>> welcome to al jazeera, i am david schuster, here are tonight's top stories. >> after careful consideration i have decided that united states should take care action. >> he wants approval from congress first, congress is expected today debate and vote on the issue when it comes back from recess on september 9th. president obama says we are required to strike wherever we choose. a wildfire around yosemite park is now brith than cities of size of dallas and smoke is making it hard for crew to his battle the blaze, the fire is one of the worst in california's history.

researchers have started digging up dozens of graves in a form reform school in florida. crews are hoping to find the remains of up to six boys who were buried there. hoping find out exactly how they died, former inmates at the school have described brutal beatings at the facility back in the 1950s and 60s. and supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg has now become the first justice to officiate a same-second wsecond wedding over friends. thanks for watching. ♪ ♪ >> after careful deliberation itch decided that the united states should take military action against syrian regime targets. >> on america tonight, president obama winds up and throws

congress a curve. we'll look at capitol hill's quick reaction to the president's challenge. and how the abrupt change in white house strategy might also change the minds of the skeptical public at home and abroad. ♪ ♪ >> good evening and welcome to a special edition of "america tonight." a sudden and surprising shift from the white house on its syria strategy throws a huge curve at what americans and the world can expect next. make no mistake, the president told reporters in the rose garden he still thinks syria should be punished for a vicious gas tack on its own people and says that the u.s. is ready to

do so. but mr. obama said he's decided to hold back at least for the moment and let congress have its say. is it a bold move? or risky gambit. we'll get analysis from our leading responders, al jazeera's white house correspondser mike, and america tonight's she look who has led our coverage of the streak against syria. first let's hear the president's case for psych society voyt from capitol hill. >> after careful deliberation i have decided that the united states should take military action against syrian targets, it would not be open-ended and we would not put boots on the ground. instead our action would be design today be limite limb limn duration and scope. i am confident we can hold the assad regime for the use of chemical weapon that his deter this behavior and degrade their capacity to carry it out. our military has positioned the

assets in the region, the chairman of the joint chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whatever we choose. moreover, the chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time sensitive. it will be effective tomorrow or next week or one month from now. and i am prepared to give that order. but having made my decision as commander-in-chief, based on what i am convinced is our national security interests, i am also mindful that i am the president of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. i have long believed that our power is rooted no the just in military might, but in our example as the government of the people by the people and for the people. and that's why i have made a second decision. i will seek authorization for the use of force from the american people's representatives in congress.

over the last several days, we have heard from members of congress who want their voices to be heard. i absolutely agree. so this morning i spoke with all four congressional leaders, and they have growed schedule a debate and then a vote as soon as congress comes back in to session. in the coming days, my administration stands ready to provide every member with the information they need to understand what happened in syria and why it has such profound implications for america's national security. and all of us should be accountable as we move forward and that can only be accomplished with a vote. >> we want to look more thoroughly now in to what the president said. let's look at the announcement with al jazeera white house correspondent mike. mike, you know, this is not exactly what the pundits were looking for or expecting in the president's statement. what happened here? what led to the change in the white house position?

>> it's not the pundits, white house staffers had led everyone to believe all the course of the week that you can look at it rife atly, their public statements as well that there was a descension coming it would have happened this weekend in all likelihood, a military strike on syria. here is the story that white house aides behind the scenes are giving us we at the white house. a walk along the south line a 45 minute walk with chief of staff, the president was affected by not only the resistence from congress in both sides of the all some 200 members had written to the president asking him to come to congress for prior authorization, not incidentally some 80% in a pole yesterday of the public thought that should happen as well. but the president also looking on at what happens in the u.k. at david cameron lose that go vote. when he returned from the walk the president informed his senior national security council staffer of his decision to go to congress, discussions en excuse throughout the evening and in to

the morning. and culminating in the president's appearance there that surprised virtually everyone, joey. after the president had for all intents and purposes most aids had assumed had decided to go ahead with a military strike in the relatively short-term. if you look at the events that transpired since august 21st, the steadily, more aggressive hawkish comments coming out of the white house we had the week book ended by two very strong, almost bell coast statements from john kerry other monday and again on friday laying out the indictment by the lights of the administration against assad. so all systems were go. as you heard the president say there, the advice that he got from general dempsey the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. the president deciding at the last minute to throw it to congress, which, incidentally, doesn't return for more than a week, joey. >> mike, let's think about this. in washington everything is always about the optics, the scenery, what has the white house done to pr try to position

