weakened, it might actually bomb the opposition. we re going to take a break, but i want to cop back on this point. something i haven t heard frequently talked about. the idea that the assad regime also needs an exit strategy. there has to be a way for it to exit without sort of responding in the way that it has, even to the most moderate of protests. so stay with us. more on our kind of syria 101 when we come back. . i got this. [thinking] is it that time? the son picks up the check? [thinking] i m still working. he s retired. i hope he s saving. i hope he saved enough. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we re owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. whether you re just starting your 401(k) or you are ready for retirement, we ll help you get there.
i know you said you do not support a military strike against syria. is there anything that will change your mind between now and tuesday or even after the president s remarks? well, i m still listening and looking at all of the evidence and attending the briefings. i haven t seen anything that would make me change my mind at this point. i don t see the risk for the national security and maybe the president will have something different to say on tuesday, but i haven t seen that yet. i also do not see how going and doing an air strike is actually going to somehow or another work in that civil war. so is your primary concern national security or that there s no end game? i mean, i think if you read some of the op-eds, for example that there would be strategic strikes but not a regime change, makes people wonder if that s wishy washy. how do you accomplish keeping bashar al assad in power and yet stop him from continued activity after a limited air strike. well, i m concerned about
the exit strategy is major concern for people. and to accuse the president of using syria to actually distract from other problems during the house foreign affairs committee hearing the other day saying that this was just a way are to the president to take everybody s eyes off of benghazi and other situations. if they connect this to bashar al assad, does that change your stance? well, let me say i have reviewed the intelligence and the president is not making anything up. i have reviewed it. i have been in a number of hearings and briefings and there is great concern here. we don t know exactly the number of bad guys, unfortunately, like i said, it s like an alphabet
casualties as a result of this type of selective bombing. then, finally, what s our exit strategy? what is our plan of attack? i don t think any of those questions have been answered adequately for me to support what the president is trying to do. but, politics always enter in the picture, don t they? they really do. sometimes politicians have to discard politics and getting re-elected to do what s good for the country. you know what, sometimes they do. but we are a representative form of government. we represent the people that sent us to washington, d.c. and we certainly should listen to what they have to say. that s important. i agree that there are sometimes that you need to just go out and lead and do what you believe is the right thing to do and hope fat you can convince the people to follow. but right now, i don t think that this administration has provided a very, very winning argument or series of arguments that we should engage in this conflict. i think that others like m
intrastrategy is easier than the exit strategy. yes, right. if you re looking for historical analogies let s talk about iraq and afghanistan and they might be more relevant than munich. i would agree that most people in today s culture would understand, having had someone in their families or in their lives that may have served in afghanistan or iraq. so if you were sitting in today s committee meeting, what question would be burning for you? what would you want to hear from them first? i will be sitting in tomorrow s committee meeting before the house and i have a whole bunch of questions i would like. five minutes can t possibly contain. but the questions for america are as follows why does this matter for us? we are four weeks away from the government shutting down. we are six weeks away from the government running out of money. i sometimes think that the entire u.s. government consists of people who have a serious problem with attention deficit disorder. why can t we concen