that's it for us. thanks for watching. jake tapper starts now with a special hour on syria. >> all the president's men making the case for action. >> the world is watching. >> the word of the united states must mean something. >> pushing for military intervention in syria. but meeting with skepticism from the public and in the senate. >> make me proud today, secretary kerry. stand up for us and say you're going to obey the constitution. >> the choice was made to lead

from behind. >> senator marko rubio is our guest. boots on the ground. secretary of state john kerry seeming to leave the door open and struggling to close it. >> i don't want to take off the table an option. >> former top generals weigh in. and bracing for impact, a live report from the middle east as dawn is about to break in syria. crisis in syria, the debate begins. good evening. i'm jake tapper. welcome to this special hour of cnn. for the next 60 minutes, we're taking you deep inside the critical drama unfolding. as we speak, all the angles, all the tensions on capitol hill ooze the obama administration pushes for a strike on syria, despite serious misgivings from the american public. we'll talk to top military minds and key lawmakers like marko rubio, a potential presidential hopeful.

and debbie wasserman schultz. they've been tasked with this decision on your behalf. and we have some breaking news this evening. the senate foreign relations committee announces it will take up a revised bill tomorrow authorizing use of force in syria. the bill has a 60-day limit with an option to extend that for another 30 days. at this very moment, president barack obama is over the atlantic ocean on a flight to sweden, hours after top members of his cabinet began pushing his case before lawmakers and before you, the public, as to why striking syria is the best course of action to end the bloodshed we've seen there and preserve u.s. national security interests. today, the president sent his team to the senate to make his case. >> are you going to be comfortable if assad, as a result of the united states not doing anything, then gases his people yet again? >> facing public opposition and a skeptical congress, they said

using chemical weapons against your own people is so evil, it's only been done three times. >> the third instance was used by adolf hitler to gas millions of jews. it was used by saddam hussein in order to gas iraqis and his own -- iranians and his own people. and now it's been used by bahar al assad. >> white house officials proclaimed they had momentum, winning support from the top two house republicans. hours later, obama's team was facing tough questions. would president obama order a strike against syria even if congress says no? >> well, i can't tell you what the president is going to do because he hasn't told me. >> there was chiding for two years of mixed messages and inaction when others have calling forearming vetted rebel groups. >> instead, the choice was made to lead from behind. >> there were seemingly mixed

messages about this mission. >> have we taken into account what the implications could be of an assad that could weather a limited strike and what that could mean for the long-term prospects? >> he will weather it. >> the goal of removing assad from the office is still the policy of this administration. >> and what of the president's promise that there will be no boots on the ground? >> i don't want to take off the table an option. >> to maybe boots on the ground? >> whether or not they have to, you know, answer a shot in order to be secure, i don't want to speak to that. >> i didn't find that a very appropriate response regards boots on the ground. >> kerry attempted to clarify. >> there's no door open here through which someone can march in ways that the congress doesn't want it to while still protecting the national security issues of the country. >> well, as long as that's

clear. casting a shadow over all of this, the legacy of the iraq war, waged when kerry and hagel were on the other side of the table. >> so we are especially sensitive, chuck and i, to never again asking any member of congress to make a vote on faulty intelligence. >> the breaking news this evening, the senate foreign relations committee, which heard that testimony, they will take tomorrow up the bill -- the revised bill authorizing use of force in syria. i've got a whole team here to help me. i want to welcome jim chuto, with jessica yellin, as well as dana bash and gloria borger. here's the question. assuming assad is president obama's biggest problem here, the biggest one keeping him up tonight, what is the second biggest problem? what is the thing he's worried

ant second most? >> i'm going to say public opinion. because i think congress is driven by public opinion and right now 6 out of 10 people in this country don't want to go to war with syria in any way, shape or form. in order for the president to get some of those liberal democrats on board, who don't want to use force and maybe some of those republicans, they have to start seeing a shift in public opinion. and that is what the president needs to do. maybe by addressing the public at some point about this. that's why kerry was out there over the weekend and where you'll see more and more administration folks out there. >> dana? >> if i were president obama, what would be keeping me up tonight is what if the people on the senate foreign relations committee and everywhere else are right about the worry that this actually won't deter or even degrade bashar al assad, maybe it will embolden him and maybe open a pandora's box in

