>> that is a lot of shoes and hand bags. >> they are not endangered anymore. let's be clear and welcome back. glad to have you off injured reserve. >> i am glad to be back in the game. america live starts right now. >> thanks, guys, we start out of washington, things are moving quickly this oofrp. we stand on the brink of a new military engagement in syria. welcome to america live. i am martha mccowan in for megyn kelliy. we are waiting a major senate foreign relations committee to debate military force in the country of syria, in response to what the president called the worst chemical weapons attack in the 21st second. secretary of state kerry and secretary of defense chuck hagel

and martin dempsey is testifying. they are bringing in the big guns for this session and they will argue a failure to act will endanger our allies and embolden our enemies. it is important step this afternoon. >> it is. it is a full court press for this president. not just him personally but enlisting the vice-president and secretary and all of them spanning over capitol hill. this is a president who kept congress at arm's length four and half and five years in office. what he has done is by pass congress and last week planning to by pass congress and consult them and not have a debate and seek votes in the house and senate. he reversed course over the weekend.

he needs law makers now to help bail him out and get support for a mission that not a lot of americans are behind right now, the good news is that beg law makers will support it and listen to his case in the cabinet room. he continues to down play how robust this mission will be. >> joint military plan and i believe that is appropriate is proportional and limited and it does not involve boots on the ground. it is not iraq and it is not afghanistan. it is a limited porportional step that sends a clear message not only to the assad are regime but other countries that may be interested in testing the international norms that there are consequences. >> that's the balancing act and talking about limiting the mission to try to get the

democratic votes. republicans like john mccain and lindsay graham meeting with the president also do not want boots on the ground like iraq and afghanistan, they want the mission more robust and make sure the goal is to dismate assad's military and not only to send a symbolic gesture. and the good news for the president. as the meeting broke up two top leaders in the house came out and said they will endorse the mission although there are qualifiers on the other end of this. >> this is something that the united states as a country needs to do. i am going to support the president's call for action. i believe my colleagues should support the call for action. we have enemies around the world that need to understand that we are not going to tolerate this type of behavior. >> people say they killed a hundred thousand people.

what is the difference of 1400. these 1400 he crossed a line with using chemical weapons. president obama did not draw the redline. humanity drou it decades ago. 170 some countries supporting the convention on not using chemical ware fare. >> but this is a big political risk for speaker boehner to come out and endorse the president's plan. his staff after boehner left the white house, put out a statement stressing that it is the president's responsibility to sell this to members of congress and sell it to the american people. democratic leader pelosi would not commit to twisting arms among the fellow democrats to vote for it because she knows a lot of democrats are against it.

leaders are byting the bullet, but question is rank and file democrats and republicans will give the president the vote. that is unclear. >> it is an interesting response from the two of them. house leaders came out of that meeting with the president and expressed support but counting the likely votes, the outcome is hard to predict and the nos currently appear to be in the lead. karl rove is the senior advisor to george bush and welcome. what do you make of this? >> well, you are right. i suspect the people who have a firm opinion are probably leaning against it. it is in keeping with where the american people are. an entering poll from nbc. should we take military action. 26 percent. what about chemical weapons,

should we take it. fro- 50. and a limited strike involving cruise missiles that will destroy the units responsible for the chemical. 50- 44. and state the general principle that it requires a significant response from the united states and 58- 35. so right now, the people who have an opinion look at it say no. the president has to make the case for the american people that it is in our interest and an appropriate response and he thought it through carefully and resolute in taking the action. he can win congress and data shoes he can win the american people. >> it sounds like his version of the way he's presenting this lines up with the majority of the poll and capable of

convincing the american people it is a good reason to do this. the next question is then what? and the president made it clear today. he wants to degrade the ability of the assad regime to carry out attacks on this kind and wants to upgrade the opposition and chosen segment of the opposition that rca and others said is worth supporting. and he want to sort of make sure there is a transition after that. he stopped short of saying assad must go. that is a hefty play goal. >> it is a dangerous situation for a president to make a declarative statement and not make it happen. a year ago he said use of chemical weapons is a redline. the most recent one occurred on the anniversary of his remarks and it is dangerous for an

american president to make a statement and not have a plan to make it happen. it is amateur hour in the white house. we saw this in the failure of the british parlamount to support david cameron. why are we asking allies to go first and not the united states first. in the second gulf war the congressaced before the british parliment took it up. and the failure to get a affirmative vote is the west winning of the united states of america. they didn't provide the leadership. and then the president compounded it by having his advisors loc about the incompetence of cameron. that is a great move to reenforce the alloys. >> carl, thank you. a lot to think about. we'll see you next time. and in the moan time we await the big hearing that you want to

see and about to get underway with secretary hagel and secretary kerry and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. they will try to convince the foreign relations committee that this should be done. you can get all of this and our political stories in a simple way. go to the daily fox first note and available to fox news.com/foxnewsfirst. and then put in your e-mail. and you just click on a button and you will get the e-mails and update you in the process that we all need because there is a lot moving here. in the meantime we bring you the story of former basketball star dennis rodman went over the course of labor day to north korea. this is his second visit over the last couple of months and trace has the details of what he's up to. >> dennis rodmanmade it chlor

he's there to simply having a good time and visit kim kim jong-un. and rodmap is interested in starting a brand new basketball league. he's not in north korea to win the release of the american christian missionary that is held in a labor camp. >> my plans are not to be a diplomat. but to be a friend of marshal and country of north korea and just to she people a round the world that we as americans can get along with north korea. >> rodman knows about the urgency of releasing kenith. rodman is not out a tweet court reportering bay's release and calling on the supreme leader of north korea to do me a solid and

cut kenneth ba e loose. the enjoy was cancelled after his invitation was withdrawn. and experts say pyongyang will want something in return for kenneth ba e. >> north korea wants assistance. and i also think they want better relations with the united states. they want us to recognize north korea as a nuclear weapon state. that is the last thing that washington is going to do at this point. >> it is a key point. last thing that washington will do at this point. he will be back in this country on monday. >> very interesting, trace. we'll see where that goes and in the meantime debate over the attack in syria is taking a dangerous now turn. serrian president assad told

a magazine that a attack by the west would trigger a regional war in the middle east. ralph peters joins us with his take and a story of survival on board of a southwest airline flight. >> people say it is on fire. it is on four. >> it is scary. >> we were still powering through. >> we'll tell you what they are seeing out of the window and the pilot reported a dangerous incident just after take off and a group of hunters reel in a record- breaking predator and find themselves upstaged and a bigger beast comes in a half an hour later. >> it is like trying to pull a tree out of the water. and he just stayed there until he decided to move. this is for you.

