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votes? our special coverage right now with david gregory, chuck todd, richard engel, and reaction from congress. good evening. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. on this special report tonight, we are covering an extraordinary reversal by the white house. after sending the secretary of state out friday at 1:00 p.m. to make an impassioned case for military action, we are told that the president had second thoughts about acting without a mandate from congress late yesterday. today, he notified his team. the president says he had the legal right to act on his own, but what precedent is he now setting by delaying? and how will the rest of the world react? plus, what is the effect on our military? our allies? and our adversaries? with us to start us off, the host of "meet the press," david gregory, and white house correspondent chuck todd. chuck, first to you, because i know you've had a background briefing on how the president made this extraordinary decision to change course after the impassioned plea by his secretary of state yesterday. >> well, first of all, andrea,

nobody in his national security team even thought remotely that they needed to go to congress. nothing about what they were talking about -- it was in fact a week ago saturday that everything was set into motion, when the president convened that special saturday national security meeting. it was there where he basically had made the decision he wanted to did a military strike. nothing had been time, but it was clear. the pentagon was to get on war footing. kerry was to start making phone calls. everything was being set into place. and we all saw it, it was a p.r. campaign for three and four days. but the thing that had the biggest impact on him was watching what happened to cameron in parliament in the u.k. it was one of several factor, aide aides say, but this is the one they mentioned. they had a robust debate. they saw that cameron did not have support, could not get p t

parliament behind him for a strike. and at the same time, remember what was going on. more and more voices from both sides of the aisle, in the senate and the house, asking the president, they wanted to be involved. they wanted to be asked to vote. calling them back. all sorts of ways that different members were asking the president to basically tap the brakes and get us involved. and then the president started thinking about this, apparently, according to aides, after watching what cameron went through. went on a walk with his chief of staff. they do that occasionally, particularly on fridays. sometime about three hours after john kerry did his churchill-like closing argument there for why the united states was apparently about to embark on military -- using military force here, and that's when they decided, you know what? maybe we should go to congress. so the president floated it friday night, last night, to his national security team. the national security team all essentially argued against him.

talked about the various precedents. it wasn't necessary. this fell well within the war powers act. he had executive authority to do this. they slept on it. this morning, again, the president didn't waiver. he believes this is the right course of action. the national security team all fell in line. and then from there on out, he made the phone calls to members of -- to the four leaders of congress saying this is what he was going to propose, and this is what he was going to do. but it's extraordinary. and it's clear, the one thing that apparently had the biggest impact was what happened to john cameron over in parliament. sorry. david cameron. my apologies. >> david gregory, what happened to david cameron in parliament was after eight hours of debate, he lost. >> right. >> now the president said he will take military action. chuck has been told at the white house that they will take action if they lose. but having reversed this time,

without the legal mandate to do this, to go to congress, and without requests from the congressional leaders, doesn't this project weakness? >> well, i think that's a concern. i think it's a concern in washington. i think it's a concern if you're a syrian rebel group right now or others who are evaluating u.s. prestige around the world. and i think it's something that the president has to contend with at the moment. he says he wants this debate. we are watching the legacy, the painful legacy of iraq. and the impact that it's had on our politics and on our policymaking in washington. it's playing out now. over the past several days. where you had a president three years ago today announce the end of active combat in iraq. three years later, he is going to congress asking for authority to bomb syria, and to do it in the name of countering the proliferation of chemical weapons and other weapons of mas

destructi mass /* -- mass destruction. it's unclear what happens if he doesn't get the vote. presumably he could still and might still go ahead with the strike. but i think a lot of questions now about how we look, especially to syria and in the rest of the region. >> and secretary kerry was, chuck, on the phone with the saudis who wanted force to be used. with the syrian opposition leader, trying to reassure them now. we'll talk to richard engel in a bit about this. but clearly, this does not project strength to the rest of the world. >> it doesn't. and it's amazing the extraordinary precedent, if you just watch the history of the power of the presidency. for the last 30 years, the modern era, starting with reagan, there had been should slow shift away from the legislative branch and the executive branch assuming more and more power. and you look at -- you can name plenty of air strikes that were conducted whether it was by reagan, bush, clinton, that was

