's made only from prunes, nothing else. it works, simple as that. it's a natural source of fiber and five essential vitamins. it's the smart choice for me. stay fit on the inside with sunsweet's amazing juices. i'm harris faulkner. my friend governor huckabee will be back tomorrow. you're joining me for a special second hour of the "fox report." president obama says the world cannot stand by while a dick tae dick tae dictator gases its own people. here's some of what president obama's statement was from earlier today. >> i have decided that the united states should take military action against syrian regime targets. this is would the be an open-ended intervention. we would not put boots on the ground, but having made my

decision as commander in chief based on what i am convinced is our national security interests. i'm also mindful that i'm the president of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. i've longed believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might but in our example as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. that's why i've made a second decision. i will seek authorization for the use of force from the american people's representatives in congress. but we are the united states of america. we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to what happened in damascus. now, out of the ashes of world war we built an international order and enforced the rules that gave it meaning, and we did so because we believed that the rights of individuals to live in peace and dignity depends on the responsibilities of nations. we aren't perfect but this

nation more than any other has been willing to meet those responsibilities. >> and with that, surprising a lot of people around the nation, around the world. the president backing off his statements of retaliation, if you will, or make a strike on the assad regime inside syria for its chemical weapons use today. waiting for congress. senior officials including secretary of state john kerry, general martin dempsey, briefed by members of the senate today and top house leaders briefed tomorrow, we're told. all of this as president obama prepared for an overseas trip. you may know he's going to the g-20 summit in russia next week. chief rouse correspondent ed henry joins now. ed, we have a copy of the letter the president sent in the last 30 minutes or so to congress. it's his draft legislation what he would like to see happen with regard to syria. >> reporter: that right. two pages. got it right here, harris. hot off the presses, as you say.

significant, it would authorize if approved by the house and senate, a big if at this hour, in the days ahead, it would authorize the president to use military force in a imt willed way in syria. important to note it is not a full it declaration of war. why is all of this significant? it is a stunning reversal as you say, because for days the white house has been saying the opposite. they would not get a vote in congress. a debate in congress, just consult with congress. we're told there was a change of heart last night. the president had a 45-minute walk on the south lawn of the white house with his chief of staff denis mcdonough thinking and rethinking and thought would be better to have congressional buy-in here. that, though, led to some conflict within the national security team, if you will. especially for secretary of state john kerry, who you remember on friday really went out on a limb, passionately made the case not just for intervention in syria but for relatively quick intervention nap time was of the essence and that assad had to pay a price. we're told that things were

patched up in the entire team got onboard today, were ut we have a picture of the national security team in the white house situation room this morning including sex hagel, defense secretary hagel, secretary of state kerry and others. they all came together there and realized why it's going to be an uphill struggle, better to get congressional buy-in and the president came out to the rose garden and made his case why congress -- >> it endangers our friends and partners along syria's borders including israel, jordan, turkey, lebanon and iraq. it could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons. or proliferation to terrorist groups who would do our people harm. in the a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted. >> a menace that must be confronted, although not today. the president and vice president after leaving the rose garden went out golfing together. harris? >> you know, i was actually just

going to glance on that, but since you touched on it i'm going to ask now, i'm starting to read it on the blogs, yoin line. that people are wondering about the optics of that. was that maybe a signal from this president that you guys can go back to your holiday vacation? clearly we could see him go golfing. >> reporter: sure. he's obviously entitled to rec ka krags time. does it from time to time. the options politically, thepresident, secretary of state, saying an an urgency to the situation. assad gassed his own people. we can't stand idly by, certainly this kind of stuff is going to be scrutinized in the days ahead. more important what is the administration policy? as you know, congress is not scheduled to come back until september 9th. we're told they're not coming back on an emergency base before that. so more delay here. the other decision the president made, an odd decision. on one hand said yesterday he decided there should be u.s. military action in that second decision was, we've

got to first get this congressional buy-in. that's not happening for a couple of weeks. it's unclear if it will happen. they could vote it down. that's why critics are saying the president is waiting too long. take a listen. >> in is is absolutely stunning. i've been trying to fill in the blanks in the following sentence. barack obama is the weakest president since -- and i have to say, the best i can come up with is james buchanan who watched the country dissolve into the civil war. >> reporter: in fairness, the president got an important boost of support. harry reid came out and said that u.s. military action in syria is justified and necessary, and an important republican voice, ed royce, came out saying, applauded the president for bringing this up before congress. thinks that's a good move, but this key republican lawmaker is saying he believes the president's policy has been incoherent and to pass both chambers of congress, the