itself as not being upset or nervous by what has happened? >> the optics are what the go the press to this position to begin with, joey. you remember it was a year ago this month when the president talked about a red line and warned of consequences and said it would be a game changer in ba shar assad were to delight chemical weapons. we learned yesterday that administration and intelligent sources believe he has done so on, quote, multiple times over the course of the last year. including on august 21st, the president laid down that red line. then he started using the phrase it, core national interest. as if the -- and elaborating many times as did john kerry as to what that phrase meant. not just a threat to the united states, but ba shar assad could somehow launch chemical weapon on his the mainland in the united states. but siting the allies, turkey, jordan, israel, major u.s. air base at southern turkly close -- very close by. something that has been mentioned explicitly several times in the last several days

with regard toot example set for iran, north correia, and their nuclear programs and nuclear ambitions as well. so the optics in a sense, the way -- you could look at it, the optics are what got the president in to this position to begin with. and now he's sends this is decision to congress after characterizing it, so many times as in our core national interest, there is absolutely no guarantee, joey, that congress going to move forward on this or pass this authorization that the white house sent off late today. >> mike, a little back story there from the white house, thanks it. we'll is ask you to stand by. "america tonight" correspondent sheila has been completely focused since the first word of gas victims focused. what were the he can peak takes in syria there? >> if you woke up and turned on state tv, you would think that war was imminent. marshall music, patriotic songs, guns going off, syrian jets flying around. and then they stopped and

broadcaster president obama's speech live. to the syrian people. >> and this happens not very often? >> not very often. this is especially in a moment like this, where clearly the country is on war footing, we think we are about to be a tacked. this is our enemy, and, instead, they paws and let the syrian people hear what the president of the united states has to say. now, immediately following that, you should add, in damascus the regime fired off a ferocious artillery assault against rebel-held suburbs. >> so the suburbs, and the president referred to them today, the suburbs the scene of the attacks, the gas tacks themselves. >> that's correct. >> this is a city divide in a lot of ways? >> it is. it's very much fractured. so you have the central core and some of the heights, where regime installations are, like the presidential pal, the republican guard, special forces headquarters all that have sort of thing, you into them on the map there in brown. everything that's green that's marked there is rebel controlled

or contests. the red markings reflect the dozen places where chemical attacks took place more than 10 days ago now. so you have a city that is divided. if you are on the regime side, and you are a young person you were probably down at the cafes, playing music. listen to what the president had to say. on the rebel seed people were very apprehensive, they were fearful of becoming literally the meat in the sandwich by being attacked perhaps by something that went off course from an american strike being attacked by the regime. now they are disappointed. it's like you have left us. >> the united states have a firm idea about where if there were to be precision strikes, where

those ought to come? >> there are some things you cannot move. you cannot pick up an air base and move it. but you can move the things on the air base, you can move mobile and you had missile launches, you can move missiles, you can move chemical weapons stockpiles you can move your soldiers out of barracks and put them in to mosques and schools, that's what the regime has been busily doing for the last five days, they have been disbursing their assets and putting things in to places where you might then have, quote, unquote, military tagger nets a heavily civilian neighborhood. just the kind of target that you want to avoid. it is true that up until a very short while ago, the u.s. and its allies, especially israel, had a very good idea where syrian chemical weapon is his stocks were it. they no longer have the certainty that they know where all of those chemical weapons are. >> so if you were going to do a pin prick strike, it might not work to the effect that you wanted? >> there is the possibility that the unintended consequence of

that strike would be to hit a dump of poisoning gas that you didn't know was there. >> or material that's been moved. >> yes. >> sheila, thanks, we'll ask you to stands by and we'll talk to you again later in the program. also we want to thank mike for his participation giving us a back store frit white house today as well. when we return here, the president's decision to thrown down the gauntlet and the early response from capitol hill. ♪ ♪

