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where people are being killed every day. more reaction just ahead, we'll talk to a key member in that briefing. house foreign affairs, chairman, ed boyce. and what will israel do? joining us today, israel's ambassador to the united states, michael orrin. lockup -- the surviving boston bombing suspect is moved to a federal prison overnight. and the suspect's carjack victim reveals new details about his terrifying and daring escape. on this vote, the yeas are 361, the nays are 41, 0 recorded as present. two-thirds being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. >> just in time for yet another congressional getaway -- and their flight plans, which had been in jeopardy, congress breaks all speed records overnight. ending the air traffic control sequester cuts. just wondering, what exactly is the holiday causing another week-long recess? and would they act this quickly so that 4-year-olds could get back to head start?

>> good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. the white house has confirmed that preliminary evidence of chemical weapons used in syria. so what are the next steps? how foreign affairs chairman ed royce has just attended a briefing by secretary of state kerry and joins me from the hill. thank you very much. i know the white house has been putting a lot of caveats on this. they say there's a preliminary indication, they don't have a chain of custody. what did secretary kerry tell you about how concrete the evidence is. >> well, let me share with you that -- the expressions that the administration uses are along the lines that you've just expressed -- but at the same time, as you know, the british, the french have also looked at this situation. and i think that we're at a point now where there's a general consensus, that yes, indeed, the regime is beginning to use sarin gas.

or use chemical weaponry that can create mass casualties. the question is how can the international community move quickly to throw its weight behind the free syrian forces? and i think that's what you see happening. i think the european community the united states, the countries in the region are beginning a process of aid to the free syrian army. along with a vetting process to make sure that foreign fighters do not join that cause. the goal right now is to keep the foreign fighters out of the country. because if the foreign fighters come in and certainly the c qataris have helped facilitate. now you're talking about al qaeda-style ideology coming into syria with these fighters. that's what's driving their motivation. so i think the plan is, try to keep the foreign fighters out.

get the aid now, as quickly as we can into the hands of the free syrian army. >> how do we keep the foreign fighters out? are they talking about now about a buffer zone or a no-fly zone? >> well, i think the way that you keep them out, is a dialogue and pressure on the qataris. qatar has been singularly unhelpful, if you recall, in both libya in the past and now here. and we wouldn't be in this problem right now if they had not facilitated this. so what we need to do, and the international community, and as the united states, is to explain all of the consequences that will, all the ramifications and lean heavily on that country, to quit aiding and abetting outside fighters, let's call this an al qaeda franchise, that ends up coming into the country and is now doing part of the fighting. and that of course sets up a

very different dynamic internally than the case with the free syrian army. where you have allowites, sunnis, kurds, all fighting together with a joint command, with the idea they're setting up a syrian state without assad. rather than setting up ann a syrian islamist state. >> was there pressure in your meetings today, for the things to do more in terms of arming those rebel groups, whom we are dealing with, whom we have vetted? and is there also pressure for the u.s. to do more, given that there may be a crossing of this red line? you yourself mentioned that the brits, the french think that this has indeed happened, that the evidence is clear. how do we not do something, iran is watching, north korea is watching. >> right, right. and of course we all know that hezbollah is on the ground. the iranian intelligence is also on the ground. the kurds forces are doing part

of the fighting, they're backing up assad and part of the problem is even when allowhite units want to defect, when you've got that cast of characters around you, it makes it very hard to do. we've talked to some of the leaders in the business community and one of the former ministers, i talked with him personally, who has defected to the other side and it's right now doing broadcasting into the country, asking others to join this. >> this is a fight that needs to be carried on by syrians in the free syrian army. there are other countries other than the united states quite willing and right now are beginning to become in this process of handing over the type of weaponry needed in order to check the, the syrian armor, assad's armor on the ground. they are getting that weaponry, not from the united states, but from other sources. at the same time they're putting a lot of aid from the u.s. in other ways. and we are helping vet and go

