tv The Situation Room CNN September 12, 2013 2:00pm-3:31pm PDT
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"crisis in syria, decision point." i now turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." jake, thanks very much. happening now, deep divides and deep skepticism as the united states and russia begin formal talks on eliminating syria's chemical weapons and averting a u.s. military strike. also breaking news. syria shocks the world, saying it's signing on to the global ban on chemical weapons. other countries caution, however, it's not that simple. plus, a disturbing confession by a former u.s. marine being held in iran. now he says it was all coerced. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with the fate of syria's chemical weapons and potentially the fate of syria itself being hammered out right now in geneva, switzerland. that's where the top american and russian diplomats are meeting to try to find a resolution to the crisis sparked by that chemical weapons attack on a damascus suburb last month.
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but from the get-go, the distance and the mistrust between the secretary of state john kerry and the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov has been evident. our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto is traveling with the secretary in geneva. jim, what is the very latest you're learning? >> reporter: well, wolf, as we speak, secretary kerry and foreign minister lavrov are having a private one-on-one dinner. we see them together, they've got a good rapport but when they start talking about the details, you see the sticking points here. secretary kerry in his first public comments in geneva mentioned one of them and that's the syrian president bashar al assad has said he wants 30 days to catalog his chemical weapons, that that would be standard. secretary kerry said there's nothing standard about these talks, they want much quicker action. but certainly, the starting point today promising, that is president bashar al assad saying on russian television that under russian supervision, they're willing to commit to giving up their chemical weapons.
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>> in the words of every u.s. official we've spoken with, promises are not enough. the u.s. is looking for a definitive verifiable plan of action. >> this is not a game and i said that to my friend sergey when we talked about it initially. it has to be real. >> reporter: american negotiators are moving immediately to a plan for the nitty-gritty of collecting and destroying syria's chemical weapons. the first test of assad's commitment, u.s. officials tell cnn, will be whether syria provides a full accounting of its enormous stockpiles of chemical weapons, including exact locations. these negotiations most skeptical observers are the syrian opposition, described as upset and distrustful of the entire process. these claims magnified by claims first reported on cnn that syria has moved some of its weapons to lebanon and iraq, claims that were quickly denied by the iraqi
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government. >> i had a call today with mr. kerry and he told me that he will discuss with the russians how honest the regime is and if our friends discover that the regime is trying to waste time, the threat of the strikes is still on the table. >> reporter: secretary kerry was quick to publicly reiterate the threat of force. >> our military maintains its current posture to keep up the pressure on the assad regime. should diplomacy fail, force might be necessary. >> reporter: looming over the discussions is a gaping trust deficit between the u.s. and russia. a point highlighted in a seemingly lighthearted moment as the talks began. >> can you give me the last part of the translation, please? >> want to take my word for it? >> a little late for that. >> reporter: trust deficit with russia, trust deficit with syria as well. they are the missing participant
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here that all this depends on. syria says it will not deal with the united states directly because they don't trust the u.s. the u.s. relying on russia to make syria make good on its commitment these next 48 hours. the u.s. is going to test those commitments as one u.s. official said to me, the reason john kerry is here is to see if the russians mean what they're saying and the syrians mean what they're saying. >> i take it that the talks are scheduled to continue tomorrow in geneva, is that right? >> reporter: that's right. lavrov and kerry at dinner tonight. they will start up again tomorrow morning at 9:30. these next 24 hours, crucial to see if they can really get to some proof that there's a viable plan for moving forward. >> it would be nice if they come out with an agreement to move forward jointly on these elimination of syria's chemical weapons. let's see if that is even possible. jim sciutto traveling with the secretary, we'll check back with you. thank you. mthere's breaking news we'r following on syria. the united nations ambassador
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says the bashar al assad regime has formally signed on to the international treaty banning chemical weapons and is quote, a full member of the convention. that convention signed in 1993. that would make syria the 190th member from countries around the world. other countries are saying maybe not so fast. cnn's senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is over at the united nations for us. i know a formal letter was delivered to the united nations secretary general ban ki-moon by the syrian ambassador. what does all this mean? >> reporter: well, if this goes through, and the remaining steps are for the u.n.'s lawyers to basically look at this letter and be sure that it is what it says it is, a letter to the convention, once it has ascertained that, they are in the convention and quickly, steps move forward. in 30 days it's possible inspectors could look at syria's chemical weapons stockpile. that's when the treaty comes into force. then 60 days from now, that's when they have to make the full
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declaration of all that they have. then a process continues over the next decade to actually destroy those weapons. i also spoke to the syrian ambassador here quite clearly asking him do you have chemical weapons, because their suggestion on that has been ambiguous to some degree. he was clear, look, we had these as a deterrent from the israeli nuclear program. so a lot happening here, certainly, but even this two-month timeline emerging today from the convention, that's going to face problems in simply the practicality of getting inspectors on the ground and getting this process moving during a civil war. that's never happened before. and also, still france, america and the united kingdom pushing forward a resolution that wants to see a declaration within 15 days and also, still on that text, the people behind the august 21st attacks around damascus want to see them brought to trial in the hague, the international criminal court. a lot still going on. >> a lot going on, and we're waiting any day now for the u.n. inspectors to give their formal
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report on what happened on august 21st, when the u.s. says 1400 syrian civilians were killed by the syrian regime's use of chemical weapons. >> reporter: that's right. monday, everyone is telling me that's when we should see this report. it will be a very detailed document, showing basically everything from how the samples came out of the ground to what finally was in them. now, one western diplomat is saying to me that this will be able to suggest potentially who was behind it. it's not the u.n. inspector's mandate to assign blame but the level of detail they put in this report, this western diplomat says may allow some people to draw conclusions of who was behind it. there are some people speculating that perhaps syria's move today is preempting this particular report. we have to wait and see quite how that develops. but monday, we'll see this definitive report from the u.n. which they say is entirely independent and credible, specifying what was used on the 21st of august and perhaps hinting with enough detail so people can draw conclusions who
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was behind that. so all eyes still, though, on how quickly the u.n. says syria is part of this chemical weapons convention. >> nick, thanks very much. nick paton walsh reporting from the u.n. up next, "time" magazine obtains pictures that raise serious new concerns about the syrian rebels. our special coverage of the crisis in syria continues.