same champs as english and arabic channels. disorder in a mexico court. why this judge lost his cool. >> an interesting debate. coming up, a school where students don't read books. instead they use ipads almost >> welcome back. as we have heard, the president is seeking congressional authorization. this is a term that carries particular weight in washington

where congress has been pushing to be included in the debate on syria. >> here is my question for every member of congress and every member of the global community. what message will we send in a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? what's the push of the international system that we have built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98% of the world's people and approved overwhelmingly by the congress of the united states is not enforced? make no mistake, this has implications beyond chemical warfare. if we won't enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others who flight fundamental international rules? to governments who would choose to build nuke or articles? to terrorists who would spread

biological weapons? to army who his carry out genocide? we cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say. the accords that we sign. the values that define us. >> the reaction from capitol hill did come quick list one very closely watched for response that of house speaker john boehner. he said under the contusion the responsibility to declare war lies with congress. thwe are glass the president is seeking authorization for any military action in sear request in response to sear questions questions raised. in tull take with the president we expect the house to consider a flesh you are the week of september 9th. joining us now on the telephone line is congressman jim mcdermott a democrat from wash state, he has been with our program before. i want to ask you what your reaction was today to the

president's decision here. >> well, first of all i was very pleased that the president had decided to hold back until he had allowed congress to come in to session and to debate this issue you and make its vice heard. i think to have gonna loan without the support of the congress would have been a mistake. for that a plowed him. >> but you still think that that he inning vend to move forward? >> -- >> i am sorry. >> but i still think he intends whether there is congressional support to move forward? >> that's unclear, somebody asked at the end of the president conference whether he would move forward with or without or approval? he didn't ask that questioner. i don't know where that stands. and i think that will be part what have we decide or talk about during the week when we get back to washington, d.c. i think the thing that is really

troublesome here has always been what is the end goal here? is it just simply to inflict pain on the assad regime? or is it to get mr. assad, or is it to wipe out the air an gas manufacturer, or what is the goal? >> the law of unintended consequences is something that we have to worry about. when we had the bull war in a rook, we blew up some gas and things that were stored there and the gulf war syndrome has never been really solved in terms of how our troops have felt in terms of of the things they went through during that inning say, i am worried as a physician that in in attack

being dumps what happens to the gas? in talking with the soviet union or the russian on his to get them to pressure the air vinnies to stop this. i think that it's clear that the syrians are there proximate. >> i all right, congressman. >> that that should be used -- >> we really do appreciate your being with us on this and we know and we can tell that you remain we appreciate you following up with us and we'll be back with you i am sure. libby has extensive experience with members on the hill. what are you hearing and where do you think it goes? the president is talking and speaker boehner is saying september 9th. >> we have two bodies in place the house and senate. we are hearing from leadership in the senate that they will be take a vote no later than the week of september 9th which means action has to starred next

week. it likes the senate foreign relations committee chaired by senator bob menendez of new jersey will hold a hearing on tuesday this, process will be starting everybody if members are in disparate places and there is some time that it takes to get everybody in washington. the process is going to start to move forward to have this debate that the president is asking for. >> but what would they be voting on? >> on this authorization of power that the president put forth. we saw the white house send this draft resolution to authorize force, they have turned it to congress, lease it had publicly and said here is what we are asking for: the president made it quite specific. they are looking for the ability to go after these che chemical weapons or weapons of mass did he truck to take them out so they can't be a used by the assad regime and get in the hands of terrorists and other forces and then the president writes in the draft to protection the american people. so that's what congress will be looking at specifically. that's really important to people like nancy pelosi the leader of the democrats in the house who is supporting what the

president is calling for without boots on the ground. and we heard the president's own words earlier today, we are not talking about boots on the ground. and with some democrats that's a very important distinction, because they are not ready to go that far. even though in his camp and ready to support him are saying, okay, well, we can talk about strikes, but boots on the ground is too far. >> there is a certainly complexity to this, inasmuch as the president said, look, we believe that we have the right to do this. we don't actually need congressional approval. but we are going to go and anyway. and by the way, if we don't get it, what is the consequence of that? >> here is the question of the politics of it all. the president can still move forward as we just heard. there was a question that got thrown out as the president was walking off the podium area today, would you move forward without congressional approval? he accident answer it. and we are hearing from the white house that while they like congressional approval, they don't feel like they necessarily need it. a political battle is about to unfold what does it do to the president if he can't get congressional approval. it's a big question about how