through the process. and in a way let's calling it training that the europeans and the united states are involved in, to make sure that the right officers the once that are committed to the concept of syria as a nation and are not committed to a radical future for that country. that they're the ones that receive the aid. >> congressman boyce, thank you very much on capitol hill. the other big story we're tracking today, in boston, dzhokhar tsarnaev has been moved overnight out of beth israel hospital, transferred to a federal prison fast, a medical detention center at fort devons, a former air base located 40 miles outside boston. joining me is michael leiter. want to talk to you about what's happening in boston. following up on what chairman royce was saying. we don't have the dots all connected and i was told by several officials last night and

again today, that they are very aware of what happened ten years ago. on wmd. we're not going to go without really hard evidence. but the real key here is the russians. with all due respect, it's not the qataris and with whom they're arming, it's that the russians are blocking a ground investigation by the u.n., by not supporting us in going in on the ground. >> i don't think it's just the russians, i think it's appropriate cautionings, having worked on the commission that investigated the intelligence failure on wmd in iraq, i'm extremely sim thympathetic to t idea that intelligence is often imperfect. it's easier to know if weapons were used than to know if it is to know if weapons are hidden. in that sense we probably have a better sense. there is obviously pressure building. british, french, israelis, all intelligence services with whom we work very, very closely. and i think what we're going to see is more intelligence digging

into whether or not an order was given. who was in the command of those weapons and once we have a better sense of that, i think the administration is really facing a tough choice. >> the tough choice is involving what? >> i think there's a couple of different things they could do. you have to worry about additional weapons being used. in that sense you can go after trying to secure the weapons themselves. there are ujts that are responsible for deploying the weapons, so kpu go after those units. and then you can do clat rat things like buffer zones around the borders, no fly zones. once you know that they've used weapons, you probably have to do something to make sure those weapons are more secure than they are now. >> let me ask you about dzhokhar tsarnaev, he was questioned for about 16 hours off and on. he was in and out of consciousness, we're told. and then the charge by mike rodgers, the house intelligence chair on this show yesterday that he was mirandized too soon by the magistrate. >> i think congressman rodgers

in this case he wasn't really mirandized, that really refers to when an fbi officer or a police officer tells someone they have these rights. what happened here he had been charged by the justice department and by both constitutional principles and federal rules of criminal procedure, he had to be presented to a magistrate and the magistrate judge explains the rights. >> plus a public defender was present. >> that's right, so at that point there's no stopping that. once he is in custody, he has to be charged as a u.s. person in the states. and once he's charged, he has to see a magistrate, he has to see a judge. >> what about the exclusion for the public safety exclusion, which was the case that came out of new york in 19 86. >> that's true, but the public safety exception only goes up to the point that the individual is not seen a judge or a magistrate and is being read and informed of the charges. what has previously happened when the public safety exception has been extended, as terror

suspects have waived their right to be presented to a judge. once this individual, once tsarnaev was presented to a judge, they have to explain to -- >> i think, michael, that was rodgers' complaint, the judge should not have -- >> well the judge has to. he has this individual has a constitutional right. so the only way you can avoid that being explained to him by a judge, is that charges aren't actually filed. and frankly, in the united states, in unless you're termed an enemy combatant, there's no other authority for the government to hold tsarnaev. >> mike bloomberg said there was no direct threat to new york. but they had planned to go to new york and use whatever their leftover explosives were. >> i think what that shows is how important it was for the fbi and the boston police department to successfully capture him. and i think that's why they started to feel pressure to release those pictures relatively early in the investigation. because they didn't know what was next. and you can assume that it was just going to be boston.

but that's a dangerous assumption. i think in this case, the federal state and local response did foil a future attack. >> do you think the plot has been contained? that there aren't tentacles, enablers and others under cover? >> i do. i have seen absolutely nothing which suggests any other operational components of this plot. you still have to assume there might be, but i haven't seen that. what i'm sure we'll see is links, internet and maybe in person which led to the radicalization but not the execution of this plot. >> michael leiter, thank you very much. up next, israel's ambassador to the united states talks about our options on syria. and still ahead, the furlough fix -- congress proves it can act, what do you know -- when it wants to. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] straight from red lobster's chefs to your table for a limited time! it's our seafood dinner for two for just 25 dollars! a handcrafted seafood feast made to share. first you each get salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. then choose two from a wide variety of chef-inspired entrées

