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from public view? a new documentary with answers. hello. it's high noon here in the west and 59 a.m. in the west. in a new interview, bizarral. we're getting new reaction to graphic video and nbc news has obtained showing victims of that attack and we warn you, this video is disturbing. the footage shows images of adults and children at different locations on stretches or lying on the floor. the obama administration showed the video to a select group of senators in closed-door briefings to make the case. nbc news has not been able to independently verify the authenticity but here's white house chief of staff on "meet

the press." >> i hope that every member of congress, before he of she. decides how heat cast their votes looks at their pictures. talking to member of congress, includes two that are on your pap nell, nobody is rebutting the intelligence and everybody apleas h used chemical weapons on his own people to the tune of killing nearly 1450 h on august 21st. >> and key lawmakers remain devieded on what course of action the u.s. should take. >> make no mistake, the minute a cruise missile lands if there we're in the syrian war. it's a civil war and we're take size with the rebels, many of whom are still associated with al qaeda or other groups that mean to undermine us, so for the president to say this is just very quick link and we're out of that, that's how long wars

start. >> i'm on the intelligence committee and we met extensively on and i believe ways can be found to isolate thethe al qaed this is in this. >> right now president obama is getting interviews tomorrow for six national networks before delivers his primetime address to the nation on tease. here's peter alexander. you have a good sunday. you have new reaction to the the assad interview? >> we have details we just received in the last five minutes from the white house. a national security council member reaches out with the following quote -- it doesn't surprise us that someone that could kill thousands of his own people including children with poisonous gas would also lie about it. those words from the white house in response to the if interview that bashar al assad did with a television network in last 24

hours. as for the videos you spoke object that dennis addressed earlier they are significant for a varity of reasons, they are videos that were played, about 10 0 that the u.s. intelligence committee were played and will be played at another classified briefing for all house members on monday. where do we stand now? here's a look. two days before the president's crucial national address the white house hopes these videos will help to shift congressional and public opinion. >> we cannot turn a blind eye to ims pliej we've soon out of syria. >> but it's an uphill battle with protests from atlanta to indianapolis this weekend. in europe, secretary of state john kerry is trying to shore up french support and today is meeting with arab leaders divide on how to respond to syria. >> this concerns every

american's security. this is not remote. this is not some far off place where something happened. >> in the coming days the president will become his own best advocate. the white house aides say he'll call members of congress again tailed and tomorrow he'll sit for a half does seng interviews to air on the eve of his remarks to the country. >> if he can convince everyone there's a plan and if things go wrong there's a plan b, i think he can actually sell people on this. >> this is an uphill battle, the biggest congressional push by congress since the president's first term and that was for the health care reform law. there have been a variety of engagements of outreach and they include engaging the members of the bush administration, bush's national former advise or participating in a briefing with republican staff members from congress and we expect to see more of the same taking place

over the next several days leading up to a vote that could take place as early as next week. >> thanks so much, peter. >> joins me from paris, secretary considerry spoke there and nbc news chief foreign affairs core spob dent. andrea mitchell. hello. >> reporter: here in paris kerry said all the arab ministers that met with him here today all condemned assad's deplorable use of chemical weapons and all said it cross aid international and global red line. that said, he didn't get any public endorsements from military action, although the gunneries have been arming the opposition and kerry said that privately, the saudis have endorsed military air stroox. they have not said that publicly. the only public public endorsement he's had for uls air strikes is from the french. until, the french have gone soft on this. not on air strikes but on the timing. french president has said that he believes that they should

wait for the u.n. weapons' inspector to come back with their report on the chemical attack but now the french indicate they want the u.s. to wait and go back to the u.n. and try again to seek a u.n. security council resolution even though they know it's few until because russia will veto it again but that will cause more delay. kerry, being a diplomat, said he'll take the message back to president obama but it's unlikely unless they lose in congress they would want to entertain that kind of lengthy delay. kerry will meet briefly in london with the foreign machine ster but we know the british will not be part of military coalition because they lost that vote in parliament and then he'll go back to lobby congress. >> joining me now with the perspective from congress is democratic congressman matt cartwright of pennsylvania. >> how are you, alex? >> i'm well. i got to imagine you think twice

when you saw the horrifying pictures and the videos that came out yesterday. what's your reaction to that? >> it's terribly troubling, obviously. alex, i am in the undecided column. and i'm undecided on purpose. kb imcommitted to make myself fully informed before i make the decision. i don't know if my constitch we wants in pennsylvania are entitled to a popular decision but by god they're allowed to i have informed decision. mechanically that means i'll attend the classified security briefing tomorrow night at 5:00. i have also been on about four conference calls with senior administration officials, and military top leaders. but what i've been hearing is persuasion. i haven't been seeing proof so that i have arranged on monday night, from 9:00 until

midnighting with i'll be in house intelligence committee room reviewing the evidence myself. >> you're clearly doing your homework, sir, which i'm sure is appreciated by everybody. that said, have you moved the barometer at all from being there with a healthy amount of skepticism as you said earlier, to, as a result of these videos, has that changed your perspective at all? does that help move you? >> well, of course, it all goes into the hopper. everything has to be considered. and you have to realize we've been in our districts the last five weeks. we've been talking to -- since august 21st, we've been talking to our constituents and i want to tell you that kind of lays the groundwork. you might say it sets out the burden of proof. the level of skepticism in america is so high and that's true in my district, that i need to be persuaded by the evidence,

really beyond a reasonable doubt, before i would be a "yes" on this question. >> you said it doesn't necessarily mean the you have to have a popular vote from your constituents backing you up. so you're willing to forge ahead with what you believe is the evidence despite what your constituents will tell you in. >> i am forcing myself to keep on opened mind. and remember, the popular decision is not always the correct one. iraq, we were overreacting to september 11th, not overreacting but inappropriately reacting because iraq had nothing to do with the september 11 attack. you have to review the facts and evidence. what i wanted to see before i'm a "yes" is that it makes america safer to strike than not to strike. >> so that's something you expect or hope the president will say on tuesday into the when he addresses the american

people? >> well, that's what i need the president to persuade me and i need the evidence to persuade me as well. and i also need to know that there's good international backing behind it. i need to be absolutely positive there will never be boots on the ground in syria. there's no way i would agree to something look that. >> what's your big fear, sir? how do you think a military strike could make america less safe? >> well, for example, we know that the assad regime will stoop to anything. when you're willing to gas children in the suburbs of damascus, you're willing to do anything and that includes a nasty, nasty prove ghana war. if we do an air -- propaganda war. nothing to indicate to me that the syrians aren't capable of actually blowing up one of their own mosques and blaming the

united states for that. and then, so they would be in a position to say to the whole muslim world that the u.s. destroyed a muslim house of worship. they are capable of things like that. we have to think about those things. >> do you have an assessment of the vote count in the house? where do you put that right now? >> i think the graft way is undecided as it should be. as a practical matter, we probably won't reach a vote on this until about a week from now. so i intend to use that week producti productively. if you interview me this time next week vile bags under my eyes because i'll be up late studying this evidence. my constituents are entitled to my hard, hard wierk reviewing the evidence to make a decision on this. >> meantime before we let you go, i know your district is next to allentown, pennsylvania, that has one of the largest syrian

populations in the u.s. what are you hearing from that specific community? >> i've heard from one syrian/american in my hometown, actually. and he's actually in favor of limited air strikes. >> okay. democratic congressman, matt cartwright. thank you for your candor. see you next weekend. are there any other options beside a military strike 1234 in my next hour a leading senator will tackle that question. and russia's concern for u.s. military strikes. your independence. ensures support, a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like. sooner than you'd think. you die from alzheimer's disease. we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call or donation adds up to something big.

