Syria - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Syria Index / Locations Transcripts Jeffrey Feltman ...what we thought we should be doing with Syria , given the fact that the Syria... ...There was an attempt to engage with Syria . What was your involvement or th... ...of something else that— I mentioned Syria , as well. Oh, Syria. I would not sa... ...mentioned Syria, as well. Oh, Syria . I would not say that I was th... ...player to Senator Mitchell. On Syria , it was different. The president ver... ...through really official channels in Syria . So the president decided to deploy ... ...I went with George Mitchell on trips to Syria , as well as my own trips t... ...a way to warm up the relationship with Syria . But the Syrians were just unwillin... ...in February that's when Yemen, Libya, Syria , Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan—but it wa... ...forces, as we've seen elsewhere— Syria is a good example—and that perpetua... ...is in 2011, around the same time—is Syria . And the question I would have in th... ...question I would have in the case of Syria is, to what extent were the experience... ...Yemen—when the administration confronts Syria , does that sequence of experience... ...like that? [Pause] I'm haunted by the Syria example, as I am by Bahrain and Liby... ...Yemen meeting to a Bahrain meeting to a Syria meeting. When you have all this goin... Show more... Michèle Flournoy ...for ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ], and then we had to redeploy troop... ...was to, subsequently, what happened in Syria ? Very, very, very important. I thin... ...large-scale military intervention, in Syria . It would make no sense, not i... ...contained. Our ultimately going into Syria to support the Kurds and others t... ...of any use of any force, or forces, in Syria . And then—a different issue set an... Jim Steinberg ...and Egypt and to the Gulf and to Syria . But the inherent recognition that a... ...a total mess. Then of course you have Syria . So from my perspective at the time... ...own engagement in Yemen, in Bahrain, in Syria . I believe firmly, and everybod... James Clapper ...also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ] was—is, frankly—the epitome of th... ...issues, whether it was Libya, or Syria , or Iraq, or Afghanistan. I don't car... ...among the national security team. Syria is probably the arch example of a... ...also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ]. You talk a lot in your book abou... ...out ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ], and this was a different sect tha... John Brennan ...whether it be in Yemen or Iraq or Syria or North Africa or West Africa, the... ...Gulf states, and Bahrain and Jordan and Syria —it was just sweeping. So we had t... ...seeing the results of it in places like Syria , where that beautiful country has bee... ...and the confusion that beset much of Syria . In those early weeks—so this woul... ...that Libya was unlike a country like Syria , where Syria had established politica... ...was unlike a country like Syria, where Syria had established political institution... ...what to say and what do about Assad in Syria , but there could be other examples a... ...much different than the situation in Syria . Yes, there were some similarities... ...When I think about the situations in Syria , I have several thoughts; one is tha... ...we didn't want to have happen was for Syria , and Damascus, to devolve into chaos... ...have a proxy war then with Russia over Syria ? And the Syrian government, which wa... ...way for chemical weapons use by Syria , I think it was the appropriat... ...things that happened in the case of Syria over the course of time that maybe ... ...talked before about the Arab Spring and Syria . Throughout the second term of th... ...term of the Obama administration, Syria and Iraq were wracked by this interna... ...of ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria , and how that affected our polic... ...that affected our policy objectives in Syria . I was heavily involved in tha... ...greatest experts on the Middle East and Syria . We knew what was going on there, an... ...was the main backer of al-Assad in Syria . I worked very closely with Joh... ...these countries because—especially in Syria , there was so many actors involved. I... ...you had others who just flooded into Syria in order to join the fighting. You ha... ...and terrorist elements inside of Syria . So it took on a larg... ...this interim, from Russian actions in Syria and in eastern Ukraine, or in th... ...Ukraine, he could even move into Syria , and there wouldn't be a US militar... ...he also recognized that on things like Syria , Saudi Arabia, Yemen, terrorism, eve... ...Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Al-Qaeda in Syria had merged, and there were som... ...both. But because of the Arab Spring in Syria , and the inability of the Syria... ...that existed in this large area of Syria and Iraq. This overlaps with wha... ...the tremendous flow of people out of Syria and into Jordan and Lebanon and Turkey... Show more... Tawakkol Karman ...in Yemen, in Egypt, in Libya, in Syria , and also in Sudan, and also in Iraq... Rumana Ahmed ...that ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ] started to emerge as well. If yo... ...was right around what was happening in Syria . I don't know if you remember th... Robert Gates ...was pre-ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ]. Things hadn't really fallen apar... ...been an advocate for intervening in Syria . On the other hand, I think that ther... ...a powerful signal, and not just to Syria , but to Moscow and Beijing and Tehra... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Supreme Court Supreme Court go to the Atlantic Relations Atlantic Relations go to the Women and Girls Women and Girls go to the Veterans Veterans go to the Democrats Democrats