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in israel last month, president obama repeated his warning that the assad regime would face retaliation if it used chemical weapons in its civil war. >> i've made it clear to bashar al assad and all who follow his orders, we will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons against the syrian people or the transfer of those weapons to terrorists. the world is watching, we will hold you accountable. >> so has that now happened? and if so, what will the administration do to hold assad accountable? joining me is israel's ambassador to the united states, michael orrin. ambassador, welcome. has the u.s., the u.s. says it has not concluded that the red line has been crossed. do you think the red line has been crossed? >> well, let me say at the outset, andrea, the united states and israel are sovereign states, each of those states, whether it's the syrian issue or the iranian threat. we have the right and duty to make our own assessments, how to

defend ourselves, what way to act. regarding the syrian chemical weapons. we've set our own red line which has to do with the transfer of chemical weapons, to the wrong hands, in this case, hezbollah's hands in lebanon. and we are very serious about holding up that red line. we will not remain passive if bashar al assad tries to transfer chemical weapons to hezbollah and other groups. this is a decision that the united states has to make for its itself. we share intelligence at the highest and most inmat levels. >> israel's intelligence has concluded that sarin gas or chemical weapons probably were used, most likely last month at the very least. >> israel's military intelligence made an assessment of the probability about it. and intelligence agencies are entitled to their assessments, but again we are discussing this at the highest levels, at the most intimate levels and the issue of the usage of chemical weapons in syria is still being discussed. >> i'm inferring from what

you're saying and from the white house is saying to me directly and other officials is we don't have the chain of command, we don't have the hard evidence that someone close to assad, if not assad himself ordered this on such-and-such a day and such-and-such a time. and absent that, it's a hard case to make to russia, to the u.n., to others, especially russia, supporting the assad regime at the u.n. that this is the time to act. >> it's very important to note that we are not telling the united states how to act. >> i understand that. >> and there have been some allegations out in the press that we have. and i'm denying that kate gorically. this is a decision that the united states has to make. if there's a decision made by the united states to aid certain rebel groups, that those rebel groups be very carefully vetted. because we've had some bad experiences not so far back in libya. where certain arms ended up in our back yard very quickly and were used against our forces. this is a decision that has to be made solely by the united states.

>> are there good military options? general dempsey testified that there aren't good military options. we have things on the shelf, but there aren't good military options to get the weapons and all the places they may be deposited. we can go over regime targets and do other things. >> well syrian chemical weaponry arsenal is the largest in the world, it's very diverse and it's intensely complex. it is very complex. and we are discussing ways that we can monitor it and if we have to, to react to it. beyond that, i can't go into tactical details. but it is a serious threat. not on a threat to the extent that the iranian nuclear threat. but chemical weapons do pose a threat not just to israel, but to other neighboring countries. we're in close communication with our american allies. i just came back from secretary of defense hagel's visit. >> there was a report of a drone shot down by israel and in fact

the prime minister may have been in the air at the time and land his helicopter in the north of israel the same time that a drone was being shot down, something that might have come from lebanon. >> i haven't heard that before. but we don't know, the drone was indeed shot down over the eastern mediterranean. it was not over israel. >> do we know where it was coming from? >> we do not know yet where it was coming from. we don't know from what group and no one has taken responsibility yet. >> and finally, i know everyone is sharing intelligence. i'm told that the u.s. is relying on the syrian issue, on the chemical issue, on a lot of different national services. they have actual blood samples of sarin. do, what do we do if the u.n. inspectors can't get in. we don't have actual u.n. weapons inspectors, you know, who could follow up with the u.n. is there a way that we can get better intelligence of what is actually happening in the rebel

sources? intelligence on the ground? >> again, the syrian chemical weapon issue is, is like the situation inside syria itself, is very fluid, very flammable and highly complex. and getting kpleer pictures is indeed very difficult. we are just saying and reiterating, in the strongest possible words, we're not making any policy recommendations to the united states. we're not urging, we're just going to keep on being great allies and sharing the best intelligence that we have with our allies. so that they can make the decision for themselves. >> thank you very much. ambassador michael orrin. meanwhile, in bangladesh, two days after a devastating building collapsed, rioting has broken out. as rescue crews pulled two factory workers alive from the rubble. 292 people were killed in the collapse of the clothing factory. police say that the building's owner is now on the run. the building house garment factories that make clothing for u.s. and european brands. we've all had those moments.

