Transcripts For ALJAZAM Consider This 20130911

Russian public defender says the plans can succeed only if washington and its allies rule out action. The sek tate of state will head to sisser land. The two leaders are expected to talk in geneva on thursday. And syria zillion having a big impact on the oil market. Crude futures falling more than 2 today. Oil reach a 28 month high on friday. Thats the news at this hour, aljazeera. Com is next. The president takes his case for a strike only syria directly to the American People. If we fail to act, the asaad regime will have no ran to stop using chemical weapons. This is not a world we should accept. And the nation responds, an american tonight special town hall presentation, the syria debate. With voices here in washington, d. C. , across america, and around the world. Hello and welcome to al jazeera, special coverage of the syria debate, we are here at america ton town hall special coverage and joining me here is antonio. Of consider this, im joey chen. Throughout this evening we are looking at the president s comments but the comments from all of our viewers around the world and in our audience here. We want to begin with what the president had to say, as he tried to make his case directly to the American People. He began by making statements about his own interests and trying to keep peace around the world, but at acknowledged the importance of the u. S. Military and its strength, and he made particular mention of what the military might be able to do in syria. Theres no point in doing a pin prick strike in say yeah. Let me make something clear. The United States military doesnt do pin pricks. Even a limited strike will send a message to asaad that no other nation can deliver. I dont think we should remove another dictator with force. We learned from iraq that doing so makes us responsible for all that comes next. By a targeted strike can make asaad or any oh dictator think twice before using chemical weapons. There are many Fast Breaking developments oen the story, and joining us here in the studio is america tonight, correspondent who has been closely following the story. There is some breaking news tonight, that is about what will happen next in terms of a resolution. There is a u. N. Resolution putter forward by the french that has gone to the Security Council tonight, that resolution gives syria 15 days to make a full and complete disclosure of all its chemical weapons. That includes stock piles of weapons that it has, and also include precursors. So what does that mean . Full and complete disclosure . Has that been the sticking point. That is part of the process of signing up to the Chemical Weapons Convention. So under the way that it works you say what you have, you let inspectors in who verify that you have said that this is what you have. They have to cross check, inventories and shipments talk to scientists try and figure out exactly what you have, when you made it, where it is, syria is already on the record today through their foreign minister, as saying they are prepared to fully sign up. To the chemical weapons treaty. So the rest of this is the concern about enforcement . Its a concern about disclosure, openness, and then following enforcement. Now, we dont know if the french resolution also includes the threat of force. Which was a possibility that was discussed earlier today. And also what we dont know tonight is if the french resolution also includes punishment for those responsible for the events which took place on august 21st. Interestingly when the president spoke, he made mention, though he talks about it the developments and possible of a u. N. Security council resolution, he made no mention of punishment saying only disarmament and destruction. All right, we have a series of panels that are going to join us, and our great panelingest right now, we have christopher, who is a columnist as middle east bureau chief, and has spent a lot of time in the middle east. And hillary who is approach so at she served in both the bush and clinton administrations and she is the author of going to tehran. One thing the president repeated over and over, again, was the importance of not letting tyrants get away using weapons of mass destruction. We have seen a long history of letting them get away with it. Going back to saddam lose sane. There were by some as many as think one prior uses of chemical weapons. Why now . I think first of all you need to understand something, and look at Saddam Hussein is one example. Its not just that they kill people, it is odorless, it is colorless, you dont know when it is happening to you until suddenly you cant beet, you are con as a resulting, it has a horrible effect. When sudan hussein used those he killed maybe 5,000 people. Three years later he didnt have to use them to terrorize hundreds of thousands of people. And drive them to the mountain sides. If asaad is able to continue to use chemical weapons, freely, in syria, he will win this war. He will cleanse whole parts of the country of his enemies, and he will terrorize anyone who stands against him. And that is what the administration cannot allow as far as the president s judgement is concerned. What the president leave out and obscures is that the quite has a clean record. That we didnt help Saddam Hussein acquire the weapons was to kill tens of thousands of iranians during that war. We leafs out the fact that we used ancient orange, that we used gas what is the point . But the issues is here, the reason why the president talk about that and puts us forward as this great ben nine power, always a force for good, is because this isnt about chemical weapons. 