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snrngs we have the un secretary general making remarks on syria. we get the headline, we want to bring you that news. in the moan time the syrian president told a french news web site that if the international community intervoens in his business in siria, he believes it would set off a powder keg that sparks a regional war. is that threat credible. we'll break it down with ralph port. author of power. >> is that an independent threat? >> well, yes and no. on one hand it is a regional war stretching from north africa to pakistan. and has multiple sides. shiite versus sun ni.

and evipt and libya and tunissia and syria and iraq. all beyond the arab world it is a big conflict. so in this sense, it is a foregone conclusion. on a specific threat that he might attack israel or jordan, maybe jordan. but he will not attack israel because he knows what they will do. iran might have hesbollah fighting on assad side attack israel and israel punches back into this. and we for our part have two enemies in the region and they are separate. syria they are on opposing sides. the enemy that attacked america al-qaeda and jihaddist and sunnis and shiite and irap. in syria they are killing each

other. they are both our enemies. my feeling is this. when people use the argument in washington. we have to go after assad because we can't let iran win in syria. >> if iran is our problem, conflict iran directly and don't get bogged down in the syria swamp. no matter what anybody tells you, martha, you weaken assad and you help al-qaeda. assad is a hideous monster but he's fighting al-qaeda. >> and there is a lot of discussion you are familiar with as to whether or not there is two opposition groups and whether or not the free syrian has more power of al-qaeda. and it may be a dangerous route to find out who is more powerful in the end. that aside.

say the united states launches tomahawk missiles in the east mediterranean and they land and take out some of the air bases and places where the chemical weapons and other munitions is are from. >> much depends on if it is a serious strike or a clinton strike. my biggest concern to this question. i keep hearing everyone in washington, president obama and senator mccain and others say no boots on the ground. you can't say that. because once you let slip the dogs of war you don't know who will get bitten. say to your question. we launch a strike that destabilizes the assad regime.

suppose they can't or won't control the vast stocks of chemical weapons and takes boots on the ground. what if, assad is in collapse and jiha d gets damascus. how would you get them out. not with air power. all of these things are inevitable and what i want to see and what the american people deserve is that we are thinking through all of the possible ramifications and worst casing it. you can't hope for the best, you have to plan for the worst. >> ralph. good point. thank you for your insight today. >> coming up. new reporting on the trend to hide deductible health plans and how it could mean thousands in the new health care for people out there. and details on the bird strike that forces a plan to land

shortly after take off. passengers describe it terrifying. >> pilot told us that birds had floun in our main engine and it blew or he had to cut it off. >> my heart was going really fast. good job!

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>> it is getting more interesting at this hour, everybody. the secretary general warned that a syria attack would likely unleash more turmoil. he said it is a violation of the law for the u.s. to act alone on syria unless we are defending

ourselves. the un is coming out against action by united states in syria and forces on congress trying to put something together. will the president deputy against the un? we'll so and lots more in on that in a moment. we'll show you the scare in the skies after a southwest plane hit a board and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing. we remember the miracle on the hudson. what happened here, trace in >> the whole thing you lost a engine on take off things are dicey. that is a lot of pressure and heading into chicago and just taking off and lifting off of the runway when they heard something that sounded like loud bangs. here's how they described it.

>> vibration and rattling and smoke. >> oh, my gosh. it is on fire. it is on fire. >> yeah, but the plane powered throughine though the pilot shut it down. he told passengers they would return torahly turnam that turn around took 30 minutes. >> people are like what is going on. >> i was grabbing andy's arm and we became close friends. >> i pray to god that this is going to be a nice landing. >> they were told to assume the crash position in the end. the landing was silky smooth and though it was not the miracle on the hudson, the pilot got a very big thank you. >> everybody is like whew. androar of applause.

we landed and are safe and it was a big relief. >> big applause for the captain. the woman grabbed the woman next to her. >> that would be me. digging my nails in who ever is next to me. >> i am glad they are all all right. thank you very much. >> big story of the day. all eyes are on washington. and law makers are considering a possible military strike on syria and we got this word from the united nations warning that the u.s. should not act alone in this. there is a critical hearing that get underway as the president's top advisors go to capitol hill to make the case. and new developments as cruise dig for the bodies of children who may have been murdered at their school. >> for all of these grades.

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senate foreign relations committee to convince them it was a good strike. the secretary general warned that an american attack done solo to punish the alleged syrian chemical weapons attack could unleash in the opinion of the un a lot more turmoil in the mideast which is what bashar assad met as well. >> and we watched everybody filing in the room and john boehner and nancy pelosi was on board on a strike. listen to this. >> assad and syria needs to be held accountable. i made the decision that america should take action. >> i will believe with my colleagues should support the call for action. >> same day that israeli forces

conducted a surprise military test in the sea. that raised tensions higher than they already were. snshg now let's talk about health care. major labor unions are breaking ties with the national a fl- cio and blaming it on president obama's health care law and the cadillac tax that start taxing expensive plans come 2018. it is pushing plans with high deductibles and in order to cop the premiums lower. . hi, gen. the unions and long shore and warehouse union is soangry over the cadillac tax that impossesses a 40 percent tax that it is breaking away from the a fl ciowa o and sending a letter and including the tax

and saying quote, president obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans and a fl- cio convention you stated that labor would not stand for a tax on our benefits and later they supported a bill that taxed our health care plans. the cadillac tax is pushing employers to change the insurance they offer, listen. >> that is a big, big, factor. every employer as soon as the law was signed said we are not going to pay the cadillac tax. >> employers are cutting cost by moving to less expensive and high deductible plans. listen. >> it might be a higher deductible for which the employee pays less and they have no other opgdz. >> it is 3 or 4 or $5,000 and below that consumers responsible

for the expenses and they are coupled with health saving's accounts and that is tax free to pay uncovered expenses and makes them sensitive to costs because they are spending their money. whole food has consumer driven plans for their employees. it is every two years or so they can vote before they go to the form of insurance. they can do that. >> they like what they have and others better get used to it, to. and cent percent of such employers offer such a plan. with current union benefits, the city will pay half billion in cadillac taxes in 2022 and of course, that money would have to come from the taxpayers. martha.