the middle east that he doesn't know how to east and maybe it will make matters a lot worse. you know what? the president probably feels that way, too. which is why he's been so reluctant to get to this point. >> if the president strikes assad, what if assad uses chemical weapons again? not the day after, but say two or three months lateer? if iran unleashes hezbollah on israel. if iran chooses to attack the u.p.s. or israel, what does the president do? does the u.s. escalate? these are real questions, and one of the reasons maybe he decided in the end, he doesn't want to go it alone. he wants to get the help of congress. >> the administration has made such a do or die case for action, that our very credibility is at take with our enemies, hezbollah, north korea, and our allies.

so if he loses this vote, the damage will be embarrassing and difficult to play down. and he would then be faced with either a political crisis that he loses the vote, goes ahead with the military action, or he doesn't do anything. >> that's why this is so stunning to me. the president deciding not right away to go to congress -- >> he decided on friday evening. >> after the brits had their vote and that was clearly a turning point for him. but he put a very important part of his presidential election in the hands of a dysfunctional and paralyzed institution, which hasn't exactly friended him. >> we should also note the president and his team are known for campaigns, jessica. we've seen him wage lots of public campaigns. there really hasn't been a

serious campaign from the white house until recently. >> i'm sure you know this, but talking to democrats, i know that they are working incredibly hard, unusually hard for this white house to get the votes right now. and they are pulling in resources that they don't normally pull in behind the scenes. >> like apac for example, which hasn't always been aligned with this white house. >> for me, not only are they launching a campaign, they're launching it with congress. so i was also thinking if i'm also the president, i'm thinking what if i did this for the past five years? what would my legacy look like? he has had such disdain, really open disdain for congress. and democrats and republicans, and he hasn't gotten them on board with things domestic and international. he's working them to hard, if he used 1/100th of this force, maybe he could have changed it.

>> i have to intrude right there. don't go anywhere. we'll keep coming back for analysis throughout the show. senator marko rubio has been speaking out about syria for the last two years after the hearing this evening, i asked him where he stands now in this heated debate. in your view, inaction is not an option? you make a great team. it's been that way since the day you met. but your erectile dysfunction - it could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet

approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or if you have any allergic reactions such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan,

unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪ from capital one... boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. can i get the smith contract, please? thank you. that's three new paper shredders. [ boris ] put 'em on my spark card. [ garth ] boris' small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase every day. great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. read back the chicken's testimony, please. "buk, buk, bukka!" [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase every day. told you i'd get half. what's in your wallet?

welcome book crisis in syria, the debate begins. breaking news tonight. the senate foreign relations committee will take up a revised bill tomorrow authorizing use of force in syria. it has a 60-day limit with an option to extend that for another 30 days. a member of the foreign relations committee, senator marko rubio has been speaking out about syria for the last two years.

i asked him where he stands now in this heated debate. in your view, inaction is not an option. last week, you said, my advice is to either lay out a comprehensive plan using all the tools at our disposal to remove assad and replace him with a stable secular government or focus our resources on helping our allies in the region to protect themselves from the threat they will face from an unstable syria. so exactly if you were president right now, what would you advocate? >> first of all, if i had been in charge of the situation, we wouldn't be at this point. this point where we have right now, we have no good options is the result of two years of inaction. there was a time when assad was on the ropes and we had a chance to engage moderate elements and empower them. but that didn't happen. and the result is, the country of syria became flooded with foreign fighters and radicals associated with al qaeda. now you have this mess on your

hand where is assad is using gas against his own people and on the other hand, you have large portions of the syrian country under the control of islamists linked to al qaeda. >> i get that. >> you're assuming i would have inherited this problem. here's my answer, the ideal scenario, the ideal outcome is where assad falls and is replaced by a stable, moderate government. but i will confess that may no longer be possible. we have a hearing tomorrow where some classified information will be shared with us. but it is the highest outcome, the best outcome we could hope for, but it's possible that outcome is no longer possible, because the large number of radical islamists in syria means if assad were to fall, it's possible it could trigger a second civil war, inviting sectarian violence, ethnic cleansing. so we are really in a bind here.

