the country and eroding the longevity of a country that should go down with the greatest in history. i would hope that as we vote, whoever you vote for, we vote for a country that does not beat down those at the bottom. and elevate those at the top while you castigate those that only seek a chance. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. will the real outsourcer please stand up? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, consider the outsource. for about a monte now, mitt romney has been taking hits on

bain capital and outsourcing. his team has released an ad saying president obama isn't telling the truth. romney says much of bain's outsourcing came after he left in 1999. today's boston globe may call this into question. this is complicated, but no matter who's right, this is a fight team obama is happy to have. also, when you think of veterans, you probably think older and conservative. but the obama team now thinks it's got a real shot at winning over veterans, especially younger vets from iraq and afghanistan. plus, what did joe paterno know and when did he know it? now we know. louis freeh's investigation of the penn state abuse scandal is out. paterno chose to protect jerry sandusky over the children he victimized and richard engel is just back from syria with a chilling account of what he saw in that country torn by civil war. finally, guess where the

american's olympics uniforms were made? here's the hint, not in the u.s.a. we begin with mitt romney fighting back against the bain attacks. howard fineman is editorial director for the "huffington post." joan walsh is editor of salon. both are msnbc political analysts. allow me to show you what came out today. today the romney campaign is out with a new ad accusing obama of lying about romney's role at bain. >> when a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? the obama outsourcing attacks. misleading, unfair and untrue. there was no evidence that mitt romney shipped jobs overseas. candidate obama lied about hillary clinton. >> so shame on you, barack obama. >> but america expects more from a president ch obama's dishonest campaign. another reason america has lost confidence in barack obama. >> howard, i'm tempted to say that would have been an effective ad a week ago. >> i think you're right, michael. i think the romney campaign

which was so good on offense during the primary season hasn't shown itself to be quick off the mark in terms of defense. the obama campaign attacked. there are questions about exactly what definitions you want to use of offshoring and outsourcing. there are definitions about time. the timeline and so on. but the basic attack was well known and i think in its heart had a lot to it. the romney campaign at first dismissed it. they tried to brush it off, make fun of it, they tried to counterattack by saying the president sent money overseas during the stimulus package. but it's only today more than a week later they're trying to react to a story they originally sent their staff down to the "washington post" to complain about. that was more than a week ago. >> joan, first read had this response to the new ad. quote, perhaps the biggest problem for team romney is this ad comes more than a week after the obama camp released its bain

outsourcing ad. that's not quite rapid response. also today, "the new york times" reports on the disappointment of some romney supporters, built a reputation during the republican primaries as tough street fighters skilled in the tactics of political warfare. but now mr. romney finds himself confronting concern he is not nimble and aggressive enough to withstand the democratic assault against him. and yesterday on fox news, mitt romney was asked about his slow response and said this. >> i, of course, respond to the attacks that come, but they say in politics if you're responding, you're losing. >> the part that surprises me is that this was all predictable. newt gingrich, he was slapped down in republican quarters for doing so, but he pursued these bain issues. surely the romney campaign knew we'd get to this juncture. >> yeah. i agree with you michael, except this outsourcing, offshoring stuff is a little bit new. and they seem to be surprised by

that. but they've created their own troubles in their response because it seems to me that first, they tried to say they want to kind of defend what he's done. then say well, he is gone when the outsourcing occurred and that is what opened this door. we've got multiple sets of disclosure forms now that each tell a different story. one to the sec that could be damaging about exactly when he stepped down as ceo. it's in their original defense they've created this new set of questions about the timeline of his departure. they really are bumbling this story from start to finish. >> here's what you're referring to. a report in this morning's "boston globe" about when romney left bain. it's been getting a lot of attention. it follows reporting from david corn, as a matter of fact, mother jones, that suggests romney was still involved in 2002. three years after he says he left. during a period when the firm invested in companies that