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an unprecedented campaign to drum up strikes in syria.

secretary of state kerry said the world cannot allow chemical weapons to be used. >> it is clear that if we don't take action, the message to hezbollah, iran, assad, will be that nobody cares that you had broke this nearly 100-year-old standard and you're using weapons that have been banned by 189 nations. >> the executive director of the syrian emergency task force and anti-assad government activist group. and cruhristopher dickey. we've been talking to a lot of people inside the u.s. here's a common concern about air strikes, that civilians will be kill and america may once again be scenes aan imperialistic force in a muslim country and u.s. troops will be welcomed to kabul and baghdad and then it all went bad.

why is syria different? >> syria is different for a few reasons. number one, this isn't like afghanistan or iraq in the sense that it was a revolution that continued for eight months of peaceful protests. calling for international community to act at the time, not militarily necessarily, but with greater political leadership to help oust assad. number two, the fact remains, many, many civilians are being killed every single day and by the most violent of weapons including chemical weapons which were use more than once and each time on a bigger scale because the world sat down and watched so i think the biggest fear of anybody's fear of what may happen, how the u.s. might be viewed is to remember that the syrian people are calling for intervention. they're calling for the international community, led by the united states, to act. and if we don't, then we'll see many, many civilians get killed. >> okay. chris, let's look at you new column where you argue nations that oppose air strikes cannot cause themselves innocent

bystanders and you say there's no innocence in apathy and so are you now 'leaning toward air strikes? >> i'm ling toward some kind of decisive action which air strikes are not, which originally billed as a temporary short term thing. it's not that i think we ought to go to war in syria, i think weave gone too far to back away. when i started writing the columning and saying this is not america's war and this is something to avoid there was room to maneuver but right now, president obama and the american administration has put america on the such a wap that it's hard ta back away. we'll see the end of america as a superpower if congress turns its back on the war. i'm not saying we should put troops on the ground. i don't think we should do that. this is an incredibly situation with lots of bad choices but i don't think we should kid ourselves that we can turn away and that other countries can turn away and somehow it will

all work out. we can pray for peace and everything will be fine. there's a great couplet called "the pacifist" pale ebenezer thought it wrong to fight but roaring bill that killed him thought it right." that's sort of what we're up against right now. >> yeah. that was good. and at this point there doesn't appear to be any clear unified opposition party and, in fact, some of the powerful rebel groups are going to fall. what could happen to the power vacuum? >> first of all, i have to say i agree with chris wholeheartedly. i think there needs to be decisive action and the credibility of the united states son the line but not only that, the interest of our allies in the region are on the line as well and we have to look in sort of measure both action or inaction and we have to look at what we've done so far.

we've watched as -- the action in term of intervening and what we've seen is increased amount of extremism. we've seen, for example, children that haven't been to school in many area force two years. all of these things breed extremism and radicalation, until today, the number and the percentage of extremist in the armed opposition is very, very little. the reason they seem to be dominant is the fact that they're very well resourced. while the vast majority that make up the moderate opposition, especially the armed opposition on the ground, receive very, very little funds. as long as the united states isn't at the table of, sort of, leading the international community whether it is the gulf states and the european who have been for a long time lobbying and advocating for the a greater role of the united states in the this conflict we'll see an increased amount of extremism. if but if we have a comprehensive policy where we need to be with the good guys,

to marginalize extremism and helping the massacres that are being done by the dictator every single day. >> what about the massive p.r. game that's out there? these videos that have been released. how is this framing the debate on both sides? those that were being executived by a handful of soldiers and then you see just the effects of the are vrare ravages being use. >> i think both of those are misleading. bottom line is we have 2 million refugees outside the country. half of them are children. 750,000 of them are under the age of 11. this is a horrible war. we've had 100,000 people killed! whether there was a chemical weapons' attack, whether there are terrible commanders on the opposition side, is relevant to the debate because it's a sensational image that airs on television but it's not relevant what's happen on the ground

except for this. if assad is able to continue to use chemical weapons, he will win this war. there is nothing that the opposition can do to oppose that. and he will start to roll it back in those areas all over the country where the opposition has been able to fight against all odds, to a stalemate. when he wins what will we say but the question is credibility. i don't think weigh needed to go to war because of a statement a year ago by president obama about stopping weapons of mass destruction. now that we've put a lot on the line one of the big issues is -- are we to be believed when we say that we draw a red line against weapons of mass destruction? because if we can't be believed in syria, will the israelis believe us when we say, we've drawn a line against nuclear weapons in iran. the answer is, certainly not and

if they don't believe us they'll go to we're war and we'll have to finish it and the this is have grim indeed and in some ways the simplest thing is to do what obama is doing now. they are horrible options. >> thank you very much, gentlemen. i appreciate it. there is at least one sign of improving economy and that story tops our number ones. it is a literary mystery for the ages. why did the arthur of one of the greatest 20th century novel goes into seclusion for years. a new documentary with some answers. ive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive.

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welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." heavy rains in the town of alpine causing severe flash flooz. residents were forced to leaf their homes to escape the fast-moving waters. >> and prince andrew was reportly stalked on the grounds of buckingham palace. he was mistaken for an intruder. no weapons were drawn and no force was used on monday, two men were arrested over a suspected break-in at the palace. and in southern california, sear yen americans joined other groups to protest u.s. military action in syria and that group asks congress to vote against the strike joe to russia. no reports on what countries took the u.s. side on this past week's g-20 summitt. and new characterizations on tim

pr the impromptu meeting. we're in moscow for us. keira, good evening. did either party persuade the other in any small way, even? >> alex, good afternoon, your time. well, frankly, the answer is, no. anyone who thought that russia's president putin was going to sit down with the president for 20 minutes and then walk out and say, actually, i agree, all is forgiven, was kidding themselves. no one thought that and it didn't happen but what's interesting when you look back at the way the nations at the time g-20 divided they didn't divide clearly. russia suggests they have most of the support but where president putin said he believes that the rebels may have been responsible for the attack he wouldn't have had any support at all except for by the chinese and it's clear that even france and his support of the u.s. has some preconditions. >> what about -- can you say

definitively which countries took the u.s. side and which countries are siding with russia on the syria question? >> well, we can't entirely say that. everyone seems to be taking a different position. probably partly because of the amount that is invested in this, how important the world leaders see it as and all the time new information is coming out, by the way, amention so for example, we have news from a german newspapers suggesting that german intelligence think that, perhaps, assad wasn't aware of the chemical attack. here in russia that would have been viewed by president putin, possibly, as welcomed news because it goes to the question he's been asking over the last week or so -- why would assad attack like this and bring so much attention on himself when effectively he was win neglect civil war? so all the time things are shifting with to be sands are shifting, if you like. and other news, as well, there are reports that the russians

have a plane in syria to evacuate some people as well as that, the syrian foreign minister is due here in moscow here tomorrow for talks. so the indications here in moscow they are preparing for some kind of u.s. action even if it isn't clear whether or not it will happen. >> i want to clarify the report, bashar al assad might not have known about the chemical weapons. that may have come from military leaders who didn't inform him, for what that's worth. thank you very much. what would be the repercussions if the u.s. carries out air strikes. a new report in the "wall street journal" said the u.s. intercepted an order from iran calling for rake immigrants to attack if these strikes happen. joining me now, the co-author of the article. welcome. >> thank you. >> i was shocked at the amount of preparation where the u.s.

