result. the bill was actually seen as way to pacify organized labor. despite giving everyone a holiday, cleveland's party deserted him and did not nominate him for the next election in 1896. thanks for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. >> hello, everyone. i i'm fredericka whitfield. you're in the cnn newsroom. secretary of state john kerry says there's more evidence of hair and blood samples that syria used serin and that the u.s. has to act. that decision is now up to congress. president obama said he will seek congressional approval for action and his administration is busy makecation, a classified

briefing to members of congress is getting started. officially congress isn't back in washington until september 9th, but the senate foreign relations committee will hold a hearing on tuesday and we've already heard a lot of reaction to the president's announcement from washington and around the world. we start our coverage in damascus, syria, with bill neely, i itm, in damascus. what has been the response to president obama not striking before getting u.s. congressional approval? >> reporter: the first reaction from here came, i'd say, about two minutes after he finished speaking at the white house, when syria's army began shelling rebel held districts in damascus after day of calm. after that came the mocking-in newspaper headlines one saying the american retreat starts here. the ministers and diplomats weighed in, the ambassador to

the united nations saying obama and cameron had climbed the tree but didn't know how to get down. the deputy prime minister saying obama's delay was laughable. today, i spoke to another one of assad's men, the deputy minister said he wasn't surprised by obama's administration and said obama and the administration are lost and don't know what they will do. he said he hopes the wise people in congress would do what the mps and house commons did and vote against military action. if it came, syria's army was ready, absolutely. >> bill, thanks so much from damascus. we'll check back with you later on. meanwhile the weapons inspectors are briefing the u.n. and ban ki-moon is asking to hold off on military action. so far no call for military

strike. so what is the timetable for any talks or votes, any action? >> reporter: we have been askingdale if there is a timetable. we have not been told what that is when u.n. inspectors will release their results. we're getting inklings. the u.n. spokesperson for the secretary general said the results taken from the alleged sites in syria where chemical weapons were used are being transported by plane transported to hague in the netherlands and given to laboratories tomorrow and presumably testing can begin. two syrian officials are traveling with those samples along with u.n. samples to give the syrian government at the u.n. the ability to have some oversight. we don't know when those results will come out. we do know they're on tuesday. some members of the security council non-permanent members not russia, france, china and the uk, they'll be given a briefing by the secretary

general on how this process is going. they've been clear we are not going to get the final result until information is ready and collated in one place. it's entirely possible given the speed the u.s. has shown within 11 days since the attack taking samples of blood and tissue and producing what they said is definitive result, the pressure is on at the u.n. to deliver with similar speed and possible it may happen. so before congress the unmay have given their verd whether chemical weapons were used and not part of their job, not who used them. >> you mentioned blood and tissue samples. do we know of the number of bags of evidence these weapons inspectors brought back or in the netherlands, do we know what kind of evidence is among it? >> reporter: we are being told they got what they needed to do the job. i think the indication is we will be talking about samples from individuals. we have seen video of their work, been to buildings, soil samples where these weapons were

allegedly used and taken statements by survivors translated into this report. pretty clear from the u.n. spokespeople they are happy they got enough to make the determination. i is a complex job defining the chemicals. they have to use a spectrometer to take out the dirt and identify the particles that make part of the chemical weapon. it will take time. we have been made fully aware they know they're on the clock and possible we could see the results sooner than two to three weeks intimated. >> we know and could be presumed russia and china will not be on board any military strike or repercussions against syria. what could the u.n. do without their support, at least two countries support? >> reporter: nothing, really. that's the issue with the security council here. they've a veto. u.s. and uk and france have a veto as well. that's the deadlock here

unlikely the resolution will be passed unless they bridge the divide between these two groups with polarized opinion how to deal with the crisis inside syria. it's possible if they come back that chemical weapons are used and russians and chinese are satisfied they could pass a resolution condemning the use of these weapons. i'm just speculating. when it comes to what to do about it, the two sides are so far apart, that's the reason barack obama says this building is completely paralyzed. >> thanks so much from the u.n. in washington, capitol hill, members of congress are in a closed brief right now with a team from the obama administration. dana bash is outside that brief right now. dana, what have you been seeing as folks enter the room? >> reporter: you can see it behind me, members of the house and the senate have been trickling in. many of them in their weekend attire. this, of course, is the sunday of a holiday weekend, not usual for the cancpitol to be open an