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this is what membership does. let's get more on the breaking news on syria, the country's u.n. ambassador saying syria has now become a full member of the international convention banning the use of chemical weapons. let's dig a little bit deeper with cnn's chief political analyst, gloria borger. "time" magazine's international editor, bobby goesh. this is the cover of the new
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issue of "time" magazine. also joining us, fareed zakaria. fareed, syria says it's now accepted this 1993 u.n. chemical weapons ban. what do you make of this? >> i think it's a fairly important shift because once they do that, it entails a whole set of legal obligations that they are taking on. they do have to destroy, they have to identify what they have, i think it's within a few months. they have ten years to destroy everything that they have. they are required to let u.n. inspectors in. so they are buying into a whole set of legal obligations and constraints and of course, they can violate them and of course, they can cheat, but in that situation, they are then violating international law, they are running afoul of treaties and things like that. think about the op-ed vladimir putin wrote.
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the entire defense of the sort of syrian case, if you will, has been about international law, has been about the fact that the u.s. shouldn't be, you know, doing things that are outside of international law. well, this means that syria, in order to play its part, has to abide by this treaty. that's a very tall set of obligations, and we'll have to see whether they do it, but it is an encouraging sign. >> and wolf, you know, the administration is saying that the standard tests are too slow, and they are going to say okay, you want to abide by this treaty but we're going to have to speed things up a little bit and what the united states is going to do is sort of set up some tests and say how much candor do they show, how much access do we get, and whether they can speed up kind of a 30-day determination you're supposed to have to maybe a couple of weeks. so i think what the u.s. is saying here is this is good, this is a good start, but we're
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not going to give you all the time in the world. >> if you listen to white house officials, the only reasons the syrians have done this, that they've come forward now, accepted the 1993 convention, said that the inspectors can go in, detail, control and eventually destroy their entire chemical weapons stockpile, you listen to u.s. officials, they say it's because the president of the united states threatened to use military force. you buy that? >> i'm sure that has some role to play. also the other thing that has a role to play is that the secretary of state of the united states gave them that option, and of course, russia has a role to play as well. i think syria is taking advantage of an opportunity that arose, whether deliberately or not, from what john kerry said, and syria is also counting on the fact that having signed this thing now,it's not retroactive. it doesn't apply to august 21st, when if you believe the
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administration, that huge and quite ghastly chemical weapons attack took place. >> i want to show our viewers a picture in the new issue of "time" magazine, you guys have just posted some pictures. we're not going to show the worst of them. but these are pictures showing that the rebels, at least some rebels, they can be just as brutal as bashar al assad's regime. if you will explain what we're seeing here. >> well, these are -- for the past two years, the internet is full of cell phone videos of fighters on both sides, whether they are assad's side or the rebels' side, doing the most horrific things to each other and posting those atrocities as propaganda, executing captives, eating their flesh. the value of these pictures we felt was that this was photo journalism. this was done by somebody, we can't name him for his own security, but somebody who is not syrian, who is a legitimate photo journalist. this is not propaganda, not
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somebody posted something to propagate one side or the other of the argument. what we're seeing here is rebels. now, there are rebels and then there are rebels. we believe these are islamists, we believe we are reporting from the location, it's a small village near aleppo from somebody who was at the execution who said these are al qaeda rebels. they are -- on the 31st of august, they conducted four executions, beheadings of people. we are less clear about the nature, the motivation for these beheadings. we are not 100% certain about who it is that is being beheaded. but it is clear that the war has brought -- every war is vicious, but this one is plumbing new depths in brutality and these pictures capture that. >> brutality on both sides, clearly. the u.s. confirming they have started providing weapons to at least some of those rebels and the great fear is who knows
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where they will wind up. >> who knows indeed, wolf. the thing to remember about syria is people say well, there are good rebels and bad rebels. the most important thing i can tell from having studied this fairly carefully is nobody knows. there are hundreds of different rebel groups in syria. it appears that this rebellion against the assad government has been quite decentralized, in many cases spontaneous, in some cases organized. for two years the turkish government has been trying to in some way organize these rebel groups, create a government in exile, create a unified command structure. that has been difficult. the cia has been trying to do it. it has proved difficult. so the real truth is we don't know. some of these rebel groups are clearly very nasty islamist types. others may be more democratically minded. the one thing i think is important to keep in mind, there has always been a sectarian dimension to this conflict, because there is a sectarian
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dimension to the regime. it is a minority alowite regime against almost entirely sunni opposition and the regime has been tough on islamist groups. remember in 1982 they had the massacre. so the regime has been sectarian. the opposition has been sectarian for two decades now. >> wolf, pictures like this really help explain public opinion in america. there's a great sense among americans which is we don't know who the good guys always are and are the good guys very often bad guys, and why should we get involved in this kind of civil war. so when you see pictures like this, you know, the public is conflicted. you see the use of chemical weapons on the one hand, you see pictures like this used by the rebels on the other hand, and americans say well, we shouldn't be involved in this.