had to go through. it's gotten a lot of people's attention. talk about these threats specifically? >> there's a series of strands of intelligence that they're picking up on. the one we reported on friday was specifically about an intercepted communication between the head of iran's revolutionary guard, the force, a guy who was communicating to the shiite groups inside of iraq to tell them to be prepared to launch strikes there to any u.s. strikes inside syria. but there are similar concerns obviously, in places like lebanon, where hezbollah is base and where there's a large american embassy that could be vulnerable. and european troops that are part of ain mission in southern lebanon that could be hit as well so all this prompted the u.s. military to position a ship in the mediterranean that has marines and helicopters on board

and to keep another shepp in the red sea in preparation in case there's a need for evaluations. >> can you assess, adam, the vulnerability of the u.s. embassy in baghdad? we all know the u.s. combat troops have pulled out of iraq? >> right. by the americans letting this piece of information out, are hoping that the iraqi leader malkey will take steps to bolster security. we don't know to what extent the embassy is vulnerable. security is tight and has been for a long time and i'm sure steps are being taken to add to the security now in preparation for a possible attacks there. if the iraqi forces to protect the embassy that could mitigate any damage that could be done. >> late last week we ujs the state department pulled personnel from diplomatic

facilities in turkey and lebanon. is that what you have reported? these allegedly ordered strikes from iran. >> prudent preparations how they talk about it. in the case of lebanon, this is the home base for hezbollah, which as you know, has joined with assad and has thousands of its fighters in syria. and for them, this is existential. they'll really need to insure assad remains in power to keep the pipeline from iran flowing to them. they'll really have a huge amount at stake here. the officials that we talked to, the intel officials say that they're not sure at this point how serious the threat is and hezbollah has shown a willingness to wait a long time, years, before retaliating. that's what we've seen in the case of israeli actions against hezbollah and we could see the same thing here with the united states. >> to take that a step further has iran or hezbollah shown any

either capacity or willingness, desire, to strike inside the s u.s.? >> we had a case about two years ago where they were allegedly plotting to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the united states at a georgetown restaurant. >> yup. >> so we have cases like that. i think what the americans are most concerned about at this stage would be attacks against u.s. facility overseas. we've seen a string of, you know, iraqi -- excuse me, iranian attacks against israeli targets around europe and asia, so far away as asia, for example. that's the kind of thing i think the americans are most worried about. >> adam, thanks for you time. in today's office, "new york times" best selling arthur shares some insight from his

time working with secretary of state kocondoleezza rice. i asked him what stands out in his mind when he was a pair troop her afghanistan. >> i had a remarkable experience in afghanistan. >> you say which the a smile. >> i do. i've never been prouder of a group of people that i've had the chance to work with. it wasn't easy. combat is real and you see things you'll never forget. you do things that you'll never forget. and i think that's the reality of what we all face and what we all, quite honestly continue to face. >> you became a white house fellow after afghanistan. assistant to condoleezza rice. what was your take away from that? >> remarkable experience. any time you get to serve as senior adviser to a cabinet level secretary, it's pretty heavy. but one of the things i've learned about that experience as well was washington can be extraordinarily potent. and washington can be

extraordinarily impotent and how you played the two dynamics and juggled those realities determined you're efficacy. understanding which fights you can fight and win and oncing which fights were not worth fighting. >> what about with the oprah winfrey network, beyond belief. >> great thing is we focus on things that we think are extraordinary, interesting and compelling and beyond belief. stories of human sacrifice but that you'll find people, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. stories that sometimes, you know, you just sit there and watch the television and think, i jaws can't believe this person actually endured that and still maintained and persevered. that's kind of been something that i really believe is part of my mission statement right now. >> can we talk quickly about what is it, the baltimore raven's fan? orioles fan or a baltimore everything fan? >> i'm a baltimore everything fan. baltimore is my hometown. and baltimore is a place i will

always be my hometown. this is a fun time to actually be there and to be fighting and working and doing things because baltimore, in many ways in my opinion represents the great american renaissance and baltimore is at the tip of the spear of that. >> about your role to husband and father to dawn and mia and one more coming soon? >> yes. >> is that your favorite role of all? >> it is the best. being a -- first, being a husband to a wonderful, wonderful wife and being a father, is god's way of reminding us he loves us. it is absolutely a blessing. >> has mia hit the terrible two's yet? >> she has. she just hit 2 but honestly, her terribleness is perfection in my eyes. >> an exemplary four and times two in a couple of weeks so best of luck. catch "beyond belief within on o.w.n. and move over facebook.

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take a look at the week on wall street. apple is expected to unveil a new high-nd iphone along with a cheaper investigation and it may launch it's in i-radio service and they are expected to announce china's largest carrier will finally sell the iphone. and retail sale force august. expected to show a lackluster consumer spending during the critical back to school period. and starting this week, the networking site linked in will allow 14-year-olds to open accounts and hope student also research potential colleges and career prospects through that site. new in theater this is weekend, a documentary on the life and missing years of reclusive the "catcher in the rye" author, j. d. salinger. >> the publication of "catcher

in the rye" in 1951 was a revolution. >> when you read that as a kid, you're like, oh, my god, somebody gets it. >> that was the first book to take with you. >> it's a phenomenon. how many millions and millions came to that book. >> the great mystery is why he stopped. >> well, salinger famously refused to publish anything after sky rocketing to stardom and spent more than 40 years in self-imposed exile. joining me now, the film credit with the l.a. times and welcome. so many of us are excited to see this documentary. do you think it sheds any light on why he stopped? why he felt this need to go into hide something. >> yes. i think the most interesting thing about the film is you get a sense of why he stopped. first of all he didn't stop, according to the film he kept writing but he wanted to remove himself from the pressures of publicity and the pressures of publication. he wanted to let you hear as the actors say, he wanted to focus on the work and be in a place