not usual to have this type of classified briefing. members of congress have been flying in from around the country to come to this. to be honest i'm surprised how many i've seen come when told they will have other opportunities later in the week. you cannot underscore enough how critical this is, not necessarily the information they're specifically going to get in here, which is classified information about the intelligence that the obama administration really says proves that bashar al assad did use chemical weapons against his own people and maybe even more information about the military plans they have in place but more broadly politically, the idea of reassuring members of congress, many of whom are skeptical, many whom are undecided this is the right way to go. i've been talking to senior republicans and democrats in the senate and house, particularly in the house where this is going to be a tougher vote. they said if the vote were taken right now, it likely wouldn't pass. the obama administration needs

this week plus they will have before these votes are taken in the senate and house to do some arm twisting. >> dana bash, thanks so much. keep us abreast of all taking place on capitol hill. so far days top level officials made it clear the u.s. military is ready to strike syria and strike quickly. after the president's decision, the military is now on hold. let's bring in barbara starr from the pentagon. how does this delay potentially affect the military's readiness? >> according to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he says not all. they will keep up in intelligence so they can target anything inside syria they are ordered to strike. he has assured the president everything will go smoothly on that, that they will have the information, they will be able to target those sites inside syria. that perhaps lead though president's statement yesterday that he was assured this strike could be effective today, tomorrow, a morning from now. remember, five u.s. navy

warships aimed at a range of targets inside syria. you see them there. each ship has about 40 tomahawks missiles on board guided to targets by gps sat lied coordinato coordinates. they have to keep the satellites over syria plugging the coordina coordinates into the missiles ready to go when ordered. >> is there any concern this delay will help the assad regime? >> that's the question. yeah. as the satellites spay overhead and look for any moves of syrian military forces so they can keep track, get the gps coordinates and put them in the u.s. missiles, the question is what will the syrians be up to. there is some evidence in recent days the syrian military has in fact dispersed its forces, moved things around in anticipation of

some sort of u.s. attack. but right now all the indications are they are certainly not stop their attack, their shellings against civilian neighborhoods against damascus and other areas in syria. this is the process the next several days. syrians on the move and the u.s. chasing them down and getting precise locations as to where they are. >> barbara starr from the pentagon, thank you. the president is calling on congress to give him the go ahead for military action against syria but he faces opposition. we will talk live with one lawmaker who says the u.s. has no reason to act in syria. and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets,

posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. help the gulf when we made recover and learn the gulf, bp from what happened so we could be a better, safer energy company. i can tell you - safety is at the heart of everything we do. we've added cutting-edge technology, like a new deepwater well cap and a state-of-the-art monitoring center, where experts watch over all drilling activity twenty-four-seven.

and we're sharing what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. our commitment has never been stronger. [ male announcer ] staying warm and dry has never been our priority. our priority is, was and always will be serving you, the american people. so we improved priority mail flat rate to give you a more reliable way to ship. now with tracking up to eleven scans, specified delivery dates, and free insurance up to $50 all for the same low rate. [ woman ] we are the united states postal service. [ man ] we are the united states postal service. [ male announcer ] and our priority is you. go to usps.com® and try it today.

i want to let the american president that we want peace, we don't want war. to leave us alone, to take care of his government because people are dying everyday. and he's just making everything worse in syria. >> i am an american citizen and i love this country but i do love my syria and i want peace. i want it to be stopped. i want america to stop the war a on my country. >> syrian americans talking about the crisis in syria. the president of the united states making his case on punishing the syrian government

for allegedly using chemical weapons against its own people. but in his rose garden speech, mr. obama said he first wants congress to approve just outside the white house gate, protesters urged date of birth stay out of syria, just as you saw across the country. how will the debate play out? in congress already there is criticism from new york peter king. peter king is stating he thinks the president is bypassing his authority by now turning to congress. another one of obama's critics, florida congressman alan grayson joining me from orlando. he anivention at all. >> after yesterday, did the president say anything to change your mind? >> no. it's not our responsibility. it's not going to do any good. it's dangerous and it's expensive. nothing the president says