president has to did a better job of making his case. >> thank you, ed henry. the president spoke about eight hours ago. 's in flag grant violation of international law. speaking out about the president's remarks. you heard from senator paul rand. rand paul, excuse me. in the past hour right here on "fox report" say that he's proud of the president, although he still would vote no on intervention in syria. chief congressional colon colonn sewell live. >> reporter: good evening. mike rogers says now that the regime crossed our red line, lawmakers must consider whether the credibility of the united states requires military action and the message ars failure to act will send enemies and allies around the woord. others say the president must make his case and it's about time the white house ask for congressional approval. that's the way it's supposed to

work. the constitution gives congress the power to declare war. and i am very, very glad that the president listened to bipartisan calls to come before congress and come before the american people and make the case. not based on international norms. >> reporter: senator saxby chambliss on the senate intelligence committee said leadership is about reacting to a crisis and quickly making tough decisions. chambliss says the president should have demanded congress return immediately. republican senators john mccain and lindsey graham cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes that are not part of an overall strategy that can change the momentum on the battlefield. those two will clearly push the commander in chief hoping to do more. >> and mike? uft to mention and promise viewers we will turn around some of what senator rand paul had to say on this very program a few

minutes ago so viewers can see it for themselves, but taking some of what he told us this hour is that he doesn't think that this might pass in the house. so what are top democrats saying? as i understand it from him, they're part of the dissension in all of this? >> reporter: right, harris. at this point the chairman of the senator armed services kmet carl levin wants for emphasis on building the coalition. so far france is the only country willing to help. levin says it is important that the president is seeking support and participation from other countries including arab countries. i have again urged the president to use this time to help the syrian people defend themself by assisting vetted elements of the syrian opposition in obtaining more effective weapons such as anti-tank weapons. house leader nancy pelosi offered this reaction. "as the president stated today, military action in response to assad's reckless use of deadly gas that is limited in scope and duration without boots on the

ground is in our national security interests and in the furtherance of regional stability and global security, but between now and september 9th when congress returns, something something to watch will be public opinion" likely have a major impact on many lawmakers. >> interesting point. good to see you. thank you. as early as this morningish americans and people around the globe believed a military strike against syria was certain and imminent. later in the day we were. in the by president obama he had a different decision. such a mission was "not time sensitive after all" and could be carried out as late as last month. that statements appears to contradict the sense of urgency delivered by secretary of state john kerry just yesterday. we're joined now by our chief washington correspondent james roseni talked with our political gecht bob kuzak about this, james. a complete difference of opinion? i don't know. but a difference of message in terms of the urgency about syria.

>> reporter: harris, good evening. a senior state department official told me earlier today that the planned strikes on syria's chemical weapons delivery systems that were earlier decided upon, and you heard president obama in his remarks, that you played in the program say, he had come to that decision as commander in chief. those strikes will prove forward even if congress rejects the uses of force nap was the point of president obama in his rose garden speech asserting his legal right to move forward without congressional authorization. other senior u.s. officials outside the state department would not confirm that telling reporters in a background briefing only that the door is being left open for that. still, as you say, harris, there was no mistaking the difference in tone struck by secretary of state kerry here in this building yesterday when he suggested that urgency was critical in addressing the threat of serious chemical weapons program and the tone struck by president obama today. >> that is at the core of the

decisions that must now be made for the security of our country and for the promise of a planet where the world's most heinous weapons must never again be used against the world's most you have ferable people. >> the chairman indicated to me our capacity to execute this mission is not time sensitive. it will be effective tomorrow or next week or one month from now. >> reporter: and one other important point. after president obama spoke that secretary of state kerry still felt comfortable calling the top leader of the syrian rebel coalition and reassuring him that the u.s. will maintain its commitment to respond to this chemical weapons attack of august 21. >> an interesting new detail that we're learning about, james. i want to go back to the first part of what you said. 2 happ it has to do with what would nap congress told this president no. >> reporter: right. senior state department official tells me these strikes will move forward even if congress rejects the use of force.