jim, thank you very much. critics of obama care are complaining that the unions sending it out to the people. and chris plant host of the chris plant show and they are helping us keep track of the overhaul that is underway. and good to have you both with us. >> thanks, chris. we'll go to you first. weigh in on the possibility of what jim angle was talking about. the issue of the cadillac tax and pushing a lot of the costs in to the employees and pushing the deductibles higher. >> president obama said it a year ago. punishment the enemies and reward the friends. he will punish his friends, to. look, this thing is described as a train wreck by democrat author in the senate. it is a debacle and

a catastrophe and a calamity. they have to destroy the health care system to save it? it doesn't set out to accomplish what it is supposed to. if you have your health care plan and you like it you can keep it president obama said. he didn't say pay a 40 percent tax on it. and that is the street muscle and getting past and present members of congress. they are the ground troops for the obama administration in getting this thing passed and now they want nothing to do with it and they are looking for an exemption and they want somebody else to pay for it. they don't want what is passed here. it was a bill of goods. nancy pelosi said you have to pass it to find out what is in it. okay, preexisting conditions is a good idea and that is a two- page bill. the rest is a catastrophe. >> it is amazing when you go

back to the passage and corn husker bill released from exemption and all of these things down the line. members of congress and states seeking exemptions and unions seeking exemptions. if everyone wants to be exempt from it, where is the argument that it is going to work and a good thing in the end, where does it go? >> the argument stills holds. i will not go back on vacation. if you have to read it to know what is in it. i won't. i love martha so much. and the seriously it is the bottom line, not just politics although we love to make it and frankly not about obama. insurance companies have been increasing the premiums on corporations and individuals for decades regardless of democrat or republican was in office. during the last four years of the bush administration and i

looked, i own a medical center and i am an employer and a company and also a person who has health care and i have children and i pay in two senses as a employee and owner. my blue cross was increased prior to barak obama running for president six times nothing to do with president bush. it is the insurance companies and what they have gotten away with. in the end and i hope in the future having more legislature that will reel in the true affordable act that is passed in the original form would have done. and have more people with preventible care. >> oh, what might have been. oh, what might have been if we passed a different bill we would have a different bill to talk about. my insurance rates.

i self insures and gone urched 30 percent under obama barak. and look, and blaming the insurance industry is absurd when democrats refuse to talk about tort reform a nasty washington term that means that barak obama's friends are suing too often and that is a problem with premiums going up. and the democrats refuse to address that. it is not george bush. it is barak obama and democrat legislation. no one that got their shoulder behind it wants going to do with. it i don't know how many lessons we need before we realize repealing it. >> that's what the talk of hsa and health savings accounts and people saying to conservative you need a better plan. chris, thank you and leslie thank you. >> thank you.

there is a local fight over gun control that could love state law makers out of a job. we'll take you to the fight that is getting national attention. second amendment supporters want a recall vote and they want people out of office because they didn't do what they said they would do. >> new developments in a decade old horror story as the state of florida starts to dig for bodies of children who may have been murdered and buried outside of a reform school where there are so many haunted stories of the tale of unmarked graves. >> let's start trying to find the answers to the questions. what happened and how many and what happened to them? were there crimes committed and

get to the bottom of it.

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>> right now researchers in florida are exhow manying bodies on the grounds of of the reform school and the search at the boy's school brings up a lot of legal questions. the white house boys, what happened was systemic hob horrored and committed by the guards. after numerous delays the professors were able to get on their hands and xoes and carefully excavating the shallow unmarked graves on the school's property. it is a horrible story and it is a labor of love in some ways for

the people who wanted to find the answers in this story. joining me is faye jenkins. it is such a disturbing story and haunted individuals so many years and letters to hundred different journalist trying to find out what happened. >> the florida department of law enforcement did an investigation and found 31 people were buried in a grave on the school's campus, but they didn't find the officials or staff contributed to the death. but they didn't exhume the bodies or remains for testing and so that is what is happening now. the famous quote to the living we owe respect and to the death the truth. they are trying to find out the truth of what happened. so many people came forward and talked about the horrors of the

beatings that happen in the reform school. >> one of the people at the school, 190 where are and 1940 were brutal thing. a white boy's life was not worth much and black boy's life was not worth anything. >> apparently a lot of young men did not have families. >> they got in trouble. >> and if they went missing no one looked for them. and now what you are looking at. it is hard to bring a criminal action against certain individuals although you may exhume the bodies you will know how and when. but you don't know at the hand fz who. >> but the living individuals who spent time there, they would have insight in to who was doing the beatings. >> there is no direct correlation between the boys who

were boeaten or buried on the ground. you need an eyewitness. a couple of men now elderly said they dug shallow graves, but they didn't see the boys put in the graves. >> in the end, what kind of justice can these people get? the sibling saying, i know my brother was killed there. what possible outcome or case closure will they get. it is not that long ago. it is a long time, but not that long ago that someone can't will be held accountable. >> the criminal liability may be hard. but civil liability and if they pull on the the remains and decide a homicide was committed.

can you have a civil liability. you find that there was an intentional act of a pows -- abuse, that is perhaps a way to bring a lawsuit based on that. >> one hopes that people in persowing this may create a memorial to the boys that are faceless and nameless and seemed to have suffered grefous crime. >> the families want closure. >> what a story. >> and we'll see you soon. and back to the big story today. political observers thought that the president made a risky move when he took the syria plan to congress. what happens if congress said no and the president decides to carry out the strike anyway. judge napolitano is here to weigh in on that.

and group of hunters reel in a record- breaking upstaged wh bigger beast is brought in. what did you do this weekend? this is for you. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition inharge™. [ bottle ] ensure®. [ male annouer ] let's go places. but let's be ready. ♪

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hunters in mississippi making the find of a lifetime. an alligator so big that it has set a new record. trace gallagher is live in our west coast newsroom. and reeling in one of these is nothing new for you, right, trace? >> no, not up my alley.

the crazy thing about this, these guys were brand new gator hunters. they were a little bit surprised when they stumbled across this massive beast in port gibson, mississippi. they thought they could hook him, bring him up to the surface and trap him. they were wrong. that alligator had been swimming those water 50 plus years, not about to go down without a fight. oh, yes, he fought. >> it was like trying to pull a tree out of the water. he'd go to the bottom and would not move no matter what you did. he broke all the lines we could get in him. finally got a snare and pulled him up to get a shot on him. all in all, probably took us 4, 4 1/2 hours to catch him from the first time we saw him. >> 4 1/2 hours. you heard the guy say they got a shot on him and shot him in the head three times. when they pulled him out, measured 13 feet long. not the longest gator. when the department of fish and

wildlife weighed him, 727 pounds, the heaviest mississippi gator ever! not bad for first-time hunters. by the way, they nicknamed it elmer, because when they put the gun in the water and shot it, the barrel bent like a banana and looked like an elmer fudd cartoon. they named it elmer and now in a deep freeze in a meat processing plant. i don't know what they plan to do with it. >> no. poor elmer. hanging out at the bottom of the water minding his own business having eaten probably six, seven meals a day to maintain that kind of weight and these guys shoot him three times in the head. anyway, not a good day for little elmer -- big elmer. >> not a good day. >> thank you very much. all right. coming up here on "america live," not america's newsroom. that's where i was this morning, we are minutes way from a very significant moment in this whole question of the crisis in syria.