100,000 people have died it is about 1,000 people that were killed by a particular weapon, or this weapon, this is about the balance of power. This is about the reality that six months ago, it dawned on the administration that when president obama had said asaad has to go, two years ago that wasnt happening. That the Syrian Government was winning and with that, he is bob la, iran, russia, and china would win. This is not about to change the wail balance of power, it is to spring us to stalemate. Continue to agree with the fact that asaad has been winning, if you look at the last 30 days prior to him using chemical weapons 63 strategic victories for the free syrian army, all across the country. What has happened is asaad entered the city, using went to enter that city and there were only 750 respectfully disagree. But in terms of what the president knows what the Intelligence Community here is saying, what general dempsey has said, what the u. S. Military is said is the opposite. You and i are not on the ground, but in terms of what the u. S i just came back from the ground, so i have also been to to middle east. Im from syria. I came from syria. So did i. Just two weeks ago. Two months, but the issue is what is the information that the u. S. President is acting on. What is general dempsey saying. General dempsey is saying that the situation was so perilous we could not tell one opposition from the other, thats one reason why the arm supply from the United States has been slow. This is a strategic problem for the United States, and president obama fails there was some information today about further contact conflict on the ground. Yes, there was. For the First Time Since august 21 forking p stirrian air force jets were in the air there are reports of very heavy fights in the south. Most notably between the army and the one of the al quaida affiliates. Now, theres sort of a side show between elements of the rebel fors, but that is also contributing to the confusion and some of the doubts about who people are on the drowned. Thats precisely my point, is what the president is. One at a time. Whee. One at a time. I thought i was confused with the president. Listen to you. Now im totally confused. More than 99,000 souls have lost their lives. 99,000 99,000 people have died. The focus on the chemical weapon is aside show and maybe even a pretext. We need to get to real conflict resolution, to stop this conflict. But at the same time isnt it important to get in there and send a message, pause we have iran next door developing weapons, so at some point dont we have to call them to account. The message is if you defy the president you survive. President obama said asaad has to go, you know what will happen, is asaad will stand. He will be stronger, just like his father did when he killed over 35,000 people over 30 years. Just like his father. He will survive, he will get stronger, iran will be stronger. And russia is back in the drivers eat. Where does that leave us . Okay. We should do what. We should engage in serious diplomacy and not pretend that we have to deal with asaad the constituencies he represents and iran and russia. Just a month ago stand by. On the stage, we want to go now to beirut. Rah journalist who has been acting very act ily and has a voice from on the ground in the region. What are you seeing here . What developments can you report to us tonight . Well, you know i listen to the president s speech as well yes, el hello, can you hear me. Yes. Hello. Yes, we can hear you, please go ahead. Yes, well i listened to the president s speech this evening as well, and i was just checking on social media and other outlets to get some sort of a reaction. And the consensus among many syrian whose have been following is that basically although president obama referred repeatedly to those horrific videos of children gasping for breath, he expressed quite a selective moral outrage, and he didnt seem to be terribly interested in the videos of other children being killed by jets and helicopter gun ships. It seems like the issue wasnt dead children, per se, but how they were killed. And that just seems to be a Quick Reaction from people who listen to the speech here. Can you speak to that . You are nodding your head, and i think this goes to what is the value, where do we put the value in terms of what death is the death that we Pay Attention to. Dillon thomas said after the first death, there is no other. Every death is important. When we are talking about 100,000 dead in a war like this, it is a horrific thing. If you have been in a war, you know what bodies look like when they are blown apart. To say that chemical weapons are more horrible, up so pack to, then other kinds of death is crazy. But the president did draw that line. But, because chemical weapons are such an effective war of terror and