Half a billion dollars. It is mindboggling. Stay tuned to find out who is. Even when they say it is not you always know it is about money. Melissa syria in the news and developments on the situation as our lawmakers gather on capitol hill to weigh the pros and cons about a u. S. Led attack. Fox newss Leland Vittert on the ground in the middle east with the very latest. Leland, what is happening there today . Melissa, we may not have a real war yet but we have a war of words and the Syrian Civil War still waging on. President assad said in the an interview that the middle east is a powder keg and said that regional war was a possibility if he was attacked. Of course he has the ability to do that. Scud missiles there inside syria, capable of hitting israel. Also capable of hitting turkey to the north which is a nato ally. Meantime on the ground in syria, we continue to hear president assad is trying to move his foes, specifically the air force, helicopters, missile bases those kinds of things out away from areas of the u. S. Could target and trying to ke those assets on the move to complicate things for u. S. Military planners. On the oth side, there is also continuing to push hard against the rebels in the Syrian Civil War. Wants to make as much headway as he can through the summer offensive before any type of us air strikes degrade his ability to continue the war going forward. Meantime israel kept its iron dome Missile Defense system on high alert. It said it is ready for any contingency plan especially for any type of missiles coming into the country either from syria or from iran. Interesting news this morning. The israelis launch ad missile test from deep in the mediterranean, launch ad misle from a fighter jet towards israel, simulating a Ballistic Missile attack, the same kind of missile attack that would come from syria or iran. They said it was a longplanned test. Clearly sending a message to those around the region they are ready and on hig alert. An interesting sort of note to keep in mind here in terms of the world superpower stage this is playing out in, a proxy between the United States and russia. While the United States still firmly supports israel, vows to protect it, russia is still firmly behind president assad and his regime. The very first warnings we got about that first israeli missile test actually came from Russian Air Defense radar operating inside syria, the very same radar that would be tasked with picking up any kind of attack by the United States on syria. Melissa. Melissa leland, that thanks so much. The world is watching not just to see what we decide but watching to see how we make it decision. Whether in a dangerous world that we can still make our government speak with one voice, they want to know if america will rise to this moment and make a difference. Melissa so the debate whether or not we should or will retaliate against syria is raging in washington. Today both secretary of state john kerry and defense cretary chuck hagel tried to sway the Senate ForeignRelations Committee on airstrikes. Theres obviously no easy answers. So we brought together both sides to lay out the case both for and against an attack on syria. Joining me now, dr. Udi jasser, author of, the battle for the soul of islam. And we have a counterterrorism middle east expert. Thanks to both of you. I will let you go first. Youve been very passionate on this show and i know you have family on the ground in syria. What is the case for the u. S. Going in. The case for the u. S. Going in, melissa, the fact that 29 months have shown what the case for not going in does. It empowers carpet bombing of neighborhoods of syria. Emboldens the proxy war for iran. Two weeks ago, iran has 1,000 new centrifuges that it is spinning. A family that fought the regime for 50 years. You dont fight arab thugs by appeasement. You fight them with containment and by force. We can do this right. Weve been asleep and finally the president is waking up. I dont think an answer to the fact were waking up as well as it is too late. We might let syria devolve. Melissa, if it devolves, next is israel, next is regional interests and inaction is really the worst option. Melissa lisa, what is your response to that. I agree with so many things zudi is saying in terms of what is going on the ground in terms of syria. In last 29 months showing us why we havent gone in and showing us why we should still not go in. The use of chemical weapons it is punishable. It is an awful thing and costs many lives. Should we cause the public niihement to be upon us and our interests . The Syrian People are fighting their regime. Maybe this regime should be removed and maybe she should be punished but should we remove them at the cost of replacing them with al qaeda . Didnt we learn the lesson with arab spring and Muslim Brotherhood taking over . Embold manement of air rain regime, why would they not retaliate more and become reinvigorred to retaliate against us. They said they would retaliate against us. Melissa zudi . Lisa youre giving far left argument. It is a postamerican world. We have become impotent. Negotiations at terrorists put us at our niece and let the vacs couple in the middle east get filled by saudi arabia, qatar and iran and hezbollahs hoe gem any in the region. To characterize the majority of syrian up rise something being al qaeda is bad intelligence and flatout wrong. Youre misunderstanding melissa let him finish. Then you can go. All right, zudi. Certainly al news raw front is a major threat and majority of syrians are not al qaeda. These are moderate muslims and christians and aloe weitz and others trying to get their voices heard and have been demolishinged by two voices destroying the country. Melissa lisa, go ahead. It would be a beautiful world if those syrian genuine opposition members had their voices heard around actually running the Opposition Forces on the ground. These are, a majority of al qaeda and other