where he could do his work and see people when he chose to. he wasn't really a recluse he just wanted to pick and choose the moments when he would see people. >> do you find a lot of mysteries about this man are answered by the documentary? do you feel like you have a better picture of who he was? >> absolutely. and one of the things the film really points out is how influential his world war two experiences were on the rest of his life. he add very arduous war experience. he helped to liberate a concentration camp and this influenced him in the rest of what happened to him. >> you write he said you never get the smell of burning flesh out of yours nostrils as long you live. what struck you about him, what did we learn that we didn't know before? >> we learn just how devoted he was to the work. we learn that we'lly, this is what was the cause of everything. that he really wanted to just be

writing and anyone who does created a work will understand this. it's there are the day-to-day pressures that keep you from your work and he found a way nobody a position where he didn't have to deal with those. he didn't have to see people when he didn't want to, deal with publishers or interviews and he didn't deal with anything except the writing and it made me understand him better after seeing film. >> you also write that he found time for companionship, platonic and otherwise, with. young women. so he wasn't really a recluse. >> no. he wasn't a recluse. there's a great clip in there that -- he was no recluse. he just pick and chose the moments when he wanted to see people. that's quite clear. up in new hampshire where he lived he went to the county fair and basketball games. he hung out with the local ladies and gentlemenett lunch. when he wanted to be alone he was, period, end of story. >> and this documentary was put

together and the arrest 24ur was obsessed with salinger. do you think he nailed it? if not what didn't you like about it? >> the thing that bother me was this by the end of the film and maybe this is inevitable, you feel sad for him because you understand him so well and you understand what drove him. he devote aid big chunk of his life to being a private person add not having the world mess with his business and by the end of the film we know more about him than i really didn't want to know that much. it made me kind of sad to see this what he construct crumble. >> kenneth, thank you very much. >> thank you. the life of every-day syrians. report from inside the country and what would happen after u.s. air strikes, next. ♪ we go, go, we don't have to go solo ♪ ♪ fire, fire, you can take me higher ♪ ♪ take me to the mountains, start a revolution ♪ ♪ hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution ♪ ♪ brand-new season, keep it in motion ♪ ♪ 'cause the rhyme is the reason ♪

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a new report out of germany claims bashar al assad's forces may have carried out chemical attacks in syria without his permission. unverifiable information open this kind that led to the

creation of the website "syria deeply.org." stories and coverage exclusively from reporters, correspondents and analysts on the ground in syria and native syrians in the middle of the war risking their lives to tell the world the truth. here's the cofounder of "syria deeply." welcome. i'm awfully glad you're here because the biggest question i want to ask you about is who are the rebels and the opposition leaders? what do we know about them? it seems they are a splintered group and it's so hard to define them cohesively. can you, even? >> they started out as peaceful protesters for the first eight months of this uprising. it was mostly peaceful protests on the ground and the assad regime crack down on the demonstrations calling for a democracy, calling for political freedom. really inspired by the other countries that has risen up during the arab spring. as that became a more brutal crackdown by the assad regime you saw more and more of these

protesters taking up arms and fighting back and that's when you started to see a mixed soup of characters on the ground in syria. you had protesters and ooarmed defek tors leaving the regime saying we had enough and we're going to fight to oust bashar al assad and over time as they called for help from the west and asking for weapons, you had a vacuum where al qaeda groups and also, now the islamic state of iraq in syria which is basically merged. they are now at the tip of the spear against the assad regime. they're not the majority but they're the most influential partially because they're the best equip and have the know-how on how to get things done on the battlefield but i've been speaking to sear yarn on the ground. they don't like al qaeda and they don't want al qaeda in their country. their posting against them and fighting skirmishes left and right. >> even those that al qaeda is arming. >> a lot of soldiers choose to fight with al qaeda they're the ones with the food and the guns.

they tell us we're the moderate by gra brigade and we arunning out of food at end of the month. there are people in assad eeps arm that want to defect and join them and this tell them don't defect because we don't have the weapons or fooded to sustain you or keep your family safe. >> what can you tell us about the 'chemical attacks? do you have a sense or any sort of picture as to who was ultimately behind it? >> it's so difficult for us to say with any kind of certainty. but we've been watching for the past year and there have been repeated allegations of the assad regime using chemical weapons. in a series of attacks, more than a dozen, before the august 21st attack. so it's really a pattern of behavior that we've been tracking over time. assad has been very willing to use a kind of scorched-earth strategy on his own people. if he doesn't control an area he'll flatten it and it doesn't matter what the cost is to human life so we can't say for sure. >> how about this, though.

does anybody else have the delivery mechanism to put chemical agents on its own people? can anyone do it technically speak something. >> those chemical weapons piles are being very closely monitor and to say we're following a chain of custody and sarin gas couldn't have been deployed by a rebel party, that's a compelling argument. i don't know if the rebels have infiltrate and eye follow russian thinking they did this to bring down the assad regime, so many plots and counterplots that get talked about it's really difficult to parse it out but the people of syria by and large are split. some are very pro assad and very anti-assad and then the silent majority who want this to be over. some of them think a strike is necessary to make it happen. >> okay. thank you so much, laura. appreciate your time. a leading senator will tell me why he is leaning "no" on military strikes. the looming concern over tokyo

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>> those videos make the clear to people that these are real human beings. real children, parents being affected in ways that are unacceptable to anybody anywhere by any standards. >> a forceful john kerry on the alleged video proof of syria's deadly use of chemical weapons. >> there's no doubt this military action will degrade the capability and send a very clear signal. >> the president's chief of staff arguing for the military stliex but will the message of missile diplomacy convince congress? >> i think lobbying a tomahawk missile also not restore our credibility overseas. >> the battle against bashar al assad shifts to the capital but in the end will lawmaker votes really matter to the white house?

>> hello and welcome to "weekends with alex witt" just past 1:00 p.m. in the east and 10:00 a.m. in the west. new today, syrian president bashar al assad denies he had anything to do with the reported chemical weapons attack near damascus on august 21st and suggested there would be some kind of retaliation for any military strike on his country. those comments come a day after nbc news obtained graphic new video showing victims of that attack last month and we warn you this video is disturbing. footage shows images of adults and children at different locations on stretchers. many of them lying on the floor. nbc news has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the videos. meantime, the obama administration is launching a full-fledged media campaign to gain support for military action in syria. today, the white house chief of staff appeared on the five sunday news shows including "meet the press." >> it does. it degrades his capacity to use them again.