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so public opinion is very easy to understand. >> right. that's why so many americans don't want to get involved. we'll continue this conversation. bobby, thanks very much, fareed and gloria, guys, thanks very much to you as well. when we come back an american held in iran reportedly reveals his confession to supposedly being a cia spy was forced out of him. just ahead, we have details on a letter his family claims he smuggled out of prison in iran. plus, thunderstorms crippling air travel across the northeast right now. we have details on ground stops in effect for a number of major cities. stay with us. helicopters buzzing, and truck engine humming. sfx: birds chirping sfx: birds chirping
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take a look at this. these are live pictures we're monitoring right now. look at this, what's reported as a five alarm boardwalk fire in seaside park, new jersey. enormous amounts of smoke. these are live pictures we're getting right now, the pier there is being evacuated. this is one of the boardwalks that has just reopened just after memorial day, after being destroyed last year in the super storm sandy. no word yet on the cause of this blaze but there are reports of explosions inside. take a look at that building there on the boardwalk in new jersey. severe thunderstorms meanwhile are crippling air travel across the northeast right now, forcing ground stops at airports in a number of major cities, including boston, new york, philadelphia, right here in the washington, d.c. area as well. cnn meteorologist and severe weather expert chad myers is in
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the cnn weather center. he joins us now. what's going on, chad? >> let me explain what ground stop means to the lay person out there that doesn't get this. this means that if you're on an airplane and you're wanting to fly to laguardia and you're somewhere around the new york city metro area, your plane is going to sit there on the tarmac waiting for this ground stop to leave. not everywhere, planes can still leave from far away destinations like l.a. and phoenix, those places, but the close destinations have to hold, they have to sit there and not try to get in the air because they don't want them spinning around. baltimore, you see all the ground stops. let me get to the delays, because this is what's really put you at unease. 45 minutes, bwi. laguardia, two hours. newark, 90 minutes. philadelphia, one hour. d.c.a., 90 minutes. there's one right here, ground delays in boston at an hour. newark, jfk at three hours and 25 minutes right now. and the storms aren't even to new york city yet but it's been windy. i know you just showed those
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pictures from seaside park, the fun park, amusement park. you can see the wind blowing to the north at about 30 miles per hour. that's also slowing down the airplanes as well. the winds, you separate the planes if you have winds that are that intense. and we have thunderstorms on the western horizon these planes have to fly around. >> good day to take the train as opposed to flying. probably much better idea tonight. thanks very much. up next, is vladimir putin testing president obama on syria? we have details of the russian president's shot across the bow. but first, here's a look at this weekend's "the next list." >> this weekend we talk to two remarkable innovators, ben kaufman, founder and ceo of quirky.com. kaufman is passionate about giving would-be inventors a way to get their product ideas to market. >> it's human nature to invent. what stops people is to actually do that and to execute on all those ideas. really hard.
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call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. vo:remember to changew that oil is the it on schedule toy car. keep your car healthy. for more information and savings options, show your car a little love with an oil change starting at $19.95. these are live pictures coming in from seaside heights, new jersey. a fire that apparently is still raging over there. you can see the smoke at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. we're getting more information on it but not a whole lot more information. we'll continue to monitor this fire in seaside heights, new jersey. but they are pretty dramatic pictures. let's get back to our top story, the efforts to resolve the crisis over syria's chemical weapons. they are being complicated by the tense and the often very frosty relationship between president obama and the russian president vladimir putin.
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making matters worse, bombshell opinion piece written in the "new york times" by putin taking a direct swipe at president obama. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us right now. it seems putin at least to a lot of observers has been testing the president when it comes to syria. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. the white house is walking a diplomatic tightrope, hitting back at russian president vladimir putin for his controversial op-ed in the "new york times" while at the same time praising moscow for its willingness to washiork on strig syria of its chemical weapons. obama took note of the missing secretary of state john kerry who has begun haggling with the russians over syria's chemical weapons arsenal. >> if we can make sure chemical weapons are not used against innocent people. >> reporter: but the white house is already facing road blocks. for starters, take syrian leader bashar al assad's comments to russian television, insisting that the u.s. drop its threat of
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military force. >> translator: this bilateral process is based first of all on the united states' stopping its policy of threatening syria. >> reporter: add to that the shot across the bow from russian president vladimir putin who argued in a "new york times" op-ed that there is every reason to believe chemical weapons were used not by the syrian army, but by opposition forces. >> translator: it defies logic and probability. >> reporter: it was an early test to that old adage from president reagan, now adopted by the obama white house. >> trust but verify. >> does president obama trust president putin? >> i think the point of that is that actions speak louder than words and that we will -- >> he doesn't trust him? >> look, i think that the fact is if we can resolve this without resorting to military force, then credit will be due to the russians and to everyone else who participates in that process to make it happen. >> reporter: putin also took exception to this comment in the president's speech. >> i believe we should act.