done without congressional authorization, which of course was among the arguments that members of the national security staff were making to the president. but, you know, one other interesting phrase caught my ear when one of his senior aides said in this briefing, you know, it just was where the president was more comfortable philosophically, the idea of going to congress. remember, senator obama would be one of the -- a senator obama, and he already was, was a big advocate of saying, no, you've got to come to congress. >> 2007. >> and don't forget, the president comes out and says we're a constitutional republic. this is a constitutional scholar. from the get-go, he and his legal team have been worried about the legal basis for taking action. >> because humanitarian -- a humanitarian protection of these populations might work for the brits. it didn't actually in practice. but it is a legal argument for them in their system. it's not ever been used by the united states. >> and, you know, without the security council taking action,

with britain suffering a setback that cameron suffered, even with the french with us. and again, you had 50-plus democrats in the house, and barbara lee one of them, saying you've got to come to congress. senator tim cane saying the same. he was facing a lot more pressure to do that. and of course his own words from 2007. >> and in fact you've had a lot of negative reaction. some have said from congress, yes, this is a good thing. ted cruz among them. which doesn't mean that he's going to vote for the eventual authorization or the resolution that they do send up. but you've had statements from john mccain and lindsey graham, who have been aggressively saying, we need to be more robust. and they said, we cannot in good conscience support isolated military strikes in syria that are not part of an overall syria that can change the momentum on the battlefield to achieve the stated goal to remove assad from power, and remove the threat to

our national security. >> here is part of the point. i think the president is in effect saying, ok, guys. you want in on this action? put up or shut up. cast a vote. you want to debate about whether we should remove assad from power? let's do it. let congress speak, and speak its mind, rather than just the -- you know, the president order a strike. so it sounds like graham and mccain want to have that debate. i think there's a lot of other republicans who don't want to go anywhere near it as far as they want to. >> and i don't think the president wants to go that far because they are concerned about the possibility of a vacuum if assad leaves and the al qaeda influences and a replay of what we're seeing in egypt right now and libya. >> they are afraid of trying to engineer the internal dynamics of another middle eastern country after a decade of the united states trying to do it and did so unsuccessfully. >> when they met today, obviously they were discussing all of this. but by then, the national security team, which did not want to go to congress, and you can see them sitting around. i can't even imagine john

kerry's feeling sitting there and listening to the president saying this is the way we're going to go, ladies and gentlemen, because kerry had been sent out from the same kind of national security meeting yesterday, walked directly from that meeting, was driven to the state department, and came in front of the cameras and made this plea for what was supposed to be action within in 24-48 hours. >> and it was all about trying to show the u.s. was not wavering due to what happened at the british parliament. that was the entire point of why they felt the need that they had to put kerry out to say to -- and of course it turned into something even larger, and clearly the closing argument, almost like a trial lawyer, the way he was going about it. but, you know, when i read that mccain-graham statement, when i saw it came over, i'm sitting there going, could they vote no, but do so from the right, if you will, from a more hawkish standpoint? >> right. >> you know, there were people that did that. i remember bob graham was one of

the people that voted against the iraq war resolution because he said, you know what? it wasn't going after the right -- the right groups. that he was more concerned about hezbollah, more concerned frarch frankly about what was going on in syria at the time. so this is where you are throwing -- you know, you are really risking a lot by going to congress, because it's going to be very unpredictable. >> isn't it interesting as an historical parallel here? when president george w. bush goes to get authority, the wmd are mentioned in that authorization. and then you have others who are -- you know, whether it was biden or hillary clinton saying, no, i didn't vote for war. i voted to strengthen his hand at the united nations, and that whole debate played out. you do have the prospect now of really debating, you know, whether limited air strikes or not. a lot of people have said, you know, we're going to fire the shot across the bow.

>> what does that accomplish? >> it suggests that you missed the target, so that was strange language. but it's a limited strike. then is that enough to roll him back conventionally as well as the potential use of chemical weapons? so what's the goal of that. so this is really a debate about how far to go. >> and chuck, let me ask you about the resolution that they are drafting now to send up to congress. it's going to be for that limited no boots on the ground, very precise role. no regime change. >> right. >> but this can be amended on the senate floor, and it can be changed in the house rules before it even gets to the floor. so once they start down that road, they do not know how it's going to end. >> they don't. but you can just look at the how the house vote went on that -- i go back to that nsa funding order that the democrat and republican from michigan co-sponsored. and that splinter in the house that's there, the