that plays out. >> libby casey, the white house on one side of us here in our studio and the mill on th hill e other. thanks. now we want to bring in our digital producer who has been monitoring tweets from members of congress and as lick i says wlibby says weare getting a lotn and the members are speaking out through social media. >> they are finding it as an incredible way to vocalize and mobilize support. speaking of support for the president, one has been house minority leader nancy pelosi who in this tweet said the president is right, an authorization by congress will make our country stronger and our response to syria stronger. john mccain who has been one of the most vocal critics for intervention who has been ahead advocating for this in the last two years, has really -- he says that secretary kerry after his speech yesterday made a compelling characters the question is, will the response be cosmetic or change momentum in syria.

you can him sort of expressing doubt about whether or not it's enough. but where i think the conversation online gets really interesting is with those who are more critical. and so one of the congressional leaders who is perhaps been the most interesting as representative justin, from michigan's third district. he's known for being really digitally savvy. >> very out spoke own line. >> exactly. so after every single house vote he makes he takes to facebook to defends it to the public which is really interesting and unique. on twitter he's been gaining momentum in mobilizing people around his position. he says, on twitter that he has been hearing from members of the armed forces who want him to vote no. he also said in a tweet, i don't know many in congress outside of the usual suspects who support the attack on syria based on current arguments put forward by oat bomb a administration. as he start today articulate it. he got a lot of responses from veterans. whom he has been retweet if you go look at his time line here is just one of them. this one particular person said radio 66 said, liberty radio 66

said, army veteran here, para trooper 20 years. twice been no a remarks vote, no, please sir, no more nation building chicanery. you see him taking the voices and retweeting them. >> and driving the decisions. libby, i want to ask you about that. you have covered the hill for a long time. you know these folks and how they are influence bide this conversation. in this particular case, it doesn't seem that all of the objections come along party lines? >> no, they don't. you are so right. we have to think about who they are listening to and it's a great point it talk about how social media is playing in to this conversation. members are behold en to their directs back home. for a house member that's especially important because they have very jerry mannedderred districts that have specific leanings you may have a district totally against it, but then you have to look at the big picture of what it means nationally and we'll see a lot of this debate over the neck week. it doesn't all split by par pary lines.

democrats are quite liberal who are concerned about what happens next. they don't want to start sensually a u.s. role in another war. there is a lot of war fatigue as we heard from the president himself today as we have heard from secretary kerry and then you have the republicans who have very divergent voices, so how these votes and collection will be whipped up either by democrats or republicans is really interesting. which voices merge as the dominant ones will show a lot about the political debates this fall. >> and the time lines september 9th as being the day that congress is supposed to come back in to session, but it could come earlier, roo snit. >> it could come earlier. some members are congress are saying that they would like that. from idaho saying that speaker boehner should call the section in to next week to debate the use of force in syria. this has only happened -- it's been -- it's happened before that the house would call a session, an emergency session in the middle of summer.

it's rare that the president does, we are seeing that from jerry connolly as well saying that he's called on speaker boehner to bring congress back from recess, so there is -- you are seeing a push and seeing it are tick late odd social media to call an immediate session before september 9th. >> the jewish new year which means some remembers will be out for that the president is going to the g20 sum knit russia. as he tries garner support. >> and will be going to russia as well that will be full of issues in this debate. thank you very much. appreciate both of you with your insight here. when we return, the president's action forcing people around the world to take to the streets. ♪ ♪