again, directly the result of the president's mishandling of this entire situation. >> just to play out what you're saying, you're saying one of the options could be assad falls and there's chaos in the streets and you're staying that would actually be worse than assad staying in power? >> i think they are both bad outcomes. in foreign policy, it's about making the right decision at the right time. there were options available two years ago, potentially one year ago that are no longer on the table now. so look, the secretary kerry stated that he believes the rebel elements are the moderates and are doing better. he's going to try to make that case tomorrow in a closed hearing. but i have serious reservations if that is true. to use a football analogy, if you're down nine points with five seconds to go, there's nothing you can do, because

there's no nine-point play in football. we may have reached the point now because of the total mismanagement of this administration where this is no possibility of a good outcome. >> senators cruise and rand paul decided they do not want a strike. >> u.s. military force is justified only to protect the vital national security interest of the united states. >> i haven't had one person come up to me and say they're for this war, not one person. >> many of the tea party supporters that helped you win your seat in the senate feel the same way, as senators cruz and paul. how will you convince them that military action is worth it if you ultimately come to that conclusion? you seem to be a supporter of some strong action, just maybe it wouldn't be strong enough. >> i'm concerned no matter what we do, we're going to get the outcome that's in our national security interest. military entintervention is one the tools, i'm just concerned there is no military

intervention that could lead to that possible outcome. what the president is advocating is a symbolic action. he's called it a shot across the bow by his own admission. now they're saying the stated purpose is to prevent assad from using weapons in the future. assad is using these weapons because he's trying to survive. i don't think three days of missile strikes is going to dissuade him. so i think that's a problem that we face. i hate to keep going back to the same point, but we may have reached a point now where there ask no good outcome possible. and sit the direct result of the mismanagement of this administration. >> but you have not made up your mind? >> we have a haerg tomorrow where they'll hear more information with us. on this national security stuff, it's not partisan, national security, we're not debating here what to name a post office. this is a serious issue with

significant ramifications. i argue that the syrian conflict does touch upon our security in vital ways. i am also frustrated we are now hamstrung in terms of options available to us because this president chose to lead from behind for two years. >> senator, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> gloria borger and dana bash are back with us. dana, i want to start with you. it didn't sound as though secretary kerry, secretary haggle, general dempsey, it didn't sound as though they changed marko rubio's mind. how successful was the obama team today on capitol hill? >> i think for the most part they were most successful frankly than i thought they would be going in, especially a couple of days ago, mostly with the democrats than republicans. but what we just saw from marko rubio and also with rand paul was one of the many interesting subplots going on, which is 2016. watching them, you could almost

feel them understanding and see them understanding the pressure on getting this moment right. >> how you vote for a war could be very important. look at hillary clinton. >> and the guy sitting in the witness chair, john kerry, who thought he, along with a lot of other senators, thought they were making the right vote at the time and opinion turned and he had trouble explaining it. >> for a lot of members of congress, the no vote is the easy vote this thyme. whereas with iraq, voting for the war in iraq was the easy vote. so it's tough. when you talk about the drama up there today, what was so amazing to me was watching the agony of john mccain. imagine this man, who ran against barack obama, does not like his policy, believes that we should have been more robust, we should have done this two years ago, we should have armed the syrian rebels, and what is he going to end up doing?

defending president obama to recalcitrant, hell no republicans in the house of representatives and in the senate, making the case for the president because he thinks it would be, as he said, over the weekend catastrophic if congress went one way and the president another way. >> the debate goes to the house tomorrow. let's bring in florida democratic congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, joining us live from miami. and republican congressman michael burgess in dallas. congressman burgess, you were quoted as saying the case on syria is thin. you heard what happened at the hearing today. we learned tonight that your colleagues in the senate drafted a new resolution limiting authorization for action in syria. does any of this sway your opinion or are you still a likely no vote? >> i'm still a likely no vote. i suppose it's interesting that the authorization for force that was put forth by the administration over the weekend when we had the classified hearing was really pretty broad.

