good saturday to you. i'm craig melvin. thank you for staying with us as we continue our breaking news coverage. president obama saying just hours ago that the united states should take military action against syria, but he is leaving the final decision to congress. we want to play those comments for you now in their entirety. >> 10 days ago, the world watched in horror as men, women, and children were massacred in

syria in the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century. yesterday, the united states presented a powerful case that the syrian government was responsible for this attack on its own people. our intelligence shows the assad regime and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets into highly populated suburbs of damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place. and all of this corroborates what the world can plainly see. hospitals overflowing with victims, terrible images of the dead. all told, well over 1,000 people were murdered. several hundred of them were children. young girls and boys gassed to death by their open government -- by their own government. this attack is an assault on human dignity.

it also presents a serious danger to our national security. it risks making a mockery of the global prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. it endangers our friends and our partners along syria's borders, including israel, jordan, turkey, lebanon, and iraq. it could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons, or their proliferation to terrorist groups who would do our people harm. in a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted. after careful deliberation, i have decided that the united states should take military action against syrian regime targets. this would not be an open-ended intervention. we would not put boots on the ground. instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope. but i'm confident we can hold the assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons,

deter this kind of behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out. our military has positioned assets in the region. the chairman of the joint chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. moreover, the chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time sensitive. it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now. and i'm prepared to give that order. but having made my decision as commander in chief based on what i am convinced is our national security interests, i'm also mindful that i'm the president of the world's oldest constitutional democracy. i've long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. and that's why i've made a

second decision. i will seek authorization for the use of force from the american people's representatives in congress. for the last several days, we've heard from members of congress who want their voices to be heard. i absolutely agree. so this morning, i spoke with all four congressional leaders, and they've agreed to schedule a debate and then a vote as soon as congress comes back into session. in the coming days, my administration stands ready to provide every member with the information they need to understand what happened in syria and why it has such profound implications for america's national security. and all of us should be accountable as we move forward. and that can only be accomplished with a vote. i'm confident in the case our government has made without waiting for u.n. inspectors. i'm comfortable going forward without the approval of a united

nations security council that so far has been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold assad accountable. as a consequence, many people have advised against taking this decision to congress. and undoubtedly they were impacted by what we saw happen in the united kingdom this week when the parliament of our closest ally failed top pass a resolution with a similar goal, even as the prime minister supported taking action. yet while i believe i have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, i know that the country will be stronger if we take this course and our actions will be event more effective. we should have this debate. because the issues are too big for business as usual. and this morning, john boehner, harry reid, nancy pelosi, and mitch mcconnell agreed that this is the right thing to do for our democracy. a county faces few decisions as grave as using military force, even when that force is limited.

i respect the views of those who call for caution, particularly as our country emerges from a time of war that i was elected in part to end. but if we really to want to turn away from taking appropriate action in the face of such an unspeakable outrage, then we must acknowledge the costs of doing nothing. here's my question for every member of congress and every member of the global community. what message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? what's the purpose of the international system that we built if a prohibition on the use of chemical weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98% of the world's people and approved overwhelmingly by the congress of the united states is not enforced? make no mistake, this has implications beyond chemical

warfare. if we won't enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others who flaunt international rules, to governments who would choose to build nuclear arms, to terrorists who would spread biological weapons, to armies who carry out genocide? we cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say. the accords we sign, the values that define us. so just as i will take this case to congress, i will also deliver this message to the world. while the u.n. investigation has some time to report on its findings, we will insist that an atrocity committed with chemical weapons is not simply investigated, it must be confronted. i don't expect every nation to agree with the decision we have made. privately, we've heard many expressions of support from our friends, but i will ask those

who care about the international community to stand publicly behind our action. and finally, let me say this to the american people. i know well that we are wary of war. we have ended one war in iraq. we are ending another in afghanistan. and the american people have the good sense to know we cannot resolve the underlying conflict in syria with our military. and that part of the world, there are ancient sectarian differences. and the hopes of the arab spring have unleashed forces that will take many years to resolve. and that's why we're not contemplating of putting our troops in the middle of someone else's war. instead, we'll continue to support the syrian people through our pressure on the assad regime, our commitment to the opposition, our care for the displaced, and our pursuit of a political resolution that achieves a government that respects the dignity of its people. but we are the united states of america. we cannot and must not turn a