it also makes him think twice before he goes to these weapons again and why does that matter? if he's going to use these things more aggressively, david, he's going to take them out of zur storage and push them into the front lines and when they're on the front lines you know what that means? greater risk of them being proliferated. >> president obama will give sit-down interviews with six national networks tomorrow ahead of his primetime speech to the nation on tuesday. but many lawmakers remain divided. >> i think the american people don't want to be embroiled in a middle eastern civil war. this is an act of war we're going to take. we haven't exhausted all of our political, economic and diplomatic alternatives. >> the u.n. is basically a useless organization on these matters. and, again, whether it's harry truman or whether it's eisenhower or reagan, whether it's clinton or when forceful action has been taken by the commander and chief it can be taken. >> once we hit, this is an act

of war. little wars start big wars and we have to remember that. >> we have all angles of the story covered for you with nbc's peter alexander at the time white house and we're in beirut, lebanon. we'll start with the latest from the white house. peter, what's the reaction your hearing from the new assad interview? >> we reached out to the white house a short time ago and we got a response from the spokesperson with the national security council here who says -- it doesn't surprise us that someone who would kill thousands of his own people including hundreds of children, with poison gas, would also lie about it. that echos remarks we heard from the white house, president and variety of members of the senior staff over the course of the last several weeks as the issue has come to the fore across this country. the days ahead, this is going to be the biggest push, congressionally with by this white house since the health care reform battle that was in 2009, the first year of the president's first term. one of the challenges for the white house, alex, is to better

clarify and better define the stakes for americans. they think they'll have that opportunity on tuesday night with the national address. they hope to speak to many members of the house who were elsewhere in the country when they return here beginning tomorrow, as the summer recess officially ends. here's how the chief of staff describes victory. >> victory in this targeted effort means that he's degraded from being able to do it again and he's deterred from doing it again. ultimately resolution of the wider conflict, that's an issue for syrians to resolve. we'll continue to support moderate opposition in ways the president has already laid out to the country so we'll resolve that and -- help them resolve it but that's theirs to resolve. >> alex, the president, we're told, has been making more calls this weekend to members of congress trying to impress upon them the need for military strikes to take place in syria and that effort will continue leading up to a vote in the senate that could take place as early as the middle of the week.

>> thank you very much. before we get to beirut, let's find out where the senate and house stand on u.s. air strikes in syria. i'm joineded by senator bernie sanders. thank you for joining me. >> my pleasure. >> you released a statement last wednesday expressing serious reservations about air strikes if syria. has your opinion changed at all since then? >> no. the call that are coming into my office are overwhelmingly against getting involved in a bloody and complicated civil war in syria. the american people are profoundly disgusted with the fact that the united states congress continues to ignore the enormously serious problems facing the middle class of this country. real unemployment close to 14%, youth unemployment, even higher than that. poverty at an almost all-time high. what the american people are saying is, we were in war in afghanistan. we're in a war in iraq. we've lost thousands of soldiers and spent trillions of dollars. how about coming home and addressing the crisis facing the

american people? everybody understands that assad is a horrendous dictator and the use of chemical weapons is beyond words. it's totally disgusting. what we need is the world community to come together to address that issue. other issues in the middle east. but the american people are saying two wars from enough. let's come home and address our serious problems. >> do you think, sir, that after seeing videos that we've been showing of the use of chemical weapons, certainly appears to be that on his own people, do you think that if the international community comes together that will quell the opposition from what sounds like from you and you're constituents, is it all about going in with others that you would support or not even that? >> well, what it is, and let's be clear. if you followed the resolution that came out of the foreign relation's committee, they're not talking about a surgical strike. they're not talking about a one-day war. they're talking about

quote/unquote changing the momentum on ground and they're talking about regime change and bringing democracy so an undemocratic country. >> sir, may i interrupt? i believe, sir, i've heard time and time again from secretary kerry from the president himself, that all we are talking about right now are the surgical strikes. and you're admonishing me. >> no. that's what the president is talking about. read the resolution that was passed by the foreign relation's committee. talk to senator john mccain and many others. it is very clear they are into regime change. and by the way, if you hear real serious discussion what people are saying, this is a prelude to a war in iran. this is really the start. we got to she the searians we're tough because we may have to go to iran later on. this was -- >> this was john mccain who said he would refuse to vote for the

resolution without that? that's john mccain? >> yeah. john mccain has said he doesn't want boots on the ground but read the resolution he supported. changing the momentum. that means -- this is what it means. it means supplying significant amounts of military aide to the opposition. by the way, 20 to 25% of which are islamic extremists. some of whom where affiliated with al qaeda. what if they topple assad? you're going to have a chaotic situation there as well. who's going to come to the rescue? the american people were told certain things about rooirk iraq, weren't true. told things about afghanistan and 11 years later we're still there. all i'm saying is chemical weapons and assad, bad news. let's work with the world community to do everything we can to control that situation. but you know what? the middle class of this country is collapsing and congress has a 15% favorability rating. because day after day they find the congress all over the place, dealing with all kinds of issues

except the issues that impact them, their kids and their parents. so i think if we want a crisis, want to deal with crisis let's deal with unemployment and health care and education. we got enough on our own hands right now. let's deal with the world community, not act single-handedly as the policemen of the world. >> there certainly can be no arguing of the multiple issues we have. very serious nature here at home. may i ask you what you need to hear from the president, if anything, sir, that would make you support the strikes on tuesday night? not the strikes, tuesday, hear from him on tuesday? >> i need to hear from the president that we're working with the entire world community on the issue. i need to hear from the president that he thinks that unemployment and low wages and global warming in the united states are also important issues that have to be addressed. i worry, you know? the united states congress has a hard time walking and chewing bubblegum. very hard to do two things at

the same time. i want to hear from the president that we're going to move forward and take care of the major problems facing the middle class of this country and work with the entire global community in addressing the problems in the middle east and in syria. >> i would sure appreciate it if you could tell me there were good options with regard to syria. do you see any, sir? >> look, this is a very, very difficult situation. it's always easy to beat up on the president. he has an impossiblebly difficult job. all i'm saying is the american people are saying, you know, we're told afghanistan was going to be easy. 11 years later we're still there. iraq, mission accomplished and it was not accomplished and people are very, very weary about getting involved in a third civil war in the middle east. >> senator bernie sanders, i welcome you back on the show any time. let's go from there to lebanon. hundreds of people rallied outside beirut protesting a

possible strike by the u.s. on syria. here's our reporter monitoring the story from the lebanese capital. what are you hearing about demands from the protesters? >> reporter: this was certainly a small protest organized give syrian nationalist party. but have it wasn't clear that all that participated were syrians living in leb than or perhaps, some lebanese that have been supportive of the syrian president bashar al assad but nonetheless, it reflects a growing concern among the lebanese society and a country concerned that it can be dragged into the type of violence across the border here. and more important live it reflaekts the growing concern about a possible military strike and the ramifications it would have on the humanitarian conditions for many syrian refugees and for the country here at large. keep in mind, more than 700,000 and that's the low estimate. more than 700,000 syrians have crossed to lebanon and it's draining the society but more importantly lebanon is extremely fractured.

a lot of those in this country reflecting similar sectarian lines that exist inside syria. some support al assad and others against him. the concern is that if there's a military strike the violence in this country can explode as a result. this country has seen -- lebanon has seen car bombs, assassinations, many of them link and blamed on the conflict just across the border. and that's why you're seeing these types of spontaneous protests. many of them against either u.s. embassies like we saw on friday our today's out side the u.s. embassy borders inside beirut. >> thanks for the update. how will the air strikes on syria send a message to iran and hield iran respond? that's still ahead. i found ou. we've made a decision. great, let's go get you set up... you need brushes... you should check out our workshops... push your color boundaries while staying well within your budget walls. i want to paint something else.

