>> we're not in the area where the alleged chemical attack happened. i said alleged. i said alleged. we're not sure anything happened where they think the government used chemical weapons. we only have videos and pictures and allegations. our forces, police, institutions don't exist. how can you talk about what's happening if you don't have evidence. >> assad also threatened retaliation. >> will there be attacks against american bases in the middle east if there's an airstrike? >> you can expect everything. you can expect everything. not necessarily for the government. the governments are not the only player in this region. you have different parties. you have different factions. you have different ideology. so you have to expect that. >> tell me what you mean by expect everything?

>> expect every action. >> including chemical weapons. >> that depends. have you to expect everything. >> in the interview he called on president obama to be, quote, transparent and present the evidence of the attack to the american public, which is exactly what the administration appears to be doing. yesterday chief of stat dennis mcdonough and on all five news shows, today president obama will appear in six interviews. earlier secretary of state john kerry continued the campaign to shore up support. >> so the evidence is powerful. the question for all of us is what are we going to do about it, turn our backs? have a moment of silence? we know that his regime gave orders to prepare for a chemical attack. we know that they deployed forces and put them in the places where this took place. >> but hard evidence isn't the only tactic the white house is using.

on sunday the senate intelligence committee released extremely graphic videos of the august 21st chemical attack that killed over 1400 people, including 426 children. the 13 videos were shown in closed door sessions last week with members of congress. nbc news obtained these videos from a u.s. government source but has not been able to independently verify authenticity. as a word of warning, this footage is disturbing. the videos show men, women, children after the attack. some struggling to breathe. others foaming at the mouth, twitching or motionless. of the footage, secretary kerry made it clear those attacked were affected in ways unacceptable to anybody, anywhere, by any standards. so far the administration coordinated multi-pronged effort may be working at least internationally. hours ago russia's foreign minister sergey lavrov held a news conference to announce the russian government would urge

syria to put weapons arsenal under control in a bid to avert military strikes. lavrov said he had already spoken to the syrian foreign minister and russia expected, quote, a quick and i hope positive answer. syrian's foreign minister says his country welcomes russia's proposal. joining me today washington's bureau chief for buzz feed john stanton, editor of "politico" magazine susan glasser and correspondent from the "huffington post" sam stein and in new york nicholas christoph. i'd like to go to you first. we first med on chad sudan border many moons ago. the question of what to do in such a devastating disastrous situation is never one that's really been answered definitively. you've written a lot about syria. you called it, i believe, the global capital -- the world's capital of human suffering. as we see this sort of flood the

zone strategy that the white house is rolling out, what do you think needs to be said in addition to what is already being said to convince the american public of the urgency here? >> sure, alex. well, and as you said, indeed, i come at this more from the humanitarian intervention point of view. i think those people who perceive iraq are against intervention. those that perceive it like me through the prism of bosnia are more likely to favor intervention. i think the administration has its work cut out for it. i think it's going to be an awfully tough battle in the house in particular. i think they have to address concerns americans have about intelligence. frankly a lot of people just don't trust the intelligence that is coming out of the white house and out of the state department. i think they also need to absolutely ensure there are not going to be boots on the ground. i think that notion we're going to be sucked in through assad's retaliation is something that a

lot of people fear. i think that the final thing they have to emphasize is there really aren't viable alternatives. it's all very well to talk about going to the security council or bringing this to the international criminal court but really there isn't any there there. >> susan, i want to ask you in terms of what nick said in terms of what happens next. the news this morning russians are i don't know if we call it deal making but interest to seize chemical weapons by the international community. what do you see as an unpredicted chess move by russians. >> they have been playing a smart game of chess throughout this crisis. every turn along the way of what is now a two-year long crisis, the russians have worked closely hand in hand with the syrians. mostly their goal has been to put more time on the clock for the syrians, to buy them space to maneuver. so far that's been done very

successfully. i think it's very interesting to watch sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister and perhaps the u.s. right now in a global sense that the chief rival chess master. what he's done right now is skillfully, i think, potentially put more time on the clock for the syrians. they jump right into the middle of this u.s. exploding kind of political crisis. in a way the syrians could say yes to this. it could be months. will it be ever verified? they say they are going to make a proposal, there could be months and months of negotiations if they are giving up their weapons. what is in their arsenal they are talking about. to say yes to a proposal like this, as long as it's vague and indefinite, it has a clever russian gambit feel to it. >> clever russian gambit feet. sam, so much of the white house's work is convincing the american public. i guess i wonder how much you