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>> london now, where parliament voted against a resolution to get the u.k. involved in a strike against syria. there are protests in an uproar, get the latest from phil who is live in london for us at this hour. phil. >> well, the news that president obama is going to take this sear

yanish you to a vote in congress will no doubt be met with a positive reaction in europe. where during saturday thousands of people took to the streets in protest. antiwar protesters took to the streets in london to capitalize on the men it up gained when prime minister cameron's notion to consider military action against the assad regime was defeated. the police e mates the numbers to be between 800 a thousand people. a significantly lower number than the hundreds of thousands who marched against the iraq war in 2003. but their passions are high and so is their confidence, so much so some are calling in a victory march. in australia, hundreds gathered in a number of cities, including outside the u.s. consolate in sydney. to urge the american government to reconsider action against damascus. on the european continent, protesters gathered in several cities, including berlin and

paris. like the other protests around the globe these people here in london have come out to the street to sends a very clear message to governments and in particular the white house, not to attack syria. but there are governments around the globe that aren't listening to these street protests and are take a very hard line against at sawed regime. despite a newly-released poll that over two-thirds of the french population are against a strike, their president took sides with president obama that the use of chemical weapons demands community action. australia's foreign minister bob carr also agreed and said that there needs to be a response to the violation of international law. >> we think that if a government in this day and age uses chemical weapons against innocent men, women and children, it deserves a response. we are confident the obama administration has weighed carefully what that response will be. >> reporter: but it is syria's neighbor turkey calling for the

strongest reaction. they are asking for strikes that would topple the assad regime. the strain of hundreds of thousands of refugees may be the cause for such language. or it could be that the prime minister has long been one of the most vocal critics of ba ba shar allah sawed. one of the largest u.s. air bases in the world is based in turkey and could easily be part of any action to punish assad in they get the call. for the people that took to the streets this, hope that call never comes. >> phil, can you talk a little bit about the reaction from the announcement in places like london where this was already in mind that there would be some sort of military strike?

>> cameron wasted no time in responding to the announce thi think. tweeted that he supports and understanding president obama stance on syria. it's unlikely they will turn their backs not to get involved. it's unlikely too unpopular lear, it will go some way towards assuaging fears that there is happen about a breakdown in the special relationship between britain and the united states. now over in france. there president that was apparently consulted by president obama. each country rail will have to approach it at its own pace, he says while france will debate it on wednesday this coming wednesday, no decision will be made by france to take military action until congress takes its vote. >> in london, ill live in our

studios there. when we return, we'll hear from a real military man, a 3-star military general speak seeking authorization for a strike again syria. . can you say stocktopussy?

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united states buy time it may be mart in the wellal of politics or is it a smart military strategy. joining us via describe is generousal a 37 year veteran of the forces, commander of the first army and second infantry, only folks know you from the aftermath of hurricane katrina and all that did you no help rebuild new orleans and the surrounding gulf community. we appreciate you talk to us about this which maybe people will be surprised to know. your dealings with situations where there is a local community having trouble with its leadership. can you talk a little bit about what the impact is for the military of having a congressional authorization. does it change any strategy or planning? >> not really. i think it sense a message to the troops on the front line that the government is unified. but as you know, and most americans realize, that we have acted on several occasions

without full approval of the congress and that came later. but let me say this, joey, tonight a lot of military families will rest easy in knowing that there is more time in this delay -- and this delay may give an option that's not on the table yet to get -- to be brought forward, number one, number two, regardless of how many punditses or retired people like me might think there are things going on that we don't know about and we should not know about that only the president and the national leaders know. as far as what's going on now, we have done these military operations in -- a lot when we were dealing with saddam, as you remember, we would authorize these type of strikes and we would do them quite offense. the role of the congress that has evolved overtime is that

they want to vote when we go to start taking military action in a new campanas is this in syria. >> sir, i want to -- the authority is only budgeted -- >> sir, i wanted to ask you about that specifically, because we are hearing that there are some members who want to make some positions about what congressional authorization might mean. >> reporter: and what it might mean to actually chill out to a military strategy. i know that concerns. >> you absolute. ly. their job is to resource and fund the military. the president's job is to tell us what to do. it's the job of the military to figure out how to do it. any time we start getting mixed roles, i heard within senator today want to get involved with what the strategy going to being what we attack, how it will be done and how long it's going to be -- every time even the white house has gotten involved with how we do our mission that has not ended up well. and we've got some bad examples in the last 10 years when