other senior u.s. officials are saying only that the door is being kept open for that, harris. >> wow. that must have the critics questions whether this is a political exercise, then, to send it through congress. we'll have to see. james rosen, thank you very much. tomorrow on "fox news sunday" secretary of state john kerry will join anchor chris wallace, and you can watch it right here on fox news channel. at either 2:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. eastern, or check your local listing for the times on fox. right now, more reaction from lawmakers who will decide whether to give the president authorization to strike syria. a house lawmaker will weigh in. she joins us live, next. ♪ [ male annouer ] let's go places. but let's be ready.

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we are starting to hear an earnest from members of congress on both sides of the political aisle concerning today's rose guard's statement from president obama. joining us now by phone is indiana congresswoman jackie wa lorsky. member of the house armed services committee. congresswoman, are you with us? >> i am. thanks so much, harris. >> absolutey. i understand you have something first want to call for, and then i'm going it ask you how you're going to vote. first of all, what is it you want to see happen? >> i urged congress to come back immediately and commend the president's decision to speak to congress, because let's not forget, that's what the american people are asking for. and in my district, hoosiers here in indiana that i think the american people deserve to have a chance to weigh in and have their voices heard and also deserve to hear how in the world does limited narrow act that the president is talking about fits in with some kind of a long-term strategy? and what's the end game? and what does it mean for our allies? and i think when we're talking

about the urgency that we have heard, i think the corresponding action needs to be an urgent reaction from the congress, and i think that the congress needs to come back and deal with it. >> how will you vote? >> i have to -- i have no idea what the information is, and have not had time to sit and study it. this cannot be a fire and forget moment on the united states government's part, and i think that, the american people deserve to hear from this commander in chief there really is a plan, and what the details of that plan are going to entail in this limited, narrow act. and i think he's got to explain not only to the american people and the different options he'll lay out to the congress what he heard from the military advisers, but we have to know what the end game is. we have to know -- we already know the red line was crossed were ut it remains unclear how in the world this administration is going to deter the assad

regime and none of these questions have been answered. >> you called it a fire and forget moment. you're the freshman congress nern i person in indiana and this is new in your administration, if you will. what are some of the things you want to caucus in the house about specifically with regard to syria? >> i think we all want to know, you know, when you send brave men and women, you know, we have the finest fighting force on the globe. i served on the are aed services commit and the veterans committee. when you're talking about sending people in to harm's way we have got know and the american people have got to know that they trust this commander in chief. i think it's very interesting. that some 80% of americans aring whoing to their local representative to go to d.c. sonde do what we were eleeshgted to do. advise this president the will of the american people. this is a really historic moment in time and that's exactly what we're going to do bp go and

weigh in on the details, the end game, the long-term strategic policy and make sure that there's a limited window we keep hearing about actually has some kind of long-term repercussions on this assad regime and we have not heard that. >> what i want to ask you about before i let you go. the sense of urgency. we had general bob scales on earlier talk be a the element of sploo surprise. if we're going to do this, we're losing that telegraphing out how long we're discussing it. you're calling officer everybody in congress to come back early. how fast do you think this needs to move? >> well, i think this is -- i think this is something that, you know, the first possible day that we can reconvene, we ought to reconvene. tuesday morning? we ought to be set up giving the american people a chance and a window to find out what the world this commander in chief is talking about, and don't forget, every day that we delay and if we delay by weeks, our greatest

ally israel is standing there in the most vulnerable position. >> congresswoman jackie, member of the house armed services committee joining us on a saturday night. appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thanks, harris. next, a fox news national security analyst on what this could look like. you've heard the congresswoman there saying, if we don't move quickly enough, with a decision first, and then forward, if we are to strike. stay with us. ♪

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president obama asking if these chemical attacks go up punished what would stop terror groups from taking a page from syria's civil war playbook andi their next attack? joining me now a fox analyst. kate good to see you. how does that argument sit with you? >> i'm not sure what the objectives are of any syrian attack against syria. on one hand the president and secretary of state has said we want to punish. okay? the other, we want to deter. i don't see how the kind of limited military actions they're calling for are going to do either. the punishment is not going to be a -- by the time they do something, all of those weapons gone. like a spanking than it is anything, and deter? what happens if they do something and assad calls again like they before? >> before september 9th?

