Middle East & North Africa

Nicholas Burns, former American diplomat and current professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, joined Chad to react to the current situation in Syria and his thoughts on how the United States need to handle it.

Nick Burns, Harvard Kennedy School professor & former under secretary of State for political affairs, and Sarah Stern, Endowment for Middle East Truth president, discuss President Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital. Nicholas Burns, who served as U.S. ambassador to NATO and was the State Department's third-ranking official during George W. Bush's presidency, called the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital "deeply unwise."

President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on Wednesday, breaking with decades of precedent, sparking an uproar among world leaders, with some experts saying it jeopardizes prospects of Middle East peace.

"What happens when, after another dozen major attacks, the chain of their barbarism outpaces the chain of our human solidarity? When is the permissible moment to start asking if we can muster as much wisdom and realism to fight terror as we do to harness emotions of solidarity? The recent increasing pace and widening geographic scope of terror suggest we are dealing with a qualitatively new kinds of terrorists — but the policy responses of governments and the emotional responses of entire societies suggest we have no idea how to respond to quell this monster."

In his efforts to save Iraq, President Obama is right to demand more power-sharing and other political reforms from Iraqi leaders before the United States offers more military assistance. But Obama should not think he can hold off offering such assistance until he secures those reforms—not if he wants to prevent the bloody breakup of the country and a wider regional war. As sensible as a conditional approach seems, the president simply doesn’t have that option open to him.

Many Americans are surprised to see Fallujah back on thefront pagesof newspapers. How did things get so bad that the Iraqi government was compelled to call for American support in its battle against an al-Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria?

"In a fascinating juxtaposition, two news stories this week affirmed all that is right and wrong in the system of American justice as it pertains to the killing of civilians around the world. One story reported the results of an academic study that concluded that nearly half a million people died in Iraq due to war-related causes in the eight years following the U.S.-led invasion of that country in 2003. Another story reported that the U.S. Justice Department has brought new charges against four former security guards from the private American Blackwater company who are accused of taking part in a shooting in Baghdad six years ago that killed 14 unarmed civilians and wounded 18 others."

Given the recent surge of assistance being given to the Assad regime by Hezbollah, Iran, and Russia, Professor Burns sees this as a call to action for US intervention, which, he argues, may be Syria's only hope at this point.