yet at the same time, the activity or the action proposed was described as a pinprick or a shot across the bow? well, which is it? i don't think that cruise missiles launched at runways at his military installations are going to change his mind much one way or the other. but saddam hussein will never use chemical weapons against his own people again. >> congresswoman, i want to bring you in here. you mentioned on cnn there are "dozens of countries ready to stand with the u.s. on military action." right now we only know of a handful. can you tell us in any sense guide us towards which countries you're talking about in terms of dozens? and why is there so much secrecy surrounding potential allies?

>> well, my understanding from the briefings that we've been given is that there is -- there are dozens of countries that are ready to stand behind the united states politically, diplomatically, and militarily. we have some countries that will participate with us militarily, and again, dozens of countries that are ready to be supportive in a variety of ways. but i think what's important here is making sure, one, particularly given senator rubio, my colleague from florida's comments, that we put politics aside. straddling the precarious fence of trying to criticize president obama while at the same time also acknowledge that we have national security interests in the region is not the appropriate approach to be taking. what we need to do here is ask ourselves some questions, as members of congress. we have an opportunity to debate

this authorization. are national security interests in question? yes, no question that our ally israel, jordan, turkey, they would be in jeopardy if there is not a certain and severe response from the united states. >> let me get congressman burgess to weigh in. do you agree with, are u.s. national security interests at stake in the region? >> well, if they are, then a limited launch of cruise missiles that you announce well in advance is not going to achieve the desired effect. i would be interested in knowing the countries that will be standing with us. that's been problematic. it's like we have a coalition of the invisible here. >> congressman, you were at the classified briefing the other day like i was. and it was pretty clear, and laid out for us which countries were ready to stand with us militarily. i'm not comfortable sharing that on national television. but the bottom line is, we do

have national security interests in jeopardy, and we have interests in the region that must be protected. i certainly don't want israel to be next or jordan or turkey to be next and have the stability of the region further degraded. and then there is the moral imperative that we have, as the strongest nation on earth, to respond when a dictator like assad violates a nearly 100 year international norm against using chemical weapons as a legitimate weapon of war. there were yesterday, as a mother, to me i have an indelible searing imprint on my mind -- >> congressman -- >> after seeing the pictures of those babies lined up. we have a moral responsibility to respond, and it's essential that we use our deterrent ability to make sure this doesn't happen again.

>> congressman, do you they this the united states has a moral imperative here? >> look, it took 18 years to old saddam hussein accountable for his use of chemical weapons. the moral imperative may take longer than a weekend to play out. here's the problem, jake. i don't see how you've made anything any different with a strike that's been proposed. what will make a difference is if you enforce regime change in syria. apparently that's not an option. boots on the ground isn't an option. so sending cruise missiles may make everyone feel better, but at the end of the day you're not accomplishing a change. >> let's be clear here. there was no ambiguity about whether boots on the ground would be in question. there will be no boots on the ground. secretary kerry made that very clear, and in fact, went so far as to say he would be

supportive, that the administration is supportive of including language in the resolution that prohibits boots on the ground. so let's not try to lead the people astray here or create ambiguity. >> the problem is, if we're not willing to have the follow through, how are you going to effect change in the leadership in syria? >> thank you so much for joining us. and dana and gloria. stick around, because we have a lot more to talk about. coming up, it's morning in the middle east as the world and bashar al assad wait for a decision from the united states. we'll go live to the region as president obama heads overseas in search for a little help from his friends. you're watching "crisis in steeria, the debate begins." stay with us. ♪ 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. woman: everyone in the nicu -- all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment.

i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help.