specialized in outsourcing. quote, government documents filed by mitt romney and bain capital say romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control. even creating five new investment partnerships during that time. public securities documents filed later by bain capital state that he remained the firm's sole stockholder. chairman of the board and president. the romney campaign said the article is inaccurate. they say romney was still the owner, technically, but wasn't involved in any investment decisions and not surprisingly, the obama campaign was quick to jump on the story. in a call with reporters, stephanie cutter levelled a strong charge against romney. let's listen to that. >> either mitt romney, through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position to the s.e.c. which

is a felony. or to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the con jenss of his investments. and if he was lying to the american people, that's a character and trust issue the american people need to take very seriously. >> pretty strong words. romney campaign manager called the statement reckless and unstance -- unsubstantiated. accused the obama camp of hitting a new low. he called on the president to apologize. as i said, it gets confusing. i think this is a big picture. the president got a disappointing jobs number recently, yet it seems it's romney who's on the defensive. >> there's no question about it and every day that goes by, michael, where the media and i'm talking about most of the media, and the political community is focused on these kinds of questions about what mitt romney did when with bain is one day that same media establishment is not talking about the rather dismal state of the economy. so on that basis alone, it's a

win tactically for the president. and i also think there are other streams of documents and information that may be coming forth that may tell yet another picture of what mitt romney was doing between 1999 and 2002. the problem that mitt romney has is that his identity seemed to change depending on which document he was filling out. whether it's an s.e.c. form or something else. don't forget at the time there were also questions about -- as later on in 2002 when he ran for governor of massachusetts, there were questions about whether he was a legal resident in massachusetts. and actually at that time, he had an interest in talking about how much he was in massachusetts and how involved he was in businesses in massachusetts. so i would watch for that as the next turn of the wheel in this story. >> joan, i guess to state the obvious, a reason why this is significant is that the romney campaign would like to establish a definite end day so that bain activities that came thereafter

are not subject to criticism in the campaign context. kb toys, as a matter of fact, is one of those that will become campaign fodder and the question becomes did mitt romney have anything to do with it or was he already managing the olympics. >> exactly. i think bain is going to wind up having to answer some questions here, too, because the question is what are they representing to the s.e.c.? what are they representing to their clients? we all know in investment companies it matters who the ceo is, who's making the decisions. how is mitt romney's name and role being used in outreach to clients? there are a lot of questions on the corporate side, i would think, in terms of how you represent yourself to the s.e.c. then big questions for mitt romney on the political side. this story that every day the new sets of information that they bring out about it, they aren't helping themselves. it's not going away. >> what's interesting to me is the romney campaign has grown some modicum of support by the

fact checking community. "the washington post" came out with the outsourcing story which they wanted a retraction and did not get it. yet it's the same "post" that gave four pinocios to an obama campaign ad that raised this whole issue. still they haven't been able to turn this issue around, they meaning the romney campaign. howard, do you understand what i'm saying? >> yes, i do understand what you're saying. i think it's largely for the reason that joan pointed out. in their effort to nail that down, they have made some assertions about what mitt romney was doing between 1999 and 2002 that are open to question. so in eneffort to shut down one part of the story, they rather stupidly opened up a whole other one they didn't need to do. if they just stuck with jamming "the washington post" own fact checking back at "the washington

post" they may have had a better time with this story. but by the way, the strategy for the obama campaign is also ultimately to get back to tax, i think. what they want to do is say, look. what was mitt romney up to when -- what business deals was he doing when -- we need to see his tax returns. that's the other part they're pressing on. they're trying to create the idea mitt romney has a lot to hide about his business life which is part of the larger narrative they're pushing that mitt romney can't be trusted because he won't tell us what he did with his business and his fortune. >> almost swift boating of sorts. meaning go after the asset that you perceive your opponent to have. thank you very much. we appreciate it as always. coming up, the investigation into the penn state child abuse scandal is out and it's a damning indictment of university officials including legendary head coach joe paterno who the report says protected jerry