bipartisanship, the doves on both sides, isolationalists, all that, i think it mate get amended to be more hawkish in the senate. but it can't get through the house. what they are working on, they won't say it, but i can guarantee you they are writing a resolution designed to get through the house. they know that pretty much whatever they can get through the house, they can get through the senate. but they have to design something very, very narrow here. because you talk about this last resolution. every drone strike in yemen is somehow legally connected to that resolution passed by the u.s. congress. and remember yemen was never mentioned in any part of the debate back in 2001. >> right. post 9/11, right. and here it's about preventing the use of chemical weapons. that's what they are after in -- >> the deterrence. >> deterring and preventing the use of these chemical weapons. >> and you've got a big guest on "meet the press." >> we do. what changed is the question. we'll ask secretary of state john kerry. he'll join us tomorrow.

also, senator rand paul from kentucky on his views of what the president's now seeking from congress. >> big day. >> yeah. >> big "meet the press." john kerry -- john kerry on "meet the press." you're david gregory. and chuck todd. long day for you at the white house. thank you both very much. with me on the phone now is democrat senator tim cain. your reaction to the president's statement. >> i think it was a very positive move by the president. i have been urging it publicly and privately, including in the conversation that the white house team had with senators on the armed services and foreign relations committees yesterday. i don't think it's a weakening move. i think it's a strengthening move. obviously, we'll have to see how the debate goes. but here is my concern. the decision about initiating military action is the most solemn decision that congress or the president makes. we cannot afford to send american men and women into military action unless they are confident that the political leadership of the country is behind them.

and so if we had sent into this very challenging situation -- all agree that the stakes are high. if we had sent or young men and women into even a limited action that could have had follow-on consequences and a presidential directive without being clear whether they had congressionalal support or with congress trying to do what they often do, which is evading accountability, evading casting a vote on sensitive matters like this, we would have been doing really significant harm to people that we want to defend us. it's critically important that they go into this military actions knowing that they have the support of the american public. and one thing i can guarantee is that if we have this debate, and we get a resolution passed, the president presents it and congress passes it, an agreement upon a resolution, i believe will also generate support from the american public. but if it's ambiguous or equivocal about whether congress and the president are on the same page, we really are failing the men and women we are asking to fight the battle. >> should the president go ahead

with military action, which the white house tells us he will do, if he loses the vote in congress? >> that's a hypothetical now and we'll get to that if we need to. i do believe that the president -- secretary kerry yesterday made a good case that there has to be a consequence for violating the long-standing international norm, no use of chemical weapons especially against civilians. it came out of the horrific use of chemical weapons from world war i. it's been in place for 90 years. there has to be a consequence for that. hopefully the consequence would be an international one, not just the u.s. but the u.s. has to make sure that people know they can't do that with impunity, or we'll see it in more countries in ways that will harm the united states and will harm our allies. so my hope is in the debate in congress, you know, we can articulate that principle, and that the president can lay out a plan for the deterrence of future use of chemical weapons, even degrading the ability of the regime to use them.

that's what we'll be working on this week. i know the white house will be working with congressional leadership. we'll be getting classified briefings over the course of the week to prepare for the debate the week to follow. but i think the president has done the right thing. when we are united in military action, we are very strong. when we are divided, we're not strong. >> let me ask you a political question. you were democratic chair. is it the right thing to do for the president and the vice president to go out right now and be playing golf while we've got all of our forces who had been on alert out there in the persian gulf? five warships now. >> we have a lot of virginians in harm's way. look, everybody is entitled, especially knowing what we're going to be doing over the course of the next few weeks, people have got to grab some r&r and relaxation from stress where they can find it. but i know what they've been up to the last few months because i've talked to the president and his team about syria.

and i know how seriously they have been taking this and the decision, which as you reported was the subject of a great deal of thought. while there was precedent that presidents could act with impunity, and as you pointed out, in recent years it seems to have gotten to be more of the case that the presidents would act and bypass congress, and congress has been willingly complicit. the president made the right call to get congress engaged. we'll work together over the weeks to come, and i think we'll come up with a decision that the american public will support, and ultimately that's what our fighting men and women need. >> senator tim kaine, democrat from virginia, thank you for joining us. joining us now is freshman congressman luke messer. this is the toughest vote that any of you are ever going to be asked to make, which is to send men and women into harm's way. it's supposed to be cruise missiles. but once you start, you never know where it's going to go. how do you feel about taking military action and the president's last-minute decision