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that's what makes america different. that's what makes us exceptional. >> reporter: the russian president said it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. >> can putin be trusted? >> putin cannot be trusted. >> reporter: former obama and bush national security official says the white house must put aside the personalities at the bargaining table and demand a timeline for assad to give up his poison gas. >> this could go on for five years and the international community's going to turn its attention elsewhere and assad will use chemical weapons another day. >> reporter: republican critics have seized on the twists and turns of president obama's handling of syria as a sign of weakness. >> the president just seems to be very uncomfortable being commander in chief of this nation. >> reporter: but the white house sees strength. >> i think that the american people at least in my assessment
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appreciate a commander in chief who takes in new information and doesn't, you know, celebrate decisiveness for the sake of decisiveness. >> reporter: and white house press secretary jay carney acknowledged that there have been some quote, curves in the road in getting syria to the point where it at least agrees to give up its chemical weapons. asked for a timeline as to when that might happen, white house officials still aren't saying but they are looking to a meeting of the u.n. general assembly scheduled for later this month as a time frame to sort of assess where things stand at that point. but at this point, that's as far as they're willing to go. >> a lot of world leaders will be coming to the u.n. general assembly, including the president of the united states. jim, thanks very much. just ahead, we're digging deeper into vladimir putin's swipe at president obama and the idea of american exceptionalism. the "crossfire" co-host van jones and newt gingrich are here in "the situation room" to debate. ♪
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the crisis in syria and american exceptionalism. president obama invoked the idea in his speech before the nation tuesday night. >> with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run. i believe we should act. that's what makes america different. that's what makes us exceptional. >> but the russian president vladimir putin takes issue with that in a bombshell opinion piece in the "new york times"
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today. putin writes this, i'll read it to you, it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. there are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy, their policies differ, too. we are all different but when we ask for the lord's blessings, we must not forget that god created us equally. that's putin. this isn't the first time president obama has discussed the issue of american exceptionalism. listen to what he said at a news conference in france back in 2009. >> -- exceptionalism just as i suspect the britts believe in british exceptionalism and the greeks believe in greek exceptionalism. i am enormously proud of my
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country and its role in history in the world. the united states remains the largest economy in the world. we have unmatched military capability and i think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices and our belief in free speech and equality that though imperfect, are exceptional. i see no contradiction between believing that america has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity and recognizing that that leadership is incumbent depends on our ability to create partnerships because we can't solve these problems alone.
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>> american exceptionalism. in the "crossfire" right now. joining us, the hosts of "crossfire," van jones and newt gingrich. newt, what do you think about putin's idea, putin's op-ed in which he criticized the president for speaking of american exceptionalism? >> if you read the op-ed carefully -- >> which all of us did. >> -- it is one of the great case studies of absolute dishonesty and cynicism. this is a man whose policies killed 300,000 chechens. this is a man who invaded the independent country of georgia. this is a man whose country has been vetoing resolutions of the united nations. the idea that he would lecture us as a former kgb agent i find to be one of the more ironic moments in this entire experience. >> it's like a butcher sticking up for the bunnies all of a sudden. like wait a minute, who are you. i would rather talk about what putin has to say about exceptionalism. i think what obama has to say is important. obama has been consistent on
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this point. he's been criticized for not believing in the greatness of america. he actually believes that we've got cards that we can play that no other country can play. we can play a defense card, a diplomacy card, a development card, a democracy card, and when something horrible happens, we should put those cards on the table. everybody doesn't agree. rand paul doesn't agree, but he does, i think that's important that we recognize he has a view of american greatness and he's acting from that point of view. >> it is -- it's ironic that most conservatives would actually agree with the president, but this is an exceptional nation. that exceptionalism starts with our declaration of independence where we say all people are created and their creator has endowed them with certain unalienable rights. the ironic thing tois to have a russian to lecture us on whether or not we are exceptional. the president's position, whether or not you agree with the details of the policy, his core position that this is a unique country is absolutely in the tradition of america going back all the way to the founding
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fathers. >> you saw what senator bob corker said yesterday. he was really critical, surprisingly because he's a moderate republican, an internationalist, he supports the use of force if necessary. i will play a little clip. here's what senator corker said. >> painful stuff. >> the president just seems to be very uncomfortable being commander in chief of this nation. >> yeah. that's painful, look, i disagree and i'll tell you why. first of all, i'm from tennessee so that's my home state senator so it's doubly painful for me to hear him say that. as somebody who has tried to be constructive, i think we should give him honor for that, but he's wrong. this is a very tough situation. it's a fluid and dynamic situation. i see obama more like peyton manning, okay. he's a quarterback who threw seven touchdowns recently, why, because to the very last second, he doesn't call the play, he calls an audible, he watches everything up to the very last moment, and then he decides. obama is more of a peyton manning in the white house,
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looking at a very fluid situation and trying to make the right call. i think that kind of leadership in a fluid situation is a good thing, not a bad thing. >> i think that if you want to talk about quarterbacks for a second, i think this is a president who threw an interception in the way, for example, he goes to st. petersburg in the middle of asking for a vote to use force and says i was elected to make peace, not to start wars. the secretary of state says it will be an unbelievably small strike. >> look, it has not been a perfect thing but just because we're all a little bit seasick does not mean the ship is going down or the captain is lost. the water is choppy. i think he's doing a good job. we've got peace on the table now as opposed to war. that's a good thing. >> if he throws six interceptions and six touchdowns shall it's not quite the same record. >> if you win the game, though. i think the game has to be to get the chemical weapons out. >> if that happens, that's still obviously -- we all hope the syrian chemical weapons
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stockpile are destroyed. that's a huge, huge if still right now. we can all agree that would be nice, if that were to happen. see you guys a little later. thanks very much for joining us. a lot more to debate is coming up. cnn's new "crossfire" comes up at 6:30 p.m. eastern, immediately following us right here in "the situation room." stick around for that. when we come back, an american prisoner in iran apparently confesses to being a cia spy, but now his family claims that entire confession was coerced by the iranians. up next, details of a secret letter they say he smuggled out of prison in iran. and breaking news. a serious fire at a new jersey boardwalk. there you see the pictures. we'll have some live coverage coming up as well. [ male announcer ] pepcid® presents: the burns family bbq. guys, you took tums® a couple hours ago. why keep taking it if you know your heartburn keeps coming back? that's how it works. you take some tums®. if heartburn comes back, you take some more. that doesn't make any sense. it makes plenty of sense if you don't think about it! really, honey, why can't you just deal with it like everybody else?