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on this vote, the yeas are 361, the nays are 41, zero recorded as present. two-thirds being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. >> nothing gets lawmakers to act more quickly than when it gets personal. their own flight plans today and laavelers and lobbyists. this morning, house members overwhelmingly passed the senate fix to faa furloughs. caused by the sequester that they authorized it in the first place. 10% across the board. joining me, nbc capitol hill correspondent luke russert and nbc political producer, casey hunt both from the hill. luke you've watched this for years and so has casey. have you ever seen them act more quickly to get something done? >> no. it is rather striking andrea, we often talk about here on capitol hill how painful it is for congress to move any substantial

piece of legislation to get anything done. in this case when they were facing on average an hour, hour and a half delays to go back to their home districts, they moved pretty quickly. republicans so far taking credit for this. saying their #, boemflightdelays would push this forward. i think you're seeing here in washington, d.c., one criticism that goes against this congress, they're out for themselves, that politicians don't understand us, they don't care about the general public -- in this case you can sort of see a literal example. there's other cuts that have gone forward here with the sequester, cuts to head start that you've mentioned, other types of programs that maybe folks don't necessarily feel as directly as a flight delay. but what we saw here in washington just now, was that if you get in the way of a member of congress going home to their home district on time, they're going to speak up and move with lightning speed. if they get phone calls from small businesses, people that make donations that say, hey, we can't conduct business this way because we're missing our flights and they're delayed, they're going to move with speed. it's sort of a really

interesting insight into how washington works. >> and casey, i'm trying to figure out what this recess is all about. i know it's not memorial day yet. and it's, we're past easter and passover. so what's the deal with the week off? >> it's just how they do things around here and they don't like to sacrifice that time. and it is really the reason why they moved so fast on this. they knew they were going to have to get out of town and it was an acknowledgement of how politically difficult this problem was becoming. parts of the reason they did it so quickly is this congress really doesn't act unless it's clear that not acting is the political liability. and that's exactly what happened here. if they had left town and we had spent another week and a half with hundreds of delayed flights, business travelers not getting where they needed to be and congress themselves getting home, you wouldn't have seen this kind of action. this was something that was really thrown together even at 5:00 yesterday afternoon. senate aides were telling me that they didn't have a deal. and by 9:00, they had passed it

with very little mention, kind of under the radar. >> and luke, before i let you go. i have to ask you about the bills. because in the nfl draft as a first round draft pick, they took the first quarterback chosen, they take florida state's ej manuel and i'm not clear from the stats why. do you -- figure how he this was so shocking. this was the sarah palin pick of nfl draft picks. literally coming out of nowhere. nobody saw this. this was out of left field. maybe they can bring some energy that sarah palin brought to the republican ticket in 0-twou 8, that's what i'm praying for, andrea. i think he's 3 and 9 against top 25 teams that doesn't necessarily bode well for the future. so poor us in buffalo. i wish we had rg3 as you have in washington, d.c. but andrea you were pretty unheralded coming out of the local tv in philadelphia and you made to the number one correspondent for nbc. so maybe it can work out that

way for ej manuel. >> thanks for the shout-out. we'll hope that ej manuel does better for the bills. thank you very much and thanks casey, you all have a great weekend. and coming up next, senator joe manchin plots a new battle plan in the battle for stricter gun laws. and how does the u.s. get russia's help on the boston marathon investigation, we're watching "andrea mitchell reports" reports. ♪ lookin' good, flo! feelin' good! feelin' real good!