to come to congress? >> well, it's absolutely the most important votes to make to decide that we'll be sending our men and women into war. i joined a bipartisan coalition of folks that asked the president to seek congressional approval before taking military action in syria. it's what the american people wanted. and i certainly respect the fact that he is seeking this decision now. i believe that we ought not wait nine days to have this debate. i frankly have already issued a statement saying that we should be called back next week and have this debate and get a decision made. >> and that you've got no reaction, though, from the speaker, who could have called you back last week. >> yeah. well, i mean, the president's announcement came today. we're in the first couple of hours of this. i think it's important to remember, this is not a video game. it's real lives at stake. in syria, obviously, the life and threats for our men and women in the military. i think nine days is an awful long time to wait before we make a decision here.

>> thank you, congressman luke messer, republican from indiana. and coming up next, reaction from the region with nbc's richard engel live in turkey along the border with syria. 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. this is for you.

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joining us now from turkey is nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel. john kerry called to explain this reversal to them. they cannot be pleased. >> they are incredibly disappointed. we have been speaking to many in

the syrian opposition and have been hearing words like "betrayal." they don't understand what's going on. when you expect something and you feel you've been promised something and you think it is about to happen, and it doesn't happen, it perhaps is even more disappointing. and there is a pattern in this. the united states after there was yet another chemical attack, but that one on a much smaller scale, promised to arm the syrian rebels. they thought that could be a turning point. and then the weapons didn't really arrive. and now they thought the military tonight was going to be bombing targeting in syria and weakening the assad regime, and the rebels were organizing battle plans so they could start trying to storm damascus, and then it didn't materialize. they are very upset. they also say that the united states is cutting them off. and this is a dynamic that i don't think a lot of our viewers really understand. from the rebels' perspective, it is the united states that is not

allowing them to have advanced weapons. they say they have tried to buy on the black market or to import from libya, anti-tank rockets and some more sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons but that the united states has blocked those shipments because it doesn't want the rebels to have weapons that could end up in the hands of terrorists. so when you combine all of these things, broken promises about weapons, a delayed action tonight, and a general belief that the united states is preventing them from becoming armed, they start to lose faith, to put it lightly, andrea. >> and isn't there always the chance that assad will do something else, perceiving weakness from the united states, that he will feel emboldened, even worst case to use chemicals again? >> what happens if chemicals are used again?

while we wait? that will be a refrain that we certainly could hear from the rebels. what will happen while there are regular conventional attacks? the fact in this -- the basic premise was, we can wait on this. we need more debate. this needs to be become a domestic issue about presidential authority and the use of power. and that is a very legitimate american debate to have. but from the syrian perspective, it's not their debate. they are dying daily. they are being shelled daily. if you were sitting in your house tonight and you thought the cavalry was coming, and it's not, and outside your door all of the prices in your town have gone through the roof because your town is cut off for the last 2 1/2 years by this war, you don't necessarily see how this is a u.s. domestic political issue. you see it as a matter of urgent surviv survival.

>> and if you didn't know whether or not a gas attack in the next couple of hours would lead to horrific death of you and your own children. richard engel, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. and coming up next, we will go inside syria for the reaction of the regime in damascus. stay with us. t you like you

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joining me now is david rode, reuters foreign affairs correspondent. let's talk about what has happened today and the likely impact in the region, the region that you have covered so intensively. >> i think that people in the region will be disappointed. richard engel was just talking about the syrian opposition. one summary i've seen online is it was good domestic politics for obama, might be good constitutionally, but it will be very bad for the people of syria. i think a lot depends on what happens with the vote, and if this leads to a more aggressive u.s. military action you won't hear those complaints. and this is really obama himself. you know, he -- john kerry made these dramatic speeches twice this week, and there was a message that these strikes were

going to happen. and everything i've seen and what has been reported, friday night the president changes his mind, which is he is apt to do. and you mentioned earlier that he then goes golfing after making the public announcement. so it's a good long-term decision. but in terms of the optics and these messages being back and forth, it really seems like it's the president himself who's creating that. >> and everyone was on board from the national security council as well as the vice president, the speech to the american legion, echoing the passion and the strength and resolve that we heard from kerry first on monday and then again on friday. so with those book ends to the week, it was clear that they were going, until that walk in the woods, if you will, with dennis mcdunnough that we are told led to the president's own concerns about congress. and the impact of the debate in parliament and watching a really democratic small d process, which we weren't having in this country.