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president obama is going on an all-out media blitz to win support for a strike on syria.

today, the president's calling members of congress, tomorrow. he'll give interviews with six national networks and tuesday he'll speak direct hill to the american public during a primetime interview. joining me now, contributing editor for the daily beast. and political reporter for reuters, andy sullivan. i'll start with you and i know you have seen this horrific and graphic video showing the chemical attack victims. although the video's authenticity hadn't been independently var fived do you think it will sway public opinion and members of congress? >> i think in this last-minute push to get backing for a resolution to use force, the administration seems to have moved away from the more legalistic argument that the use of chemical weapons violates international norms which sounds like language out of a constitutional law seminar. and now they're reaching more for emotion. and it's emotion that changes public opinion. and you do have a segment

particularly in the democratic party and i think the president is really struggling to get his own party behind him. you could use the term "humanitarian hawks." people who don't generally -- they don't like war for regime change but they do favor intervention when there is humanitarian cause and i think that's what these videos are definitely trying to appeal to, emotional cords. >> andy if you look at the latest numbers, the house shows 226 "no" or at least, leaning "no" santvotes. what do you think at the conventional wisdom is? do you think congress will approve it or not? >> i don't think it looks very good for the president right now and i think a major reason is public opinion. the reuters polls and polls elsewhere consistently show the public has no appetite for further action in the middle east. you have these new videos that came out yesterday but that probably won't change public opinion either. so if you're an antiwar democrat, you're very aware of

the shadow of iraq. and if you're off republican, you're away the rand paul anti-interventionist wing of the party has more influence than it does ten years ago. and republicans in the first place, don't seem to want to bend over backwards to give the president any favors. so i would say it doesn't look very good right now. >> okay. what about conventional wisdom, eleanor, even if the president doesn't get what he wants from congress, would he go ahead with strikes? >> i think it's a work in progress. i don't think it's a foregone conclusion he's not going to get the supports because especially going to lean on democrats to say, if i don't get this resolution to be able to use force, you are effectively, ending my administration. you're call manage a lame duck president before even the first year of my second term is out. so i think, you know, democrats are going to have to think long and hard about that as well.

and if we're talking hypotheticals. if he gets the support of the senate where they're still optimistic that they may be able to put together the 60 votes with 10 or 15 votes on the republican side and he doesn't get the house, and he still has the authority, i think the president is going to have to have a conversation with himself. is he going to uphold his commitment to act with backing from congress? or is he going to use his authority as president? i wouldn't predict that one either. >> yeah. andy, picking up what eleanor says the president is leaning on democrats. is he using the argument that, in effect, if you don't support this you're rendering me a lame duck president for the remainder of my term? or is there other stuff being used for lobbying? what do you know about that? >> i haven't heard that argument being made specifically. but i'm sure it's in the back of the mind of every democrat that he's spoken with and has been weighing this issue. but i think he'll continue to

press his argument that there is an international order that needs to be upheld here. there are international norms and if the united states doesn't do it who is? if we don't act, is our international influence reduced? does that give countries like china and russia and iran more power to step into the breach? >> eleanor, you've been doing this a while so i want to ask you. do you recall any time -- you had the chief of staff doing five sunday shows followed by six sit-down interviews by the president the next day followed by an address to the nation the next day. is this unprecedented? >> when you put all that together, maybe the answer is "yes." the analogy i think of is president clinton in the first months in office, when he couldn't get support for his budget, and he was pleading with then democratic senator bob kurry, who was on the fence about if he would vote for it and went off to see a movie that

afternoon. he i remember the name of the movie "what does love have to do with it." and the president said, my presidency is over if i can't get this. in the ends the democrats backed him. he didn't get a single republican vote. yang this is similar. i think this is similar. national security is a huge priority but everyone of those men and women on capitol hill are looking at this through the prism of their own election and how it will affect them in 2014 and 2016. a pro or anti-war vote can have lasting repercussions. >> absolutely. >> so putting this in the context of the national interest and the president's prestige and the country's prestige around the world, members of congress are going to way weigh that but they'll weigh it through their own personal prospects for how long they're going to stay in washington. >> and the way the lawmakers vote will forever be recalled when we talk about them. it happens so often. given that, andy, what's the

timetable you're hearing about a vote objects -- the timing of this taking place? how are the next few days going to play out? >> well, congress comes back to washington tomorrow. the president does his interviews. he makes this big address to the public on tuesday. senate could vote initially, as soon as wednesday and thursday. but i imagine they might need a little more time to round up support, especially among the house where things look pretty grim. i'd like to address something. you talked a minute ago and that's how this vote will be remembered. it's easy to think of this in terms of iraq where a vote to support the president is now viewed by many who held that vote as the wrong move. but what if it's the other way around? what if people vote to not support military action? then the syrian government strikes again and then you have an even bigger calamity? that could rebound to them in both ways. that would be like people say what can if you had a chance to stop rwanda and didn't act?

>> you make a very good point. thank you both so much. >> thank you. >> thank you. from capitol hill to wall street america america is runs out of ideas. stick around and find out why from my next guest. um... where's mrs. davis?

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is america out of ideas? that's the question posed in a are cent article about whether this country has lost its edge in business and politics. joining me now, daniel gross, columnist and editor of "the daily beast." >> hi, alex. >> let's talk about you were article. you give examples and you use taco bell, ben affleck and miley cyrus. why single them out? >> if youer thought america ran out of ideas, i think miley cyrus's performance on the video music awards should convince you of that. is this the best we can do? in hollywood, it's not just ben affleck in another "batman"

movie. sequels is what hollywood is about. not about creating new interesting movies. just creating new iterations of ones that have succeeded in the past. so we do the same thing we did were. with taco bell, you know, about a year ago they had the brilliant dorito logo turning the to can shell into a taco shell a dorito. another iteration of the same thing they've done before and people laugh but fast food has been an important kind of source innovation in brands for this think. i'm on record, i think ben will be a good batman. but i see what you're saying about the big picture. i want to talk about apple. they're on an upswing. close to 500 on friday and on tuesday it will announce the new

iphone and it got the boost with a 12-month price target of $707. ceo tim cook is being kri89 sized for not being creative enough. same say he brings to mind mark twain's quote about never teaching a pig to sing. it wastes your time and it annoys the pig. do you agree? >> in some ways it's not fair to tim cook but i think apple has hit a wall with new ideas. but apple stock peaked at nearly 700 a year ago so it's offer about 30%. the iphone was a huge game changer. something fundamentally different and new and what they're talking about on tuesday they're going to be announcing another version of the iphone. so some of the rudiments are that it has, maybe, a gold shell and to me, again, that's like the taco bell with the spicy dorito. a shiny new shell but not much new on the inside. >> so -- >> what do companies need to do,

then, to get their groove back? >> well, a lot of it has to be investing in new ideas and taking the risk that new ideas may fail. i think a lot of what we see in hollywood is, they go for the sequels because they're nervous about spending $50 million or $70 million on a movie that might not do well and therefore, they lose their jobs because the studio has a bad quarter. i think the same thing holds with some of these very large technology firms. in fact, it's becoming fashionable to say that apple is in danger of become what can microsoft was. growing into a juggernaut that got so big it's hard to move the needle and you're saying, i have this great new idea for a product but it's a relatively small market. it could grow into something large the response might be, well, that's great but we're so big already, we're worth $300 billion. we have to be in the business of really moving the needle so you see big acquisitions or kind of

safer bets. >> so dare to fail, i guess, is the message. it can be kind of dangerous but sometimes you're right, out of the ashes. thank you very much, daniel gross. next back to syria the white house is counting on a capitol hill veteran to get lawmakers to sign off on air strikes. we find out what that is next. tiny changes in the brain. little things anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. ensures support, a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like. sooner than you'd think. you die from alzheimer's disease. we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call or donation adds up to something big. and now, there's a plan that lets you experience that "new" phone thrill again and again. and again.

