Syria - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Syria Index / Locations Transcripts Anne-Marie Slaughter ...sense of the events in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria ? Largely the role of social media, bu... ...about—I guess, Egypt, Libya, and Syria all happen in relatively shor... ...in Libya was different than it was in Syria ? Did you think the administration wa... ...Libya's a mess. But is it worse than Syria ? I don't know. And I definitely thin... ...with the Obama administration on Syria . I just felt that, although ... ...Libya directly colored the decision on Syria ? Or, in your reading, were ther... ...of the decision not to intervene in Syria for humanitarian purposes. Why do yo... ...there was no decision like that in Syria ? So I do think that one affected th... ...badly. They couldn't see a way out of Syria . And Obama, who is cautious, took th... ...very bad place to be. Then, of course, Syria , which was just an open wound, bu... Show more... Samantha Power ...working on an Ebola crisis, or on Syria chemical weapons use, or on many of th... ...had when people started rising up in Syria , it's “My God, the bravery of thes... ...become ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ], threats to American personnel... ...I think the more likely scenario is a Syria scenario, where you get both th... ...as it was, for example, on Syria , then the Security Council, it grind... ...chemical weapons against civilians in Syria . This is something that has bee... ...of those options as a response? The Syria case is hugely complex, irrespective o... ...as if life is good for people living in Syria , especially those targeted by th... ...there was, we and Russia do not see Syria eye to eye at all. We don't see th... ...that's very dangerous for the future of Syria . It's very dangerous for our partner... ...that is, US military force inside Syria , and doing so as a response to thi... ...mission that was very, very limited in Syria . Because, again, the concern o... ...Obama about his feckless response to Syria , and after the chemical weapon... ...would mean for Russia's interests in Syria . I'm not in it to interfere with you... ...it to interfere with your interests in Syria . I'm in it because chemical weapon... ...it meant not seeing the US use force in Syria . So out of that meeting—and again, i... ...protective of Russian's interests in Syria Putin wanted to be. It also shows yo... ...be destroyed, or put another way, that Syria allow the international community t... ...who helped us ship the chemicals out of Syria onto the ship, and figuring out ... ...he thought that using military force in Syria , in any case, was a really risk... ...had these cascading effects well beyond Syria , in that cost-benefit, initially, h... ...advantage of the failing state in Syria , taking advantage of Iraq, th... ...in terms of America's involvement in Syria and in the region more broadly. Tha... ...multilateral diplomacy on issues like Syria , for example. But you also mentione... ...regime. So there was an effort on Syria to invest in diplomacy. But the fac... ...diplomacy didn't pay dividends in the Syria context. Diplomacy didn't pa... ...response. And with a conflict like Syria —that and South Sudan are a couple bi... ...if they could be reached inside Syria , but they were out of the control o... ...ground—the Assad regime, in the case of Syria . So there's all of that work. The... ...of the conflict—for example, in Syria —then you take some of those sectaria... ...Jordan, Lebanon—and I'm focusing on Syria just to give us a concrete case here... ...of the countries that neighbored Syria , you seen then—that period is ... ...having gotten so bad, either in Syria or even in the relative safety of ... Show more... Ryan Crocker ...[NEA], 2001 to 2003; ambassador to Syria ; ambassador to Kuwait; and ambassado... Brett McGurk ...that ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ] posed, and, essentially, as i... ...of 2013, about what was coming out of Syria , and what I thought was ... ...was a misunderstanding of the rebels in Syria that we had relationships with. I wa... ...debate counterparts who were working on Syria , just because in my experience, it'... ...180 thousand troops on the ground. In Syria , we had nobody on the ground, and fro... ...on the border between Iraq and Syria . So it was a deep concern of mine... ...just to control territory in Iraq and Syria —if that's all they wanted to do... ...a terrorist group takes over a city in Syria , a provincial capital, they hav... ...really a political thing about Iraq and Syria ; it's really not about us,” Jame... ...the risk of it, what was coming out of Syria , the radicalization—that, when you g... ...we planned the air strikes in Syria —the first night of air strikes agains... ...night of air strikes against ISIS in Syria in a very public way. And Saudi Arabi... ...of Paris, in an attack that came out