>> that's very true. and you asked -- the first question was about how it will be perceived in the region. they are not going to understand this. it's going to be seen as weakness, that the americans aren't decisive, and that obama himself isn't decisive. he might prove to be more decisive in the end. he could have a much stronger mandate to take action. but he might not. one thing to watch this week is how hard is the administration going to sell this to the american people. secretary kerry as you mentioned is on "meet the press" tomorrow. will the president himself make an aggressive case to win this vote or is he going to hang back? and if he hangs back, i think that would be sort of disastrous for the credibility of the united states. >> david rhode, thank you very much from reuters. joining us now from damascus is bill neely. bill, let's talk about, first of all, the preparations for what they thought was going to be an american strike. and now reaction to the reversal. >> reporter: yes. i mean, it's just a few hours

ago that the syrian government said, we are expecting an attack at any moment. we are ready to retaliate at any moment. then came president obama's speech. and quite frankly, i think it stunned people on both sides here. just as much as it did perhaps people in america and the u.k. and in the wider world. syrian officials, government officials, were watching this speech, and quite frankly, after it, they must have been smiling because from their perspective, this will look like obama looking weak. they will see major doubts in western and american public opinion. they'll see skepticism about military action. and they'll see cracks in america's seeming determination to take military action against syria. within the last hour, there has been official reaction from the syrian government. its deputy prime minister has just said, a u.s. decision that is a postponement?

this is laughable. our military readiness has averted this aggression. we're confident, and this confidence is not going to shake. so that's pretty clear, the syrian government here quite happy that a military strike has been postponed. >> bill, can you only imagine the reaction in riyadh right now? the secretary of state called his counterpart, prince fiasal, the foreign minister. but the saudis wanted it. turkey wanted some action. there's a weakness projected to our allies as well as our adversaries. >> reporter: i think this is the second thing that will have shaken the saudis and the qataris in recent days. first, the british decision not to join in any military action. and now the decision that is a postponement of an action that

may not take place at all. i think rebels here will be equally disappointed and stunned. they felt betrayed by the west so much already. and i think this will just seem like yet another betrayal. and in his palace, president assad, i think, will probably be smiling too, and his army commanders, because it will give them another 10, 11, 12 days, who knows, to move more equipment around and to reposition. and that of course in turn will mean that america's military commanders will need to find new targets in 10 days' time. so you could say it's a mess. but i think while there will be a lot of relief, of course, here from many millions of people, who clearly don't want their capital to be bombarded, i think in the government corridors, there will be joy. >> bill neely, thank you so

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and joining me now by phone is washington democratic congressman adam smith, the ranking member of the house armed services committee. congressman, what is your reaction to the president's decision to delay the strike after telegraphing it? >> well, i think, you know, asking for congressional approval certainly makes sense. but that's always the difficulty, is these military national security matters happen quickly. decisions need to come one way or the other. and it takes time to get congressional approval. so, you know, i see what the president is trying to do. it's important that we have a national consensus. but on the other hand, it does create some short-term challenges. and i still am not convinced that a military strike on syria is in the best interest of our national security and the best option for us to choose at this point. but we'll see how the debate plays out over the course of the

next 10 days. >> have you voiced those concerns during these conference calls where you've been briefed by the national security team? >> i voiced those concerns directly to people at the white house. not during the conference calls, no, but i have expressed those concerns to the white house. >> but is it a good move to go to congress now after initially not, and after ramping up the momentum toward -- with speech after speech kerry, biden, and then another kerry speech, making it very apparent to the world that he was going to take these steps? >> well, i don't know if you can say initially not. i mean, the president all along has said that no decision has been made. they have been considering options. they have been putting them on the table. so i don't think this is any sort of, you know, course reversal. you know, it does -- >> well, we were told that it was not with the advice of his national security team. that it was made solely in a conversation late yesterday with the chief of staff.