>> i think what's going to happen, we're going to get to september 9th. have all of these reports, the u.n. will have report, yes, chemical weapons were used. not sure who did it. congress will be back, hot on the heels of the september 11th anniversary. heighten security at embassy around the world. the world watching, americans looking to see if something happens september 11th. by the time they get to this, ancient history. light closing gitmo. talk a lot about it and never do it. >> last night on "fox report" we learned the difference between intelligence assessments and the actual report the president has his hands on. a lot of lingo. we earn willed from our reporter last night, katherine herridge, the assessment would have given a flip side. who might come after us if this happened. the other is basically a love letter. >> yeah. here's what we might do. advancement of what might happen from what we might do and the likelihood of success.

if we, for example, arm the rebels. what happens if they prevail? maybe hair al qaeda? the chief of staff, we're not sure the rebels, they don't end up in the hands of al qaeda. topples saddam hussein. who takes its place? maybe al qaeda. a punitive attack, we're not talking about getting rid of the chemical weapons. just talking about getting rid of key sites. what happens if assad says, i have a lot more chemical weapons left. i'm going to call your bluff. >> and all of your years in washington, as you look at this, did we miss the window on anything to do here? >> we by delay -- by yapping about it, i think we've telegraphed what we might do and probably will not do. so that gives your adversary and opportunity to make plans accordingly. >> a doctor, who is counterterrorism. >> a great guy. brilliant genius. >> i had him on the program about an hour ago and asked him, don't we have any friends in that part of the world who would

stand with us with the proverbial gun in hand? >> yeah. they'll all fight for the last american. the problem with that part of the world. >> we do have allies there. >> we have ally, but what are they going to do? help us? have military? help us with military basing? help us with any military action or just going to give their soft support? i think you now see a president that says, i'm leading from behind. he's got to look -- everybody in the front. already scattered to the winded. he's all by himself exposed and isolated. >> how did what happened with the british parliament voting this down and their prime minister standing up saying i'm going to respect that? how do you think that affected what the particular ed is doing now? >> took him by surprise. i think they thought the british would be right there in step with us. i talked to a senior british bip m diplomat, they're so angry about bush and tony blair. of course they're going to vote it down.

the president thought, my get out of jail free card. military action not going to go well. the president sees aen out. the high moral ground and yet congress, i think, will probably not go along with military action. >> wait. you're saying in essence two different reports that actually do exist? the public just hasn't seen the other one. >> the assessment? >> right. >> what we have seen in statements by the military officers, is that whatever we are contemplating doing is not necessarily going to be suctisu and i look at this and say this is a textbook study how not to do things. draw a red line. say you've got to go. don't back it up's wait forever's now the enemy knows what you're doing. now pass the buck to congress. >> how do we win our way out of this situation? what does victory look like in terms of our credibility in that part of world? >> it's taken a hit and doesn't come back easy easily. approve the pipeline, let

america and the world get off middle east oil. take away frtheir toys and mone. we don't need the middle east anymore if the world is self-sufficient without oil. >> i always wonder what kt thinks? i bet they never wondered that in washington. >> thanks. senator rand paul telling ut here rear on the "fox report" he's proud of president obama. he says the president is following the constitution but is still going to vote against striking syria. we'll play that rand paul interview for you, next. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing.

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we don't know if a military strike will take place, six warships capable of delivers a narrow targeted response. the white house says it's looking for. five of them armed with tomahawk cruise mitchells. joining me now, retired navy captain chuck nash, a fox news military analyst. sir, thanks for being here tonight. >> nice to be with you, harris. >> captain nash, tell me about the power we have sitting out in theiterranean now? >> five warships capable of tlivers some cruise missiles, self-defense capability and surface-to-air kpanlcapability syrians decide to send air force out, or other droocraft to try

interdict the navy ships. the other ships you mentioned. you mentioned six. the other is "uss san antonio" an amphibious ship that carries marines and their equipment and given the uncertainty of what could happen after such a strike to syria, it's probable go to keep the amphibious ship around and the marines should we need to evacuate an embassy somewhere in the region, as one of those unintended consequences that could fall out of any military action. >> well, you are giving us the worst-case scenario that we haven't talked about in all of this tonight, captain nash, and has is, why you would need self-defense capabilities. start there. i had a question there. ships sitting out there are for a couple weeks now, if we decide to make a move on this. that's a long time to sit. >> it is, but the ships can rotate on and off station to go in to port, refuel, re-provision, and come back out.