can be used in the way that a dad used them, they are a game changer. Thats the real problem. If the idea is to go to diplomacy, through a stalemate which i have to say i think is a pretty cynical way to do thing, but it is the way diplomacy works then you dont want asaad to use chemical weapons. If he is really going to take them off the table now, through the russian initiative, then we will go back to a situation where we can debate about what is going on on the grounden p who is winning who is not. Are there stalemates how is that going. If he is allowed to use those chemical weapons he will win. Lets talk about diplomacy for a second. Ronnie, i need to go back in beirut, can you talk also about the impact regionally there in lebanon, you are seeing much of the refugee population moving across from syria. In the terror and in the growth of this rapid growth of refugee population. Yes, absolutely. The statistics are quite overwhelming. Every fourth person is now a syrian. Thats an indication of how many have fled to try to find ref jew in a country that is quite polarized over the issue. This country has long been divided. And certainly the influx of refugees has not eased any of those tensions if anything, it has added to it. Thats just one state. You know, there are millions of syrians that are displaced inside syria itself, in addition to the million whose are outside of its borders and who are trying to seek refuge and who have sought refuge in jordan, in lebanon, the neighbors countries are buckling under the pressure of this immense weight of the syrian exodus from the war zone. A journalist in beirut has been closely following the situation, and the refugee population. Antonio. We will address that more as the show goes on. This terrible catastrophe that is happening in syria and in the countries that border it. Lets have some reaction questions from the audience. Hi, my name is peter i am from d. C. My question is this, it seems like what obama did was craig his feet tonight, i guess he is doing that is because there seems to be a lot of extremist rebel groups and hezbollah, and theres not a good outcome, why cant our diplomates influence this any better than they have. Whats wrong with the state that the only way we can act is by tom hawks. I worked for the state department for over ten years and one of the problems that you is is you dont control the message. You have a president who can use the bull by pulpit, and this president regarding asaad like he did with libya, came out without clearance, without a national Security Council meeting to say asaad has to go. Cued daffy has to do, which withouts the United States on the trajectory towards war. The problem here is that it has been two years, and each time we have intervened in these conflicts we have become less andless effective. We are less able to achief to do what we say we are going to do. This is a strategic crisis for the United States. And it has put russia in the drivers seat internationally. This is something that obama completely glosses over. I worked also with the Russian Foreign minister when he was the ambassador to the u. N. , he is one of the smartest not just diplomats but smartest people, he doesnt speak recklessly. Two fact that the russians have put out that from their prior investigation that they have reason to believe that the rebels are the ones that fires the gas, they are not putting it out there because they are playing around. They are boxing us in, and we are not even seeing the door slam. The nice thing is today we have the head of forensic investigation defect, somebody who oversaw the investigation. In the area that the russians are saying, and he came with 33 eyewitness reports the Police Reports he came with them, to say that an actual airplane fired a missle prior to the chemical attack. And that you underestimate lav error we underestimate and putin. Let etalk about realities. What we have asked for we said listen, let the evidence show, why dont we bring u. N. Inspectors let them go in, and investigate. Let them move freely. When this attack happened the u. N. Inspectors living in a hotel about 30 minutes away. And we expect if he is serious about finding the truth, why dont you just let the inspector goss there within the first two hours. No. Thats not true. Thats just not true. Remember the u. N the only one that disagreed with you on that one. Remember that the nos true. The protocol that is signed between the u. N there are official you only answer one question, you only answer whether they are used or not, you are not allowed to answer the more important question trying to undermine the u. N. , because the u. N. Investigators 2 million important things. Sheila. One. Go. They can look at delivery devices. We have asked them. All right. Hillary, hillary. Let sheila go here. Let one at a time. I want to say this, weaken prohibitions brought the u. N. Inspectors here are the devices time them with us, they are no we cant do this. I am going to get up and separate the two of you. It is fun, huh. I worked for the Bush Administration. Come out here to the audience. A question about military intervention, a College Student . Yes, im a sophomore at George Washington university. I have a question for