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guess it was. i asked my husband to pay our bill, and he forgot. you have the it card and it's your first time missing a payment, so there's no late fee. really? yep! so is your husband off the hook? no. he went out for milk last week and came back with a puppy. hold it. hold it. hold it. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with late payment forgiveness. welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." secretary of state john kerry is wrapping up his trip. he met to talk about air strikes in syria. joining me from paris where secretary kerry just spoke is andrea mitchell. hello, andrea. >> reporter: >> hello, alex. secretary kerry has been meeting with the europeans and araeb ministers and criss-crossing from lithuania to paris and london but he's not gotten any public endorsement for military air strikes except for the french and the french want the u.s. to delay and actually, go back to the the u.n. security

council and seek a resolution which is not going to happen because the russian also veto it again. that said, kerry is cutting shower activity his visit for all this diplomacy and he's one of the best advocates on the hill as far as if white house is concerned for getting some kind of response for lobbying for votes because of all of his years, three decades almost in the senate. so he's going back a day early and he'll be right back giving speeches and talking to members of the house and senate all week and trying to get this vote. they think they can win in the senate and they know it's a big uphill climb in the house. back to you, alex. >> thank you, andrea. meanwhile, back in washington on today's "meet the press" white house chief of staff said the obama administration is looking at much bigger stakes in its argument for air strikes in syria. >> you're saying, look, if we don't do this, iran, which you believe is developing a nuclear weapon looks as that and says -- ahah, the united states can be trifleled with?

>> i think it's difficult for us to know exactly what is hang in iran but what we do know is, to communicate with them we have to be very clear and very forthright. it's an opportunity to be both with the iranians to make sure that they understand that they don't have greater freedom of action or they don't have greater operating space and to pursue nuclear weapon which would destableize the entire region and threaten our friends and allies and ultimately, threaten us. >> if the u.s. eventually green lights the surgical strikes on syria there's a possibility of a retaliatory strike from iran or hezbollah on uls assets or allies in the region, according to cbs news syria's assad denies being responsible for the chemical attacks and suggested there would be retaliation from the allies if we send missile into syria. joining me now, we're in iran covering the angle of this developing story and with a hello to you. these sort of revenge strikes,

they're a constant worry in that region what are you hearing about possible strikes? >> there's been a lot of pugilistic talk. military commanders is saying the whole region would turn into the turmoil and ils rail won't be safe. any country that's been involved in the attack on syria will lose its national security so they're very vociferous about the comments but when you look at the president's comments, newly elected president who's only been in office for a month, he's been a lot softer in his tone. he hadn't pledged any sorts of military action for syria and said that if an attack on syria was to happen, iran would give humanitarian and religious aid to the syrians but not military action. also a very senior figure in ir iran, one of the president shall

candidates and former president was quoted to say assad used chemical weapons on their people and now they have to sustain u.s. bombs. his office strongly denies these comments but it shows the sentiment is slightly shifting here. he also said in a comment which hadn't been united people of syria are living in a hellish situation. their football stadiums have been turned into prisons and this is no way of life so there seems to be a shift in the approach on how the iranians want to get involved in syria and they've also indicated here if there was a strike on syria, it may not be in iran's national interest to get involved because it may run out of control so the iranians are being pragmatic and they're worried about their nuclear situation. they have a very pragmatic, american-educated bhoon is knew a foreign minister and chief nuclear administrator. so the iranians are treading very carefully. >> is there a real concern for a

wider, regional war if the u.s. strikes? >> well, that's what the iranians keep saying. they're saying this region will go up in flames if the u.s. strikes. they say it will go way beyond syria's borders. israel will be drawn into this and attacked possible bye-bye proxies. they haven't said it directly but, yes, iran keeps saying if syria gets attacked, this will be a much, much wider conflict, way beyond syria's borders. now, whether this is just chest thumping or real rhetoric we'll have to wait and see. alex? >> okay. thank you. and we remind you "meet the press" is coming up at the top of the house with david gregory intervup of white house chief of staff about the crisis in syria. now to tokyo where they are celebrating after japan's capital city was named holmes of the 2020 summer olympics. anne thompson joins us for why tokyo won the games rig s wrooi

>> reporter: the banners proclaim tokyo the winner but it is the indeed host city and point of pride for the 9 million people that live here, most of whom were sound asleep when the olympic president made the call half a world away. it was the moment japan had been waiting for. >> tokyo! [ applause ] >> reporter: back at home, pandemonium. >> the international olympic committee has given not just the city of tokyo but the entire nation of japan an absolute shot in the arm! >> reporter: a shot in the arm for a close-knit nation. they've seen a crisis from the fukushima plant and the aftermath of the tsunami more than two years ago. >> the people of japan have rallied around the northeastern part of the country that was destroyed. sports has actually caused people there to really rethink their priorities.

it's been a bandaid of sorts. >> reporter: madrid and istanbul made strong presentations with videos but japan's pitch was hard to top. the country has the experience. hosting two winter games. and the 1964 summer olympics also with in tokyo. it is one of the world's most sophisticated cities in a sports-crazed nation and japan had deep pockets offering olympic officials the kind of financial support they couldn't pass up. >> the japanese invited the ioc on a date and said, we have $4.5 billion, you want it. >> all of those factors combined made tokyo the winning bid. from tokyo, back to you, alex. >> thank you, anne. there's a new wrinkle to today's big three. we ask the question -- what's worse? that's next. ♪ we go, go, we don't have to go solo ♪ ♪ fire, fire, you can take me higher ♪ ♪ take me to the mountains, start a revolution ♪ ♪ hold my hand, we can make, we can make a contribution ♪ ♪ brand-new season, keep it in motion ♪

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i'm on expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. it's time for the "the big three" and a media plits, what's worse? and this week's "must reads."