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and when they read the bill,ky tell you the gun owners and the law-abiding gun owners in west virginia are in favor and support. the people that are nay-sayers that won't read the bill and listen to the paranoia are the ones that are hyped up. but i think we are doing very well. we are talking to senator who is may have legitimate concerns and i'll give you within. we have a large extended family, they live all over the country. now we sometimes communicate by internet. i want to make sure that the bill does not, i do not violate the law if i would sell my gun to my cousin. because i notified him or he notified me that he was wanting that gun on the internet. we thought our bill clarified that. but we're going to clarify it to make sure that all family transactions are completely exempted. >> you need to hold all the democrats. can you bring heidi heitkamp back? >> i'm not going to speak for

heidi or any of the four, mark and max and mark again. they'll have to make their decisions. but we're talking and they've been very gracious talking to me, wanting to get more clarification. i'll continue to work through it and hopefully they'll make their decision and we'll see where it goes. >> i know you don't want to get specific and you've got your strategy going. max baucus, he's not running, that's what's happened since that vote. clearly he had made that decision before. and had been thinking about it for a while. so can't you go to max baucus and say, hey, you've got nothing at stake here politically. >> well, but still, andrea, max, montana is first and foremost for max, like west virginia is to me. max has been very hopefully there can be more of a comfort level knowing exactly what happened to the bill. let me explain whey think happened. the first bill that came out was chuck schumer's bill. i told chuck i couldn't support

that bill. chuck was gracious enough to start working from that point. came clear over to where we needed to find a bill that really, really basically worked towards the law-abiding gun owners and kept criminals and severely mentally ill people from being able to buy a gun. the people were still putting out all the hype about the first bill, which anyone in washington knows that bill wasn't going anywhere. our bill replaced it. so now we don't have that distraction. that might give some of my colleagues a little bit more of a comfort area. >> what about the trafficking bill that gillenbrand and others are pushing? does that have legs? or do you need to drill down and just focus on coming up with a background check compromise? do you think is that ha is going to pass, if anything does? >> well, these are all important pieces of legislation which have support and kirsten is working very hard on hers, there's so many different parts to this. but i think the leadership has to make a decision. what is the most important thing

that would keep a criminal or a violent mentally ill person who has been found so by a court, not to be able to go to a gun show, very easily accessible. or not to go online, which is extremely easily to be accessed and buy a weapon that they shouldn't get. if that's the most important critical thing that we need to do, then this bill does it and does it well. we've got to focus on that and then the other maybe, if they believe that it needs to be part of another bill by itself, then they'll make that decision. i can't really speak to that. i know this is the most important thing. keeping the guns out of the hands of people that shouldn't have guns and proving they're not worthy to have a gun. >> i know you've been busy on the hill. and there is the nfl draft. are you surprised that geno smith from the mountaineers is still undrafted? >> luke gave me a little lead-in. and luke teased me on that one. i am surprised, because this is a tremendous athlete. someone is going to get a real bargain on geno, i can tell you, i've watched him mature over the

years, gone to all the games, as you know. tayvon austin didn't do real bad, either. >> he went to the rams. somebody is going to get geno. >> didn't you play, if i'm not mistaken? >> i did, i was, way, way back in 1965, i went got a football scholarship. went to wvu, played quarterback my freshman year, we had a good freshman year, but back then you couldn't play varsity if you were a freshman, so my sophomore i got hurt, got a bad knee and i got a new cobalt titanium knee out of it. that's what college football gave me. >> you see the senate is the beneficiary. for the end of your football career. thank you very much. thanks, senator. >> i appreciate it. >> have a great weekend. and meanwhile, as the investigation continues into the boston marathon bombing, the focus now is centering on tamerlan tsarnaev's time in russia. where some lawmakers think he might have received help in planning his attacks.

joining knee now is nicholas burns, former u.s. ambassador and harvard profe and global post columnist. thank you very much, nick, good to see you. there are a lot of complaints we're not getting enough cooperation from russia. russia says they tasked the c.i.a. and the fbi twice in 2011. complaints from our agencies is they never got help back from the fsb in russia as to what they were looking at, once they couldn't find here any real links to terrorists. how do we work at getting better cooperation here? >> on the surface, you have seen president putin and the kremlin indicate a couple of times this week they want close cooperation with the united states on counterterrorism. so i think the russians are going to be easy, maybe even to embrace this counterterrorism to position both the united states and russia as victims of islamic terrorism and therefore, we should be partners. we have worked with the russians back to the 1990s and including after 9/11. on a lot of terrorism issues. they've sometimes been good partners, sometimes not so good.