extremist groups. You know that as well as i do. I really respect your opinions and those of your family members but my, what im saying and youre i think misunderstanding me. Im saying this is not a solution that will answer the needs of the Syrian People and the u. S. And our interests and ally israel. Im saying this is a bad solution. Im not saying there should be no solution. Im saying targeted strikes, imagine they came to us, Syrian Regime or whatever regime will only have limited and targeted strikes on pent gone, thats all. Is that melissa let me ask you, this is one of the main problems. Kt mcfarland was talking about this earlier. If our goal is to go in and take out their chemical weapons or, you know, to make them so theyre not usable in the future or get them awayrom them so theyre not then shared throughout the middle east with other regimes also not our friends, how do we do that . That seems like a really tough task. Well, theres no doubt we have Strategic Interests on the ground but this can be done without boots on the ground through our intelligence connections. There are in the south especially nonislammist groups were working wees specially in the Free Syria Army and we can mobilize. By the way if were going to protect them the best way to do it is through engagement, through military strikes against the airfields, runways, against military assets. If were not involved i think those chemical depots will prove to be mobilized, weaponnized and be more at risk. I would defy any military strategist to tell me it is less safe for us being involved versus trying to put an end to this. Melissa zudi, you make a great case. I will let lisa make the last point real quick before we go. Go ahead, lisa. When the president and secretary kerry says this is not about regime change and not about boosts on the ground, this is only targeted strikes. This is not a longlasting solution to the syrian problem. What will happen hours, days, years even after the strikes . This is not a solution for the Syrian People. We have two Million People leaving. There will be more refugees leaving. This will not be a secure and stable place to live. In a Perfect World we were able to do that then these strikes would be the right answer. Unfortunately this wont be the way to do it. Melissa you both make compelling arguments for both sides. That is why this is such a hard problem and decision. Thanks for both of you coming on. We appreciate. Thanks, melissa. Melissa next on money, can we even afford to strike mill syria . The military and economic costs are serious and staggering. Two top experts are here to break down the real price of this crisis and the delay by the way in a way you havent yet heard. More money coming up. Melissa so as weve been telling you a strike on syria could be imminent. Can we even afford it . For all the rhetoric do you really think you know what it will cost us . Not just the dollars for military attack but the economic costs . Maybe more importantly what were literally paying right now cooling our heels in the mediterranean talking about what we will do. Since we cant do anything without money we have to know the price tag. Here to explain it chris farmer, and jack mack tire, Brandywine Global investments. Chris, let me start with you. A lot of people. There are some things to consider. Maybe they havent thought about an idea, as we move assets to the region they are burning fuel and all kinds of things. There is a cost to even this standing on the sidelines right now, right . Melissa, thanks for having me. Yes, there is a cost to staying on the sidelines. Fortunately for us the ways u. S. Military works, especially the navy, most of it is a sunk cost. In other words, four of five destroyers currently deployed to the mediterranean were already scheduled to be on deployment. It is not costing that much more to keep the fifth destroy other on deployment. Marginal cost continuing to wait is not that much from a dollars and cents perspective. From a Strategic Perspective it is incredibly costly were giving assad time to position himself for the strike which appears inevitable. One specific this point, by waiting this long, the russian navy was able to deploy to the mediterranean. Theyre keeping close tabs on what the u. S. Navy is doing and transmitting information directly to assad. Regardless of the arguments forfor our against intervention, once you decided to intervene, waiting to intervene is the worst thing to do about it. It gives enemies time to prepare and decreases your effectiveness. Melissa that is great point i havent heard anywhere else by the russian navy. Back in july, chairman of the joint chiefs, Martin Dempsey he believes the cost of this would be a about a billion dollars a month and went in and did a limited attack. Does that number sound right to you a blion a month . It certainly could be. I just think if you have to take it up to a different level and just implicationsor economy. If things dont go that well in syria, right now were assuming it will be sort after clean military operation. Melissa right. But if it doesnt well see Higher Energy pces and that is clearly going to have a drag on the u. S. Economy. That is just starting to show some signs of improvement. That will be a much larger cost that will be harder to quantify. Melissa jack, do you think thats short term . Is that, we see traders react quickly, you know whether the market goes down and oil goes up. They recover from it relatively quickly. Do you think this would be a quick thing or prolonged damage . Well, thats, see thats the great unknown. I mean, again im not a military expert but i think the market at some level thinks this will be kind of similar what happened in libya where again it was kind of a clean, for the most part, orderly event but i think this is too distinct. We have, syria has strong relations with russia and iran. That takes us up to a whole another level of unctainty. Thats