so he did reverse from what had been anticipated by his whole team, both at the pentagon, the state department, and at the white house. >> yeah. i don't know. i mean, that's inside stuff that i'm not sure about it. i do know that the president never said, we're going to strike. he said he was working his way through the process. but it certainly presents a challenge, whether it's a change of position or not because of the delay that you mentioned. it's difficult. but, again, congress wants to have a say in this. if they do, that takes time. >> and you know very well that the speaker has not shown an ability to whip count his own caucus. there's a lot of division on the house side. and the senate is its own challenge with rand paul and other individual players, ted cruz, who have different positions potentially, and may not agree. we already know that mccain and graham don't think that what's planned is robust enough. >> yeah. no. look, it's a challenging situation. and i think that the big thing that we need to understand from

a foreign policy standpoint is that the united states cannot simply swoop in and fix every problem. i think we need to be realistic about what we can accomplish. and i just came back from a trip where i was in jordan for two or three days. there's considerable angst there about assad and syria. and rightly so. but the u.s. military isn't necessarily going to be able to go in and fix that problem. we want to protect our allies, like jordan and israel, but i'm not sure weighing in militarily does that effectively. i think the biggest challenge here is the expectation that somehow the u.s. can show up and automatically fix the problem. and that's just not the case. >> might you vote no? with so much at stake, might you vote against the president? >> i might. absolutely. i mean, we'll have to see what the plan is. we'll have to see how the discussion goes. but, you know, if i don't think military action is the right

thing to do, you know, that's a vote i will have to take. you know, it's a difficult decision, obviously. and i want to support the president if possible. but i also have to make the decisions that i think are in the best interest of my constituents and the country. >> congressman, finally, if you decide to vote against it, and if it loses, should the president then do it without congressional approval, which white house officials have told us tonight he would do? >> that's possible. that would make it a very, very difficult decision. i mean, we can remember that on kosovo, president clinton initiated that action, and the house of representatives voted against it, and he continued it anyway. so it's not unprecedented. but that would, i think, make it much more difficult for the president going forward. >> adam smith from washington state. thank you so much for being with us today. >> thank you. up next, we'll talk about the military strategy with colonel jack jacobs and our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski.

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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. >> joining us now, nbc news pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski and msnbc analyst colonel jack jacobs. i know that martin dempsey does not want to go, and is probably relieved at this delay. but you have five warships and the rest of what is in the region put on hold at what cost and at what burden on our frontline? >> well, a couple of things, andrea. first of all, there are mixed

reaction from military officials here at the pentagon. some are afraid that in the short-term, it will make the u.s. and the u.s. military in turn look weak, like they couldn't carry out such a mission. but there is some the bit of relief in -- only in the fact that the current mission, which many officials were skeptical of, was a nonstarter to begin with, and had a low level of confidence among many military officials, because the idea you were going to launch limited strikes, without a long-term strategy about what you would do next, they thought would -- could end in disaster in some cases. but also gain it made the u.s. military look weak and indecisive. and in terms of the number of forces now in the eastern med, clearly, if this stretches out more than a week or so, they are going to have to start looking at rotating and relieving some of those ships that are already in there for some maintenance issues.

so it's likely that we could see a temporary decrease in the number of five guided missile destroyers in the eastern med now, down to what had been a long-term two destroyer patrol for some time there in the vicinity of syria. and as far as general dempsey goes, he was unaware of the president's decision until he showed up at the white house today. and as you mentioned, he is probably very relieved because, you know, he has all sorts of reservations about military action in syria. and now military officials feel they have a little decision space to come up with a more thoughtful and thorough plan, andrea. >> mik and colonel jack, i wanted to play a little bit of john kerry yesterday where he talks about the credibility of the u.s. being on the line. let's watch. >> 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. . >> colonel jack, was the red line that the president laid out a year ago, more than a year ago, was that a mistake? was it a mistake to dial this up and now dial it back down? >> yeah, it was a terrible mistake. it reduced our optionalty. it reduced the options that were available to us, by saying that once they used chemical weapons again, that we would attack them. and it came very, very late. he's used chemical weapons a long time ago and we should have been working up to this point, getting the support of our allies and working through the united nations two years ago, and we wouldn't be in the position that we are today. but one other thing that's really interesting, it was what happened to john kerry. here's a guy who gave probably

the most impassioned and effective speech of his entire career. it was convincing. i think it even convinced people who were otherwise unconvinced that we should do something. yet the very next day, this guy gets his legs cut out from under him. think about what happens to him now, for the rest of his term. john kerry's, i mean. he's out there talking to foreign ministers, to defense ministers, to heads of state, and he clearly does not have the support of the president of the united states. let's put it this way, whatever he says is not necessarily going to be believed as coming directly from the united states of america and other people, other foreign ministers, other heads of state are going to believe that it's just a matter of time before he'll be overturned. >> well, that does create a problem, if that is the way this evolves, because we've seen,