they're going to be given some alert orders and there's a stair step cycle that you go through, and so this isn't going to be a blinding flash for those guys. they're going to be given advance notice of this so that they can be in position, in their launch windows and have everything coordinated, if and when that time comes. >> and the other thing that kind of made our antenna go up just then, you were uk taing about what a retall tear strike to look like. they've been alert much of the month of august anyway. that amphibious ship play as huge role in that? >> it does. there are contingency plans in place for every u.s. embassy in the world. and those plans are executed primarily by the marine corps. the ambassador or the deputy

chief if the ambassador's not there is the lead u.s. person in the country, but the marine corps is primarily the force that is used to evacuate em embassies for evacuation. and we have those -- those plans are dusted off and kept fresh, given all the ak it beactivity middle east. especially after libya. they received a lot of scrutiny. >> what would we do now if one of our embassies was hit as we are potentially going to strike another country? do you worry at all sh, captain nash? we appreciate you coming on the program and giving us all the details. do you worry about how much we talk about this sort of thing publicly? >> well, i think what's happened is, the short answer to that is,

yes. the one thing that really is staggering to me is all of the leadup to the big letdown. where, you know, the teddy roosevelt maxim of walk softly and carry a big stick. we walk boisterously and then decide whether or not we're going to use the stick. and don't get me wrong. i was not for a limited strike on syria, because of all of the unattending consequences that could happen and it just doesn't measure up, at least what i can see, and ooum waiting for the president to come and make that case, to the public. i think that's going to be very instructive for everybody to see what he and the national security team see as so vital to u.s. national interests that he's willing to risk it those unintended consequences, put buns ybut once you make that point, talk

about crossing the red line, witness we cross that red line, it's not only the enemy who's going to be looking at us to wonder, to take us seriously, but it's our allies wondering if they can ever trust us again. so this is really a mess. >> let's pop that tomahawk cruise missile back up on the screen. i don't know if you can see this. what we're showing our audience is what potentially is on those ships you talk and. all of what you just said, making the case. what does this tomahawk missile do for us? open the door in terms of making us vulnerable in other ways? >> they're very accurate. they can be launched from half way across the mediterranean pup don't have to be right off the coast of syria. so the standoff distance that it provides is great. and the other thing is, it flying about the speed of an airliner. >> wow. >> so if you launch it from 1,000 miles away, it's not like

it's going to get there in the next three minutes. it's going to take some time. so you have to measure your launch range based on how much -- the timeliness of the impact. when do you want that thing to hit? so if you're going afttargets t are time sensitive, you want to be closer. if they're not time sensitive closer, you can be further back. president today said in the rose garden that the chairman of the joint chiefs told him that he could do the strike tomorrow, next week, or next month. it wouldn't really matter. that seems to imply that -- that these are fixed targets. they're not going anywhere. so you can hit them tomorrow, next week, nebs month. next month. if that's the case, then there probably isn't that much timeliness involved for the target. >> wow. the kind of detail that really helps us peel away at -- captain

chuck nash. thank you so very much. >> my pleasure. next, former u.n. ambassador to the united nations and fox news contributor john fulton will be here. what should our priorities be in the middle east? we've had him on the program before. "fox report," he has said, it shouldn't be syria. we'll talk with him. stay close.

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if you are just joining us for this special edition of "fox report," the president is waiting for a vote in congress for authorization. earlier on the program i spoke with kentucky senator rand paul. was, did the president say what you wanted to hear? >> i'm going to say something some people may be surprised by, but i'm proud of president obama, and i don't say that lightly. i've been a fierce critic of the president, but i'm proud of him today for obeying the constitution, and getting congressional authority to go to war. i still disagree with him, on whether we should go to war in syria and will vote against dragging us into a syrian civil war but am proud of him for following the constitution and saying the president doesn't have unilateral authority. congress has the authority and he's going to seek it.

