美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-03-20

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Unrest in the Middle Eastern nation of Syria began with protests, turned into a civil war. In 2011, some Syrians were protesting their president Bashar al-Assad, they wanted him out of power, Assad and his government responded with force, Syrian military started fighting the protesters. Eventually, the Opposition¹ got armed and began fighting back.Syrian officials called the rebels terrorists.

Two years later, Bashar al-Assad is still president,the fighting hasn't stopped. International aid groups accuse both sides, the Syrian military and the rebels of abusing human rights. More than 70,000 Syrians are reported to have been killed, now we say reported because it's not possible to confirm that number, or to confirm some of the accounts of violence, that's because Syria hasn't given CNN or any other international news organizations free access inside the country.

The violence in Syria involves one country, what about tension between two nations. Diplomacy², trying to work things out peacefully is usually the preferred strategy. But governments have to prepare for the possibility of conflict. Chris Lawrence has more on that when it comes to the U.S. and North Korea.

If a nuclear missile is ever fired in the United States,this is the best hope to stop it. Thirty interceptor missiles, which commit launch from ground silos in Alaska and California. Now the Pentagon is deploying³ up to 14 more. The reason that we're doing what we'redoing, and the reason we're advancing our program here for homeland security is to not take any chances, is to stay ahead of the threat.

North Korea tested a long range missile in December, it conducted its third nuclear test in February. And just this month, threaten a preemptive nuclear strike on the U.S..That caught the Pentagon's attention. But as far back as the State of the Union speech, president Obama said the U.S. would, "strengthen our missile defense⁴ and lead the world in taking firm action in response to these threats."

But Republic Congressional sources say the president's action have been anything but firm. 2011, the administration boss bought one Alaskan missile field, arguing intelligence show there wasn't enough of a threat, a short-sighted move, said the Congressional sources, quote,"The lintel didn't change, this is way where we expect North Korea to be,and that is in position of a missile that could travel nearly 5,000 miles, in theory, since North Korea has never successfully launched a long range ICBM.

"I think what you see here is mainly apolitical signal to North  Korea, that no one is going to be intimidated⁵ by their December launch and the subsequent nuclear test."

The existing interceptors have had technological⁶ problems, and haven't performed as planned. The Pentagon is testing a new missile, and won't buy the additional 14 until officials are sure they can fly.

"We spend ten billion dollars a year on missile defense. We spend about 250 billion over the last few decades. We still don't, aren't anywhere close to a system that can actually protect the United States from a determined⁷ adversary⁸, yes, I'm saying, we're wasting our money."

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