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a massive fire right now continuing, you're looking at these live pictures from the boardwalk in seaside park -- seaside park, new jersey. this fire continues. we'll have a live report on what's going on, just a tweet from the new jersey governor chris christie, en route to seaside now, please keep everyone in the surrounding areas, first responders, firefighters fighting the blaze, in your prayers. we'll have a live report coming up. the smoke and the flames in new jersey. meanwhile, new questions about an american prisoner being held in iran and his apparent confession to being a cia spy. after his family claims he smuggled out a letter out of that prison in iran. brian todd has been working this story for us. brian, you have some new information? >> the attorney says he is in
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poor health and increasingly desperate shape. the lawyer and the man's family are appealing to the iranians to release him. now the state department has a letter, which he smuggled out of prison, saying the confession he made several months ago is bogus. you're looking at a former u.s. marine, in custody in iran, apparently confessing to being a cia spy. >> my name is amer. >> reporter: according to his family, amir went to iran in 2011 to see elderly relatives. at his trial, they convicted him of trying to infiltrate their intelligence service so he could connect iran to terrorist activity. he was sentenced to death, but that was set aside. now his family says he has smuggled a letter out of prison, addressed to secretary of state john kerry, saying that confession was obtained by force, threats, miserable prison conditions, and prolonged periods of solitary confinement. the letter dated september 1st
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was first obtained by the uk's "guardian" newspaper. i went over it with hekmati's u.s.-based lawyer. was he beaten, was he tortured into giving that confession? >> that's something we do not know for sure. he tells us that it was an aggressive interrogation. he tells us that it was a coerced interrogation. we know that by watching the footage that he looked as though there's been some sort of an abusive process. >> a process that pierre prosper says included solitary confinement for months with barely any access to daylight. hekmati is an iranian citizen with u.s. and iranian passports. his family issued a statement saying it's time for amir to be released. he has never been a spy for any country or entity or person. they have punished him enough. >> no one can talk to us? all right. >> reporter: iranian officials here in washington won't respond to hekmati's letter. they won't tell us why they gave
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permission for hekmati to go to iran before he left, according to his family, even after he told him about his u.s. military service. they won't say what changed after he went to iran. iranian officials in tehran andn at the united nations wouldn't respond to our repeated request for comment on hekmati's letter. >> reporter: he's being held at the notorious prison. i asked what happens there to detainees like amir hekmati. >> it does not necessarily mean you're going to be beat to pieces, but it is the place where some of the worst things that have happened under the islamic republic have occurred. >> reporter: we couldn't get response to that either. niz letter, he says they want to exchange him for two iranians being held abroad. and he told john kerry not to go for that, calling it a ridiculous proposition. pretty courageous for him to say this to john kerry, hey, don't make any deal that they want.
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>> how did he get that letter out of that prison? >> his attorney said he got it to a journalist, that journalist brought the letter to the united states, got it to the lawyers, the lawyer got it to the family who verified it was from amir hekmati, through handwriting, and they got it to the state department. here's a quick look at what's coming up tonight on cnn. >> announcer: cnn tonight. at 7:00, "erin burnett outfro " outfront," questions about iowa gun permits for the legally blind. and at 9:00 on piers morgan live, piers talks about senator john mccain about where we stand with syria. and sheryl crow's life with lance armstrong. it's all on cnn tonight, starting with erin burnett at 7:00, "anderson cooper 360" at k, and piers morgan live at 9:00. tonight on cnn. >> and just ahead, here in "the situation room," right at the top of the hour, a new claim syria has already moved some of its chemical weapons out of the
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country. i'll ask the pentagon spokesman, george little, about that. he's here in "the situation room." also, some breaking news. a serious fire. look at these pictures at a boardwalk in new jersey. we'll go there live. you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] i'd be an architect. what if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you? ♪ when you think about it, isn't that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love? ♪
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let's get back to that breaking news. that massive boardwalk fire in seaside park, new jersey. it's one of the boardwalks that was severely damaged in storm sandy. we're just getting word that the governor of new jersey, chris christie, is en route to the scene right now. news 12 in new jersey reporter dave grinebalm is joining us now. he's on the scene. tell us what's going on. what happened, dave? >> reporter: el wiwell, wolf, w got about an eight-alarm fire here now. this fire started about 2:15 here on the boardwalk just behind where i'm staring. you see the funtown park and arcade. it started shortly after 2:00 and then it just spread. the reason why it spread is because there are strong winds, gusts over 35 miles an hour at times. and that has just carried this fire all the way down the boardwalk. keep in mind, not only through the buildings, but it got underneath the boardwalk. that helped to spread, with that
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wind just kicking it up. they have been bringing in a number of fire departments from neighboring towns to try to help here, but it just keeps spreading throughout the evening here. a lot of businesses gone now. the boardwalk, you've got two communities struck by this. seaside park where i'm standing, that i have lost most of that boardwalk and businesses already, and two blocks down is where you start the next community of seaside heights. they've lost most of that boardwalk now too. the odd thing here, though, wolf is that they were going to be celebrating starting tomorrow the 100th anniversary of seaside heights, an anniversary that was supposed to started tomorrow night of celebrations. obviously, this just changes everything, wolf. >> that pier has just been rebuilt after storm sandy, is that right? >> reporter: yeah, and seaside heights, they had just rebuilt the boardwalk. a lot of it just got wiped out by superstorm sandy last fall and they got most of that rebuilt in time for the summer. so a lot of these people were feeling good that they were able to recover from that. and as one of the people here in the community told me, a woman told me, to finally come back
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from that and have this at the close of summer is just a kick to the stomach, wolf. >> certainly is. good luck. we'll stay in touch with you from news 12 new jersey reporting for us. thank you. happening now. we're getting word of new u.s. help for the syrian rebels, even as the obama administration works to seal a chemical weapons deal with the bashar al assad regime. i'll ask al assad's own first cousin if the syrian leader is ruthless enough to slaughter civilians with poison gas. and the linchpin of a possible agreement with syria, russia's vladimir putin, speaking directly to the american people and turning lawmakers' stomachs. >> i was insulted. >> i almost wanted to vomit. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> expectations are high.