of Syria . We had—the Brussels airport was blow... ...ISIS, suicide bombers that came out of Syria . And we thought there was more an... ...airplanes. That was all coming out of Syria . The stuff we were seeing, and had w... ...task force of terrorists that trains in Syria and then infiltrates out and carrie... ...how these guys were getting out of Syria and infiltrating into Europe, and wh... ...force that we found effective in Syria was a Kurdish-led force that th... ...than the force we were working with in Syria to ultimately take down Raqqa in thes... ...number of this—kind of Arab Spring—but Syria is different, and that was a means/end... ...to take charge—so, I was not working on Syria policy, but I was close to it because ... ...debating those who were working on Syria policy. I just thought the whole thin... ...on the ground and had a presence in Syria , that gave us a lot of leverage. So ... ...little bit more involved in aspects of Syria policy than I might otherwise hav... ...military presence on the ground now in Syria . And, by the way, our presence i... ...presence gave us a say and a weight in Syria that we didn't otherwise have. And th... ...But as we got traction on the ground in Syria , I did begin to get more involved i... ...in trying to get a cease-fire in Syria , trying to wind down the war i... ...a river that—the Euphrates cuts through Syria . We told the Russians, “Don't cros... ...And I got a little more involved in Syria , the larger Syria picture, because o... ...more involved in Syria, the larger Syria picture, because of that. I knew tha... Show more... Colin Kahl ...to learn on the job about Lebanon, and Syria , and Iran, and Israel, and Egypt, an... ...and Jordan, and Oman, and Libya, and Syria . I mean, what started with the frui... ...There were questions about whether Syria would ultimately go the way o... ...of Libya, what to do with regard to Syria , were there principles or historica... ...looked like the events in Libya and Syria , ultimately. Which would have bee... ...we never had in other cases, like Syria . This was a limited mission that wa... ...in the region, especially in Syria . Because as the situation in Syria go... ...in Syria. Because as the situation in Syria got worse—again, the timing i... ...bad in the late spring and summer in Syria , then gets much worse in the fall o... ...States to contemplate intervention in Syria —everything was different. The Ara... ...regional consensus for intervening in Syria . There was no international consensu... ...after ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ] had taken over Mosul, th... ...Iraq, and ultimately, between Iraq and Syria , had essentially occupied a piece o... ...for possibly reintervening in Iraq and Syria to deal with ISIS. So I said, “Sure... ...interests were at stake in Iraq and Syria given ISIS's seizure of territory; wha... ...operating on both sides of the Iraq- Syria border, and in Syria you had th... ...sides of the Iraq-Syria border, and in Syria you had the [Bashar al-] Assa... ...can't work with the government in Syria . So what do you do? Do you directl... ...on the ground, total, between Iraq and Syria . About a dozen killed in action, a... Show more... Ash Carter ...ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ] happened while I was gone, basically... Stephen Kroft ...which I'm sure we'll get into, was Syria , and Ukraine, and the rise of—I'... ...[Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ]. ISIS, right. But I think hi... ...Ukraine crisis, the aftermath of the Syria red line, the rise of ISIS. This is ... ...three major crises going on. You had Syria . You had Ukraine, where the Russian... ...of the Ukraine thing, and because of Syria , Putin was involved, and Russia wa... ...One, Russia had decided to move into Syria , and make its presence felt, and pu... ...this. We should be doing something in Syria . We should be doing something to sto... ...business of the red line with Syria , which I don't know if we've set u... ...for not going in and doing something to Syria —I think that the Senate approved som... ...were telling him to get involved in Syria and take on the Russians in Ukraine... ...the United States didn't do much in Syria , although there were, as Obama pointe... ...We had no friends on the ground in Syria on which to mount any kind of a—and h... ...were. But one other thing, going to Syria , we talk about Ukraine and not lettin... ...Russians move back in on the ground in Syria , and not challenging the takeover o... ...thing was the total mess in Iraq—uh, in Syria . Because we'd done nothing really t... ...very involved in what was going on in Syria , they were able to move in and fil... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Education Education go to the Obama in the Senate Obama in the Senate go to the Elections and Campaigns Elections and Campaigns go to the Supreme Court Supreme Court go to the Black Politics Black Politics