dawn is breaking in the middle east. welcome back to our special coverage of the crisis in syria. i'm jake tapper. as day one of the public debate wraps up on capitol hill, it's already tomorrow in syria. arwa damon joins me live from beirut. arwa, you have wednesday's newspapers. what is the story in the middle east today? >> reporter: well, it most certainly is all centering around whether or not there is going to be a missile strike potentially by the u.s. and its allies. you've got lebanon's leading daily english newspaper talking about obama winning key backing

on syria. some of the arabic media here, this paper in particular talking about how the syrian debate is actually about much more than just syria itself, that it has to do with a broader regional policy that centers around yes, the protection of america's number one ally, israel. and talking about the potential for a u.s. strike. a lot of editorials debating what the possible fallout of military action is going to be. interestingly too, syrian state television was airing an hour-long documentary that gives, from their perspective, an indepth look on u.s. policy towards the middle east over the last few decades, specifically talking about how american mettling in the middle east has always been to serve israel's purposes, playing up the role of what they call the resistance, whether it's the syrian government itself or hezbollah here in lebanon. but this is a region that's bracing itself at this stage for

that possible strike. jake? >> arwa, thank you so much. in the middle of a fierce debate, president obama ordered a plane for a trip to sweden and russia, where he'll continue his full court press to try to find friends to voice their support for his plan. i want to bring in jeffrey goldberg, jessica yellin is back with us. the uk has opted out, they're not going to participate in this. where are the u.s. allies, jessica? this makes george w. bush's coalition of the willing look like the league of nations. there's no one really coming to the fore, except for maybe france and turkey. >> it is striking, and it's one of these instances where you wonder if the u.s. should start to look for a different set of allies in this case. for example, maybe saudi arabia, who has enormous interest in this instance, and the capacity

truly to be of assistance. or turkey, which sits on the border with syria, and has a real interest. we believe that's never going to happen, but there's real reason to think that maybe these are the countries that could step up and say, hey, we can give you an assist here, and maybe part of the reason the president is taking this to the american people is to say there are other countries whispering in our ears to say they need our help about this. >> it's a normal reaction to say hey, saudi arabia, jordan, kuwait, you think this is a terrible problem. you have these big air forces, we know you have them, because we sold them to you. you go deal with this. this goes to that issue of the general fatigue that americans have with dealing with the complexities of the up raffling middle east >> andrea, the arab league decried what the syrian regime has done, and some members of

the gulf countries, uae and and saudi arabia in particular will do some things the. but where is the arab league in all this? >> they have said the assad regime should be held responsible, but stop short of saying there should be a military strike. now the obama administration is declaring that a victory. but there's a lot of constraints within different arab systems and societies about u.s. intervention. a year ago or two years ago, it might have been a very different case at the beginning. but now as war fatigue has set in, inside of syria as the war has raged on, as the death toll has gone through the ceiling, people have begun to change their minds a bit. >> "the new york times" referred to apac as the 800 pound gorilla. how much of this debate is about protecting america's ally, israel? >> it's being exploited to a

certain degree, because the truth of the matter is, israel can defend itself against syria and contain that threat and manage that threat. israel has already launched missile strikes repeatedly. >> took out their nuclear reactor. >> in 2007. they've been attacking missile convoys and the like and dealing with the problem as it unfurls. there's a second component to this that is very much to do with israel, which is israel, like any american ally in the middle east, needs america to have credibility and deterrent credibility in the middle east. so israel is worried if obama doesn't strike syria, the iranians will take this the wrong way and say oh, you know what? obama is not capable of intervening in a military way in the middle east. so we're just going to build our nuclear weapon. it's probably a mistake to think that way. >> jessica, one of the things

keeping israel from bombing iran is the promise that the united states will never let be israel be attacked by a nuclear weapon or the united states will take action. does israel have a case here? >> i think that the white house views that as a false equivalence. i have a hard time seeing the equivalence there, and i know you'll disagree with me, but i think that there is -- >> you might be wrong. but go on. >> if the president believes that iran poses a genuine threat, he would take that action. but if he's drawn a line by accident or that he doesn't truly believe on syria, that he doesn't actually want to take or that was a mistake of rhetoric and he doesn't truly believe in it, i'm not saying that's where he is, but if that were the case, you don't have to -- it's almost like a hollywood scenario, where a president has to take an action because he said something and has to stand

