afghan government.ticularly the afghanistan surge is i. that is what we're seeing here. we can't trust the government, can't trust taliban. how do we support this? we want to support the afghan people. i believe karzai enriched himself off the back of the afghan people. it is shameful. with that said we've got to find a way to sustain the gains we made which are very fragile. you and i talked about this a number of times. i think the general is doing the best with what he's got on the ground. the question becomes how do we deal with a mad man? i think karzai because he sees what's coming, he knows the moment we leave his life will be measured in days, probably not weeks and he's probably going to want to get out of there. >> what does it mean to a family memoir rid about their kid -- to a family member worried about their kid serving in afghanistan? what should they take from these comments and these actions? >> first off, the president hugely messed up the strategy. never tell an adversary where you're

down the road where the kind of sharing of information that took place after 9/11, if you read ryan crocker's comments on the record in a remarkable article in "the new yorker " several months ago about the head of the kutz force in tehran, rein describes the extent to which he were sharing information with the iranians about the al qaeda threat. again, from what i know, this, unfortunately, is another example of iran's ability to ride several horses at once. it's clear that iran has liaisoned with al qaeda -- even if it is threatened by al qaeda. the question of what to do in iraq and syria and how to get this very dangerous threat under control and who are the right allies is an absolutely central strategic issue for the administration right now. i'm glad the head of policy planning is sitting in the front row and that he has to sort this out because it's really a hard one. the idea that he would -- we would end up sharing information with iran about mutual adversaries, that's happened in the past within and outside iraq and entirely possible it will happen before too long. >> the thing tha