the secretary of state, secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs, these are the big guns, folks, they are going to capitol hill to make their case for a strike in syria. we will bring you there live to watch the questioning for this and a 64-year-old woman completes a grueling swim from cuba to florida. her story is remarkable. diana nyad, doing what most teenagers could never ever accomplish. when we come back. [ voice on phone ] up high! up high! [ laughs ] up high! up high! [ sighs ] [ chuckles ] yo, give it up, dude! up high... ok. up high... ok. high! up high!!! ok ok that's getting pretty old. don't you have any useful apps on that thing?

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we start with this fox news alert as we await a key hearing on capitol hill. this could play a pivotal role

whether or not president obama gets the support of congress for a series of strike against syria. top members of the president's national security team are about to make their case america's involvement in syria. you have secretary kerry, secretary hagel, the defense secretary and general martin dempsey, of the joint chiefs of staff. all have had different takes on this looking through the course of the last year. in 20 minutes from now, they will take the table and they will answer questions on the syria offensive, what it involves, what the mission is, what the goal is, what would be success? how would that be considered in this mission? while our allies around the globe are watching and waiting to see what america will do. france saying it will not attack the assad regime alone and will wait for a decision from the united states congress. now, israel may be watching more

closely than anybody else, of course, after iran suggested a western strike on syria would bring the quote imminent destructi destruction, in the language they often use of the jewish state. leland vitter with more on israel's perspective on all of this. good afternoon, leland. >> good afternoon, martha. any question israel is in the crosshairs. syria and iran lack the ability to attack the united states making israel their second best option to attack. today, we saw an israeli missile defense test go off. launching a simulated missile attack from israel, that would come from the iranians and scud missiles. israelis say this was long planned but sends a clear me

message israel is ready ready to use the interacceptor radar ready. and we know israel has the iron dome alert ready and pounds. not only around the northern part of israel but around tel-aviv president assad threatened in the past. president assad is not wasting one minute. remember, he has gotten a lot of wonk about the u.s. possibly striking and using this time to move the scud missiles and move those out of bases and put those in position to strike israel if he decides to retaliate and also using this time to press forward with his offensive against the syrian rebels. it's very clear watching syria state tv they are trying to make as much headway as they can before a possible strike degrades its ability.

the last line is russians are still very much behind president assad. the first indications we got of this israeli missile test is launched in the mediterranean came from russian early warning system and radars based in syria, the very same radars in their defense system used to pick up a u.s. attack if and when it comes. back to you. >> leland, thank you. after all these hearings and meetings and briefs, what happens if congress still says no to what the president said this morning he believes should happen? what will he do then? judge andrew napolitano joins us now. >> it sounded like the president was ready to go and was going to order a strike, then over the weekend over a course of a few hours friday afternoon said he wanted to put it before congress and now he's fighting very hard to get the supported of

congress. technically he doesn't need the support of congress but he's put himself in a difficult situation. >> i think the president has boxed himself into a political corner but not a legal one. the president already has authority to use american military forces offensively anywhere on the planet for any reason he wants up to 90 days. he does because of a nixon era piece of legislation enacted over president nixon's veto called the war powers resolution that lets him do that. he has to report to congress but can't stop him do it unless he wants to extend the troops more than 90 days. the president knows he has this authority. he must be going to the congress for reasons other than to get the legal authority. he must be going to them for political support because i think he understands the country is war-weary. the country does not want -- i think this is a fair reading of the country's pulse at this moment, may change in a week or so. the country does not want

country's troops where minimally in harm's way because they're in planes or safety of a ship firing missiles or actively in harm's way because they're on ground guiding the missiles, the country doesn't want anymore of that. >> exactly. you look at the history of the war powers act, it was enacted after vietnam. the war was very world weary, united states was war-weary and didn't want to find themselves into a quagmire as vietnam was called and this was enacted in some ways to prevent that from happening again, to give the president a bit of check and balance if he decides to get into an incursion on his own volition. >> as i view the constitution, there's great support from this in the supreme court cases, that congress can't take pow the heart the constitution gave to it, the congress, and give it away to the president. the constitution very clearly limits war making, deciding who to attack to the congress. war waging, deciding how to attack belongs to the president. yet president nixon, you put

your finger on this, vetoed this for the opposite reason, he vetoed it because 90 days was too short because he wanted to wage war as long as it would take to win the war. the supreme court not on this issue but on giving away powers of constitution said, you can't do that. the congress could no more let the president wage war or decide who to fight in a war than the president could let the congress appoint federal judges, otherwise the constitution would be meaningless. >> we saw reagan go on the offensive in grenada. we've seen presidents in this past, wake up one morning and the president is on tv and says last night, people of america, we launched a precise attack that was carried out effectively at 2200 hours, whatever whatever. the president chose not to do that. this is a president who ran for office on getting out of iraq and afghanistan. he made that clear today. he said this is not iraq, this is not afghanistan. clearly, it looks like this is a

political support measure. >> let me suggest to you how thin skinned the president is. he made an ill-advised dumb statement in august of 2012 over a year ago saying we're neutral now because it doesn't affect the outcome of the syrian civil war doesn't affect our national security. unless they use chemical weapons then we'll visit our neutrality. we don't know if they used chemical weapons it appears they might have used chemical weapons. now his bluff has been called. are we going to get involved in another war because the president's bluff has been called, a war that's not going to enhance our freedoms and not going to enhance our safety, a war we have to borrow money in order to pay for? what more innocents will we kill if we get involved? he doesn't want to answer these questions. he wants to put the onus on the congress. >> the responsibility. that is what we see under way this afternoon as we watch the room on capitol hill where moments from now we will have the highest level of briefing on this as we see general dempsey

file into that room, secretary of state kerry and hagel. thank you very much for the background on the war powers act and legality of all of this scheduled to get under way pat 2:30. 20 minutes from now we bring you there. ahead, colonel oliver north joins us to talk about what he expects to hear in that room and we will react to the news as it happens coming up on "america live." coming up here as well this morning, we are going to be covering that for you, of course, as soon as that gets under way at 2:30 today. in the meantime, there is also a new push on capitol hill to officially reclassify the ft. hood shooting rampage from a workplace violence issue to an act of terrorism. there are very good reasons why people want to do that. last week, a military jury sentenced nadal hasan to death for the massacre he inflicted at a texas army base.