on this one the russians can be helpful in trying to let us know what tamerlan tsarnaev did on those repeated trips to chechnya in 2012 and whether or not he had ties to terrorist groups in dagestan. that's where they can be helpful. there is a double-edged sword here, andrea. the russians have been brutal in putting down the two chechen wars of the 1990s and that's very corrupt regime in power right now in chechnya. supported by the kremlin. i don't think we want to get too close to the russians because of that very, very tragic legacy. >> and nick, at the same time, americans, most americans don't know very much about chechnya. there was even the czech ambassador going to the lengths of saying the czech republic is not chechnya, to try to clarify that. the fact is that chechnya isn't really the issue here. we're talking about a

pan-islamic terrorism that's involved in dagestan and church nia and it's morphed into something very difficuerent. >> the northern caucasus region have been rebellious for centuries against moscow. whether it's it was czarist or russian. but it's been an islamic movement, a terrorist movement that's grown up over the last 20 years or so, some of those people found their way to afghanistan in the early part of the afghan war. and that's the link that the united states government now is trying very hard to find out if there's a link between those groups and what happened here in boston, massachusetts. >> finally, nick, if i could just ask you about syria, we've had the white house saying there's some evidence about sarin being used last month by the, we don't know, whether it was by the assad regime. they say that they assume. it would only be the assad regime that has access to these weapons. but that they haven't connected the dots well enough yet it make

the actual charge and to have crossed the red line. what do we do next? >> this is a major test for the obama administration. as you know, when you draw a line in the sand and challenge someone not to cross it, and when they apparently cross it. then your own credibility is at stake if you don't react in an effective way. having said that, i do think the president is right to proceed cautiously. we got our intelligence estimates wrong back in going into iraq about whether or not there was wmd, weapons of mass destruction there in 2003. that was disastrously wrong. the president is right, we need conclusive proof before we act. he can proceed with investigations urt through the u.s. government and syrian rebel forces or through the united nations. can he certainly warn assad not to use chemical weapons or else there will be severe consequences. he can warn them again. he can try to enlist russia and china, although i don't think russia and china will actually work with us and the president will have to consider a range of

limited military options here, it's a very difficult, complex problem and i think we're going to see the obama administration fixed on this for the next several weeks. >> ambassador nick burns from harvard. our political panel on the week that was for president obama. [ phil ] when you have joint pain and stiffness... accomplishing even little things can become major victories. i'm phil mickelson, pro golfer. when i was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, my rheumatologist prescribed enbrel for my pain and stiffness, and to help stop joint damage. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactions have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. you should not start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure,

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40 years after the supreme court affirmed a woman's constitutional right to privacy. including the right to choose we vunt have to remind people that when it comes to a woman's health, no politician should get to decide what's best for you. no insurer should get to decide what kind of care you can get. the only person who gets it make decisions about your health is you. >> president obama today, the first american president to address the planned parenthood annual gathering. so at the end of a week that saw him attending a rare gathering of the president's club in texas and comforting the afflicted in waco and boston earlier and

dealing with urgent foreign policy challenges in syria. let's talk about the week now. joining me, bbc state department correspondent kim kattes. author of "the secretary." and "u.s.a. today's" washington bureau chief, susan paige. so, let's talk about first syria. >> and the tough week that the president now faces. because they acknowledged what they know. but they were also saying what they don't know, kim. but iran is watching, north korea is watching. >> assad is watching as well. and i think that it's fair to say that president assad is looking to see how far he can go, testing the reaction from the international community. he's gone crescendo in the use of weapons that he's resorted to from or tillry to airplanes to now apparently chemical weapons. but it's important to point out that on the ground, i don't feel that there is a real

game-changing moment when it comes to chemical weapons. without wanting to dismiss the importance of the idea that perhaps chemical weapons are being used. we're still where we were a week ago. which is that 70,000 people have been killed so far in the conflict. and what is more important to look at in terms of what is changing on the ground, is the military balance between the syrian government forces and the rebels and the syrian government forces are making some advances. they're pushing back against the rebels. and that's what we really need to watch very, very closely. especially because apparently there are reports now that h hezboll hezbollah, the militant group from lebanon is going all in, to try to change the military balance on the ground. we've heard a lot of american officials talk about how they want to change assad's pressure. so now it looks like he's trying to change the calculation of the outside world and perhaps present himself as somebody who