changes any of those facts. >> what do you mean when you say it won't do any good when you hear secretary kerry spell out letting a dictator like assad go with impunity means it sends a message to other dictators who might have other chemical weapons that they could harm their people as well? >> actually, there's only four countries in the world that have chemical weapons. the largest of the four is the united states. so are we trying to send a message to ourselves? that's not logical. >> i've heard that theory before somehow one country's actions will affect another country's and another country's. it's just the domino argument again. we'll call it the bomino argument. it's not logical, doesn't make any sense. >> when the president and secretary of state kerry says syria threatens national security, it behooves the united states to do something, you say this is not a national security issue? >> absolutely not. there is a huge number of americans who agree with me.

we set up a website called don'tattacksyria.com and got over 10,000 signature is in less than 24 hours. the polls show people understand this literally has nothing to do with us. we are not the world's policeman. we can't afford this anymore these military adventures that lead us into wars that last for a decade or more. it's wrong. we need to cut it off before it even happens. >> does this mean it's at least comforting to you the president while he said he thinks justifiably the u.s. should strike but still wants to hear congressional approval, is that any comfort to you he wants congress to be thoughtful about this and give the green light or not? >> yes. and in fact the british went through exactly the same process a few days ago. they came to the right conclusion, it's simply not their responsibility. we're not the world's policeman. we're not the world's judge, jury or executioner. no one else in the world does things like this and there's no reason why we should.

we have 20 million people in this country looking for full time work. let's tend our own garden for a change. >> you mentioned don'tattacksyria.com and you have 10,000 people signatures with your view. where do you believe the allegiance will fall? >> the allegiance will fall into what makes sense for them represent their districts. in my district if you ask people where does syria fall in your list of concerns, it wouldn't be in the top 100. we have to spend a billion dollars according to british authorities, the billion dollars is money better spent on our schools, roads, bridges, health care and so on. >> if you had an opportunity to make your case to the president, what would it be? we understand senator mccain will be spending one-on-one time with the president tomorrow. the senator has been say ag long time the u.s. needs to act. if you had that kind of face to face time with the president,

what wo would you say to him why the u.s. should not go this, whether it has allies or whether it means going it alone? >> in fact all the indications are we will be going it alone. even french public opinion are against this and the french are the only ones entertaining the possibility. it should tell the president when he's vying to vindicate so-called international norms there's 126 countries that no one wants to do anything like this. what i would tell the president is first no americans have been attacked. none of our ail lives been attacked. it's an unfortunately circumstan circumstance, there's lots of unfortunate circumstances in the world. in burma it started 12 years before i was born and 12 presidents have resisted the impulse to interfere in the burmese civil war even though far more people have died there than the syrian civil war. i can give you countless other examples. sometimes the highest international norm, the one to respect the most is mind your own business.

in this case it simply won't do any good. no one thinks we will determine the outcome of the syrian civil war by lobbing police sills into damascus. no one thinks we will degrade or eliminate the future of chemical attacks by doing. no. in doing so we'll be waste ag lot of money and opening ourselves to a counterattack. people forget this, the u.s. embassy in beirut is 15 miles away from the syrian border and just down the block from hezbollah. so if we attack them and then they attack us, i think people can see where this is heading. >> congressman alan grayson, thanks so much, from orlando today, appreciate it. >> thank you, too. >> if the u.s. indeed goes ahead with a military strike, what would it look like exactly? in a minute, i'll hear from a former u.s. intelligence officer who spent years in damascus. i'll ask him what targets he thinks would have the most impact. chances are,

you're not made of money, so don't overpay for boat insurance. geico, see how much you could save. i'to guard their manhood with trnew depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with tide pods. three chambers. three times the stain removal power. pop in. stand out.