up for his credibility. >> he didn't just draw up any old power in the region, he drew it with the assad regime. i can't imagine that the iranians would read it any other way. he laid down the red line, and if he didn't mean it, he shouldn't have done it in the first place. >> all right. thanks. jessica, you stay with us as we continue to hash out today's debate. when we come back, will military action work and does it mean the start of another u.s. war? i'll talk to two former generals about the consequences of the president's decision. we'll be right back. let's play: [ all ] who's new in the fridge! i help support bones... [ ding! ] ...the immune system... [ ding! ] ...heart health... [ ding! ] ...and muscles. [ ding! ] that can only be ensure complete! [ female announcer ] the four-in-one nutrition of ensure complete. a simple choice to help you eat right. [ major nutrition ] nutrition in charge.

his day of coaching begins with knee pain, when... [ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the all-day relief of two aleve for six tylenol? what's the catch? there's no catch. you want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol? no. for my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve.

like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪

welcome back to our special, crisis in syria, the debate begins. secretary of state john kerry stumbled when discussing the possibility of boots on the ground in syria. he twisted himself into a pr pretzel with hypotheticals and ended up here. >> i know the administration has zero intention of putting troops on the ground. >> i want to brick in two former generals to talk about this. anthony ziny and michael hayden.

i'm also joined again by jim shuto. general hayden, we heard secretary kerry there talk about no geneva convention. they have no intention of boots on the ground. but you really can't promise that when you're about to enter a military engagement, right? >> no, and you shouldn't try to promise it. i can imagine circumstance where is you might have to do that. what if an aircraft goes down? you put people on the ground. this shows the difficulty of trying to craft a language that satisfies everyone. there is just going to have to be faith and confidence between the president as congress. congress can't think of all the possible circumstances they might want to limit the president only. and the president can't live with limited freedom of action when he puts americans into harm way. >> general, general dempsey, we

know he's skeptical of what force in syria can accomplish. i want to play this exchange. >> the answer to whether i support additional support for the modern opposition is yes. and this authorization will support those activities in addition to responding to the weapons of mass destruction. >> i don't know how the resolution will evolve, but i support -- >> what you're seeking, what is it that you're seeking? >> i can't answer that. >> i can't answer that, what we're seeking. was he just trying to stay in his lane? was he further expresses skepticism? translate that. >> he's trying to not make any guarantees as to what military action can achieve. it's in the mind of the leadership of the enemy, we're trying to compel them to do something. in this case, i think two things. one, to prevent him from future

use of weapons of mass destruction. but also to try to convince him he can't win this on the battlefield. i thought it was interesting what secretary kerry said about this being revolved at geneva two. which led me to believe that the strategy here is to convince assad he can't win and to convince the russians we need their support, and there is a possible diplomatic solution. i think general dempsey is being smart to ensure no one thinks he can guarantee a military act will achieve these kinds of objectives. >> i want to bring in jim shuto now. >> it seemed the administration has something to be the hawks and the doves, the skeptics and supporters. for the hawks, those pushes for more action, he talked about a broader strategy, support for the opposition, even connecting it to the goal of removing not with this particular military

action but still removing assad from power. that is a difficult needle to thread. we saw the difficulty with boots on the ground. can the administration thread that needle? >> it's going to be very hard. the administration articulated what sit they want to do, for it to be about chemical weapons and deterring and degrading their use. that may have some marginal impact on assad's overall military power, but there's no one in uniform that will suggest this is going to drive him to a new political position. >> there was also this sense exchange between secretary kerry and senator rand paul about whether or not military action should be called a war. >> you've got three people here, john mccain who has been to war, but not one of us who doesn't understand what going to war mean, and we don't want to go to war. i just don't consider that going to war in the classic sense of

coming to congress and asking for a declaration of war, and training troops and sending people abroad and putting young americans in harm's way. that's not what the president is asking for. general, do you want to speak at all to that? >> no, not really, secretary. thank you for offering. >> general dempsey again, with a little reluctance to play in the political realm of this. but is secretary kerry right, is this not war? >> it's a relative term, but making a political decision on a relatively significant scale, to kill people and break things in one else's country, that sounds like war. the laws of armed conflict will apply to what it is we do here. >> jim, very quickly. >> just for general ziny, the administration made the claim a delay does not matter for the military effectiveness of the strike. general, do you believe that? >> i do. i think there's plenty of