blind eye to what happened in damascus. out of the ashes of world war, we built an international order and enforced the rules that gave it meaning. and we did so because we believe that the rights of individuals to live in peace and dignity depends on the responsibilities of nations. we aren't perfect, but this nation more than any other has been willing to meet those responsibilities. so to all members of congress, of both parties, i ask you to take this vote for our national security. i am looking forward to the debate. in doing so, i ask you, members of congress, to consider that some things are more important than partisan differences or the politics of the moment. ultimately, this is not about who occupies this office at any given time. it's about who we are as a country. i believe that the people's representatives must be invested in what america does abroad. and now is the time to show the

world that america keeps our commitments. we do what we say. and we lead with the belief that right makes might. not the other way around. we all know there are no easy options, but i wasn't elected to avoid hard decisions, and neither were the members of the house and the senate. i have told you what i believe, that our security and our values demand that we cannot turn away from the massacre of countless civilians with chemical weapons. and our democracy is stronger when the president and the people's representatives stand together. i'm ready to act in the face of this outrage. today i'm asking congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation. thanks very much. president obama speaking roughly 5 1/2 hours ago. what this means going forward at home, and abroad. that's next. sup homies?!

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we continue to follow the breaking news this evening, president obama's announcement that he is now asking congress for authority to strike syria. we are learning more this saturday evening about how precisely the president arrived at his decision. nbc's kristen welker is at the white house. what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, it's interesting. according to senior administration officials, president obama had been ready essentially to act unilaterally to launch a limited military strike against syria. that was what he was signalling by all accounts on friday. secretary of state john kerry signalling the same thing. our chief white house correspondent chuck todd was in a briefing with senior administration officials who say this something began to change

toward the end of the week. you had members of congress, more and more of them, both sides of the aisle, calling for a vote. and then you had that stunning vote out of the british parliament on thursday, when they voted no to military action. many of them citing the war in iraq and the faulty intelligence there, and saying they didn't want to get embroiled in another military altercation. so that vote, according to the senior administration officials, weighed heavily on president obama. we understand that last night the president took a walk with his chief of staff, dennis mcdunnough. he put them all together and ultimately decided this was the right course of action, to put the matter to a vote in the u.s. congress. he talked to his national security team about it. we are told that the majority of them disagreed with him last night, and said that this is not the right direction to go in, that this would slow down the momentum and the process and would lead to an uncertain

outcome. but the president felt very strongly that this was in fact the right course to take. we are also told that when the president met with his national security team, his top advisers this morning, that mostly they were all onboard with his decision. so that is how this decision came about. it's fascinating to have those details coming out that we are getting. we know that the white house is currently in the process of writing up a resolution that they will present to congress when they come back. that happens on september 9. the president not calling congress back early because of the jewish holiday, we are told. >> kristen welker, thank you. here with me now, karen finny, host of msnbc's "disrupt." and david road, foreign affairs columnist for reuters. thank you both for sticking around. karen, thanks for pulling double duty today. let me start with you. we know that over the next nine days, at least, there is going

to be a great deal of fiery rhetoric. we have already started to read and hear some of that. what else can we expect from this debate that's going to play out on capitol hill? and also not just on capitol hill, but also at town hall meetings as well? >> well, given that members of congress are at home, certainly they will hear from their constituents in terms of who will weigh in on how they feel about this decision. and if you look at the polling, what's interesting is obviously, you know, a majority of americans still not supporting this action, unless -- but when they learn that it would be from a ship, no boots on the ground, which is part of why i think you're hearing that message repeated over and over again. i think the second piece, though, when congress gets back, i think we will start to see some sort of strange bedfellows, if you will. because across the spectrum, there will be different feelings about whether or not we should go in. republicans, you've got on the one hand the hawks like lindsey graham and john mccain, who are already criticizing the president to see, well, will he