the united states president says military action is needed against the assad regime in syria. he wants u.s. congressional approval first. what would a military strike look like and how could a delay hurt a possible strike against syria? lieutenant colonel rick francona lived in syria for three years during the 1990s and also a former attache at the u.s. embassy in damascus. general dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said the capacity to strike syria is not time sensitive. do you agree, it could happen any time and would it make a difference? >> it depends what his target said. if he's going to have fixed facilities, the targets will always be there. you can't move air fields and

control things and radar installations. they will be in the same place today and two or three weeks. if you're going after the chemical weapons delivery systems, primarily artillery, rocket launchers, things tactical things and movable, they are things syrian can hide and have a lot of places to hide things. >> why not it be a target? how difficult would it be for the u.s. to track, monitor any kind of movement over the course days or weeks? >> even if we have excellent satellite coverage what's going on. the syrians have a lot of these systems. they have hundreds, thousands of rocket launchers and artillery systems to move and a lot of places to hide them. they spent years building hardened facilities inside mountains and it will be difficult to track and locate them. and once you locate them, they're in a hardened facility. the cruise missile can be very

effective against another set of targets, air fields, command and control. >> is it your view the u.s. could go it alone? whale we heard from secretary kerry we heard some support condemning countries what the syrian regime is doing and haven't articulated there is military support talking australia and turkey and france. should the u.s. go it alone if it comes to that? >> we have the military capability to do it on our own. always nice to have a coalition so you don't feel you're alone out there. turkey would be a useful ally if we were going to the next stage, that would be to used fixed wing aircraft from which we could launch air launch cruise missiles which have a little heavier warhead. right now, it's cruise missiles off the ships. we can do that ourselves. >> what kinds of concerns do you have about any retaliatory strikes if indeed it comes to this. you heard congressman grayson

mentioned israel likely being a possible target from syria if the u.s. were to intervene. do you see that as happening and if so, what would be protections in place? >> the syrians have said that. they made that threat, if they're attacked they would respond and burn israel and launch strikes there. the israelis have taken the prudent measures, issuing gas masks to their citizen, moving the iron dome anti-missile system to protect tel-aviv. they're taking prudent steps to do that. i'm not sure the syrians would strike the israelis. i think that would be a fool hardy move. the syrian army is tied up fight ing insurgency and rebels. if you attack the israelis, there will be a response. >> the president underscoring it would be limited capacity. based on all you played out, that sounds pretty extensive. is it your belief it could be limited and just day in or two? >> if you launch a series of missiles one day, you look the

next day to see what you did. if you didn't hit what you wanted and didn't achieve the level of degradation you want and talking restrikes, two, three days, unfortunately these things have a way of going on and on. as we say in the middle east, once you stick that nose under the tent, where does it stop? it could be the first so much to an escalation and what everybody's concerned about. >> thank you for your time. appreciate it. in just a few minutes, if the strike on syria were to occur, what then? what happens afterwards? we'll look at the bigger picture and how iran and russia may fit into this crisis and what will history ultimately say about the president's decision to go to congress for approval to strike? we'll discuss. building animatronics is all about getting things to work together. the timing, the actions, the reactions. everything has to synch up.

my expenses are no different. receipt match from american express synchronizes your business expenses. just shoot your business card receipts and they're automatically matched up with the charges on your online statement. i'm john kaplan and i'm a member of a synchronized world. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. nascar is about excitement. but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. ♪ let's face it. everyone has their own way of doing things. at university of phoenix we know learning is no different.

so we offer personalized tools and support, that let our students tackle the challenge of going back to school, like they do anything else... their way. the next powerful storm is going to hit... but it will... that's why there's a new duracell battery. introducing duracell quantum. with its high density core,

it's a quantum leap in battery power. the next storm is out there. but so are the heroes. so we're giving a million duracell quantum to first responders everywhere. power. in the hands of the most powerful. duracell. trusted everywhere. i personally believe at a time the institution of deposits are being created i think it is a big decision and no one should misinterpret it. >> that was secretary of state john kerry in an interview and we will see it in entirety at 3:00 p.m.