13 brave americans died that day. there are their pictures. more than 30 people were wounded. the move to reclassify this incident is meant to honor these victims and also to support the survivors by opening the door to more benefits for them if they were killed or injured in an act of terror. trace gallagher, back with us live in our west coast newsroom with more on this. hey, trace. >> hey, martha. that's a critical point because the administration has listed this as workplace violence, you have survivors and victims and families all getting limited benefits and keep in mind they're not treated as combat veterans. this legislation would change all that. it's being sponsored by texas senator john cornyn and texas representatives john carter and roger williams, all republicans, saying that major nadal hasan sentenced to death last week was motivated by an ideology of is islamic extremism proving himself to be a terrorist and

traitor, very key terms in that. listen now to john cornyn. >> it is very important that we not be -- we not fall into this sense of political correctness that keeps us from calling this incident what it was and recognizing that the battlefield is not just in far off lands like afghanistan and iraq, the battle is here at home as well. >> here's the important point. if this legislation passes, it would provide the benefits retroactively. it would maximize insurance coverage, it would give them tax breaks as well as combat related special compensation and the injury rehabilitation pay, which is a very key point, because that was taken away, so this would retroactively put that back in place. it would also require the secretary of the army to award purple hearts to all the soldiers who were killed or wounded and for the civilian victims, martha, they would get equal civilian honors, like the

purple heart from the military and civilian honors would be equal. very very important to the families of the ft. hood victims. >> indeed it is. trace, thank you. this question coming up, could a local fight over gun control leave some state lawmakers out of a job? the showdown pitting second amendment supporters who feel betrayed by the representatives they voted for said they're not carry i carrying on at all what they voted for in colorado. also, we could soon see a new competitor in the struggle for a superior smartphone. will microsoft's multi-billion dollar bid for nokia make an impact on an industry dominated by two key players? and you are only as old as you feel, folks. 64-year-old diana nyad pulled off a grueling historic swim through shark infested waters with no cage, 64 years old, this

was her fifth attempt at doing this. she said never give up, never, never. marc siegel, on how she did it, when we come back.

we just got some brand new numbers from polling that are out regarding syria. we're moment ways from this key hearing about to get under way on capitol hill. no doubt there are going to be some fireworks in this room today as the top members of the president's national security team sit down to make the case why syria should receive military action from the united states. a "washington post" pal minutes ago showed 6 in 10 americans apologize unilateral strikes against america and even more oppose arming rebels and military action and congress alike, of course. secretary kerry, secretary hagel and general martin dempsey are scheduled to start in 15 minutes from now. we're watching this room very

closely. we will take you there live as soon as they get under way. very interesting development happening in colorado. what started as a local gun control fight there is now getting national attention. two democratic state senators are now facing recall votes a week from today after each played a big role in passing tough new gun control laws in colorado. that apparently has some powerful democrats or interest groups worried enough to break out their checkbooks. columnist michelle malkin is a fox news contributor and joins us now. welcome from colorado. tell us what's going on in your state. >> it's a real david versus anti-gun goliath battle, martha. we have an effort by grassroots citizens in district group 11,

my adopted hometown in colorado springs and pueblo. you have two state democrats who were boo'd and pro-mode by national democrats to help shepherd through massively restrictive gun laws that were not in demand among the people here. what you have is out-of-state interests including the likes of new york city mayor, michael bloomberg, the brady campaign, gabby gifford's hundrsband came here and testified. they were given a voice at the time the state senator you see here john morse who happens to be the state president of the senate were barring citizens of this state from voicing their views in opposition to these damaging gun control laws. so you had grassroots citizens who gathered in an comparatively short amount of time, some 16,000 signatures to recall the state senate president. and then a similar effort to recall angela giron in pueblo.

now, these two are in danger of losing their jobs and facing immediate accountability. it really is a shift back to local control and "we the people." of course, the anti-second amendment forces around the country are very keenly interested in what's happening. they realize, just like the folks here do, that this really could be a shot heard around the world figuratively, when it comes to these kinds of efforts to medd decisions. >> it's very interesting because you have had mayor bloomberg and others, as you point out, who have been trying to influence a national wave against or in favor actually of stricter gun laws. they've been able to have a lot of influence, as you point out. now, it sounds like the people are fighting back because they want the elected officials they put in office to carry out their promises and behave as they were expected to behave once they're in office. what about for the governor? we have numbers we want to pull

up on his approval ratings. what's the impact been on him? >> it's slowly eroding. i think significantly eroding his popularity here. very much like barack obama, john hickenlooper is somebody who cast himself as a moderate only recently as last year he was admitting these very gun laws he signed into law were not effective, were not going to do anything to stem the kind of violence that we saw in aurora or in newtown. yet he himself had faced a lot of pressure from these outside forces. you may recall that joe biden himself was lobbying our state legislators to get this through because it's part of their larger agenda. it really is another example of the colorado experiment to try and win here and then replicate it in other states, when, you know, republicans were caught in some ways flatfooted. they fought as much as they

could. among the important policy issues to stress here, martha, is the fact that this governor, who cast himself as a moderate, and these two state democrats now facing recall, were in fact responsible for extreme gun measures that are forcing renowned companies from the state out-of-state because they're driving ammo and gun manufacturers out of our state and costing us thousands of jobs and hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in tax revenue. >> very interesting battle with national implications, as you point out. michelle malkin, thank you very much. see you soon. >> you bet. let's go back to capitol hill where we have a live look as we wait for the hearing to start. you heard hearings are about to get under way and then president obama will anticipate the vote in terms of potential military action in syria. is our national security really on the line in the question of syria? that's one of the big questions

that will be addressed? also, what will the scope be? after an initial strike, what would we do in terms of transforming and helping transform this nation the president touched on this morning? what does that mean exactly? 10 minutes away. ..stileating chk for heartburn? yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief!

here's a live shot on capitol hill as we await a really important moment in this entire discussion that's going on about whether or not we should strike syria after their use of chemical weapons left 1400 people dead and that added to the already 100,000 who have been killed since the civil war began there. this is the scene as the senate foreign relations committee will host three very significant individuals in all of this. the secretary of state, john kerry, is about to testify as is the secretary of defense, chuck

hagel, there's john mccain entering the room as we speak. he has been exhibitions streamly outspoken -- been extremely outspoken wanting to intervene. and also a controversial character in terms of his interpretation how difficult it would be to degrade assad's regime militarily. in the meantime a business story, microsoft upping its stake in the smartphone business as it tries to catch up to its two rivals that virtually dominate the business. apple and samsung has come into this gang busters. announcing this morning a multi-billion deal, we don't see these very often to buy the mobile phone division of titan nokia. liz, good to have you here today. is this a good deal for microsoft? are they likely to carry a lot of weight in this segment?