be tough enough. but they're concerned that whatever we do, it can't be about saving face. and then you have ted cruz, the tea party cadre attacking, like we shouldn't go in at all because we really can't be there to save face. so they are unified on their attack on the president. >> david, i understand that you have spent several months traveling with secretary of state john kerry working on an upcoming later for "the atlantic." one of the things that's really struck me throughout the day is here you had john kerry yesterday making a compelling moral argument for war yesterday. very compelling. 15 to 20 minutes. we're going to play it in its entire tee entirety. what do you think is going on inside john kerry's head tonight? >> i think he's listening to his boss. he has waited his whole life to be secretary of state. and he's much more passionate a

person, john kerry, than he comes across. people know him from the 2004 campaign. what fascinates me about this moment is that, you know, john kerry is a vietnam vet. he himself is very leery of american military power. and he became a great critic of the iraq war. but he believes, kerry, he is an activist secretary of state. he is more -- he's more aggressive and traveling more than hillary clinton. and, you know, he's revived the israeli-palestinian peace talks. he thinks that american diplomacy can make a difference. and clearly in syria, he thinks a very focused use of american military power can help as well. the problem is, you know, kerry thinks the u.s. can make the world a better place through diplomacy and sometimes military force. most americans don't at this point. this should be a great debate over the next nine days. you talked about it earlier today. and kerry, he'll be on five -- that's right, five morning tv shows. >> he is running the gauntlet. >> he is the point man. he is the one selling this

policy. >> you know, one thing i would share with you, craig, from my time in the clinton administration and when we went into bosnia, remember that the process of convincing the american people, laying out your case, i mean, that can't -- some of us may not like it, but that can take a week, nine days. that's not unreasonable. because remember when we started yesterday was with an affirmation in the confidence in the documents that we had. trying to brush off the coasts of iraq, if you will. but really trying to ground this whole argument in a very strong moral authrgument in terms of w we've seen going on and our faith that the intelligence is correct. but as this unfolds over the next several days, the argument is going to have to grow because the questions will grow. so i don't necessarily know that i see it as a conflict between what the president said today and what john kerry said yesterday. i think no question the president's remarks today would have been received very differently if you hadn't had that speech from john kerry universi yesterday.

>> precisely. david, let's say that the doves win out. the doves win the day on the hill. and the president loses this thing. he gets a down vote. he has already laid out the case as to why we should strike in syria. then what? i mean, would the president feasibly still strike if congress has said, no, we don't want you to do this? >> yeah. a longtime aide to obama told me today that the president definitely, you know, would strike, even if congress said no. in reality, i don't think so. i think if congress does not give him the vote, he won't act in syria. this gives him an out, in a sense. but if that happens, at least, at the very least, obama's foreign policy legacy has been hugely damaged. he'll be seen as weakened the presidency for going to congress for this vote. this red line in the middle east will have become a joke. so the stakes here are very high

for barack obama. and again, this vote matters. i said this earlier. kerry is the point man. he is the hawk on this clearly. i want to see what barack obama does in the next nine days, how hard he makes the case for this vote. is he really committed personally? >> david, always enjoy your insight. karen, you as well. see you back here tomorrow on "disrupt." thanks to you. and what a difference a day makes. you've seen the president's comments on syria today, yesterday. again, it was his secretary of state, john kerry, making the case for military action. watch john kerry's full comments on the other side of this break right here on msnbc. mom, dad told me that cheerios is good for your heart,

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welcome back.

president obama today says he will await a congressional vote before striking in syria. how does this line up with what secretary of state john kerry said yesterday? let's listen to the secretary's speech. >> president obama has spent many days now consulting with congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in syria. last night, the president asked all of us on his national security team to consult with the leaders of congress as well, including the leadership of the congressional national security committees. and he asked us to consult about what we know regarding the horrific chemical weapons attack in the damascus suburbs last week. i will tell you that as someone who spent nearly three decades in the united states congress, i know that that consultation is the right way for a president to approach a decision of when and

how and if to use military force. and it's important to ask the tough questions and get the tough answers before taking action. not just afterwards. and i believe as president obama does that it is also important to discuss this directly with the american people. that's our responsibility, to talk with the citizens who have entrusted all of us in the administration in the congress with responsibility for their security. that's why this morning's release of our government's unclassified estimate of what took place in syria is so important. its findings are as clear as they are compelling. i'm not asking you to take my word for it. read for yourself, everyone, those listening, all of you,