think bashar al assad being interviewed with charlie rose, this latest clever russian gambit to put more time on the clock and position the syrians as cooperating in some fashion with what the international community wants. how much does that hurt the white house's case or have a measurable effect? >> it's a great question. it remains to be seen. as nick pointed out there's such hesitancy towards committing any boots on the ground, any military investments to syria by the american public that any granted will be taken as something to consider. so in this case if syria is willing to give up control or oversight of the chemical weapons cache, i'm sure there's a portion of the american public that would jump at this to avoid military action. there's several variables. how would you verify they gave up something, who among the exchanges, where would it be stored. by and large i think the public is against this, part because of

iraq and part because there's a huge matter of cost that people are concerned about. even though this is not bog to require additional supplemental, people are concerned how much we're investing in overseas as what they see is a fruitless, pointless endeavor. >> to nick's point, john, the question of trusting american intelligence as it is delivered by powers that be, post iraq that is a difficult proposition. i wonder what you think in the context of this news from russians and syrians. john kerry said this weekend, sure, assad could turn over every single bit of chemical weapons to the international commune in the next week, turn it over all of it without delay and allow full and total accounting of it but he isn't about to do it and it can't be done. now, maybe i will turn it over. we don't know but that would certainly seem to deal the white house a difficult hand. >> right. if you talk to people on capitol hill in both chambers, they don't necessarily question the notion that he used the chemical

weapons. i think the biggest question i've heard from members and from staff is what does attacking him actually get us or the people of syria for that matter. are we actually going to be able to reduce his ability to use him in the future, will it be a deterrent, what if he uses it on israel or u.s. bases or lobs it into iraq at american troops. this, i think, gives the vast majority of both chambers a way out at least temporarily. most of the members in both chambers have continued to sit on the fence wanting to see how this is going to play out. the russians coming forward and saying, maybe we can work out this deal gives those people some pressure. they have some leverage at the white house and opponents to say why don't we wait. >> nick, what do you make of the russians bid to buy more time for syrians potentially. how legitimate should the international community take this proposal of seating and chemical weapons to the international community? >> you know, i think there's a lot of reason to be really

skeptical and really suspicious. if i were betting, i would bet it is mostly proposal to stall action and to interfere in the american political process. having said that, you know, it's hard to be sure and we don't know. if there's some possibility we could actually get syrian chemical weaponry under meaningful international control or ideally out of syria itself, that would be a tremendous step forward and i think would be worth working out a deal. if i were betting, i would bet it's going to melt away when we push for details and especially push on time. >> nick, we focus a lot and we will continue to focus to some degree on the political and diplomatic calculus here. as someone who has seen atrocities around the world and for you to go out and say syria represents human capital of suffering, i think it's worth talking about why chemical weapons. we talk about this red line as

if it's this arbitrary thing the president painted us into a corner on. i thought samantha power our u.s. ambassador gave an eloquent and compelling argument about why it matters. these weapons kill in the most gruesome way possible, he's barely put a dent in his arsenal. there is something different about chemical warfare and they represent a new low as it were. >> i think skeptics are right to point out that the real wmd is ak-47. you look at the ak-47, sure, killing a lot of people. it's mott arrest and bombs and those can kill in pretty gruesome ways as well. having said that, there is something about chemical weaponry, inability to

distinguish between the kinds of victims, the way they tend to kill a lot of civilians, the horror of the way the killing happens, the fact that it happens in very broad numbers. here you have one incident in which as many as 1400 people have been killed. that would not have happened typically with a bomb, a mortar, anything like that. maybe most importantly, look, you try to make a difference where you can. i don't think there is a real option to create an international norm against governments slaughtering their own people with ak-47s. i think there is an existing international norm against governments using chemical weapons against their own people. and if we can reinforce that norm and create a deterrent, it doesn't solve their overall problem but may at the margins make a real difference. >> before we go, susan, there was a great piece in the "new york times" this weekend discussing or examining how the syrians got ahold of these

chemical weapons. it points to the difficulty of regulating anything, watching sort of the amassing of potentially weapons of mass atrocity in this day and age. i'll read a short exert from the piece. syria's top leaders amassed one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons with help from soviet union and iran as well as western european suppliers and even a handful of american companies. the diplomatic cables and other intelligence documents show over time the two generations of assads built up a huge stockpile by creating companies with the appearance of legitimacy importing chemicals that had many legitimate uses. i think that's shocking to a lot of people. we focus a lot on nuclear arms proliferation. it's a terrifying concept for those that don't want to see what's happening in syria. >> none of this is a surprise to experts. chemical weapons, many are based on dual use chemicals.