>> that's exactly the question wall street is asking. good to be with you. it is one of the biggest phone deals ever. microsoft is taking on samsung and apple in buying nokia's smartphone business in a deal worth $7.2 billion. microsoft's windows phone has already surpassed blackberry as the third largest as a matter of fact phone business. the move is one of the boldest yet by microsoft ceo steve b ballmer who recent ly announced last month he plans to retire in a year and steven aloft is vying to replace ball mer and they're showing they want to turn themselves into a more than a moth software company. they only sell a fraction of the cell phones, apple and samsung send. steve ballmer said now is the

time to build on this momentum and accelerate our share in froths and phones. he said we have a huge holiday season ahead of them and have to ex cute flawlessly. >> thank you very much. we are just a few minutes away from this critical hearing on the crisis in syria as we watch everybody gather, the secretary of state, defense, joint chiefs of staff there to make their case. coming up, colonel oliver north weighs in on what he expects to see in this hearing and we'll react to the news as it happens on "america live" when we come back.

a fox news alert as a crucial hearing is set to get under way in the senate on the way forward in syria. secretary of state john kerry and defense secretary chuck hagel and general, set to go forward. colonel oliver north, welcome. good to have you with us today. >> good to be with you. >> obviously, this is a big moment in this discussion. how do you expect this to go? we have comments from john kerry, what we expect him to say this afternoon and i want to share with you as well. what are your initial thoughts? >> i think the missions for the senators on the committee and that of secretary kerry and

secretary hagel is to somehow get obama out of the mess he has made of this. time is not an ally. we all know that the president is leaving tonight to go to stockholm for some very important thing and then go to the meeting of the g-20 in st. petersburg, but i don't see that anything is really going to happen until the ni9th or 10th, when everybody comes back to session. these are extra session hearings we're about to see from the armed services committee and foreign affairs committee. i believe what the congress will eventually do is pull his fat out of the fire, that is they don't want to be blamed for something terrible happening. i think bad things are inevitable as a consequence of the way this whole thing has been approached. what these folks have to start doing because the administration clearly has not done this, ask the what if, if then type questions obama has not asked. >> it appears from what the president has told us so far he

views this as a punitive strike. that syria needs to be punished for the use of chemical weapons. although it's a sentiment i think many people can understand the emotion behind, the question becomes then what, as you just mentioned. today, when the president spoke, he gave us a little bit more insight. he was criticized for not having any strategy. he gave us a little bit of that strategy today and said he wanted to degrade assad's ability to carry out these kinds of attacks. he also wanted to upgrade the opposition, to help the opposition strengthen. one can surmise from that, that he wants to be able to try to tip the balance a little bit in the opposition's favor, in order to sort of urge a transition in that country. that's a pretty tall order. >> it is, particularly since he's also saying he wants a quick limited and no boots on the ground strike to back up what is essentially his red line

comment of last august. that might make sense if after a year ago after he'd said that he started the hard work of building a coalition both internationally and nato, perhaps, or within the arab league or neighbors, at least, building a domestic audience for this that would support it. last friday, when the brits bowed out, the arab league wavered, the french decided they couldn't deliver anything but cossants and the leader had a panic attack we know united nations came out against it. we heard nancy pelosi and minority leader and speaker of the house are for it. i don't see this is particularly a done deal given the way all of this has been approached and perceived by a lot of people as simply a political rescue mission for obama's credibility, not that of the united states and it really is american credibility on the line. >> you suggest there's a lot of politics at play here. this morning, quite interesting, after the briefing at the white house, we saw nancy pelosi come

out and john boehner came out and both said we support the president on this and we would like congress to speak with a unified voice. they suggested they weren't going to whip this issue in terms of whipping up the votes for it necessarily on their own but they were saying we a are -- we're behind it. we're supportive. what if the president does not get support from congress? >> i don't think that that's necessarily all that likely, thhe then has the option of going it alone. there's no requirement to have congress advanced approval for this kind of operation. >> no. once you asked for it, if you don't get it, in terms of the credibility of the mission and unity of the country and how behind it we are, that's a tough situation. >> you're absolutely correct. spot on. if he had simply called congress into session last saturday to demonstrate the urgency of this, but instead, he went for a round of golf with joe biden.

and tonight, he's going to sweden. then to the g-20 summit. this makes absolutely no sense, in terms of ultimate credibility in trying to get something he really believes needs to be done, it's not happening. that, quite frankly, another failure of leadership in this administration. >> we're just watching a hug between senator john mccain and senator john kerry or former senator, i should say, now the secretary of state, long-time friends. they were both in vietnam together. john kerry voted for the war in iraq and then he voted against it famously. that caused him a lot of problems. the code pink protest we have going on we did anticipate. we did get word they room. this has sort of become something we expect in these kind of forums, but in essence, that, and back to my question about john mccain, he wants to go forward with this but wants assurances from the president he

wants it done in a substantive enough way to have an impact. >> we know two or three days of cruise missile strikes, even though they're very accurate, is not a strategy, no doubt. no history where cruise missile strikes have done anything to change things on the ground of any significance. the closest we came to that was 1986, when we attacked trying to take out gadhafi. that was done because he killed 27 americans in a disco in berlin. for the better part of two years, he was very quiet. this is bigger. this is a civil war. this is a failure to support the resistance that he encouraged and now the failure to even deliver a single bullet he promised to do as early as may. there's nothing in what this administration has done that leads you to believe that a thought of the consequences of acting or failing to act. hopefully, this committee will ask some of those very tough questions. >> it's very interesting what you're saying what has been done

over the last several months and whether or not the groundwork has been laid to build that coalition we talked about. interesting late last week, they sent out a list of all the different phone calls that had been made by the president, by the secretary of state. lots of different heads of state different countries around the world. sort of an effort to prove they were doing that kind of work. that just happened in the last few days? exactly right. all this should have started way back after he made the red line comment. here's something they ought to ask about, they have to enhance the security of all our embassies in the middle east and sub saharan africa. 9/11 vaeshs -- anniversary is just eight days away. >> stand by for a moment waiting for the statement from secretary of state, john kerry and our national correspondent, jennifer griffin, joins us with the latest from the pentagon. >> hi, martha. i think it will be interesting