read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources, evidence that is already publicly available. and read for yourself the verdict reached by our intelligence community about the chemical weapons attack, the assad regime inflected on the opposition and on opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods in the damascus suburbs on the early morning of august 21. our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack. and i will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the iraq experience. we will not repeat that moment. accordingly, we have taken unprecedented steps to declassify and make facts available to people who can judge for themselves. but still, in order to protect

sources and methods, some of what we know will only be released to members of congress, the representatives of the american people. that means that some things we do know we can't talk about publicly. so what do we really know that we can talk about? well, we know that the assad regime has the largest chemical weapons program in the entire middle east. we know that the regime has used those weapons multiple times this year. and has used them on a smaller scale, but still it has used them against their own people, including not very far from where last wednesday's attack happened. we know that the regime was specifically determined to rid the damascus suburbs of the opposition, and it was frustrated that it hadn't

succeeded in doing so. we know that for three days before the attack, the syrian regime's chemical weapons personnel were on the ground, in the area, making preparations. and we know that the syrian regime elements were told to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons. we know that these were specific instructions. we know where the rockets were launched from, and at what time. we know where they landed and when. we know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods. and we know, as does the world, that just 90 minutes later, all hell broke loose in the social

media. with our own eyes, we have seen the thousands of reports from 11 separate sites in the damascus suburbs. all of them show and report victims with breathing difficulties, people twitching with spasms, coughing, rapid heartbeats, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness, and death. and we know it was ordinary syrian citizens who reported all of these horrors. and just as important, we know what the doctors and the nurses who treated them didn't report. not a scratch, not a shrapnel wound, not a cut, not a gunshot wound. we saw rows of deadlined up in burial shrouds. the white linen unstained by a single drop of blood. instead of being tucked safely

in their beds at home, we saw rows of children lying side-by-side, sprawled on a hospital floor, all of them dead from assad's gas and surrounded by parents and grandparents who had suffered the same fate. the united states government now knows that at least 1,429 syrians were killed in this attack, including at least 426 children. even the first responders, the doctors, nurses, and medics who tried to save them, they became victims themselves. we saw them gasping for air, terrified that their own lives were in danger. this is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. this is what assad did to his own people.

we also know many disturbing details about the aftermath. we know that a senior regime official who knew about the attack confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime. reviewed the impact, and actually was afraid that they would be discovered. we know this. and we know what they did next. i personally called the foreign minister of syria, and i said to him, if, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide, then let the united nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access so they have the opportunity to tell your story. instead, for four days, they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after block at a rate four times higher than

they had over the previous 10 days. and when the u.n. inspectors finally gained access, that access, as we now know, was restricted and controlled. in all of these things that i have listed, in all of these things that we know, all of them, the american intelligence community has high confidence. high confidence. this is common sense. this is evidence. these are facts. so the primary question is really no longer what do we know. the question is, what are we, we collectively, we in the world going to do about it? as previous storms in history have gathered, when unspeakable crimes were within our power to stop them, we have been warned against the temptations of looking the other way. history is full of leaders who

have warned against inaction, indifference, and especially against silence when it mattered most. our choices then and in history had great consequences. and our choice today has great consequences. it matters that nearly 100 years ago in direct response to the utter horror and inhumanity of world war i that the civilized world agreed that chemical weapons should never be used again. that was the world's resolve then. and that began nearly a century of effort to create a clear red line for the international community. >> so that was part of secretary of state john kerry's speech at the state department yesterday. the rest of his comments after a short break. play close. good and close.

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the breaking news out of washington. john kerry laid out the arguments for a strike in syria yesterday. let's listen to the rest of that statement now. >> it matters today that we are working as an international community to rid the world of the worst weapons. that's why we signed agreements like the chemical weapons convention, which more than 180 countries, including iran, iraq, and lebanon, have signed onto. it matters to our security and the security of our allies. it matters to israel. it matters to our close friends, jordan, turkey, and lebanon, all of whom live just a stiff breeze

away from damascus. it matters to all of them where the syrian chemical weapons are, and if unchecked, they can cause even greater death and destruction to those friends. and it matters deeply to the credibility and the future interests of the united states of america and our allies. it matters because a lot of other countries whose policies challenge these international norms are watching. they are watching. they want to see whether the united states and our friends mean what we say. it is directly related to our credibility and whether countries still believe the united states when it says something. they are watching to see if syria can get away with it, because then maybe they too can put the world at greater risk. and make no mistake, in an increasingly complicated world of sectarian and religious