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gas stations through september. it pays to discover. we've got some new poll numbers in the presidential race. let's check the "hardball" score board first. a new pew poll shows president obama has a seven-point lead over mitt romney amongst registered voters. 50 to 43. a new marquette poll 51 to 43. similar story in pennsylvania where the president leads 47 to 40 in a new automated we ask america poll. we'll be right back. let's do this i am from baltimore south carolina... bloomington, california... austin, texas... we are all here to represent the country we love this is for everyone back home

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following eight months of investigations that encompassed 340 interviews and 3.5 million documents, former fbi director louis freeh today revealed a devastating look to the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal.

according to the report, the late football coach joe paterno and other top university officials including then-president graham spanier, vice president gary shultz, and athletic director tim curley chose to protect penn state over the welfare of the victims beginning in 1998. here was judge freeh this morning in announcing his findings. >> our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at penn state. the most powerful men at penn state failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who sandusky victimized. >> spanier, shultz, paterno, and curley never demonstrated through actions or words any concern for the safety and well being of sandusky's victims until after sandusky's arrest.

>> diane diamond is a reporter for "the daily beast" where buzz bissinger is a columnist, also talk show host. buzz, i want to show you something. when paterno was questioned by the grand jury in 2011 about that shower assault witnessed by mike mcqueary, here's what he was asked. other than the incident, do you know in any way through rumor, direct knowledge of any other fashion of any other inappropriate sexual conduct by jerry sandusky with young boys? paterno's answer. i do not know of anything else that jerry would be involved in of that nature, no. i do not know of it. you did mention, i think you said something about a rumor, i don't know, i don't remember and i could not honestly say that i heard a rumor. all right. now i'm putting on the screen exhibit 2e to judge freeh's report. what you're looking at is an

e-mail to shultz 5/13/98. what does it say? anything new in this department? meaning the investigation. coach is anxious to know where it stands. connect those two dots, buzz bissinger. >> michael, as you know, i've been writing about this in the daily beast. i've been saying this for over a year. joe paterno knew everything that went on involving football. but now we know, we don't have to speculate. we don't have to rant. he knew about the 1998 incident, the first alleged incident involving jerry sandusky. he knew about the 2001 incident involving coach paterno way beyond mcqueary. he got involved in it. he has no legacy. it was clear that paterno wanted to keep this in house. and they tried and the president tried and the vice president tried and the athletic director tried. they didn't want to do damage to the football program and

finally, they got caught. >> here's more of freeh's presser this morning explaining what his findings showed about joe paterno's role dating back as early as 1998. >> the evidence shows that mr. paterno was made aware of the 1998 investigation of sandusky, followed it closely, but failed to take any action. even though sandusky had been a year member of his coaching staff for about 30 years and had an office just steps away from mr. paterno. at the very least, mr. paterno could have alerted the entire football staff in order to prevent sandusky from bringing another child into the lasch building. >> it's what we always suspected, is it not? that a small circle of individuals knew this guy was a bad seed. i still maintain they give him a graceful exit in 1999 when he was in his mid-50s. victimed by damned. it was all about protecting the

integrity of the football program. >> i really urge everybody, go to the daily beast. we have this whole report up. take a little bit of time and read it. i'll tell you what, michael, you and i have talked a lot about this case, but i read this today and i just shook my head and said to myself, they're all liars. every one of them lied. not only to themselves and the public and the campus, but they went before a grand jury and they ball faced lied. they knew in 1998 that jerry sandusky had a problem with boys and for 14 years -- can i repeat that? 14 years. they let him have his way not only as a coach with a lot of athletes there at penn state, but bringing in these second mile kids by the dozens. it just churns my stomach. >> and buzz, when you know that these e-mails evidenced paterno's awareness in '98 and you know that and rewind the

clock and say mcqueary comes to the house on a saturday morning, it's just been three years since paterno was in the loop on sandusky having been investigated for that. that's the moment if not in '98, that's the moment the hammer should have been put down. instead the response was i'm not going to react immediately because it's the weekend. i'm sure you remember that. >> of course. the hammer should have been put down in 1998. the hammer was not put down. they went out of their way. forget about abuse of kids. they went out of their way to probably give jerry sandusky the biggest sweetheart retirement deal in the history of penn state. an unprecedented lump sum pension plan. ai mer emeritus status. paid for 57 trips. they cared more about this sexual animal than they ever did, ever did about any of these kids. and let's face it.