mik, we only have a few minutes left, but we've seen what happens when the secretary of state does not have the ear of the president or is not part of the final decision making process. >> that's right, andrea. as a matter of fact, not only secretary of state kerry, but there's some question, too, among some quarters, about secretary of defense hagel and his strength. so if other nations perceive both the secretary of defense and the secretary of state as being somewhat weak in the obama administration, that could create all sorts of problems down the road. >> and colonel jacobs, when we look at this national security team, we're showing this meeting that took place this morning. they didn't voice objections, because they had been told, presumably by the chief of staff, which is what the boss wants. but they can't be happy, because none of them felt that there was a need to go to congress. >> no. obviously, just a purely

political decision. at the top of the food chain, of course, it's extremely difficult and painful for people who express their opinion and it gets overruled. you have only one option under those circumstances, and i'd be willing to bet, after a decent interval, you will see it. some of them, one or more of them, may resign. you either put up with that situation or you quit. >> mik, let me ask you about the burden on the troops, in terms of just the rotation. some of those warships had been kept longer. you had carrier groups just l k looking at the persian gulf and protecting the persian gulf in case something went awry. the "nimitz" was held on and turned back. how long can they hold them there if this drags on in congress and if the decision is not forthcoming? >> well, you know, those kinds of decisions, they'll start making them as early as tomorrow, to figure out what ships the need to be relieved immediately, and what ships need to be rotated in or out, to take

over whatever positions are left vacant. but it's clear that the current president of five destroyers there in the eastern med will probably go down in the short-term. but earlier today, we heard the former centcom commander talking about how when these decisions are made and when there's confusion at the top levels, of not only an administration, but oftentimes, the military, it's the troops down the line, the sailors, the airmen, the soldiers, the marines that get whipped around by all of this. and you end up with a serious moral problem. now, in this case, it's only been really ten days or so. and so if the relief can be made and those ships pulled out and either be sent home or go into maintenance and crew rest, as they're supposed to, it shouldn't have much of an impact. but there is a little bit of concern about the kind of confusion that's surrounded these -- this most recent

buildup and plan to go in and strike syria. >> and colonel jack, finally, what about the president going to congress for authorization for limited, what we were told, limited, targeted, no boots on the ground, cruise missiles, standoff kind of military strike. there's plenty of precedent for not going to congress. does this create a new expectation for the balance of power between the executives and the white house and members of congress. >> it's going to make it extremely difficult for this president, then, to operate effectively. and at the other end of pennsylvania avenue is a congress that hasn't done very much, has a reputation for doing very little. and in a situation like this when there's a crisis, isn't even in town, is not called back into special session to deal with and is going to take it at leisure. nevertheless, it's going to exert its influence and make it much more difficult for this president to operate. not just in the realm of

national security, but perhaps in lots of other things that he's trying to get accomplished, with the congress. it's going to be more difficult for him. >> and, in fact, what we were told tonight was that no -- none of the congressional leaders, none of the big four, had asked for this vote. it's pretty clear that members of congress, they didn't want to come back. boehner didn't call them back. they really didn't want to be put on the spot. they wanted to be consulted, but that kind of buy-in did not require a vote, as far as they were concerned, mik. just looking forward, what would you expect? that within a month, the president will, in fact, be using military force? >> you know, it's impossible to tell at this point. by that time, whatever congress decides and i believe there are some who think congress will, others who think they won't. but you have to wonder, when they come up with a plan, are people going to say, well, are you really serious this time?

>> good point. colonel jack jacobs, jim miklaszews miklaszewski, thank you both so much. that does it for this special coverage this hour. craig melvin is up next with more on the president's statement today with the session regard syria. thank you very much. yep, everybody knows that. well, did you know some owls aren't that wise? don't forget i'm having brunch with meghan tomorrow. who? meghan, my coworker. who? seriously? you've met her like three times. who? (sighs) geico. fifteen minutes could save you...well, you know. i missed a payment. aw, shoot. shoot! this is bad. no! we're good! this is your first time missing a payment. and you've got the it card, so we won't hike up your apr for paying late. that's great! it is great! thank you. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness.

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