the president made his decision on a walk around the white house and he send announcements around the world he would delay a strike on syria until congress approves. i'm joined by doug brinkley. good to see you. is this turnaround now happening is it potentially reshaping the president's legacy? >> it certainly is creating a lot of interest. i mean, for starters we don't like being on the opposite side with great britain. we have a special relationship with that country. throughout the cold war it was always united states and britain working in lock-step with only a few deviations. the fact the british parliament rejected going into syria with us i think had to be very sobering to the president. he did not seem to have a nato coalition or u.n. coalition and at home he was getting sniper fire from both liberals of his own party and conservative republicans hence he decided the

best thing to do is go with what he said his entire life that military action should be approved by congress first, hence, he's kind of found his authentic stride right now. >> so he's being consistent in that message. might it had been a big concern for the president to say how hypocritical it would have been if he said i'm going to go ahead and use this executive order and make this decision and bypass congress all together, given when he was senator, he voted against and is on record as voting against the iraq war? >> it would have been interpreted as that by some people. after all, bill clinton in 1999 went into kosovo for humanitarian reasons without congress and clinton and ronald reagan did it a number of different times. the president could have gone it alone but he decided it was wiser to take the prosecution against assad. we talk about a commander in

chief. barack obama is prosecutor in chief and he's taking this case to the world community via television, internet, he's going to try to argue the case that chemical weapons is beyond the pale and that we all have to sit up and do something. it might be not only does congress go along with him but the world community will say obama was right and we were slow to move. >> you mention clinton among those presidents who did bypass congress when clinton was making a decision about dokosovo. in what way did that alter or change or take away his powers or respects or credibility as a president in -- are those some of the things this president was contemplating? >> it didn't hurt bill clinton in 1999, after all he was going to be leaving office soon. this is a president still has a full 3 1/2 years ahead of him including a fall he has to fight for debt ceiling and immigration

with congress and to isolate himself i think he thought it too risky. a key, it's one thing not to have the united nations go with the u.s., it's not that popular. to not have nato with us. we were in libya, president obama did go for a while on his own, but we had nato behind us in that fight. we've got to have more allies to go into syria. i think this extra 10 days allows him to solidify perhaps getting turkey and france at least more in the seat with him. >> you mentioned libya. there are some parallels, but, of course, the president now breaking stride and conducting this whiteout very differently as it pertains to syria. do you believe, because there was so much criticism post libya that this go around this president said, okay, i will put a little bit more in the basket as it pertains to congress and hope that congress is on board? >> i don't think it quite happened that way because i think this president was willing to go it alone with france and

britain, turkey, saudi arabia, and have a smaller coalition of the willing, if you like. but, again, i think it's when great britain balked that the president was feeling very vulnerable. at that time he kind of changed his own strategy. >> now you wonder if the president even regrets using those words "red line." >> the red line could haunt him. he's trying not to make it not president obama's red line the american people's red line via representatives in congress this will be an american strike not obama strike. >> thank you. one of the world's most revered leaders left the hospital today but former south african president nelson mandela still has a long road ahead. an update on his condition next. not . aaah! jessica! whoa!

your friend's a rate sucker. her bad driving makes car insurance more expensive for the rest of us. try snapshot from progressive. snap it in and get a discount based on your good driving. [pop!] stop paying for rate suckers! try snapshot free at progressive.com. so you can have a getaway from what you know. so you can be surprised by what you don't. get two times the points on travel and dining at restaurants from chase sapphire preferred. so you can taste something that wakes up your soul. chase sapphire preferred so you can.

i'to guard their manhood with trnew depend shields and guards. the discreet protection that's just for guys. now, it's your turn. get my training tips at guardyourmanhood.com

kosovo. bottom of the hour. welcome back. i'm fredericka whitfield. a team from the obama administration is giving a classified briefing on syria to members of congress. secretary of state john kerry said blood and samples showed serin gas was used by the syrian regime on innocent civilians and called the case to take action overwhelming. president obama is seeking congressional approval for a military strike. number two, takes us to south africa. former president nelson mandela left the hospital today. doctors say he is still in critical and sometimes unstable condition. the 95-year-old apartheid leader is at home. mandela will get same kind of intensive care he has been getting at the hospital, this time at home. he was admitted in june, into

the hospital with a lung infection. in california, firefighters are making some headway, fighting a massive fire in and around yosemite national park. it's now about 40% contained. more than 220,000 acres have burned. warm dry conditions are expected to complicate firefighting efforts over the next few days. number 4, there's no labor day off for car thieves. in fact, the national insurance crime bureau says it's among the top five holidays for car thefts. a car was stolen every 43 seconds. there is a little good news. progressive insurance says nearly half of stolen cars are recovered. number 5, tim tebow did not survive yesterday's final nfl roster cuts. the former heisman trophy winner was released by the new england patriots after completing less than 37% of his passes in the preseason.

