I'm John Batscher with my two colleagues from the Foundation for Defense of Democracy,

Bill Rajo, the Senior Fellow Keeps Long War Journal, where you can routinely see reporting by Edmund Fitton Brown,

a former diplomat working with First Britain and then the United States on all of

these issues of vital significance for peace in the Middle East if there is to be peace.

Right now we're looking at Syria.

Reuters wants us to know that Alshara, the self-named president of Syria, 43 years old, made an entrance on the

side of the White House, no fanfare, no greeting ahead of state, and out of shot of the

cameras. Reuters wants us to know this, so I'm mentioning. The meeting with the president

is said to concern policy, chiefly lifting of sanctions in Syria.

One sanction was mentioned the Caesar Act, which dates from the early days of the civil war against the Assad regime,

and it turned on a source called Caesar, Omdegere, who provided photographs and lots of evidence of mass

murder by the Assad regime. That was then. This is now, and the Caesar Act is something that

Shara is said to want to lift if. Edmund, this is a puzzle. Shara represents no one but Shara, an al-Qaeda boss,

a man who has supervised mass murder in Idlib, but also most recently the questions to be asked

about the murder of Aloitians along the sea coast in Syria and the murder of Druze in the south.

What are your reservations or observations of Shara at the White House?

Goody, thank you.

Well, John, I have reservations.

I think any same person will have reservations about this, but that's not to say that this is the wrong

thing to do or that it's a mistake by President Trump. President Trump has taken a look at

Shara and decided that he likes him. We had some personal observations of those kind from President Trump,

and he has decided he wants to give him a chance, as I think there was a discussion or mention

...