restrictions were given to the military irrelevant a as opposed to tell them what to do, trying to tell us how to do the and the favor say ready. and the united states navy out there and backed up by the air force, they can get it done, we have a lot of experience. things can always go wrong. and the enemy has a boat. we have the capacity do what the president wants to do. >> you can assure the american publicist, though, that is as things are delayed, maybe from an inevitable strike, maybe not, as things might be delayed, the military would continue its preparations? >> oh, absolutely. they'll continue to prepare. now, on the same -- on that same token, it's given syrians a lot more time to go in to defensive positions, to hide, their special delivery systems, to hide their aircraft, so they are going in to the defensive mode, but any time you are not shooting in a case scenario like this, this is good. it would appear that assad has

not stopped attacking his people with conventional weapons. so hopefully we'll also take this time to better arm the freedom fighters who are fighting to try to overthrow his regime. >> all right, thank you so much, general for being with us. and giving us a little insight from the military point of view about all of this and how it plays out for the military to have congressional authorization or not as the case may be. joining us here now is charles a fellow at the council on foreign relations as well with us our correspondent, "america tonight" she los angeles witsheila with . you have served under president clinton, you have been following the international reaction on this and we got to a bit of it in the piece before. but there is sort of a sense that europe is quite divided on what should happen next. >> i think the longer that this plays out and the more debate there is in the united states,

the more you could see the europeans go wobbly. if you go back to the beginning of this debate when it looked like obama wanted to move quickly, there was a sense of we are going to go to nato, nato will lay on hands, there will be a blessing and this will look like libya or kosovo, that blessing will provide legitimacy. since then the bricks have bailed. the germans haven't said peep. french are behind us. but that's kind of an unusual situation. and now the president says i am going to go to congress. and you can't fault him fo fault him for that. we are a democracy he needs the backing and the legitimacy of a congressional vote. but it's a risky thing do because, number one, they may not say yes. and he has said -- >> that is mr. ram con' camerons experience. >> i am ready to go. two, who knows what will happen in the second next two weeks, three weeks from how it doesn't have the same bite as it does when it's 48 hours after the

attack. >> right, sheila. >> i think i am calling it the coalition of the not so enthusiastic. as you said the brits are out of it. the prime minister has been left humiliated. in france we have a deeply unpopular president, 64% of the french say they don't want any part that have. and 58% further say they don't trust him to run anything that looks like an air strike against syria. the czechs who are nato in charge of chemical weapons capacity defense, say they want nothing do with it. the russians are today using, again, some very harsh language vladimir putin calling it utter nonsense, and interesting enough, of course, mr. obama and mr. putin will come face-to-face later on in week when they need at the g20 in st. petersburg russia. >> this will be some dinner party i guess. how does president obama move forward in such circumstances. >> he canceled his bilateral with putin, so they are already

not in very good shape. and now he goes over there with this issue you of an attack that the russians are very vo sir russly opposed to. i don't know what they will do. they can't downs around it. approximate puts president obama in an awkward position. i can't remember something like this happening. usually sudan, somalia, iraq, it comes, it's a bolt from the blue. this is turning in to a lot of cooks in the kitchen. it will be worked for mr. obama in g20 because there won't be many countries there that sign up for this. he may get some quiet support. if you go to the gulf quietly they are saying hit them. >> and the complexity of this as well for mr. obama on the i wanting thattal scene.

there is that you should get in trouble do what you didn't do. or paws today do. when you have an extension of activity like this. is there anyway it helps the president. can h he provide more evidence. assure them that this is the right thing to do? >> conceivably, yes. >> what does it have to be then? >> well, there has to be not just we are highly confident that this hand. but we now have a smoking gun. we now have confirmation. that's no, sir going to make everybody happy because a lot of people say, still, that's not enough. >> what confirmation would that be. they say they know there are supplies -- >> if assad and his military were foolish enough to carry out another attack again. in the british apartment they is they used gas on 14 previous

occasions against civilians if he were to use it again, there this case in du damascus, the assessment on the part of the u.s. intelligence commit say that he used the gas because of frustration at being unable to dislodge rebels that are occupying large chunks of this city, tying down military resources and preventing them from divert ago tension to the north to another big battle going on. >> the u.n. report will be important. if they come out in three or four days and say, we found nerve gas, we found this, we found that, that's going to help the president. >> but if it's not quite that conclusive? >> then it's going to leave him in limbo. which is kind of where he is right now. >> so it does make you wonder thousand goes forward, not only the discussion about what is the right thing for the international community to do, when weapons are mass destruction like chemical weapons are used, but how do you walk this back having used the language that you used and how using the language that your

