from national security analyst peter birgen writing at cnn.com. whoever prevails is hardly going to be an ally of the u.s. it's an ungodly mess. in short, a problem from hell. on that note, let me introduce mike baker. he's a former cia agent, "time magazine" editor at large and gloria borger. mike, i want to start with you. one of the things we're waiting for before president obama makes his final decision is this intelligence assessment. how quickly are we expecting this. is this something that's perfunctory or does this at this point lead his decision making? >> well, hopefully it will lead the decision making. it's separate from the u.n. investigative team's efforts. if i'm smiling, it's only because i can't imagine anything more feckless on the ground than