the pang nell about u. S. Intervention. Flowing that the strike has such low approval, i believe it is around 25 , is it plausible that obama did not actually plan on striking syria but actually instead felt that he wanted to intimidate asaad into relinquishing the chemical weapons. And would allow the u. S. To maintain the threat of credibility that he talks about in his speech. And stick to his red line, and maintain his credibility. All right. The only reason we see this Political Movement now, even the ruckses interested is because of this credible threat of force. The russians they were shipping two to four shipments of weapons to asaad regime per week. And they still will. They stopped. But because the message that russian sha they stopped delivering them. What is the message that russia sent to syria about this . I think russia is telling syria, it is time to back off on the chemical weapons dont do this, you are going to create a huge problem. You can probably hang out without the weapons but if you push this, there will be military action. I think to answer the ladys question, i wish that the administration were so smart and calculated that it had played its cards right. But i dont think anything we have learned over the past few weeks suggests that is the case. The president was as hillary said boxed into his own rhetoric, where he had to do something once there had been 1400 killed in front of the eyes of the world, and he started looking around for something to do, eh looked for the minimal military response. Its still we still dont see what the strategy is that the military response is supposed to deliver. And he is started pushing that and hoping for the best. But the truth is, that the president hasnt had a very coherent policy on syria ever. And the consequences are grave, if you can deal that with it leaves asaad in more control. He will then move there to mop up two opposition. This is not a beginning of a new life for syrians. We have to take a break, we will come back and talk a little bit more, chris i want you to address hillarys broader point about the effectiveness of strikes in the middle east, with he be right back. There is america tonight, with ask audience that she has found. Sarah. Thats right. Good evening. I am here and outside detroit, with a group of people that are syrian american, and they have a lot to say. Talk to me a little bit about you heard the president tonight, how are you feeling . So you like what he has to say, or should the u. S. Stay out. Overall i was pleased that he said he wants to postpone any kind of military intervention. Personally i think that the United States should stay completely out of syria for now. That he was postponing the intervention. Lets go to you, you are an attorney, and you heard the president speak, how do you feel, what should we do . I sympathize with the president , i feel he is caught in a very difficult situation. But i have to agree for the Syrian People they have to suffer through another stall tactic by the asaad regime. Hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions have been displaced, its a country that has been destroyed and now they have to wait another 15 days just to realize that asaad is not a man of his word. Not only do we have people react obama, the people here in this room have very personal stories. One young man right here, he has volunteered his time, working with helping put together medical to send to syria. He also has a very touching story himself that he lost his father a year ago. Losing my father in revolution, i have come to know how it is to lose someone over there. It isnt just something you see on t. V. , you have a personal connection. So this is way beyond an attack. It is not as expendable as people are making it. Something needs to happen to save these lives and working with these medical facilities i know how bad it is on the ground. People dont have medicines they are chronic conditions. People are stuck in basements and dying just bleeding out. So something needs to be done. Peeking of those personal stories you had returned recently from syria, tell us what you saw . So, it is really facing reality instead of just watching it on the news, or on youtube, then you connect wit the real stories and people. Every medical mission in jordan, we witness to visit injured people, in hospital, and then i had another mission we went actually inside syria, and we see the refugees and the borders, and medical facilities, we evaluated and we saw patients and evaluated facilities and it is really hard breaking. There are pictures i cant take out of my mind, im sad because these are missd from the discussions tonight, and most panels. Seeing a sixyearold with lost who lost both of his legs, dieing in front of you after a random shelling in a civilian area, that makes two chemical weapon, understand it is very sad, but it is still only 122 pest of the people are by chemical weapon. Two displaced syrians on the border, we notice the refugees is in terrible conditions. Inside syria, and you go across the boarders and they are in better condition. And would ask apparently the Syrian Government banded the u. N. From cross borders help by u. N. Relief agencies can broke my heart. You can see crowded families in one tent, and have nothing to support them. I remember the story of f exnad, most of her face was burned. 