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they are high for the united states, perhaps even more so for russia to deliver on the promise of this moment. this is not a game. >> the secretary of state, john kerry, sounding hopeful but cautious about a possible deal to diffuse the crisis over syria's chemical weapons. the open talks with his russian counterpart in geneva today. and he warned there would be consequences if syria's bashar al assad doesn't follow through and surrender his poison gas stockpiles. the syrian president is talking publicly for the first time about the possible deal. our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence, is joining us now. he has more new information as well about u.s. aide going to some of those syrian rebels. chris, what are you learning? >> reporter: a u.s. official now confirms to cnn that the cia has started to funnel light weapons and ammunition to some of the syrian rebels while at the same time, some u.s. officials are telling us about their deep concerns about the criminals and conservative islamists within
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that opposition. bashar al assad is drawing his own red line. he'll only agree to dismantle his country's chemical weapons if the u.s. stops arming rebels and takes the threat of force off the table. >> this bilateral process is based first of all on the united states stopping its policy of threatening syria. >> reporter: the obama administration is showing no signs of making its military stand down. >> force might be necessary. >> reporter: and a u.s. official says the cia has begun sending actual weapons to syrian rebels. >> we are getting now a lot of of support from our american friends. >> reporter: but a defense official tells cnn, general salim idriss is more coordinator than commander and there are concerns about the opposition's makeup. a u.s. official tells cnn, only a minority of rebels are extremists. but if you expand beyond those directly affiliated with terrorist groups, the majority
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of all the fighting forces are somewhere between moderate and conservative islamists. and the official says the opposition's criminal element cannot be understated. >> is there a risk in arming the syrian opposition? >> if they can't succeed, then the alternative is either assad or al qaeda. so that's a huge risk if you don't help them. >> representative adam smith says while the u.s. and russia work together on chemical weapons, both are arming opposite sides in syria's civil war. >> if all this does is gives russia a green light in order to arm and equip assad so he can continue to kill his people by different means, then we have not achieved our policy objectives. >> reporter: right now, there seems to be no signs that russia is stopping its flow of weapons to the assad regime. and we've also learned from some of our sources that there now are at least 2,000 hezbollah
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fighters in syria, possibly as many as 2,500 now fighting on behalf of assad. wolf? >> dangerous situation continuing. chris lawrence, thanks very much. >> yep. >> and george little is joining us now. he's the pentagon press secretary. george, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. good to be here. >> general idriss, who runs this free syrian army, he said today, he told our christiane amanpour, he has information that the syrians have already started to send some of their chemical weapons stockpiles to lebanon and to iraq. what do you say about that? >> i wouldn't want to get into our intelligence on movements of chemical weapon stockpiles in syria, wolf, but suffice it to say, it's not unexpected that they would move some of this material, at least within syria. >> so do you have any information to confirm that they are moving around their chemical weapons? >> i would say that we've known for some time that they have moved some of their chemical weapons stockpiles and equipment
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within syria. i can't independently confirm the other reports that you've heard today. >> you can't confirm that they've actually sent some to iraq or to lebanon. but even moving around these chemical weapons, that's pretty dangerous, isn't it? it could cause some serious problems. >> anytime the chemical weapons are moved, there are risks. and we believe that for the last 2 1/2 years, since this crisis began, the syrian regime has maintained security of these stockpiles, but there is, obviously, risk. >> what about the -- these reports now that the u.s. has formally started to arm syrian rebels and that arms already have been delivered. can you confirm all of that? >> well, the department of defense is not in the lead for stepped up assistance to the moderate syrian opposition, but the president has been clear that we are going to step up our assistance, which has been robust, to begin with, to the moderate opposition in syria. >> how do you know moderate opposition from not-so-moderate
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opposition? because as you know, there are terrorists there, al nusra, there are real haters of the united states, part of that opposition. >> it's a good question. the state department has been working very closely with a variety of opposition groups to make them more cohesive. we believe we have a good handle on who the moderate opposition leaders are and who we can work with and who we shouldn't work with going forward. >> so can you trust -- in other words, a lot of people are afraid, you start arming one group of syrian rebels, the weapons are going to wind up in the hands of the so-called bad guys. >> well, without getting into the specifics of our stepped up support to the opposition, we believe that there are individuals inside the moderate opposition whom we can trust. and we share the same goal of creating a new syria that doesn't involve bashar al assad. >> the syrian consulate or the consulate mission to the united nations has just issued a statement, saying that the permanent mission of the syrian
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arab republic has informed the u.n. secretary general that syria now has accepted the convention of the prohibition of the development production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their destruction, the convention of 1993. so now that they've formally accepted that convention, what happens next, as far as the u.s. military is concerned? >> we believe that maintaining a credible military threat in this instance, in the aftermath of one of the most brutal uses of chemical weapons in recent memory, it's important that that threat be sustained and maintained and that we need to keep it up so that this diplomatic process can move forward. secretary hagel last night spoke to some of our ships in the mediterranean and he was informed that they are ready to execute if requested by the president. maintaining this military threat is precisely why this diplomatic process is underway. >> if the president were to give