secretary of state did. >> and the president saying to go, that it is so important to our to stature in the world thae say and do what we said we were going to say and do. >> right. there is a sequencing problem here. the president has said i have made up my minds. the ships are there. the missiles are fueled. we are ready to go. and then, oh, i think i am going to go have a conversation with congress. and so i think now he just really has to get lots of moving pieces in to alignment to make this work. i am someone who supports a strike. i think that people should not able to get way with what happened. but i am worried that the longer the time goes on, the more debate in congress, the more that could well tie the president's hands. >> very interesting. the council on foreign repping relations and sheila. thanks. when we return, we are going to visit our colleagues at al jazeera america's the stream they'll help us take the pulse

of a very active social media community next. ♪ ♪ our children and to get 7.35 raise up to 12.35 or 15. ç]

>> president obama's decisions to go for congressional approval against any attack on syria has, as you probably have already heard, got a lot of attention on the line. the team over at al jazeera's the stream has been keeping a

sharp eye on that. let's check in now. what do you see out there? >> hey, joey. as you can imagine, the conversation online about syria is passionate and opinionated. check out my screen right here. you can see the hashtags about syria trending across the world in real time. these are the red dots from australia, europe, middle east, a lot of chatter. the majority keep popping up right here in the united states. i want to they minds all of you this is in real time. now, let's bring in some of the streams online community to say where they stand on syria. mark is a consultant here in washington d.c., max is a concerned citizen from chat chattanooga, tennessee. and from california. the stream say community-driven show. they are the third host of the show and climbed in. here is trevor, he said i don't think president obama wants to get in to a conflict but realizes he needs to back up his past comments. he's caught between a rock and a hard place.

and mos it's about money, if it wasn't about money we would have acted two year old ago or not consider action now. the president made his case today for a military intervention in syria. straight up, is this intervention more about saving face or saving lives? start us off you are in syria. >> i think it's about saving face, unfortunately, the number of civilians going is escalating by the day and dieing the most brutal ways and i witnessed that when i was in syria. unfortunately, it does not seem like the u.s. or the world really cares enough to help through any means. the way people have spoken about it it's about saving face. >> max, why don't you jump in there? >> i believe it is about saving face. but i also believe it is about principle. when the leader of the free world, the leader, the commander-in-chief of the u.s.

american forces, the military los angeles vie thon that is the united states says that there is a red line we have to stand behind it. we did not select the position of world cop but we now sit there. >> mark, i am going to assume that you disagree, am i right? >> well, i believe that it is about saving face and saving lives so i agree on that points but i feel that we should go back to the words of john quincy adams in a july fourth 1821 address that the earmark i've republic is a group that does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. everybody though i think his actions are more about saving face than saving lives i don't think we could be involved in the first play. >> well, max, i think you mentioned something about the red line, right? let's check it out. here is an online comment, he's actually in -- >> prem did not seek congressional approval before he acted in libya. atrocities that we witnessed in syria have gone way beyond what we saw in libya.

chemical weapons are being used hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost. people's people are being destroyed daily. what is he waiting for? why does he all of the sudden care about congressional approval? >> we also have off this great branch conversation we started today, syrian american says look, all we are asking for is weapons being killed and used to terrorize our people are taken away. we don't want war, we have enough force to take us out, nothing more, nothing less, marcus says the diplomatic course has been run, only two other options, a, targeted military strike or nothing and count the casualties. speak big casualties, check it out. this conflict has been going on for more than two years, there are over 100,000 people dead. 2 million refugees. and this red line has been painted with blood for a while. so ream, why are we acted now? >> well, i mean, the question is are we acting now? >> you are right, it's been two and a half years since the revolution started.