13yearold girl, and i was talking to another american physician with me, somebody whispers in my ear and told me and said she lost her brother and sister in a shelling in their town. When they left dara. So i was talking to him she lost a brother and sister, and then she loudly said no in english, i was talking to him, i lost two of my sisters she was understanding us in english, and i felt how she probably lost a lot of her potential, just being caught and there is no discussions of civilian protection and medical personnel protection, and this is really sad. I know we have to go here soon, let me get one more voice here, stay with me. Speaking of that loss of life, we do have who lost a brother. And is coming up on the two year anniversary. So how heartbreaking is it to be at this point today . Believe me it breaks my heart, every time i remember hip. How i remember how he died volunteers with the red cross. He was on the ambulance, safing an injured person, where the the check point for the regime, and they tricked him and they the officer arrested h imto keep going, in the ambulance with the driver, and then they opened fire all over from four direction from the top and the three other direction on the ambulance. So my brother just tried to jump over the patient, and threw his body over him, just to save his life. So in safing his life he lost his own. Yep. There are more stories like that and people who are in favor of asaad and also the regime, and those who are standing with one more voice, really quick here, and just you dont want military intervention. No. Iranian really just think it would actually make the situation worse. I dont think that it would help america, i dont think it would help our sols i dont think it would help anything over here or over there. Thats the last thing we should do. We should be using diplomacy. There you have it. Wac to you. This is antonio, in washington. And its terrible to hear those stories 100,000 dead, hundreds of thousands of others injuries. Another 5 million displace. We will keep hearing these from receive yeah, and have more analysis coming up. Our america tonight town hall. We are continuing our discussion, about syria. And the crisis there. And what the United States should do about it if anything. Joining us now on the panel is congressman steve horseford from nevada as well with us, is colt noll Cedric Layton who retired of the u. S. Air force, we appreciate you being here. Congressman i want to start with you, you do have a significant military population within your community, and we know that the president tonight made a particular statement a shout out as it were on pin pricks strikes and what the military can do. What did you hear in the president s comments that might or might not sway your community and your own vote. Well, as you indicate i was undecided. I remain undecided on the strike itself, but i am very pleased and optimistic and i commend the president for delaying a vote to allow the new approach with syria turning over the chemical weapons and signing on to the Chemical Weapons Convention language. Because ultimately thats the largest objective. Of securing and emlimb nateing chemical weapons that we should be strifing to achieve. Colonel, that is a difficult task . It is. When you look at it from a diplomatic standpoint, that is of course the preferred solution. Even for military people, you dont want to do in there and have to destroy the chemical weapons because it is very difficult to do so. If you dont have pools on the drowned, and everybody says we dont want to have boots on the ground. So you have to look at it in a very multifaceted approach, when you have these weapons they are very difficult to destroy. Pin prick strikes will not ask against the munitions themselves. You risk spreading the gas. That becomes very very dangerous, because you dont have the munitions yet to do that. In the future there will probably be some that can handle that kind of attack, but we arent there yet. In terming of developing that kind of a system, so that limits u. S. Options. Colonel, how do you reckon side saying it would not be a pin prick strike, saying that the strike would be unbriefly small. You cant reconcile those two. And the reason is that when the military goes in, and actually undertakes a mission of this type, they can be precise, but you cannot be small if you want to be effective. You can be precise, by going after a specific target set, but you cannot go after a target set that is unimportant. Ten what you are trying to do is trying to achief the greatest effect, for the smallest expenditure. And i think thats what they are trying to refer to, but the language is it is logically imcon patible. Ariana from venezuela, and she is a student. Thank you. I definitely agree that at least certain actions must be taken in order to stop the atrocities however my question is regarding this proposed attack from the u. S. , and how the world would view it, the president our reputation, and our credibility is at stake here, so to what extent is this attack to what extent will it improve our reputation in the International