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that so-called execute order to launch strikes against various targets in syria, a, does the u.s. have the capability in the region, the western mediterranean, the red sea right now on duty, how long would it take to get the troops ready for that kind of mission? >> let me be very clear. our military is ready whenever the president directs us to act. and we have ships in the mediterranean, we have the "uss nimitz" in the red sea, and when we're called upon, if we're called upon by the president, we're ready to go. >> george little, the press secretary of the pentagon, george, thanks for coming in. >> thank you. appreciate it, wolf. the russian president, vladimir putin, has managed to insult a lot of americans at the same time he's trying to work with the u.s. to hammer out a syria chemical weapons deal. our chief congressional correspondent, dana bash, is here. she's been hearing a lot from some pretty angry lawmakers up on capitol hill. what's the gist? >> well, you know, just here's an example. yesterday, on the floor of the senate, dianne feinstein, the
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chairwoman of the intelligence committee stood there and said that she wanted to heap praise on russia for engaging in diplomacy on syria. and today it shows how even a seasoned senator in a sensitive position who went out on a limb to say nice things about russia is highly annoyed. these may be delicate diplomatic times, but reaction to salad pier putin's open letter to americans was at blunt and at times graphic. >> i almost wanted to vomit. >> i was insulted. >> i think he's just looking for an excuse to show off his super bowl ring. >> reporter: remember ronald reagan's role in soviet communism crumbling? >> mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> reporter: some see putin's slap at president obama as pining for the soviet super power. >> it was lecturing to the united states. you know, i could hear reagan turning over in his grave as this was going on. >> one of putin's most in your face lines referenced obama's
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allusion this week to american exceptionalism. >> that's what makes america different. that's what makes us exceptional. >> it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation, wrote putin. the president's spokesman took that on in thinly veiled diplospeak. >> unlike russia, the united states stands up for human rights in our own country and around the world and we believe that our global security is advanced when children cannot be gassed to death by a dictator. >> reporter: putin blamed gassing syrians on rebel forces, not bashar al assad's government, as obama officials insist. >> only in russia and in putin's parallel alternate universe could you believe that. >> but wait a minute. putin is the guy the u.s. is now banking on to negotiate a way out of unpopular military action against syria. as chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, do you feel comfortable with the fact that we are living in his parallel alternate universe? >> when i say his parallel alternate universe, look, this
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is a guy who grew from the kgb to be the head of it. and he is still, from my perspective, still very dominated in his mind by kgb and the desires for a greater russia. >> reporter: among democratic leaders, some shoulder shrugging. >> reagan said it all. trust but verify. >> but is it frustrating that he's our negotiating partner? >> well, you know what, it is who it is. >> that line, "it is who it is," was probably one of the midweos telling of the day. no one in washington is happy to be relying on russia, even less so after putin penned such an in-your-face letter. but everyone knows they don't have much of a choice, and wolf, clearly putin knows that too and he's reveling in it. >> thanks, dana, very much. good report. up next, is north korea's leader trying to pull a fast one himself while the world focuses in on syria? we're watching a possible show of nuclear defiance. and later, bashar al assad's first cousin knows the syrian strongman's brutality first hand. stand by for his answer to this
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question. do you believe he is ruthless enough to have ordered the use of chemical weapons, sarin gas, to kill all those civilians in syria? [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need
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while the world focused again on syria right now, another dangerous regime may be fueling a new crisis. satellite images suggest north korea may have restarted a disabled the nuclear reactor. tom foreman is taking a closer look at the evidence. >> wolf, this is something that intelligence analysts have been expecting for quite some months now, and this is where the attention is focused right now. north korea, at this particular site, people from the u.s./korea institute have been looking very closely at satellite images. this is what a nuclear facility up there that's been around since the 1980s has looked like for quite some time. it's always been believed to be tied to their weapons program and the production of plutonium. i want you to look at, this is a place, a few months ago, and
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now, look right here at this one building. you'll notice that there is a plume of steam coming out of the building, and that's really the thing that has them excited, because it's not in this picture, and that tells them in all likelihood, this big, main reactor here has once again been fired up. why does that matter? because if this is operating and the steam over here is venting off, because it's going into full production again, it means they can be producing plutonium, one of the key elements that they need for the making of nuclear weapons. what do we know about their nuclear program here? well, we don't know a whole lot about it, because, of course, everything is done in secret. but we do know that if this reactor were up and running fully, it could produce about 13 pounds of plutonium annually. this likely, according to the experts, will not happen right away. it might take months or even a year or more to reach that level, but once it did, that
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could produce enough for one or two nuclear bops a year. i say "could," because the purity of the plutonium, their success in processing it and getting it all ready makes a difference, and the nature of the bomb also makes a difference. that's one of the reasons why we don't really know what their current stockpile is. some people say they may have four, some people say up to ten, maybe a little bit more nuclear weapons right now. but they're all considered to be very crude. nothing like the weapons that the united states or russia have. still, if this is starting over again, the concern for many intelligence analysts is, it's another step down the road for north korea toward building a true functional nuclear arsenal. wolf? >> tom foreman, thanks very much. up next, bashar al assad's first cousin, first cousin tells me the syrian leader wanted him dead. stand by for his harrowing tale and whether he thinks his cousin gassed hundreds of civilians. ♪