>> i read you told this president how you feel about syria. do you think any of those conversations, or point to something, that would have gotten to him to the point where he would say, okay. i'm going to go to congress first? >> me and 80% of the public telling all representatives they want congress to vote on this. really, this is the way it was intended to be. james madison wrote in the federalist papers, the executive branch is the one most prone to go to war. therefore, we gave the power to congress. the constitution vested that power in congress to have checks and balances. to slow things down. let emotions die down and a have a significant debate over whether or not they are national security interests, whether it's good for the country. my problem with a civil war is, involving ourselves, i'm not sure it will be good for america, american lives or american bombs getting involved in a syrian civil war where i'm

not sure either will be good for america. >> i hear your concern there, and i know how politics can happen in washington. so in the end, how will you vote on syria? >> unless they can overcome two ironies, i couldn't vote to involve us. the first irony is, there are about 2 million christians, on the other side of the war. on the side of assad. and the other is al qaeda is on the side of the islamic rebels. i can't see us fighting against christians on the other side. two great ironies difficult for knee overcome and there's going to have to be a lot of explaining for me to change my position. >> what do you think will happen in the senate with the vote? >> because the senate tends to be more, i think, or let's just say the best way to say this is less -- significance reluctance to go to war, i guess, is the best way to put it, but the house is a much more, i guess,

good barometer of the people and the grass roots. the house vote will be very close, and i think there's a chance it doesn't win in the house, and i would like to see what happened in the british parliament happen in the united states, and that is that the people of the representatives say, enough's enough. we're not ready for another war. there is no clear-cut ally for america in this war and we're going to not -- we're not going to get involved. i think the senate will rubber stamp whatever the president wants, but i think the house is another question. >> senator paul, if we see the house and senate, either one vote it down, can you stop the president from acting unilaterally? >> the great thing about it is that he's acknowledging and when he ran as a candidate in 2007, 2008, both he and joe biden said specifically that no president can unilaterally go to war without congressional authority. now, today he tempered his words some and said, well, i've got the authority to do whatever i want, but i'm choosing to go to congress. well, i don't see it that way.

i don't believe he does have the authority, but presidents have in the past usurped this authority. the bottom line is, once he comes to congress, if it's voted down in congress, i believe that he will be stopped. i will do everything in my power to stop and to have the vote go against involving us in syria. the ramifications really may be such that they may be bad for america, bad for israel. i think there are a lot of things that could wind up happening in the middle east with our involvement that would be unintended and may make the situation worse. >> before i let you go, september was already a very crowded month for all of the things you have to do, just to kick them down. you've got the debt ceiling, farm bill, the nsa and the ever-looming implementation of obamacare and now syria on top of that. how will that impact what you have to do come september 9th? >> you know, i think nothing's more important than making the decision whether to send young men and women to war, and i think this trumps all over issues and it is incredibly

important we have a free and open debate in congress before we get involved in another war. so we have a lot of important things coming up. they'll all get accomplished, but i think a meaningful debate on whether or not we send men and women to war is very important for our country. >> any chance you'd come back early to washington for this? >> well, you know, there is talk of that already, and i've had rumors from my staff about having some committee hearings this week and some different briefings. i had briefings today by phone. we'll see. we'll see. i don't know what the conclusion of that will be. and for reaction to that, lawmakers go on the record during these two hours of "fox report," joining me now, former u.n. ambassador john bolten and fox news contributor. ambassador, you have a very vocal reaction to what senator rand paul just said. what is it? >> his reading the constitution is very badly flawed, and i don't think he listened carefully to what president

obama said today. president obama did not say that he had to go to congress because of the kongs stugs. he said expressly the opposite. he says, he the authority, but he was choosing to do so. and i think that reflects a long line of presidential actions over the entire course of our history. the congressional power is simply to "declare war." not to make war. and that was the choice the framers of the constitutional convention, what they faced. they'd seen the continental congress try to make war in the revolution and one of the reasons we don't speak with a british accent is george washington was capable of fending the congress off. so this is a very important point. trying to limit the president's authority as commander in chief would imperil the united states. the president's made a dubious choice here by opening this up from his own political point of

