I want to submit for the record an extraordinary speech by Robert Gates in 1992, when he was head of the CIA, on the danger of the politicization of intelligence.
We can't wait years for Assad to leave and we turn the guns of the opposition and the Syrian army on ISIL.
we're not going to defeat ISIS with just airpower. Everybody knows that.
we've got to find a strategy that allows us to move Assad aside in some way, working with the Russians, if necessary, or...
A strategy that ignores Assad... I just think in--I'm--I think we now need to recognize that that's not a logical strate...
it makes the ISIS look invincible and more powerful, and that's--helps in their recruiting, and it becomes a self-fulfil...
Assad and ISIS are evil twins. ISIS largely came into existence in reaction to Assad.
Which only exacerbates the sectarian conflict, which makes ISIS look good to the Sunni chiefs in Anbar.
If we win a town in Syria and lose 10,000 kids in France or Belgium or Florida or Ohio, that's not victory.
I really think you need to rethink a strategy about a safe zone, a no-fly zone, some protection from Assad's barrel bomb...
If we can work with other parties, particularly Russia, to move Assad off the stage, then you've got an Arab army, a Mus...