to listen to general dempsey in particular. he is the one who has warned about the costs of even a limited engagement in syria. as of july 19th, the last time he wrote to the chairman of the senate armed services committee, carl levin, he is quoted, i am quoting from that letter, there is a risk the regime could withstand limited strikes by dispersing its assets and retal tl tore ry a -- retaliatory attacks is possible with strikes inside that country. the thing to ask is what good is this limited strike going to do? he has warned how dangerous they are, if you destabilize the assad regime, chemical weapons could fall into some of the forces that are extremists. how do they make sure assad doesn't use his chemical weapons again when they're not planning to go after his chemical weapons

stockpile. we heard from planners they aren't planning a strike on chemical weapons storage facilities because it might release the chemical weapons into the air. now, as every day goes down we're hearing reports from the ground assad is moving his mobile missile launchers around, scuds on the move. there is no intention by the pentagon to go after those scuds because they will be hiding in civilian areas. they don't want to have civilian casualties. it's hard to reconcile what you're hearing from the white house in terms of how this is going to be an important military strike and yet it is going to be so limited in nature, the question is how will it stop assad from doing this again, using chemical weapons on his own people? >> great point. i think everybody will be watching general dempsey very closely here. those who believe the opposition forces do have a core to them that is worth backing, were taken aback by general dempsey's testimony previous to this, he

said there was no way we could undermine assad's very formidable forces with any sort of small strike. that would be striking a hornet's nest that would be a huge disaster. what has changed his mind on all that is a good question. >> what i understand talking to pentagon officials is the only reason general dempsey is on board with this mission and this strike is that it is so limited in nature, the strategic purpose of it is very narrow, in terms of punishing assad, degrading his ability, his military, degrading his ability and deterring him from using chemical weapons again. the question mark i have is how does it deter him from using chemical weapons again if he still has those stockpiles and he still has the delivery systems at the end of the day after they fire? they won't be firing more than 160 tomahawk missiles because we know that's about how many they have on board the destroyers in the medtarian. what good will these tommie

harbaughi -- tomahawks do. >> if you would, we have senator menendez the chair of the foreign relations committee and let's listen to this opening statement as we get rolling. >> the ayatollah and terror in iran and terrorists groups wherever they may be. what we do in the face of the chemical attack by assad's regime against innocent civilians will send a signal to the world that such weapons in violation of international law cannot be used with impunity. the question is, will we send a message the united states will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world by any for any reason? will we, in the name of all that is human and decent, authorize the use of american military power against the inexcusable n indiscriminate and immoral use of chemical weapons or will we stand down? what message do we send the world when such a crime goes

unpunished? will those who have these weapons use them again? will they use them more widely and kill more children? will they use them against our allies? against our troops or embassies or will they give them or sell them to terrorists who would use them against us here at home? are we willing to watch a slaught slaughter just because the patrons of that slaughter are willing to use their veto at the united nations are willing allow it to happen so their beneficiary can stay in power? are we so tired we're willing to silence our conscience and accept the consequences that flow from that silence to our national interests? we will hear the arguments and options presented to united states today and look at the facts as we know them according to the declassified assessment released last friday that secretary kerry has so passionately presented to the nation. according to that assessment, we know with high confidence from

the intelligence community that the syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack on the damascus suburbs august 21st. we know the assad regime stockpiled chemical agents including mustard, sarin and vx gas and has the ability to deliver them. we know president assad makes the decision when it comes to stockpiling of chemical agents and personnel are carefully vetted to insure loyalty to the program. we have evidence chemical weapons have been used on a smaller scale against the opposition on several other occasions in the past year including damascus suburbs. that sarin gas was used on some occasions and it was not the opposition that used it. we know chemical weapons personnel from the syrian scientific studies and research center subordinate to the regime's minister of defense were operating in the suburb of adra sunday august 18th to early in the morning wednesday august

21st near an area the rchl uses to mix chemical weapons in shrewding sarin. human -- including sarin. human intelligence have shown activity preparation prior to the attack including distribution and use of gas masks. we have multiple streams of intelligence showing a rocket attack against the damascus suburbs the early hours of august 21st and corroboration the attacks were launched from a regime controlled area and struck neighborhoods where the chemical attacks reportedly occurred, clearly tieing the pieces together. that is what we know in terms of who deployed these weapons. more evidence is available. we will be looking at all of the classified information in a closed session of the committee tomorrow that more clearly establishes the use of chemical weapons by the regime, the military responses available us to and the results we expect from those responses. but as of now, in my view, there is a preponderance of evidence

beyond a reasonable doubt that assad forces wilfully targeted civilians with chemical weapons. having said that at the end of the day the attack of civilians in syria is an indirect attack on americans with broader implications for the region and the world. if chemical weapons can be used with impunity in violation of geneva protocol crafted by the league of nations and signed by the united states in 1925, in fact, signed by syria itself in 1968, they can be used without fear of reprisal anywhere by any. in my view, such heinous and immoral violations of decency demand a clear and unambiguous response. we are at a crossroads mode. a precedent will be set either for the unfettered and unpunished use of chemical weapons or a precedent will be set for the deterrence of the use of such weapons through the limited use of military force that sends a message that the

world will not stand down. we will either send a message to syria, iran, north korea, hezbollah and any other actors that the united states will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against any or choose to stand silent in the face of human horrific suffering. we need to consider the consequences of not acting. our silence would be a message to the ayatollah america and the world are not serious about stopping their march to acquiring nuclear weapons. israel would no longer believe we have their back and hard-pressed to restrain itself. our silence would embolden kim jong un who has a long chemical weapons catch shche and send a e we are not serious about it. and embolden hamas and others about using chemical weapons and they might succeed. clearly at the end of the day, our national security is at stake. i want to present our swi

distinguished witnesses to present the facts as we know them and they will send a message to the world there are lines we cannot cross as civilized human beings or threats. the president is asking for an authorization for the use of limited force. it is not his intention or ours to involve our semifinals fulse syria's civil war. what is before us a request i quote to prevent or deter the use or proliferation of chemical or biological weapons within to and from syria and protect the united states and its allies and partners of the threat imposed by such weapons. this is not a declaration of war but a declaration of our values to the world, a declaration that says we are willing to use our military power when necessary against any who dares turn such heinous weapons against innocent