so here's my panel. robert trainum and managing editor of the goldy tailor project and principal of impact strategies, angela rye. i'll talk with you, goldy, first as the white house chief of staff on all five sunday shows today and president obama, he's going to do the six sit-down interviews with the national networks tomorrow before the primetime address on tuesday. does it matter how many times they deliver the same message? isn't it more important what they say? >> you know, while i certainly understand the white house's urgency to attempt to get their message out more clearly, i don't -- i think that the water is already rolled down that river. i think that public opinion on syria, no matter where you stand, either for an intervention or not, then you're ideals about this are pretty much already set. >> even, goldy, with the pictures, the video that's come

out? do you think that at all changes the equation? >> i think the people who were on the fence came off one way or the other with the videos but i think the people that already decided, their decision really does stand, even in the face of the videos. >> robert, beyond proving that it was a chemical attack that was carried out near damascus on the 21st of last month, $the obama administration need to give the american public definitive proof it came from the assad regime? or is that just a given at this point? >> yes, to answer your question. but in the long term, let me go back to what goldy said. that genie is somewhat out of the bottle but president still needs to address the nation as to why he thinks we should have very targeted missile strikes. the president's job is to lead. the president's job is to motivate and to convince. president bush had to do it with iraq. after 9/11 and one committee argue system he did it

successfully because the congress, obviously, authorized a war. we can talk about the politics after the fact but the bottom line is that there's a lot of people that were very skeptical going into iraq and the president, meaning president bush at the time, convinced not only the legislative branch but the american people so i think the president needs to do the same. >> i don't disagree. i think he absolutely needs to be doing this on tuesday night. but do you think he'll have the power to change minds of the american people, enough to say to their legislatives and their elected officials, go for it. we give you our support? >> probably not. and the reason why, unfortunately, is what we know about iraq. the american people and understandably so, are very, very skeptical number one. but number two, they're war wearily, if you will and number three, they don't understand, i think, why syria is in ourp strategic and military interest to go in there. they probably can't connect the dots and the question becomes whether or not the president can help to connect the dots for the american people. >> angela, my colleague, chris

matthews said the first images we'll get if there's some sort of u.s. strike ask all the collateral damage. whether it's real or just propaganda. is that something that should be taken into consideration? >> it absolutely has to be. i'm listening to this conversation you all already started having and i'm thinking about congressman cummings who addressed the public a few days ago and he was almost in tears talking about the children who have already been impacted by this chemical warfare. so i think we've a lot of different variables here. the president is not only up against the traditional tea party, he's also up against folks who are war fatigued. folks who have never supported military intervention at all and all those folks are not only represented in congress but also represented generally, in the american public. >> okay, guys. i'll move on to topic two. i'll start with you, robert. what's worse is the topic so i'll ask you, the architects of the iraq war telling prooish what the to do on syria orp senator john mccain playing a poker game on his phone during

the senate hearings last week. what's worse? >> i would say, look, clearly, image and perception means a lot and i think senator mccain if he had it to do all over again he probably would not be playing on his iphone because this is so seerps. he would make the argument he knows a lot about this and that the briefing was probably going on and on and on. but the bottom line is, we're talking about people's lives. we're talking about american military. we're talking about public opinion. iphone needs this to be shut off. >> okay. goldy, here's your what's worse. ready? john kerry coming back from vietnam prooeling against the war or john kerry lobbying now for military action against syria? >> you give me a hard one, don't you. >> mine was hard. >> yeah. >> i think both are really problematic. but i think this one is more problematic, no matter where you stand on the issue. either for or against this intervention. you though, john kerry brings with him a wealth of experience

in terms of military and legislative and all those other kinds of public policies expertise. but what he hadn't done is convince the american people that intervention is the right thingunilaterally, without the world community really backing us up. so i think he's in much more of a difficult position today than he was then coming back to speak before congress about his time in vietnam. >> okay. angela, here's your what's worse. politicians like rand paul joining democrats against a syria strike, or john mccain and lindsay graham pushing for a military strike on syria? >> i'm going to go with rand paul. i don't really like anything he does. ever. >> just blanket, that's it. >> that's just it. rand paul automatic elimination. i don't support anything that rand paul is doing. i wish that on a more serious note, the members of congress, who were elected for the people, and by the people, took this very seriously.

syria is not a black-and-white issue, it is gray. that's why so many of us are grappling with it in our conversations at home, on twitter, debate on tv. it is a really tough issue. we just can't make it black-and-white. >> i'm going to ask you all, i want your prediction how you think congress will come down when a vote ultimately happens. i'll go from left to right, so robert, you if irs. >> i think the house will vote no, the senate will vote yes. >> goldie? >> i have to agree with that prediction. i don't see it coming out any other way. >> angela? >> i think the only challenge could be depending on how this resolution is written, i don't know that the senate will necessarily vote yes either. >> so i have to ask this, then, what does the president do if it comes down as a no? robert? >> i think the president's going to exert his executive power. and he's still going to go in and kind of go it alone strategy. there will be a lot of flack on the left and the right. but i think he'll do the right

thing, and he's going to lead, and sound like george w. bush, because it will be in the best interests of the american people. >> what we do at this juncture is the moral question of this time. i think it is a tough issue. there are thoughtful people on both sides of it. but if this congress does not approve a resolution, this president probably will exert his executive power to do very narrow, very targeted attacks to downgrade and destroy the chemicals weapons capability in syria. >> angela? >> i have to disagree. i think the president may go back to the security council and try to get support that way. i don't think that he just automatically goes against congress, especially being a constitutional law professor in his past. i just don't. >> a love story apparently making the must-reads. that's next. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection

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we are back with the big three for the must-reads. robert, to you first. >> my must-read is "new york times," a phenomenal love story about a gay couple that have

been together for 58 years, through the trials and tribulations of a relationship, the onset of alwazheimer's. the other one is partially deaf. i would strongly urge you to look at this article from a humanistic, loving perspective. you cannot walk away from reading this article with without a tear in your eye and lump in your throat. >> that's good. goldie? >> my must-read comes from new york magazine. chris smith wrote a story about an interview with blik al bloomberg, in conversation with michael bloomberg. it is far's reaching. and it is really revealing about the man. but one of the things that is most critical about it is, he calls deblazio racist and class warfare. >> angela, how about yours? >> mine is on cantor's very ambitious strategy for the remaining months in the 2013 session from the national journal. in this piece, you see all of the things that cantor says they have to accomplish, including,

surprise, repealing obama care. some aspects of it again. that's it. >> that's it. thanks, guys. that's it for the show. that's a wrap. i'll see you guys next week. up next is "meet the press." have a good one. business. take these bags to room 12 please. [ garth ] bjorn's small business earns double miles on every purchase every day. produce delivery. [ bjorn ] just put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? ahh, oh! [ garth ] great businesses deserve unlimited rewards. here's your wake up call. [ male announcer ] get the spark business card from capital one and earn unlimited rewards. choose double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? [ crows ] now where's the snooze button?

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[ man ] hey, brad, want to trade the all-day relief of two aleve for six tylenol? what's the catch? there's no catch. you want me to give up my two aleve for six tylenol? no. for my knee pain, nothing beats my aleve. this sunday morning, the crisis in syria. a huge test for president obama. can he successfully make the case for a military strike? >> it's tough because people do look to the united states. and the question for the american people is, is that a responsibility they're willing to bear? >> the president's hard sell. will congress go along? here with me live to help answer that question, the white house chief of staff, denis mcdonough. right now much of congress is undecided, and polls show strong public opposition. we'll go coast to coast with three influential members of congress. plus, president obama's primetime address to the nation tuesday night. our roundtable weighs in on his challenge ahead.