there can be seemingly innocuous purposes for companies and you establish front companies to purchase them it takes a great bit to pull that together there. it was more than a year ago, august of last year when president obama established this red line. what's happened since then, the pace of the killing in syria has significantly accelerated through conventional means, as nick pointed out through the ak-47 but also the assad regime has stepped up the use of its own air force and use of deadly airstrikes against its people. there are ways to unpack, different ways you might think about intervening in this crisis. instead it feels like we're having a very predictable sort of, wow, can you believe this is really happening a full year after the president established this as a red line. >> the administration would argue, though, there's two tracks here. one, you need to ultimately find a solution to the syrian conflict. that's going to have to be done

through political maybe diplomatic process. the killing will go on. the second is the use of chemical weapons, pointed out a need for deterrent. this is not about syria but iran and other countries and having a message if you use these things there is a consequence. you can quibble with whether this is the right way to go about making the point but we're on two different tracks here. >> they are not separate and distinct tracks. that's part of where you come back to the russians. the united states has been completely stymied at every turn in trying to have a political process for talking about syria the american public hasn't been engaged in that part of the effort. the u.s. has been completely shut down by the russians in an effort to have a peace track to this. these are not unrelated conversations. >> nick, before we let you go, do you think anything happens at the security council? >> no. i think my fellow liberals we believe in international institutions, multi-lateral solutions when people are being killed. there's this instinctive desire

to reach out united states machinery. people are talking about the u.n., talking about international criminal court. the blunt fact is at the end of the day the u.n. security council because of russia's situation on it, china, is not going to be helping the people of syria. as long as one pursues that avenue, people in syria are going to continue to be killed en masse. >> we should point out as you appointed out in your piece, syria is losing five people every 45 minutes. thank you so much as always for your time. new york columnist nick kristof. susan rice expected to speak about syria in an our. we'll bring you that live just ahead. after the break, politics of intervention, as president obama seeks congressional approval will his party vote yes. we'll discuss when the progressive change campaign committee's adam green joins us next on "now." [ male announcer ] what's important to you?

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most of my constituents tell me, look, we just spent $3 in iraq. our young people died or were injured and they just don't want to see that again. >> 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 alternative. >> the issue is not terrible.

the issue is what is effective. what can we do to be helpful. i don't believe going in and bombing syria is going to help those suffering people. i think it's going to increase the suffering. >> i don't think the public wants to see any more violence and death and destruction in syria. also inserting ourselves into a civil war would be very, very dangerous for this administration. >> as the president launches one of the biggest efforts since health care the impending vote is creating fractures between the democratic commander in chief and his own party. wary of entering into another middle eastern conflict, the left has not been silent in opposition to the president's plan. the progressive change campaign committee, a grassroots organization with 1 million members is making thousands of calls to congressional offices, calling on members to oppose military intervention. movon has an ad that sums up the attitude of many on the left. >> what should america expect if

we rush into syria alone with no real plan for the consequences? we already know it gets worse. >> meanwhile congressional democrats are feeling pressure to tow the party line. last week according to the hill congressional black caucus were told to limit public comment while the president makes his case. the white house requested a second call with the 71 member progressive congressional congress after members skipped out on a wednesday call. on the eve of the president's address to the nation, it is clear he has work to do both within his party and oufts it. co-founder of the progressive change campaign committee adam green. thanks for being with us. >> great to be here. >> difficult to talk about in certain circles. pccc put out a statement that said you now face a decision that involves life and death. this decision also involves billions of dollars and it will send a signal to your constituents and the world about