Community . Im hopeful that the alternative will be achieved which is to allow syria to turn over the chemical weapons and to turn it over to the International Community, to allow the International Community to go in and secure those facilities. So that we can avoided a strike from occurring. What the president talked about tonight is is that in the event that they do not agree, or with we are not able to get that in place in a near term, then the strike is still on the table. And that strike would be limited, but focused. My understanding based on some of the proofings i have been is it would target some of the military installations. Specifically, and that would degrade the capacity of the asaad regime from using chemical weapons any further against their own people. One of the difficulties i think that you see when you look at u. S. Military action, the president has tried very hard to avoided a unilateral action on the part of the u. S. From a military perspective. He looks at the experience with the iraq war as being a negative experience, and i think most people around the world would agree with that. The problem that you have, though, is that sometimes in order to achieve national objectives, you have to have the capacity to do it alone. And what i read from the president s statements, and from the various efforts that other members of the administration are undertying, is an effort to make it clear that we want to do diplomatic actions we want to conduct diplomatic efforts but we are ready to do other things military things in this case, to go after the targets that we believe are important to go after to actually eliminate the problem on an international basis. But from an international perspective, we have to be very careful with that, because theres always the risk of a negative approach. So i think what they want to do is exhaust every option. We get to that point. Out here in the audience with us is one of our contributors in earlier, also a columnist and great contributor on all these issues. Can you talk a little bit about the president s credibility, and legacy. Through the course is syria going to be the thing that he is remembered for . First of all you look at the polling data, that was always one of his strengths. I dont necessarily believe syria somehow is going to be the defining point when it comes to his legacy. Because if you look at fit a military standpoint, you take a look at what has happened in iraq. I do think this is being overlooked is the fact that he is putting congress on the spot to say look, you could have put this all on me, i have to make the decision, but he is forcing him to have the dialog as well. Or even make this decision, because it could have been easy to make the decision, great call, or bad call, and had no consequence, now they have some skin in the game, so i think members of congress are probably happy with the russia situation as opposed to just the president. What do you think . Im pleased that he chose to come to congress. Because it has made it more of a distributive process. The fact that we are having this tonight is because he chose to come to congress. Are there some members that would have preferred not to be in this position, where yes, but they are the same number whose dont see a partnership between congress and the presidency in leading this country. We have three branches of government, and we have to Work Together to make these difficult decisions. I am a new member, and this is tough. And i am a democrat, but i have no t while i support the president and i trust his leadership. I still have to make an independent judgement based on my constituents and the best interest as i see it. And she brought up the issue of the decreasing effortiveness of american strikes in the middle east. I addressed the question to you, libya being the latest example by many accounts, the situation in libya is far worse than it was under gaddafi, and we saw diplomats die in benghazi. It is terrible what happened in agains into and i a year ago, i dont think you can argue things are so much worse. He killed 200, 300 americans in one terrorist incidents in 1988. So i think that this was an evil man that was good to get him out, and there are no american troops on the ground, we arent occupying that country, we are not doing to be sucked into Something Like iraq. Blue it has become a chaotic question. Yes, let it be. Not with libyans being chaotic with americans. What hillary was saying and this i would agree with her about, is essentially that the Bush Administration when it went into iraq, and occupied for eight years. Took the United States which was a country with enormous power to do good, with a Miles Per Hour mall force, and eventually sucked it dry, pled it dry. Thats what we see today, we are almost powerless to act. You can see in congress, you can see it in the public, because of the experience of iraq. Its as similar as that, now the other issue is do pin pick strikes work. I spent most of my career going to the places we were about to hit. And watching the bombs fall all around me, and they almost do any good. When president obama proposed to do this. I thought over no. Dont just do something stand there. Back off, think of this again, and