targets that we can service there. many of them are fixed. he doesn't have robust, redundant systems. he can move a few things around. but remember, he's also in a war himself. he doesn't have in options and that much freedom of movement. and the intensity of our intelligence collection allows us to do this continuous targeting. so i do think general dempsey is right on this. i might add on that last question about war. when you attack a sovereign nation, that's an act of war. we haven't declared war since world war ii. but we have fought in many of them and i remember vietnam quite vividly. >> thank you very much. coming up, john mccain dresses quote unquote scandal head on after he's caught on camera not exactly paying attention. stay with us. [ male announcer ] these heads belong to those who can't put life on hold

because of a migraine. so they trust excedrin migraine to relieve pain fast. plus sensitivity to light, sound, even nausea. and it's #1 neurologist recommended. migraines are where excedrin excels. it's back to school time. and excedrin wants to make sure your child's school is equipped to help your child excel. purchase excedrin for a chance to win one of 5 $10,000 donations to your child's school.

go to excedrin's facebook page to enter. to your child's school. 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.

welcome back to our cnn special on the crisis in syria.

we want to get some final thoughts from our panel on today's hearing. gloria borger, what's your take away moment today? >> when john kerry at the end of the hearing said, we are not going to war, we don't want to go to war. and then again promised there would be no boots on the ground, and he's talking about lobbing cruise missiles somewhere. i was thinking what is the definition of war then? if we're lobbing cruise missiles into another country, we're not going to be there more than 60 days, no boots on the ground, that's not war. >> he said not in the classic sense of war. dana? >> john boehner standing in the president's driveway saying something supportive of the president. hands down for me, from my perch on capitol hill. he didn't have to do that. there's no reason he had to do

that. he personally believes this is the right thing to do. he is very reluctant to say what he wants to do personally because his caucus is so fractured. >> generally speakers of the house don't take a position or even vote. >> a position is one thing, voting is something they generally don't do. but on this position, it's not going to change all those republicans who are in the, what you call the hell, no caucus. but it might persuade some people on the fence and it does signal that what the president tried to do was get congress on board, clearly the republicans and the democrats didn't necessarily think this was the greatest idea. but once he did it, even the house speaker -- >> do you think a yes vote can change domestic politics with him for congress? >> no, no. >> why not ask? >> more miserable as a leader.

>> oh, boehner. >> when i say this is a vote of conscience, members can vote whatever they want. >> they're not looking at polls. >> before you quickly point out, he said it personally, it could have sway. but they're absolutely not whipping this vote. >> his comments were, it's up to the president to make this case. >> the white house is twisting arms. >> your moment of the day? >> you said it is a skeptical board of senators and it's also a bored board of senators. senator john mccain caught playing poker on his iphone during the testimony. i guess they're like the rest of us and their mind wanders. there's the video. >> showing how seriously our

legislative branch takes things. >> and he, to his credit, played along with it, tweeted out and said it's scandalous. >> thank you so much. and thank you for joining us tonight. i'm jake tapper. watch cnn tomorrow for live coverage of the congressional hearings on the crisis in syria. stick around for "piers morgan live." anncr: expedia is giving away a trip every day.

where would you go? woman: 'greece.' woman 2: 'i want to go to bora bora.' man: 'i'd always like to go to china.' anncr: download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us.

expedia, find yours. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪

this is "piers morgan live." i'm wolf blitzer in for piers. welcome to the viewers in the united states and around the world. the senate committee will take up a bill tomorrow that will authorize the president of the united states to use military force in syria. property posed resolution limits the autozigs to 60 days with a 30-day deadline with no u.s. troops to be included on the ground in syria. all this on the day the crucial hearings began on the power of the president si. president obama marshalling big guns trying to make the case for a strike on syria. >> forcing assad to change his