our nation's wore always and able to make strategic goal oriented decisions. stands firmly against military action in syria. do you believe there's nothing the president can do to make argument with humanitarian peace, national security peace, foreign policy peace more broadly. >> we were the first to praise his decision to kick this to congress, follow the constitution. we were happy he did that. when we polled our members and 57,000 responded by whopping percent said we don't want to bomb syria. two reasons. one addressed in the ad -- >> it just gets worse. >> there's no such thing as limited intervention. i want to point attention to the second thing in the statement goal oriented and strategic about this. you can completely agree there's a problem. you can completely agree with the impulse to want to do something and not believe there's only one option on the table. the thing we need to hear is, a,

a goal. b, some rational for why this is the only option as opposed to diplomacy. >> how big a problem is the lack of democratic buy-in here? how big of an issue is it that the president seems to be serving this up to the progressive base. i think that piece about the congressional black caucus sort of being told to be quiet while the president goes out an sells it to the public is problematic on a number of levels of in terms of politically democrats and democratic support how much it weakens them in broad terms and going into the fall. >> at least on this issue it does hurt him. it's a central piece for strategy, getting the house democratic conference in line. where they go a lot of times the progressives will start to fall in line and hispanic caucus will fall in line behind them. the fact they have left them at home has really hurt him a lot.

folks back at home hearing from constituents directly. that's an enormous pressure on members. it if they brought them back, put them in d.c., put them in a bit of a bubble, talked to them in one ear while they are hearing on the phone. >> the problem is you're hearing from your constituents. you shouldn't just be listening to the washington political line. >> i think this would hurt obama politically obviously but i also think we sort of overstate how great his presidency is going anyway. >> how much he was necessarily listening to the progressive base. >> yeah. it's not like because syria fails all of a sudden he can't do immigration reform. he was never going to do it anyway. i think we were overstating this a little bit. i think it's a cynical argument to push lawmakers to support syria because they are worried about his presidential legacy. that's not a reason to engage in anything like that. >> there is that question, though, whether it's cynical or not. the question is the president

has limited political capital, adam, and you guys have seen the fight he's given by republicans on almost every single thing he's trying to do basic judicial or big pieces of legislation and the question is can the party not rally around this understanding that sometimes you have to make a tough call in service of broader goals, which is to say immigration reform, climate change, anything substantive the president wants to do in the second term. >> it's completely conceivable his political capital would go up if you actually respected the will of congress and voted it down. >> can he not? that's the other question. you're nodding you're head. >> if they say no, i don't see how he goes around and turns. two options, something else happens in syria and he takes unilateral action or withdraw the request onceette gets to the house. he can't go ahead and do something once congress says no. >> susan david gregly posed this

question, so congress doesn't give authorization, given the case he and his entire diplomatic and foreign policy crew made, the argument this is a serious problem internationally, american interests are at stake, can he not do anything? can he really just wait for something else to happen and just sort of accept the will of the people? >> i think that's a very important thing, is there any kind of a plan b for president obama that offers the ability either to negotiate, to change the terms perhaps, under which he's negotiated with congress. that might be another way to come back at it, to go to the u.n. and figure out is there a way around the security council that offers some sort of face saving gesture? it's hard to see what that is. they have just come back. they are in full lobby mode. they aren't going to talk about plan b because they are hoping to make progress. on the politics of this, i think what's so striking listening to this conversation, you're talking about a real gap that's opened up between the washington

foreign policy establishment really in both parties. you have pretty much every leading sort of light of foreign policy, both republicans and democrats. you have isn't of state -- former secretary of state hillary clinton is going to talk about this today, susan rice is about to make the case. exactly. you have general petraeus. so you really -- you have basically a broad consensus of the sort of centrist washington establishment that's directly at odds with activist grassroots in both parties. i think that's one rift you're seeing here. >> that's going to be institutional failures of iraq coming back to haunt the obama administration, which we were told by intelligence community this is a slam-dunk. now people are skeptical. i also think nsa debates weigh offense this as well. >> also in terms of the progressive base the president is coming off of that. i wonder, adam, he's going to give a big speech. there's a lot of pressure on him to deliver. do you think there's still room for the president. you said deliverables, strategy,

