When I wake up in the middle of the night when I hear one of my kids coughing or crying, I think about Syria.

The U.S. government engages with many countries around the world in official dialogues on human rights.

I think about Syria when I go to bed at night.

I think we do have an interest in combating states that try to cross borders and steal parts of other people's country.

Historical hypocrites have themselves carried out the very human rights abuses that they suddenly decide warrant intervention elsewhere.

My second epiphany came as an intern at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The man I worked for was consumed with what was going on in Bosnia. And the more I knew [about it] the more saddened I was. There were these images of emaciated men behind barbed wire.... It was like, I've got to find a way to do something.

When I wake up in the morning, I think about Syria.