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these are live pictures coming in from new jersey. we have an update on the breaking news we've been following. a massive boardwalk fire in seaside park, new jersey. the blaze, which has grown to multiple alarms apparently started in an amusement pure custard shop. the governor, chris christie, is on his way to the scene. in fact, he just tweeted to his nearly 4,000 followers on twitter. he's already there now, en route to seaside now. please keep everyone in the surrounding areas, the firefighters, and first responders fighting the blaze in your prayers. we're told the governor is now on the scene at that blaze. this is one of the boardwalks, by the way, that was damaged in superstorm sandy. syria's leader has been called a ruthless killer and a thug. but if anyone knows what bashar
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al assad is really capable of doing, it's members of his own family. and joining us now, ribal al assad. he's in london. he's the first cousin of the syrian leader, bashar al assad. ribal, thanks very much for joining us. and i just want to get the connection between you and bashar al assad together. your father and his father, the former leader of syria, they were brothers. but your family fled when you were a little boy. tell us what happened. >> yes, wolf. thank you very much for having me. actually, you know, from what i remember, of course, is that my father had to leave syria because there was a lot of argument going on inside the party, also between my father and the president. as you know, my father set up the first arabic magazine calling for democracy in syria and all the middle east in 1967. and he started, you know, fighting against president assad
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and his supporters. he won in the first, you know, regional congress. he won the most support in the national congress, also for the bath party. he was named president of the highest court in the bath party. and this is what has brought, you know, pushed the president for not calling for anymore national congress, which is the highest authority in the bath party. >> i just want to be precise, though. did your father fear that his own brother, the leader of syria, was about to kill him? >> yes, of course. actually, former defense minister has wrote about it very -- in his book, in 2002 and 2003, saying that there was a plot to assassinate my father and actually former defense minister was supposed to head that plot, by inviting my father to lunch and then arresting him and if he would have, you know, resisted, that they should have
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killed him. >> so you've had absolutely no connection with your first cousin, bashar al assad, over all of these years, is that right? >> yes, exactly. actually, just -- there was just an argument i had with him in 1994 and following that, two weeks later, when i was leave to study in boston, they tried to assassinate me at the damascus international airport, under the austrian airlines, and, you know, fortunately, my father came and my family came with me to the airport, so when the officers saw my father, they stopped their plan. but i was arrested and them released a bit later when my father has called and threatened the president that, you know, i was not brought back home, that there would be consequences. and next day i fled to boston. >> do you believe he is ruthless enough to have ordered the use of chemical weapons, sarin gas, to kill all those civilians in syria? >> honestly, wolf, i don't think at all, that's, you know, a completely different issue. i think that's, you know, i
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don't think that someone, neither bashar or i don't think that it's even in the regime's interest at that time, precisely, to have ordered such a, you know, such an attack, because as you know, they were gaining ground -- you know, like grounds in their attack in damascus in other areas. also, it happened just three days after the arrivals of the united nations investigator team arrived on sunday night and this happened on wednesday. and also, we have to know that both sides of this conflict have the capabilities of such attacks. >> just to be precise, you don't want the united states to provide arms to the opposition, to the rebels, is that right? >> yes, of course, that's right, because we don't know who they are. we always have to look at who we are arming. who's on the other side. you know, it's perfect that we want to get rid of this dictatorsh dictatorship. of course, all of syrians want that, from all their communities in syria, from all the minorities, but we want genuine democracy. we don't want to replace a dictatorship with a theocracy.
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we don't want to see what went on in iran over 30 years ago. we don't want to see what went on in egypt to happen in syria. >> obviously, your bottom line, you might despise the dictatorship in damascus, but you certainly don't trust the rebels, the opposition fighter who trying to remove him. we're going to continue this conversation, ribal. thanks very much for joining us, ribal al assad, joining us from london, first cousin of bashar al assad. >> thank you, wolf. thank you. >> and remember, you can always follow what's going on behind the scenes here in "the situation room." follow us on twitter. you can always tweet m me, @wolfblitzer, you can tweet the show, @cnnsitroom. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. "cross fire" starts right now. tonight on "crossfire," putin's syria plan. is it a solution, a delaying tactic, or a trap? >> i am hopeful that the
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discussions can yield a concrete result. >> on the left, van jones. on the right, newt gingrich in the crossfire, representative alan grayson, who supports putin's peace plan, and danielle pletga who thinks the president mismanaged the crisis. following russia's lead, the path to peace, or is it trouble? tonight on "crossfire." >> welcome to "crossfire." i'm newt gingrich on the right. >> and i'm van jones on the left. if you had told me on inauguration day, that before thanksgiving, president obama would have russia and syria at the negotiating table and syria officially offering to join the international agreement to ban chemical weapons, i would have said, hallelujah. this is what diplomacy is all about. this is a good thing. but rather than being happy, all we're hearing is the same usual crap from the same usual complainers. >> now, wait a second. >> i'm very, very concerned and
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very skeptical. >> i've got real doubts about the motives of the russians and president assad. >> i've never liked mr. putin. in fact, obama never liked him until last tuesday, when he came and bailed him out. >> now, come on. you're going to join the complainers? >> let me just say, we've had 19 days since the attack of the obama rope-a-dope, talk, talk, talk, talk. followed by three days now of a joint russian/american talk, talk, talk. we'll find out if it leads to anything real or if it doesn't. but for this evening, i'm delighted that in the "crossfire," democratic congressman alan grayson who is for putin's peace plan, and danielle pletga, who thinks the president has mismanaged the syrian crisis. let me start, danielle, with you. you saw this morning "the new york times" op-ed piece by president putin, instructing the american people. let me just read one brief section of it. he
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