could perhaps still prevail. >> and susan, kim of course having been raised in lebanon, knows all too well hezbollah means iran, iran, this is a proxy war now as well. and assad, if he is gaining militarily, that changes the whole calculation for secretary kerry, talking about being more forward-leaning in what we are providing the rebels, he's just announced doubling the aid of nonlethal aid. >> and not to get engaged. the risks of engagement. the risks of not being engaged are both pretty serious. and we spoke yesterday at the george w. bush library dedication, it couldn't be far from his mind that the incident that defined bush's presidency and allowed his his own

election. was the controversial decision to take action on iraq. >> and we're talking about exactly ten years ago, ten, 11 years ago when the debates were taken place, next week it will be ten years since the "mission accomplished" sign on the carrier. which the white house disclaimed any responsibility for. but it still had him standing under a sign that they could have taken down and we saw how many thousands of troops and contractors and civilians died after that may 1, 2003. >> absolutely. and i think that the lessons of iraq weigh over everything that the white house is doing. they never mentioned the word iraq, yesterday in briefings of senior white house officials, you never heard the word iraq. but there were clear references to past experience, what we've learned in the past and that's why they're making very clear that what they have at the moment is an intelligence assessment. it is not evidence. it is not convincing conclusive proof that these weapons have

been used. they want to investigate further ideally with the u.n. investigation. but if they can't do that, they will rely on rebels and they will want to make sure that the samples they get from the rebels are not get from the rebels are not tainted in any sort of way. you have to remember that the opposition has a vested interest in convincing the outside world that a red line has been crossed. they want international intervention. they've been calling for it for a long time. it is also important to remember that for those dying in syria, the red line has been crossed a long time ago. >> and susan, a lot of counter veiling pressure. lindsey graham returning from a recent trip saying we have to be careful. if we were to arm these rebels that it not get into the wrong hands. we heard from the house foreign affairs chairman, ed royce at the top of the show complaining about those who are arming rebel

groups. and tend wrong groups. >> no short ang of critics of what the administration is doing. john boehner, the house speaker yesterday saying are we outsourcing our policy on this to the united nations? there is a sense if what we're doing is relying on the united nations to go in and investigate, that is basically saying we want to delay. we don't want to do anything. >> i think it is safe to say the u.n. won't do any of this at this stage. not with russia blocking it. >> but they are blocking the arrival of u.n. investigators. >> thank you very much for a great week. thanks, kim, and meanwhile a sad note. the country music community and generations of fans lost a powerful voice today. country legend george jones died in a nashville hospital this morning. the native texan saw more than 100 of his songs top the country charts. joining the grand ole opry. his six-year marriage and collaboration with singer tammy wineett made him a part of

country music history. george jones was 81 years old. he is survived by his wife and children.

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has branch ricky who made that decision in 1947 to thir first african-american ball player. it is an amazing portrait of jackie robinson. >> and it shows how he had to be not only an excellent athlete, which he was an amazing ball player burk he had to have all these other skills to deal with some of the griefs that he went through. breaking that barrier. >> thank you so much. susan page. that does it for us. to say a word about "42," tom brokaw said as a kid in south dakota, his kids said, jackie robinson has been hired. we're all dodgers now. apply colleague tamron hall has a look at what's next. >> thank you very much. coming up in the next hour, congress takes action to end the furloughs that led to the massive airlines delays. but so many other programs have been hit very hard by the sequester. plus, exclusive new information about the explosives used by the

suspects in the boston marathon bombing. national investigative correspondent michael isikoff will join us live with those details. and developing now, the president meeting with jordan's king abdullah as the administration considers how to react after possible proof that the syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people. that's all coming up next on "news nation." who sells those remote control helicopters at the mall. buy'em or don't. whatever man. either way, he gets to fly helicopters all day. i'm talking da vinci style flying machines! he's dating kayla, the lotion girl. able bodied athleticism. here's his buddy marco, who's got the hot water for his velveeta shells & cheese. achieve your dreams. liquid gold. eat like that guy you know.

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