ironically his best game was thursday when he slew two touchdown passes against the giants. tebow thanked the patriots for the opportunity and vowed to continue his life-long dream of being an nfl quarterback. now, to open court, an in depth look at the most compelling stories in the world of tennis. today, we profile one of the biggest champs in the history of the sport. serena williams. >> i think it's just starting to sink in that she truly is one of the best players of all time. >> to me, overall when serena is on, she has the best i've ever seen her play, the whole package. >> serena's 16 grand slam singles titles have earned her a seat at a table where the name cards read chrissy, martina and steffi. >> to have me being that little girl from compton mention my name with martina narvratilova

and steffi graf, i don't believe it. i know i get nervous and apprehensive and all those feelings. what helps me is i'm really strong mentally and helps me get through it. >> he is always in the shadows. next, we'll shed some light on president bashar al assad's younger brother. hear why he is called the muscle in the family and what it means for the future of syria.

>> syrian president bashar al assad isn't pulling all the strings when it comes to force. his younger brother is helping him with the decisions. find outside why maher al assad is considered the muscle in the family. >> reporter: much of the brute force inside the regime are connected not only to president bashar al assad but a man a couple years younger, always at the president's side, his brother, maher. >> maher this is kneecaper, in charge of keeping the regime in power. >> reporter: considered the more

brutal muscle in the family, the commands the fourth division and republican guard elite civilian military units composed of majority of muslims. he has something else in his portfolio. >> maher as well as his cousins have come to control what's called the ghosts there, alowhite paralympic forces. >> reporter: forces analysts say carried out massacres of syrian villagers. his actions once led turkey's prime minister to publicly slam him saying he's chasing after savagery. a u.s. ambassador to syria has met with ne-assad family. >> what is the real influence he personally has over his brother? >> i think his brother has to be wary of him because he's a hot head and he's known to be a hot head and he's known not to have particularly great judgment. but, you know, when you're ahead of a mafia-like regime you depend upon enforcers. >> reporter: a role maher's

reli relished, experts say, many years. there is a legendary account a sister was set to marry someone not exactly up to the family's standards. >> he's said to have shot his brother-in-law in the stomach in the early days before his brother-in-law was his brother-in-law and the father did not approve of the marriage and thought he was low and maher was already the enforcer before the father died. >> reporter: the brother-in-law was killed in a rebel bomb attack on the syrian cabinet a year ago. maher was believed to have been wounded in that attack and hasn't been seen since. >> we don't even know -- there are rumors his leg was blown off, badly wounded. this could be true. we don't know exactly what condition he is in today. >> if maheral assad is still alive, they would be following a menacing tradition. their late father placed his own late brother as head of important syrian security units. ra fat al assad was a key figure

behind the 1982 massacre in the city ofhama in which tens of thousands of syrians were killed. cnn, washington. coming up , we'll meet another member of president assad's family. his wife, and has been called syrian's princess diana for her humanitarian efforts. how much influence does she have over her husband as the death toll mounts. we'll explore. two of syria's biggest ally, will they retaliate if the u.s. strikes syria? we'll talk about that next in the "newsroom."

nascar is about excitement. but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. "do i really need to add downy every time?" and i say, "yes. you really do." [ sniffs ] just toss downy unstopables in before the wash. then pour downy infusions right in here for scented softness that helps reduce pilling, fading, static, plus fresh scents that last up to 12 weeks. that's as long as bears hibernate. sure, you could go without it,

but do you really want to be that person? downy unstopables and downy infusions in every wash. you'll be unstopable.