and the conflict has resulted in tragic, tragic numbers. human lives and human -- and cost, over 100,000 lives. i think, you know, i can't tell you why obama said that the red line would be chemical weapons, maybe he thought that bashar, the president of syria would not cross that red line. bashar has no morals, no ethical restraint whatsoever and has used the most brutal force against his people. you know, to be honest, i don't think the u.s. -- i don't think the u.s. is acting now. i think the u.s. policy has been to basically provide enough weapon to his one side and let each side fight it out. that's been my observation and that was my observation when i was in syria as welling. >> all right, max, your thoughts. >> i believe that the time is now. there has to be a strike. he drew a line. this line does not matter just to syria. it matters to the rest of the

region. it interacts with iran's ambitions to go after a nuclear program. it interacts with the trans national criminal organizations that interact in latin america. it is very important. it could be on our southwest border tomorrow. and if we do not act, we will pay for it. and so will our children. >> all right, mark, we set the red line, what's your response to? >> the president set a lot of lines, he ran on the platform of end two wars and closing guantanmo we have to see any -- we have yet to see any terminal date soon. if we are having foreign policy driven by statements that the president makes unilaterally and ignores some of the legal and constitutional protections that we have to prevent a monolithic and unilateral executive, i think we are in a lot worse trouble than we thought. >> all right, so check it out.

we have community coming in. here is colin, he says i wonder how many presidents it will take before we figure out that we don't know what we are doing in the middle east. and aria says the question is not only why should we care, it is are we the only ones who should ca irrelevant? where is the arab league? where is the u.n. a lot of people in the community are asking why should we intervene. there is a burn out when it comes to iraq, a lot of people are saying we are the world's police and it is not our role. reem what's your opinion on that? >> i am ambivalent about intervention. it's not the correct analysis to say syria is like a rack. it's incorrect. syria is very different than iran. there were statements that there were weapons of mass destruction and there were not any. in syria you have the ever-he is ever-escalating death tolls, two nil wrong refugees, a third of the population displaced. it's not comparable. as far as intervention, the problem is i understand -- i understand the arguments against

and say also understand the arguments for. the situation on the ground is very, very, very terrible. it's far worse than i can explain in a 30-second sound bite, but -- and i do understand the need for something to be done, and for us to be -- assad to be removed from power or weakened for power, whether or not the way is through military strikes or military intervention, i can't say one way or the other that is the solution. >> mark, and max, you have about 20 seconds each if you want to chime in. >> all right, i would like to go first. >> go for it. >> it's time to go. honestly, the devil you know philosophy has never worked in latin america or any other region of the world as far as i know. it's time to go it's time to take them out. it's time to put somebody else there. democratically elected. >> that will handle their business. >> all right. >> so, mark sorry, man, rejuan out of time, but joey we have to go back to you.

wish we had more time. that shows you the sample of the passionate opinions that exist within our online community. >> the voices of stream. shala with us a last thought on what to expect? >> the president leaves tuesday to go to stockholm arrives in thursday on rushing a. wrussia. we are not sure when he and mr. puddin will sit down for a face-to-face, that will be a pretty interesting conversation. congress comes back on september 9th. the white house has sent the resolution to the hill. as soon as they return we think that is what w they will be discussing. >> 17th of september, new york general assembly. sometime in this two-week period we are expecting to go hear the results. u.n. lab tests the samples are in the netherlands for the prohibition of chemical weapons

certified lacks in very locations they work for a very, very high standard. we should be getting the results in two weeks. there is room for did them say and discussion. >> we know also that here in washington, that the white house is already pushing on getting conversation going with members of congress at least behind the scenes trying to bring over some win on his their column as well. sheila thanks very much. we'll hear much more in the days ahead. that is it for us here on "america tonight" if you want to comment on 30 stories you have seen tonight log onto our website. you would meet our team there. get sneak previews of the story that his we are working on as well. and join the conversation with us on twitter or at our facebook page. and we'll have more of "america tonight" tomorrow. ♪ ♪

welcome to al jazeera i am thomas drayton here are tonight's top stories. president obama unveiled his plan for syria this afternoon. >> after careful deliberation, i have decided that the united states should take military action against syrian regime targets. >> the president says that he wants approval from congress first. congress is expected to debate and vote on the issue when it comes back from recess. president obama says the u.s. is prepared to, quote, strike whenever we choose. russian president vladimir button is adding his voice to the debate overseer i can't for the first time since last week's chemical weapons attack. he is urging the white house not to launch a strike against