>> the syrians would like sosee us there. >> stephen: who the syrians o'er the assad rebels why don't the syrians look across the border to the stable, democratic regime in iraq? ( laughter ) that we established as a model for the entire region to spread peace. >> oh, i think what you're seeing is the syrians and iraqis are looking across the border at each other and in some ways they're already involved in the same war. >> stephen: how so? >> this started out as a popular uprising in the spirit of much of the arab spring-- peaceful protests against the government. it met an intensive armed crackdown, which in some ways provoked the civil war that you see now. and that war has taken a sectarian character which extends-- we're seeing more violence along sectarian lines reignited in iraq. >> stephen: so assad and his buddies, they're she aright? but the population is essentially sunni. >> in the main, the population is sunni. and most of the opposition is sunni. >> stephen: as an american how much longer do i have to know those things? because i never wanted to know that stuff. ( laught