if you ask me just for my opinion, i think the russians have saved his ass. I think that he was ill prepared going into this confrontation, and this crisis i dont think he has the wacking he clearly doesnt have the congressional backing. And the packing oif American People. And he certainly doesnt have the backing of the American People. Did the speech tonight make a difference. No. I can it is going do make any difference at all. But time can make a difference. If we go through the diplomatic process that is being outlined now. 15 days of trying to get some kind of resolution. With the American People seized of the issue, and seeing who is standing on what side, it isnt just coming out of the blue at them, then maybe there will be more support. Whatever we are calling it a not a very good idea, but at least the environment will change. And welcome pack to american tonight. Special coverage of the debate. Our for this is syria town hall on twitter, and while known to our twitter audience as well. And she has been talking listening in on the social Media Community. We have heard from the congressman, and from others act the challenge for members as they listen to the president p what what are they saying on twitter. What is that is maying is senator rand palm, who is slated to make a video tonight after president obama speaks speak tweeted out president obamas speechedness convince me, he sent out this tweet. If you look at the other congressional leaders who are senting out these tweets a lot of them are saying what they were before. This peach didnt necessarily change what a lot of them has thought. And thats what a lot of arrogations have said, this is not an event that would change the minds of the american public. Exactly. Some of the most outspoken on more force. Released a statement saying that they regretted the president has not authorized more lethal aid for moderate opposition no, sirs. Lindsay gram also tweeted moral case was passionate and compelling however the consequences were vague and left a lot on the table. I also want to share a thought from Keith Eliason who is the first listed congressman, he has been supported the eye for a while, he says he delay as vote to allow for diplomacy, but would we be talking about it without a threat ofa. Thats one we have seen raised here tonight. And the International Community you are seeing on twitter. Absolutely. So syrian americans are weighing in and one writer in particular, who i have been following for a while. She is from syria, and she just tweeted that she was disappointed. She expressed some dispair and staubed in the baggy asaad, and now by america. Whether others have expressd from show we have been doing, when we seek out voices they are conflicted. Some people that a strike would have retalalay story effects on them. Conflicted there, as we are in the United States. Our social media contact, joining us with a view of what is going on in the social Media Community for america tonight. Thank you. Antonio. Joey, we now have a new panel that will address the humanitarian catastrophe, that is going on in the surrounding countries. First, i have amir he is a human rights activist from syria. He was in prison twice by the asaad government. Carolyn miles c ex oh, of save the children, she has been in jordan and arrack to see what is happening there. And z actionh,i who is the president of the syrian medical society, his parents and sister are still back in iraq. Carolyn i want to start with you, and what you have seen. We have heard of the 1. 1 million refugees how bad is it the humanitarian situation . Well, this is i would say its the worst humanitarian disaster that we have seen for decades. Disreally a horrible situations. And we have talked a little bit about about the issue, be tough numbers are staggers. 100,000 people have died. About 11,000 of those people are children. So while the chemical weapons piece is important, the scale of the humanitarian disaster really huge. And what is happening in refugee camps, first of all, you have literally thousands of people 5,000 a day, who are still leaving syria, so there are still huge numbers of people going into these catches. Where i was most recently, is really not a camp any more, it is a small city. It is to outer or fifth largest city in jordan at this point. So 125,000 people. And just to give you a cbs of how people are dealing with this, i met a young 15yearold boy when i was last there, and we were talking about the future, and he said to me, he is 15, he had been to high school, in syria, had been a good student, he said i dont think about the future any more. I dont have a future. And that is what we really have to worry about. Your future has turned out to be very different than what you expected you were in prison twice, you just got to the United States a year ago. You feel that the United States should have intervened long ago, what do you think about a what is going on now with the diplomatic efforts. I was subject to asaad oppression for the past 30 years of my life. I was in prison twice we asaad, once in 2003, and once last year in 2012. I was held captive in different prisons, i stayed three days on one food, and one of asaad prisons, locked there with 125 other