saudi arabia is calling for

international action in syria. saying the syrian regime has lost its legislate mass sin the arab world and internationally. two major influences in this syrian crisis are russia and iran. russia which has sent warships to the region hold as seat in the u.n. security council and been a thorn in the side of the u.s. efforts to get the u.n. to okay military action against syria. iran is syria's largest ally and also irritated world leaders over its nuclear ambitions. joining us now is a global security expert and president of the plow shares fund, which focuses on nuclear weapons policy and conflict resolution. joe, first off, let me get your reaction to saudi arabia joining in this chorus. we have heard from australia, france and turkey all condemning syria. now saudi arabia doing the same. an arab nation, very different. >> thank you. a very important statement and

one that maybe will precede an arab league statement on this. the united states very much wants the support of the arab league, particularly in the case of any military action but more importantly in any diplomatic solution to this crisis. whatever your view on the military strikes everyone agrees there is no military solution. a military strike can degrade assad's capability but won't topple him from power, won't end the chemical weapons threat and certainly won't end the slaughter. only a diplomatic solution can do that. to get that you need the involvement of all the players in the region including russia and iran. they have a very key role to trying to bring an end to this slaughter. >> what would it take to get russia and iran on board to condemn. if any else has a word in this, most would say they're more complicit than anything else? >> they are. they're backers of the assad

regime. you might see russia increasing its arms shipments to assad. both have a similar interest to that of the united states. they would like to stabilize the conflict and keep assad in power. you heard the president say the focus of our military action fwhoultds be regime change. there's a very good reason for that. you think assad is bad? what follows and assad collapse could be much much worse, including a rise to power of al qaeda-like islamist forces fighting assad. your outcome might be to stabilize, keep assad in power at least for the moment and try to reach a diplomatic solution. russia and iran might have a say, interest in that. ironically the president moving towards military action could be a lever to get russia and iran to aid a diplomatic solution. >> critics of the obama administration say it's what happens next, the greatest worry and if the objective is not to

remove him, how is it this kind of strike would help stabilize this country if it's the same regime and just now suffering a blow from u.s. attacks? >> that is one of the biggest argument against the strike, if they really are just a shot across the bow, symbolic effort, why are you doing this, you might make the situation worse. the president now has a diplomatic window for the next week. i think he did the right thing going to congress. the congress has the authority to make war, not the president. that's our constitutional democracy. but it buys him about a week, 10 days in which he can push the diplomatic solution. he has to put as much effort into trying to reach a political solution to this crisis as devoting to his military actions. a good place to start is g-20 meetings that will take place in russia st. petersburg accept 5th and 6th. there he can try to say to putin, you don't want me to strike, what are you going to

do? how are you going to help end this slaughter? >> the president begins his travelocity to thravels to this region this tuesday and after that he will be meeting with senator john mccain how the country proceeds as it pertains to syria. thanks for your insight. >> my pleasure, fredericka. the president says evidence lethal syria gas used in syria is overwhelming. what exactly does syrian gas do to a person's body? we'll explain why it's so toxic and deadly. next.

i can share with you today blood and hair samples that have come to us through and appropriate chain of custody from east damascus from first responders, it has tested positive for signatures of sarin. each day that goes by, this case is even stronger. >> sarin gas is one of the most toxic chemical weapons. even a fraction of an ounce can kill a person. senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen tells us how dangerous it can be. >> reporter: fredericka, one of the reasons why serin gas is so lethal is that you don't know that it's coming. it's odorless, tasteless. you usually don't know you've been affected until you get

sick. here are some of the things that happen. people's pupils dom a pinpoint. they get headaches, excessive sweating, con convulsions, res teary failure. people can survive and that means they didn't get that much or can get away that doesn't have gas. your glands and muscles have off switches so they're not working all the time. a nerve gas turns off that off switch, so your muscles and glands are working all the time. you actually can become exhausted, collapse, become paralyzed and eventually die. is there an antidote to nerve gases like serin, atro pine, an injection and best to get it as soon as possible. fredericka. >> thank you so much, elizabeth cohen. we're entering your second hour of the "newsroom" on this sunday avenue. i'm fredericka