joe paterno was a bad man. >> diane, buzz is making reference to the fact i think judge freeh said $168,000. unprecedented payment was made to sandusky at the time. and there was also a land transfer. in other words, it's not as if he went quietly into that night. he had carte blanche at the campus. could bring all the campus that he desired. they had zero of a definable response. let me show you this. the family of the late joe paterno released a statement today saying paterno didn't know sandusky was a predator. and it goes on to say in part, quote, it can be argued that joe paterno should have gone further. he should have pushed his superiors to see they were doing their jobs. we accept this criticism. at the same time, joe paterno and everyone else knew sandusky had been repeatedly investigated by authorities who approved his multiple adoptions and foster children. joe paterno mistakenly believed investigators, university

leaders, law enforcement, and others would properly investigate any issue and proceed as the facts dictated. this isn't happen and everyone shares the responsibility. diane, major damage control from the paterno family. >> oh, yeah. well, you know, if i was their pr person, i would tell them to keep their mouth shut. they just need to go quietly to their computer, "the daily beast," read this and they should be ashamed of some of the things they've said. joe paterno did not know he was a pedophile. that's remarkable because even as far back as 1995, the biological mother of matt sandusky, who has come out and said he, too, was a victim, matt sandusky's mother in 1995 was screaming and yelling jerry sandusky is trying to steal my son. please, somebody, stop him. i think it's inappropriate relationship. i've spent time in state college and there about. it's a small community. you can't tell me that joe paterno hadn't heard that too.

>> buzz, it occurs to me we still haven't heard from lynn abraham. she's investigating the second mile and on a subject i'm going to address at the end of the program tonight, i still want to know why did it take three full years from the time the victim who came forward who was believed and started this prosecution until the time they put handcuffs on sandusky. i guess my point is there's still much more to come. >> of course. there's a lot more to come. why did it take three years? because of politics. because tom corbett was the attorney general and he was running for governor and he didn't want to alienate the penn state contribution base. we all know that. that to me is not speculation. every speculation that concerned people have had about this has come true. joe paterno did not care less that jerry sandusky was a pedophile or alleged pedophile. joe paterno, all his life, and the penn state grass cared about one thing. that [ bleep ] football team. >> thank you. we'll be back after this. [ morgan ] right now when you use your visa card,

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mitt romney addressed the naacp this week. hey, what was with the weird organ music? did you see that? >> please welcome mitt romney. ♪ >> that was the real music they played, but when ever he talked about himself being president, did you see what happened? >> any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country and that must be our goal. as president, i will -- ♪ >> pan over. look who's playing. look. ♪ >> back to "hardball." this is the sideshow.

we're just weeks away from the opening ceremony of the olympics in london and there's buzz about team usa. the team uniforms for the opening ceremony. apparently the uniforms by ralph lauren are made in china, not the u.s. in addition to blasting a letter out, some members of congress expressed their outrage today. >> today there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country and the olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to china? that is not just outrageous, it's plain dumb. i'm calling on the olympic committee to reverse this decision and make sure american athletes competing in the olympics are competing with labels that say made in america. >> i think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again. if they have to wear nothing but a singlet that says usa on it