persons, other syrians, and ten by ten feet room. Literally, there were bodies over each other, i couldnt even have space to put the other food on the drowned. If i was actually ran away from syria, illegally through the board tore jordan. And then i worke worked wih the refugees there. I stayed in the catc camp r a week. Where i stay for the whole week where anybody asking me do you have a place to sleep, or do you have food, or water. We actually stayed in that camp for a whole day without any kind of water, just to wash our hands. Or any toilet water. It was horrible conditions. I have seen the refugees suffering in jordan, i worked actually with a humanitarian relief organizations helping them. But the magnitude of the crisis is beyond imagination. I know it is so difficult, and you continue to look for your brothers as well. I have two brother who are now detained for the asaad regime for more than a year, and we dont know where they are. They just invaded our familys house, they took my brothers and we just dont know where they are at, what happened to them, and we dont have access to any lawyers, or anybody who can help us determine where my brothers are at. Out here in the audience is carly from new jersey, who is joining us, you have a question. Yes. Theres so many civilians there this crisis, in syria, how much is obama taking these people into consideration as he plans to confiscate these weapons . There was some discussion in the Previous Panel about who won, whether its putin or obama or asaad, i think all of us, who believe that the losers are the Syrian People. I was hoping that president obama mentioned the word again side, because what is happened in syria is again no side. One third of the population is displaced. Whether internally or outside of the country paps the equivalent of 120 million. 120,000 syrians have been killed. 99. 5 of them were killed by conventional weapons. By cluster bombs, by barrel bombs. And we forget that. We forget that the children, 10,000 children have been killed, not with chemical weapons but because of conventional weapon. The regime is the first regime on earth that uses ballistic missle against its people. We have destructions of cities and neighborhoods we have the fabric of the society. And this is what is very painful. Syria has lost as a country, and Syrian People have lost. I was hoping that president obama addresses more the humanitarian situation. What can be done to relieve the suffering. Whether they are inside and outside. I was hoping he would use this chance, where maybe they are open for compromise to enforce the cross boarder assistance, so we can help the people in the north and the south. I know your parents and sitter are still back there. The house and homes were destroyed uh how often are you in contact with them . Have things gotten worse. Is there seems to be more refugee refugees and e people being displaced. I speak with them every few day, if the phone line is open. They are very anxious, very scared. Last time i spoke with them they told me they were starting up with food and first aid items. My sister has to move from her parent because it was destroyed. My arounds have proved from their neighborhood because it was shelled by a tank. And this is the situation for syrians. Most of them are displaced. Taytum us how long we can accommodate more syrians. Tell me. Theres a limit to what turkey, they can offer. This is not sustainable. The agencies are also struggling to get to get support fur the situation. Secretary curry did did make a comment, and acknowledgement that the United States maybe has not done enough. But more than others have done. It is the one around syria that have upon the brunt of this. They have 300,000 in their country. Lebanon one of every four lebanese are now lebanon citizens are syrian. So i think we have to do more. We have been talking a lot today about the american reaction to chemical weapons but there is something that every american can do in terms of doing something about the humanitarian situation. And i think that is we arent thinking about that, this doesnt have to be about military action, it can be about more humanitarian action, and it is the millions of syrian citizen that is are paying the price for this war. Sheila, a final thought . One of the problems i think for everybody is they were thinking about president obamas words his response, his threat of military action for the chemical weapons attack is the failure to address the central problems of the syrian conflict. More than 100,000 dead. Millions internally displaced. Millions more outside their country, lives in camps and sometimes on the street. Refugees agencies struggling to provide for them, the neighboring countries really buckling under the weight of that pressure. All those problems remain, no water what happens on the question of chemical weapons. I would lie to thank you, sheila, all of our panellest for this terrific discussion, like to thank our audience for being here, and contributed to our discussion. And antonio and i do appreciate all of our audience online as well, joining in, at syria on twitter, and all of you for contributed to our discussion, our first town hall of america tonight, thank you very much for being with us