civilians anywhere in the world. we know the facts, will hear the arguments, have the debate and then it will be up to each of us to search our conscience and make a decision on behalf of the american people. i trust we can achieve that in a bipartisan way. i have been working with senator corker as we move towards a resolution. i hope we get broad bipartisan support. before i turn to him, i want to acknowledge the presence, we're thrilled to see her here today, teresa heinz-kerry, to join us on this momentous occasion. glad to see you so well and being here with us. with that, senator corker. >> mr. chairman, i thank you for your comments. the time that we spent together recently. i want to thank our witnesses for being here, not only for their service to our country, in their current capacity, but in their service in every way for many many years. i thank you for being here. today, you're beginning the

formal request of asking each of us to make the most important decision many of us will make during our tenure in this united states senate. i know that everybody here on the dias and those who are not, take that decision very seriously. i've noticed a distinct sense of humility as we've gone about the various gone about the questions and conference calls and meetings, and i know that every member here knows that whether they decide to support an authorization for the use of military force or not, their making a decision about our country's national interests, and i know that everybody is going to be taking that decision very, very seriously. one of the issues that many members will have is the fact is that should we support an authorization for the use of military force -- and i think that everyone here knows that i am very generally inclined to do

so and am working closely with senator menendez for something that would be a starting point nor committee's discussions and i know each member will have input and imprint on what it is that we end up deciding to vote upon. one of the problems that members have -- and i think this hearing and tomorrow's hearing is important to answer -- is while we make policy, you implement. and the implementation of this is very, very important. and i think there have been mixed signals about what that impreempt addition is going to mean and the effect on the country. i want to say that i was just in the region, as i know many people have been, and i am still totally dismayed at the lack of support we are giving to the

vetted moderate opposition. we have publicly stated what they support is going to be, even though it's been carried out in a covert way. but it is to some degree humiliating to be in a refugee camp win our policy has been that we are going to train, we're going equip, we're going to give humanitarian aid to the vetted opposition, and yet when you sit down with the people who are coalescing around, very little of that has occurred. so i know today's focus is going to be largely on the issue of chemical warfare, and i know that the case has to be made, and i know that each of us have had the opportunity to hear that case, to see intelligence, to understand on what basis these claims have been made, and my guess is that most everyone here fully believes that chemical weapons have been used on

civilians to a large degree. so i know that case is going to be made to the american people today, as you're making it to us. but it's my hope that a big part of what you're going to do here today -- and i know we talk about this earlier this morning at the white house -- but it's to make a case as to why syria is important to our national interests, why syria matters to the region, why it's important for us to carry out the stated strategy and how we're going to continue to carry out that stated strategy. one of the things that i do not want to see in this authorization is, after -- if it's authorizessed and force take place, i want to see us continue to carry out the strategy that has been stated, and that is building the capacity of the vetted moderate opposition. so i'd like to have you address that.

i i'd to have you today also address how this use of military force supports that strategy, how it's going to effect the region and the aftermath. so i thank you for being here today. i know a big part of what we're discerning today and making decisions upon, is the credibility of the united states of america. i know that people in the region are watching. i know that we've been his tenant to move on with many of the activities we have stated we're going to be carrying out. so today i hope that each of you will bring clarity to this. i know we're going to talk about chemical warfare, but i hope you'll give us even more clarity about our opposition strengthening, about how this is going to affect us overall, and i hope we'll all leave here today with a clear understanding of how this strategy is going to be cared out. i thank you anto your testimony. >> sect kerry.

-- secretary kerry. >> well, mr. chairman, members of the committee, ranking member corker, thank you very, very much for having us here today. we look forward to this opportunity to be able to share with you president obama's vision with respect to not just this action but as senator corker has inquired, appropriately, about syria itself and the course of action in the middle east. mr. chairman, thank you for welcoming teresa. this is her first public event since early july, so we're all happy she is here. as we convene for this debate, it's not an exaggeration to say to you, all of you, my former colleagues, that the world is watching not just to see what we decide, but it's watching to see how we make this decision.

whether in a dangerous world, we can still make our government speak with one voice. they want to know if america will rise to this moment and make a difference. and the question of whether to authorize our nation to take military action is, as you have said, mr. chairman, and you have echoed, mr. ranking member, this is obviously one of the most important decisions, one of the most important responsibilities of this committee, or of any senator in the course of a career. the president and the administration appreciate that you have returned quickly to the nation's capitol to address it, and that you are appropriately beginning a process of focusing with great care and great precision, which is the only way to approach the potential use of military power. ranking member corker, i know

that you want to discuss, as you said, why syria matters to our national security and our strategic interests beyond the compelling humanitarian reasons, and i look forward, with secretary hagel and general dempsey, to laying that out here this afternoon. but first, it is important to explain to the american people why we're here. it's important for people who may not have caught every component of the news over the course of the labor day weekend, to join us, all of us, in focusing in on what is at stake here. that's why the president of the united states made the decision, as he did, contrary to what many people thought he would do, of asking the congress to join in this decision. we are stronger as a nation when we do that. so we're here because, against multiple warnings from the president of the united states,

from the congress, from our friends and allies around the world, and even from russia and iran, the assad regime, and only undeniably the assad regime, unleashed an outrageous chemical attack against its own citizens. we're here because a dictator, and his family's personal enterprise, in their lust to hold on to power, were willing to infect the air of damascus with a poison that killed innocent mothers and fathers and hundreds of their children, their lives all snuffed out by gas in the early morning of august 21st. now, some people here and there amazingly have questioned the evidence of this assault on conscience. i repeat here again today, that only the most wilful desire to

avoid reality can assert that this did not occur as described, or that the regime did not do it. it did happen. and the assad regime did it. now, i remember iraq. secretary hagel remembers iraq. general dempsey, especially, remembers iraq, but secretary hagel and i and many of you on the dais remember iraq because we were here for that vote. we vote. and we're socially especially sensitive, chuck and i to never ask a member of congress to take vote on faulty intelligence, and that's why our intelligence community has scrubbed and rescrubbed the evidence. we have declassified unprecedented amounts of information, and we ask the american people and the rest of

the world to judge that information. we can tell you beyond any reasonable doubt that our evidence proves the assad regime prepared for this atacoma issued instructions to prepare for this attack, warned its own forces to use gas masks, that we have physical evidence of where the rockets came from and when. not one rocket landed in regime-controlled territory. not one. all of them landed in opposition-controlled, or contested territory. we have a map, physical evidence, showing every geographical point of impact. and that is concrete. within minutes of the attack, 90, i think to be precise, maybe slightly shorter -- the social media exploded with horrific images of the damage that had been caused, men and women, the elderly and c