painted by hand that's what they should wear. we have people in the industry desperate for jobs. >> the committee released a statement saying quote, we're proud of our partnership with ralph lauren, an iconic american company and excited to watch america's finest athletes compete in london. they are not alone calling in a complete redo of uniforms. next, bring on the photoshop. lane syas is making a run after losing a race in 2010. check out the campaign photo from 2010. notice the tea party endorsed paper posted on that sign? and here's sias in front of the sign. he's using that as a campaign mailer just like in 2010 but with an omission. no more nod to the pea party in the picture. why? the last around the candidate was in a gop primary. this time it's a face-off with a

democrat in a district evenly split. finally, jane pitt kbru attention of her own last week when she sent a letter blasting president obama for supporting gay marriage among other things. her son brad has been a vocal supporter of gay marriage. now the plot thickens. who's come out in support of mrs. pitt's letter? actor jon voight saying good for her. not only is voight a high-profile actor, but he's the father of angelina jolie. it's a good thing thanksgiving dinner isn't just around the corner. up next, the obama campaign thinks it has a good chance of winning a traditionally conservative group of voters. veterans, younger veterans who served in iraq and afghanistan. by the way, if you want to follow me on twitter, follow how to spell smerconish. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. over the south pacific in 1943.

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here's what's happening. the death toll from the recent heat wave continues to rise. 110 people have died across the u.s. from heat wave related causes. residents in las vegas were warned to avoid an area where two chimps were on the loose earlier. one was killed and the other returned. hackers hit yahoo stealing user names and passwords that were then posted online. the company has apologized for the breach. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." military veterans tend to lean republican.

in 2008 they went for john mccain by ten points. four years earlier they gave bush a 16-point edge and polls show that romney retains a strong lead this year. as politico reported this year, president obama is making a push to win the group over, especially younger veterans of the iraq and afghan wars. his pitch is that he's pushed policies to help vets find jobs like giving tax credits to businesses that hire them. he also brought the troops home from iraq and extended benefits. of the g.i. bill to afghanistan and iraq vets. sop does the president have a shot of making strides with young vets? patrick murphy is a former congressman from pennsylvania. warren is the former of massachusetts. both are iraq war veterans. mayor, why in spite of the poll numbers, do you think there's ground here to be made up by president obama? >> well, this president has done an outstanding job in his commitment to veterans. as you mentioned, as the tax cuts that he's offered to encourage businesses to hire

veterans, the challenge he made last summer in 2011 for private sector to hire veterans has resulted in 60,000 jobs for veterans and military families. he's extended g.i. bill for members of the iraq and afghanistan war. historic measures in place where veterans can take advantage of in-state college tuition for free. this is a president who understands the commitment that's been made by those in uniform that have come home and the fact we have to make sure that there is a ladder for them when they do get home and there are real results there. i think as veterans learn this president's record, they will be in support of president obama this fall. >> patrick, one thing the president might have going for him, unemployment has been decreasing among vets. it stands at 9.5% now. that's down from 13.5% last year. how important will the job issue be for veterans in particular? >> very important.

i think that's why you're seeing a decrease. which is great news. there's a lot more work to be done and like setti said, although he was in the navy and i'm an army guy -- >> that's okay. >> when you look at issue like hire our heroes, an initiative that president obama is doing in partnership with the chamber of commerce and what mrs. obama and dr. joe biden are doing. if i could say three quick things on why there's a very good chance president obama will win the veterans' vote. number one, mitt romney is no john mccain. john mccain is an american hero. served his country and was wounded as a p.o.w. in vietnam. mitt romney was in france during vietnam. number two, barack obama has been an outstanding commander in chief. as you know, michael, barack obama as a candidate said he will bring bin laden to justice if he has a chance. he did exactly that.

