Ryan Crocker, who has served as US ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon, warned the US against making the “grave mistake” of a military intervention in Syria and said that forcible regime change would probably result in a Syria dominated by “the worst of the worst” extremists. Defense Secretary Hagel called for renewed financial commitments from NATO members in the face of challenges posed by Russia. The former Comptroller for the city of Chicago was taken into custody in Pakistan, where he had fled to evade fraud charges. A retired US general was rebuked for testifying that the US should have done more to rescue Americans during the Ansar al Sharia attack on the US mission in Benghazi in September 2012.