out there and so, again i just think theres costs that are going to be a little bit more difficult to quantify given this operation. Melissa jack make asterisk point that a lot of people have said, we dont know how long this is going to drag out and the timing of that really does mean a lot for both our costs of going in and the damage that it could do to the economy especially through the price of oil. What are the odds that this is quick in your mind as an expert and what are the odds it is really drawn out . There is no odds here this is a quick operation. We can make a Surgical Strike but if we do a Surgical Strikes that has got a limited engagement to it were not consequentially affecting the arc of the conflict. This poses longterm strategic impact to our interests. I agree with jack with respect there is no good option here. There are bad options, there are worse options and there are horrible options. If you think the cost of acting in syria is expensive consider the cost of hezbollah and al qaeda with that 1,000 tons of chemical warheads that assad has stockpiled. That is the worst, most expensive option for us. Right. Melissa jack, what are you doing to protect yourself . We saw people pour into the market this morning when they thought we were sitting on the sidelines. As soon as you saw politicians come out and nancy pelosi stand in front of the microphone say looks like we were going to do this thing or sounded like that the market took away gains. We had best day in more than a month and it disappeared. So what are you doing . There will be a lot of event risk in sent and syria is clearly a significant event risk. Weve got thin related to the fed this month as well. I want to be in things that are good store of value in this type of environment and that kind of leads me to the u. S. Dollar. That i think, given the things that weve discussed, if things dont unfold the way that we sort of anticipate that, i want to be in something that kind of benefits from a flight to quality. The other thing, which is sort of the dollar more than gold . Well, you know, i was going to say gold too but i also wouldnt mind having exposure to u. S. Treasurys here. It is a contrarian play. Melissa sure nice because everybody hates fixed income right now but weve seen a big back up in yields. I think there is some compelling value in there. Melissa interesting. Great ideas, jack and chris, thanks so much for your expertise. We appreciate. Thank you. Melissa coming up on money, as your kids head back to school, are you aware of the newest, most exclusive trend today in Free Education . You probably think you are but well tell you about the school being hailed as a gamechanger across the country and why theyre the best money that a taxpayer can spend. Plus, a big upset for the union movement. 40,000 Union Workers ditching the aflcio. It may be the worst case of buyers remorse ever and it could take down unions everywhere. Well explain that one coming up. Do you ever have too much money. Melissa school is back in session. The hottest most exclusive back to school trend cant be found at office depot. It is stem schools, wich are a huge topic for us here on money. Curriculum that focuses on the fields of science, technology, engineering and math that is what stem means. Jobs in the fields are expected to increase exponentially over other professions and companies are taking notice. Motorola solutions, awarding big bucks in grants to support stem education. Joining me, paul steinberg, chief Technology Officer at motorola solution. We have a bu. Rucera administrators for stem charter school. Welcome to both of you. When you look at the dollars because this show is called money, were very focused on the taxpayer dollar, you get less per student in most cases than carter schools. The average 17,500 per student. That is cost to taxpayers, versus 10,000 for Public Schools. I understand you get more funding because youre in new jersey. In general youre doing more with less taxpayer dollars. How is that possible . The funding in new jersey is roughly 85 to 90 of what the Public School students received. Meliss less, less. That is by statute. So it is much less. And they still have, they have all the requirements of the Public Schools. Melissa so h do you do it . Teachers and principals and Public Schools are always yelling they could do better if they have more money. You have less money and youre doing better. How . Well, first of all its a smaller scale which i think is actually helpful economically because it is the smaller scale and theres more focus to the individual student. It is probably a lot easier to manage a small operation. That is currently one school that i will will be expanding hopefully to another three or four. Economically, the things they have to do critically, they have to have high attendance and high graduation rates. Melissa yeah. If the students, money follows the students. If the school does not perform academically, the students will not come and the school will unfortunately have to close. Melissa those are all good things, good things tookeep you in line. Paul, you know i so glad youre getting involved from a corporate level. Carl camden, ceo of Kelly Services saying kid are not trained in the right field. We have millions of jobs open because no one is trained for them. Ceos have to get involved and sort of tell schools what are the skills that kids need to learn at a young age in order to be ready for employment. But i wonder, youre beholden to shareholders. So how do you measure return . Youre very generous with yr int in these stem schools. How do you go back and say weve given money to the school. It will result in better educated kids that are better able to enter workforce to work for motorola later . How do you that . Motorola, is the which help people be the best through technology. Technology is our lifeblood. Having a ready supply of bright, creative engineers coming i