with the help of those navy s.e.a.l.s and said he would bring the troops home from iraq. which he's done. and thirdly and finally he's been a true champion for our veterans. the largest increase in veterans' benefits in the history of our nation. the new g.i. bill. veterans centers all over our country included two in pennsylvania, one in bucks county, one in montgomery county. >> but i have to interrupt and ask. why is he trailing? he the president, by 24 points? >> well, two things. one, it is traditionally tough for a democrat to win. but don't mistake the fact that of the younger veterans, they voted for barack obama over john mccain. and mitt romney's not john mccain. >> you think it's a generational issue. >> there's no doubt, michael,

but do not discount the fact. as setti said, look at what the commander in chief has done for them the more they will continue to go in his column and eventually vote for him this november. >> setti let me ask you about this quick if i might. how does the don't ask, don't tell position of the president play in military quarters? help or hurt him? >> i think it helps. i think that people that serve this country in uniform understand fairness. they understand everyone's commitment to serve, no matter who they are. i think it's a huge plus and i want to add to what my friend and colleague said, patrick, look, you have to look at the record. mitt romney in massachusetts, i'm a massachusetts native. attempted to decrease veterans benefits by 11%. when he was governor. he did not in the last few months make a commitment to continue the hud program. in fact, he proposed eliminating. we've decreased homelessness by 12%.

because of the work of the v.a. >> i get it. both of you think the president's got a record that ought to distinguish him with vets. i hear you on those points. allow me to make a tough transition. because while you're here, i want to make a sharp turn that doesn't have anything to do with politics. it's a serious issue of suicides in the military. "time" this week talks about the alarming trend. more u.s. army personnel have died by suicide than died while fighting there. while it leveled off in 2010 and 2011, it soared 18% this year. suicide has passed road accidents as the leading non-combat cause of death among u.s. troops. while it's hard to come by historical data on suicide in military, there's no denying the current numbers constitute a crisis. what took me by surprise, 1/3 of

troops have never deployed. you would think this is individuals were deployed four or five times. a third are from troops who never deployed. what's going on? >> there is such an incredible bud on our heroes. they've got to read that cover store in "time" magazine. it will break your heart. when you read that story, when you hear the story of someone like ian morrison who's a west point graduate, an apache pilot who went six times and was turned away from help, my heart goes out to his wife rebecca. i will tell you that when our family goes to bed tonight and maggie and murphy say their prayers, we will pray for her and every one of these hero's families who took their life. every 80 minutes, michael, a veteran in america commits suicide. it is a national shame.

it is so much more we need to do. >> setti, what is it we need to know about this? what drives this? what's the cause from your perspective? >> well, i think that clearly it's a tragedy. as a mayor i see veterans come into my door every day. i see what they've gone through, some of them, and not really having a safety net to catch them before they fall through the cracks. at the local level, we have to find an innovative way to reach out to veterans of all wars. patrick noted that the extended deployments, those that carry the burden, the uniform, are so great right now. we also see that the president addressed the processing of benefits of adding 2300 processors at the v.a. which is very important. that helped get people benefits that are suffering from ps --

post-traumatic stress syndrome. >> we need to do more. thank you both for your service. >> -- about reaching out. >> thank you. >> thanks. up next, nbc's richard engel just back from covering the uprising in syria. this is "hardball," the place for politics. hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. ♪ [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon.

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tim kaine has a lead over george allen in the ppp poll. in wisconsin, former thompson leads baldwin 45 to 41 in a new marquette university poll. that's for the seat for retiring herb cole. and in maine, king still leads the pack in a new critical insights poll. it's king with a 28-point lead with over the democrat and republican in the race. king still hasn't said which party he'd caucus with if he wins. we'll be back. ♪ ♪

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new v8 v-fusion plus energy. by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. we're back. 16 months of fighting has left

syria war torn. u.n. peace keeping efforts strained. syrians asking why doesn't the world care? conservative estimates by reuters say 13,000 armed and unarmed opponents of assad have been killed along with 4300 pro-assad security forces. richard engel recently returned from syria where he witnessed the aftermath of a december 2011 massacre that left 127 dead. in a rare interview, he asked two cousins who had defected from the syrian army what happened when syrian troops rolled into town. >> translator: they started firing on us with all kinds of weapons. >> firing from above, i ask. >> translator: yes, from above. we were surrounded from every side. there was no escape. >> some tried to surrender to government forces. >> translator: about 15 people give themselves up. the troops tied their hands, lined them up, and killed them. >> this cell phone video recorded by villagers shows