clear-cut goals. does that imply the president still moves over move-ons, cccs of the world. >> outline a goal, say why this is the only option on the table. so far all we've heard is repeating the problem not playing out why this is a solution. >> your progressive base stands firmly against military action in syria, which is the statement you put out seems to not leave room for the president to make the case for military action in syria. >> we oppose it and the rational is there's no stated goal and there are things like diplomacy. the russia reaction today shows they fear being isolated in the world. if there was a vote in the security council they would be alone with the entire community with the u.s. leading as opposed to being isolated the way we are. >> quickly, are there repercussions here for 2014? >> i don't think so. given the fact this is happening right now, even if we do end up

striking syria, it's going to be a year away from the election. the public, there are a lot of people right now who might say i'll vote on this issue, but you get closer to the election and i think this is going to be a bit of a memory. the public is getting bombarded constantly with stuff and making up their minds on something closer to the election, probably the economy. that's still number one. >> co-founder of americans for progressive change adam green thank you for your time. we'll be looking forward to reaction after the speech. retired justice sandra day o'connor laments the alarming degree of public ignorance in america. unfortunately there's plenty of evidence to make her case. justice o'connor's real talk next. national security adviser susan rice set to make the case for syrian intervention in a few moments, we'll bring her comments live from the american foundation just ahead. has it's ups and downs.

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a message about education in america. be afraid. be very afraid. in a speech at boise state last week the justice said, quote, the more i read and the more i listen, the more apparent it is that our society suffers from an alarming degree of public ignorance. o'connor ticked off a list of disturbing statistics including a poll showing two-thirds of americans can not name a single supreme court justice. she also noticed less than one-third of eighth graders can identify the historical purposes of declaration of independence. it's right there in the name. continued to reference a 2011 pennsylvania poll which found just 38% of americans could name all three branches of government, one-third couldn't name a single branch of government. what does capture the interest of american public? apparently miley cyrus. the day after the vma awards americans pulled up 12 times as

many web pages about miley cyrus's provocative performance than syria. despite the fact there were two times more media reports about syria than there were about miley cyrus. coming up, new york city mayor michael bloomberg keeps digging the hole deeper. with new comments about race and bill de blasio race. we'll discuss race just ahead. [ tires screech ] ♪ [ male announcer ] 1.21 gigawatts. today, that's easy. ge is revolutionizing power. supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software. using data predictively to help power entire cities. so the turbines of today... will power us all... into the future. ♪

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it was aimed at winning the city's black american vote. bloomberg's interview prompted this reaction from de blasio and his daughter. >> i hope the mayor will reconsider what he said. i hope he'll realize it's inappropriate. >> i can see from afar how people would think my dad is using his family. if you look at the facts, he did not seek out a black woman 20 years ago to marry and put on display. my mom, brother and i are all capable of making our own decisions. >> sam, what is -- >> how dare bill de blasio -- >> show his family. bloomberg, the new york magazine reporter says racist? no, no, he's making an appeal using his family to gain support. i think it's obvious to anyone watching what he's been doing. i do not think he himself is racist. it's comparable to me pointing out i'm jewish and attracting the jewish vote. is that an entire walk back? if so why would you drop the

racist word. >> every politician shows their wife. the fact his wife is black is irrelevant. they are called upon to humanize them. the fact it's racist is so farfetched as to be unbelievable. he pointed out in campaigns he was jewish, which i guess would be anti-semitic. i'm confused how it works. clearly it's a big gaffe. the irony is it's going to end up helping de blasio so much. he should have kept his mouth shut. >> a lot of this defensive language comes as a result of the stop and frisk policy struck down as unconstitutional and bloomberg not liking the notion people would call him a racist and somehow that gets conflated with bill de blasio's family, somehow using his family is a

racially encoded message that it's a smear against bloomberg. >> de blasio made the point he has a biracial child that could be stopped and frisked. this was a way for bloomberg to hit back but he missed terribly. >> hit himself. >> the other thing bloomberg talked about was poverty and new york poor. he sort of basically ripped bill de blasio for the idea new york city has vast in come inequality which, of course, it does. 19.3 are poor circa twofr and 1 million new yorkers are on food stamps. i don't have the verbiage of bloomberg's comments but touching on two areas that are contentious parts of your legacy is a testament to bloomberg -- i don't know whether it's a deep seated understanding there have been problems in the administration but certainly a window into his psyche and the business he maybe feels is left

unfinished. >> that's right. it's all about legacy right now. there's no question. he couldn't have walked that back faster. he should have tried. >> we are expecting to hear national security adviser susan rice's case for syrian intervention any minute now. we'll bring you her speech live. that's just ahead. nom, nom, nom. ♪ the one and only, cheerios when you do what i do, iyou think about risk.. i don't like the ups and downs of the market, but i can't just sit on my cash. i want to be prepared for the long haul. ishares minimum volatility etfs. investments designed for a smoother ride. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus, which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