view. maybe he felt he had to do it, but he was under no constitutional constraint. >> so you take issue there with what senator rand paul said, but do you agree, though, in his assessment that the president had to and maybe politically had to go to congress to get authorization? >> well, it's always a political choice, but i think the president has mishandled this for well over a year. beginning with the red line statement. so the box that he's in is a box the president himself created. and the irony, that he's now trying to got congress to bail him out of his own problem, and i think because of the, the importance of president will put on this, i think it's quite likely congress will vote to authorize force, in part simply to put the responsibility back on the president. that is a very, very bad way to make policy, especially since congress will be debating a resolution authorizing force, and that enmoos congress will get to amend it, and i don't

even want to think about what may emerge from that process. >> well, that's an interesting point. you know, the president said today that the u.n. has dragged its feet on reacting to the uss of chemical weapons against the citizens the u.n. has dragged its feet on the process for the citizens inside syria. do you think that's true? >> the united nations is nothing but an aggregation. russia and china have flown political cover for syria for two and a half years. they've already vetoed three separate sets of sanctions, resolutions. gave every indication they would veto any resolution that would authorize the use of force against syria. so it is a problem with the obama administration understanding what's going on in syria. for two and a half years, trying to negotiate with russia to ease assad out of power. which was never going to happen.

i don't understand how they could be surprised that the russians would threaten veto against another resolution and the security council. >> we will talk more with ambassador bolten as fox news continues to cover the latest reaction to how the u.s. will respond. [ tires screech ] ♪ and your favorite songs always playing. [ beeping ] ♪ may you never be stuck behind a stinky truck. [ beeping ] ♪ may things always go your way. but it's good to be prepared... just in case they don't. let's go places, safely. my turn daddy, my turn! hold it steady now. i know daddy. [ dad ] oh boy, fasten your seatbelts everybody. [ mixer whirring ] good thing we've got bounty. bounty select-a-size. it's the smaller powerful sheet, that acts like a big sheet.

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we are back with the former u.n. ambassador, john bolten to the united nations. i'm curious, you have said before that we shouldn't even be focused on syria. as we face this crisis, i would ask, what should our focus be? >> i think our focus should be on iran. i think the nuclear weapons program that has led iran to be very, very close to having a deliverable nuclear weapons, something that it has been over,

puts the syrian conflict into its proper context. this is a civil war but it is also a surrogate war between the shia, persian led forces on the one hand and the sunni forces on the other. and so dealing with iran here, really, would change the fundamental nature of this conflict. the assad regime would not be in power today if iran over these past two and a half years had not continued to finance it, to armt, to give it revolutionary guards personnel, and to unleash hezbollah from lebanon into the conflict. russia has been a problem but it has been primarily iran. if we had focused much earlier, syria would look much different. >> do you think we'll be forced to? >> no. i don't think the president will focus on iran. he still thinks he can negotiate with iran over its nuclear weapon program. even today, when he could have made iran a major focus of his

remarks, and his request for an authorization to use force. he simply talked in general term about proliferation. he doesn't want to say anything unkind about the ayatollahs because he still thinks, contrary to fact, that he can negotiate with him. >> before i let you go, there is a new person in your old job now. samantha power. she was on vacation. back on the job now, what exactly is her job with all this? >> i've been trying to think what president obama could have in mind with the inevitable delay that his decision to ask congress for authority meant. and i think one possible explanation is that he thinks he needs time to build up enough international support to get some kind of legitimacy for the u.n. security council. i don't think that will happen. but he may be hoping the u.n. inspectors' report will give him

some sole as. he may think the arab league will support the use of force. i think it is a waste of time but i think that's what the action could be in new york. >> ambassador john bolton, thank you very much for helping us round out two hours of fox report tonight, sir. we appreciate it. >> thank you. that's how fox reports on this saturday, august 31st. 2013. i'm harris faulkner. a reminder, secretary of state john kerry is appearing on sunday. stay with your other news source for news when you want it for the very latest updates on the crisis in syria. how mu protein

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part of your weekend. this is a fox news alert. i'm brett bier in washington. this is a fox news alert. in an announcement that stunned his own cabinet, and leaders around the world, president obama says he has the authority to launch a military strike against syria. and that he has decided it is the right thing he will not pull the trigger until congress has its say. he also held out the option that he could proceed without approval from u.s. lawmakers. this hour, what else