bodies on the valley floor. some appear to be bound, shot execution style. then hasan and rawan say syrian troops climbed down into the valley to finish off any survivors. >> richard engel is joining me right is joining me now. thank you for being here. how common are massacres like that that you just reported on? >> i can give you the latest example. another massacre reportedly happened today according to syrian activists. 100 people were killed when a village this the area was attacked by artillery shells, and then an informal government backed militia entered this village and started killing people. unfortunately massacres in syria are in the that uncommon. the story we're doing tonight on nightly news is something fairly uncommon, however. and that is to be able to

document a massacre and not many journalists are in syria. we went to the massacre site. we spoke with those two people you saw on camera. they were the only two survivors who are still in syria. of the massacre 127 men and boys. >> i took note of the rudimentary nature of the weapons being used by the rebels. >> the rebels have very little. they are fighting against an organized army. an organized army that is getting fractured by the day, i might add with some ak-47s, some homemade explosives. this is not like what happened in libya where there was a massive intervention. here the rebels are effectively cut off and trying to fend for themselves. in that video you see people changing batteries to use for homemade bombs blowing up government vehicles. so they are trying to do it themselves. >> is the momentum on the side

of the rebels? >> i think it is. that's what is new. that's what we're going to be talking about again tonight on rock center. for the first time in the 16-month conflict, the rebels have a safe haven. they have momentum. they have territory. they don't have a lot of money. they don't have a lot of weapons, and it will combine with a space on the ground that they can control, gives them momentum. and i think could be a tipping point at the conflict. >> what is the current u.s. role in syria? >> there really isn't one. the u.s. is trying to get russia, primarily russia, and to a degree china, to stop putting obstacles in the way of allowing the opposition in syria to have more arms, more political support, more financial support. but on the ground, the u.s. is not doing much at all. the rebels are communicating with each other. there'sreal advisers. maybe there's some cia on the ground.

we have just a minute left. i was surprised in reading a "newsweek" piece describing life in damascus where they're partying like it's -- i don't know 11980 -- who knows what. >> and the city are still in assad's hands. particularly damascus. but the countryside is not. and the spaces in between syrian army check points are not in the government's hands. it's almost like the titanic. the ship is going down in the capitol, and on the bridge, they are still celebrating and having parties and lavish weddings. >> thank you, richard engel. we'll be watching the full report on rock center. let me finish with why it took so long to catch jerry sandusky once and for all.

let me finish tonight with this. now that former fbi director has delivered his report on the the handling of jerry sandusky by penn state university, it's time

for fact finding about the response by law enforcement. specifically the pennsylvania attorney general's office. published reports where the reporter earned a pulitzer for her sandusky coverage raised troubling questions. the case was first reported by a high school student. the local district attorney recused himself from handling the case and it was referred to the state attorney general's office. then headed by tom corbett, who was running for governor of pennsylvania. the ag's office was pursuing bonus gate. an investigation of state municipal corruption. according to the patriot news for the first year of the sandusky probe, only one investigator was assigned to the case. it took that investigation a year to figure out that sandusky was the subject of a 1998 probe for similar behavior. and it took a year to learn that

sandusky penned an oddly hitted manuscript entitled "touch." a google search of the name jerry sandusky would are revealed the book in seconds. this is significant. ultimately, it was a road map for finding victims. mf o whom were written about the book and even pictured in the book. to state the obvious, with a suspected pedophile on the street, you need to move with all possible speed so as to protect children from assault. this case took three years to bring to conclusion from when the high school boy first made his report to when he was arrested. critics suggested he drew out the investigation until after his successful 2010 gubernatorial campaign had ended. both reject the claims, saying the investigatored proceeded kaushly in an effort to ensure they uncovered enough evidence to corroborate victim one's claims. that evidence came in early