extremist violence, what we choose to do or not do matters in real ways to our own security. some cite the risk of doing things, but we need to ask, what is the risk of doing nothing? it matters because if we choose to live in a world where a thug and a murderer like bashir al assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity, even after the united states and our allies said no, and then the world does nothing about it, there will be no end to the test of our resolve and the dangers that will flow from those others who believe that they can do as they will. this matters also beyond the limits of syria's borders. it is about whether iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will

now feel emboldened in the absence of action to obtain nuclear weapons. it is about hezbollah and north korea and every other terrorist group or dictator that might ever again contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction. will they remember that the assad regime was stopped from those weapons current or future use, or will they remember that the world stood aside and created impunity? so our concern is not just about some far-off land oceans away. that's not what this is about. our concern with the cause of the defenseless people of syria is about choices that will directly affect our role in the world and our interests in the world. it is also profoundly about who we are. we are the united states of america.

we are the country that has tried, not always successfully, but always tried to honor a set of universal values around which we have organized our lives and our aspirations. this crime against conscience, this crime against humanity, this crime against the most fundamental principles of international community, against the norm of the international community, this matters to us. and it matters to who we are, and it matters to leadership and to our credibility in the world. my friends, it matters here if nothing is done. it matters if the world speaks out in condemnation, and then nothing happens. america should feel confident and gratified that we are not alone in our condemnation, and we are not alone in our will to do something about it and to

act. the world is speaking out, and many friends stand ready to respond. the arab league pledged, quote, to hold the syrian regime fully responsible for this crime. the organization for islamic cooperation condemned the regime and said, we needed, quote, to hold the syrian government legally and morally accountable for this heinous crime. turkey said, there is no doubt that the regime is responsible. our oldest ally, the french, said the regime, quote, committed this vile action, and it is an outrage to use weapons that the community has banned for the last 90 years in all international conventions. the australian prime minister said he didn't want history to record that we were, quote, a party to turning such a blind eye.

so now that we know what we know, the question we must all be asking is what will we do. let me emphasize, president obama, we in the united states, we believe in the united nations. and we have great respect for the brave inspectors who endured regime gunfire and obstructions to their investigation. but as ban ki-moon, the secretary general has said again and again, the u.n. investigation will not affirm who used these chemical weapons. that is not the mandate of the u.n. investigation. they will only affirm whether such weapons were used. by the definition of their own mandate, the u.n. can't tell us anything that we haven't shared with you this afternoon or that we don't already know. and because of the guaranteed russian obstructionism of any

action through the u.n. security council, the u.n. cannot galvanize the world to act as it should. so let me be clear. we will continue talking to the congress, talking to our allies, and most importantly talking to the american people. president obama will ensure that the united states of america makes our own decisions on our own time lines based on our values and our interests. we know that after a decade of conflict, the american people are tired of war. believe me, i am too. but fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. and history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a

dictator's wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all understanding of common decency. these things we do know. we also know that we have a president who does what he says that he will do. and he has said very clearly that whatever decision he makes in syria, it will bear no resemblance to afghanistan, iraq, or even libya. it will not involve any boots on the ground. it will not be open-ended. and it will not assume responsibility for a civil war that is already well underway. the president has been clear. any action that he might decide to take will be limited and tailored response to ensure that a despot's flagrant use of chemical weapons is held accountable.

and ultimately, ultimately, we are committed, we remain committed, we believe it's the primary objective, is to have a diplomatic process that can resolve this through negotiation, because we know there is no ultimate military solution. it has to be political. it has to happen at the negotiating table. and we are deeply committed to getting there. so that is what we know. that's what the leaders of congress now know. and that's what the american people need to know. and that is at the core of the decisions that must now be made for the security of our country and for the promise of a planet where the world's most heinous weapons must never again be used against the world's most vulnerable people. thank you. very much. there you have it. secretary of state john kerry speaking yesterday at the state department. i want to bring in our panel now to talk a little bit about how

