i'm actually going to brussels next week to meet with nato. one of the agenda items is in fact, operation unified protection. what we've got to do is we've got to be candid with each other. i can assure you i will be about what they can reasonably expect us to provide. what nay need to provide in terms och isr, the analysis, fusion of intelligence and operations. and investments that hay need to make in order to close some gaps that here to for they've relied almost exclusively on us to provide. i actually see this as a positive thing. >> general, what do you think are the greatest risks if the united states intervenes? >> in syria? >> yes. >> first of all, you know, on occasion i've been portrayed as saying this would just be too hard, so let's not do it. i want to assure you, that's not the case. if asked to do something, we absolutely have the capability. but in terms of my concerns and how they would translate into military vices i have to be very clear about the military objectives that i was being asked to achieve, and i'd have to be cle

. >> as you know in brussels, hillary clinton calling for another round of sanctions. what has been imposed in the past, and is there any sense that a new round of sanctions would be any more effective. >> sanctions are certainly, you know, weakened the regime. affected the regime in many ways in its ability to import and its ability to export its products. but it is also true that sanctions on their own are not going to, you know, succeed in toppling the regime without any other action. this is a regime which is -- in arabic we have a saying that he who is drowning will not be afraid to get wet. so sanctions are not going on their own to effect the regime's willingness to shoot its own people in order to survive. >> what is life like inside syria, and do the average syrians fully understand what's been happening in villages and towns like homs? >> i would say the majority of the population is against assad's regime but that is not to say that there aren't some minorities that still support it for one reason or the other. the business community does not want to lose it