his words yesterday juxtaposed against the president's today. colonel jack jacobs. medal of honor recipient. and our msnbc contributor and journalist. jack, let me start with you. there you had john kerry making that compelling, impassioned case, moral case, if you will, for war. and then you have the president today essentially saying, ok, let's wait on that. did the president hang john kerry out to dry at all? >> i think so. the whole sequence of events was astonishing, even surreal. that was probably john kerry's best speech ever for a guy that's been giving speeches for a long, long time. and also like you said, i think it was the most impassioned speech he ever gave, including back in the days when he was an anti-war protester and all the rest of it. it was almost a presidential speech. and yet the very next day, the president says exactly what you're saying. and i think it's going to have

an extremely detrimental effect on how john kerry operates in the international arena and how the president of the united states operates in the sbram international arena going forward. >> in what way? >> well, john kerry is talking to some head of state or defense minister. and whatever he says, they know he doesn't necessarily carry the message of the president of the united states. >> let's talk a little bit about how the president's comments today, how his announcement, is playing globally and the message that it sends to our international friends and our international enemies as well. >> i think that to our enemies, they expected america to strike, and it did not. so that's even more threatening from my point of view, because they are seeing it like this. oh, my god, now he will operate. he will not have to rush to do this. if he will have congressional support, then he will have to do it all the way through. and selling to our allies somehow, you need to be more

involved. to israel, turkey, jordan, saudis that have been financing the operation over and over, and their agenda is different from us. they are supporting us, but their agenda is to have an islamist country, sunni majority. our agenda is democracy and more inclusiveness in syria. in a post assad era. >> colonel, how do you think the president should go about trying to gain support for military action over the next week or two? >> i think he's probably going to get it. there will be a lot of back channel meetings and breakfasts and all the rest. i think in the end, my guess is that he is going to get some grudging support. he'll probably get approval, though he may not. and that's a separate issue altogether. and so it will be as general mccaffrey said today earlier, a tepid approval for him to go carry it out. but that's -- you know, that's not really the kind of mandate that our -- that either our adversaries or allies want to see. they want to see decisive action. by the way, they wanted to see

decisive action two years ago now, and this delay has caused its own set of problems. >> but they have to be engaged. they want us to do the work for them. israel is on the borders. turkey is on the borders with syria. jordan as well. where is the arab league? why america has to do all the work, all the time, and pay the price? i mean, are we -- we are talking about a long period of time here. syria, little strikes will not help syria. if it's only a message to assad, it will not achieve anything, because he heard that message before. israel bombarded him, and nothing changed on the ground. we need to do a strategy that is a long-term strategy and allies have to be included and involved. otherwise, it will not succeed. >> you're right, but we don't do that. we don't do that. we're terrible at that. >> we're not good at nation building or counterinsurgency. >> then we should do what we do in libya. let our allies lead together with us.

we cannot lead alone. if our strategy is to hit-and-run away, it doesn't work. >> if part of the strategy is to essentially punish bashir al assad for violating international norms, how can we not act? >> look, you can punish assad. but the end game for syria, we need to think in the long run. we cannot punish assad here and there and not think about what will happen to this country in the aftermath of assad. because you know what? you will leave affiliated with al qaeda that will take over, and this is not an end game. you need to understand that the country is a failed state. and you need to step in. once you break it, you have to own it. we cannot own it alone. the american taxpayer will not tolerate this in terms of timing and especially costs. >> thanks to both of you. colonel jack, that's the longest you've ever sat silently on the set. >> wait until tomorrow. big thanks to both of you for your work today. and a big thanks to you as well. that's it for us. stay with msnbc for our

continuing coverage of the crisis in syria. and also tune in to nbc's "meet the press" tomorrow when secretary of state john kerry will sit down with moderator david gregory to talk about the latest on the crisis in syria. lots more tomorrow. have a good night.

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does your dog food have? 18 percent? 20? new purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food. so we made purina one true instinct. learn more at purinaone.com the president 12k50id decides to take military action against syria, but, a big but, he decides to give congress a chance to vote first. >> while i believe i have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, i know that the country will be stronger if we take this course and our actions will be even more effective. >> his decision made late yesterday and only today presented to his national security team. what made the president change his mind? and after he and joe biden called