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all your important legal matters in just minutes. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. the name canter fitzgerald is synonymous with 9/11. occupied the top floors of the tower lost so many of their employees that day. almost a quarter of all who died in the attack on the twin towers. in the days after the ceo, whose brother gary was among those killed, became the public face of a grieving nation. not long after his persona changed from victim to out cast following decision to cut off paychecks of missing employees. the new documentary "out of the

clear blue sky" explores the inside story of canter fitzgerald detailing how his decisions widely criticized at the time helped save the company and enabled him to fulfill the promises he made at the time. >> the ceo sobbing. >> trans fix add nation. >> saying he would do whatever he could for families of the missing employees. >> now many of those families are feeling anything but being taken care of. >> we got crushed, crushed, crushed. >> he owes the country an explanation. >> crushed again. >> why would he cry? >> are you suggesting he turned on the tears? >> joinias we said in the inter there, canter fitzgerald is tied

to 9/11. almost a quarter of the people who perished in the attacks were from a single firm. how did you become interested in cantor fitzgerald? >> i think it's interesting a quarter of the fatalities came from one company. in some way it disappeared. the name cantor fitzgerald is sort of known but certainly not well-known. that was a large motivation to make the film. my motivation, i found myself unavoidably involved because my brother worked at the company and was unfortunately there on the day. >> danielle, tell us a little about the story of the ceo of cantor fitzgerald. he was such a public figure in the aftermath of 9/11 and there was controversy around his treatment of those who perished and the paychecks and so on, so

forth. your documentary makes the case he did the right thing and he, in fact, saved the company in a time of great peril. >> it's a complicated story. the hollywood reporter said it had more twists and turns than a miniseries. it's a complicated story. in two days the ceo goes on television and becomes lauded as a hero, lets help him. in three weeks he's vilified. then he disappears. there's a gap in our understanding. our found myself in a position to tell the private story behind this incredibly public story to say a lot of decision making was done as well as could be under the circumstances. the company was eviscerated. they lost almost all their employees. they lost their office, all their executives. they had almost nothing to work with and they had a crisis, a

business crisis that was unheard of but more than that they had a crisis of 658 people lost. at the beginning they weren't even sure -- a lot of energy was put into whether people were alive or lost. the term then was missing. it was very inconclusive. >> danielle, i think it's worth noting if we talk about the story of cantor fitzgerald updating people where the firm is now. it's doubled in size. there are 5,000 employees. the profits have doubled since the wake of 9/11 and the ceo is employing many of the children whose parents were killed in the attacks. i think that's a fairly stunning turnaround story given all of the facts you just outlined. >> the fact that cantor survived is incredible. the fact cantor stepped up and did help family members tremendously. not just financially. put a tremendous amount of work into helping with health care for 10 years and giving as much funding as they could, monetary and financial aid to the

families, but they also put in a relief fund helpful across the board for all the problems the families faced afterwards, which was sort of endless from immigration to support groups to how to take care of my child. they did a tremendous effort. what people don't realize is they didn't have to do any of that. they did it. thank god they did it because they definitely helped the families. my film sort of shows what happened after this event, they created a huge community of grieving families and grieving employees with no -- there was no sure way to go forward. so were all the steps correct? clearly not. in some ways did the media overreact and politicians overreact and did everything get more complicated than need be? absolutely. >> sam, we talk about grief and 9/11, the anniversary, 12 year anniversary is coming up on wednesday. we are now talking about syria,

military intervention. to say we have sort of made peace with the legacy of 9/11 or the war on terror is over, i think almost at any moment -- this moment that the american public is going through right now is -- provides more clarity on just how much further we have to go in terms of getting over iraq post 9/11, the war on terror, all of it. the nsa surveillance. it's sort of an amazing moment to study the american -- the american sort of imagination, if you will. >> the ripple fbts of that day are so resonant right now. just the emotional turmoil people are going through, business ramifications discussed here to political ramifications. how we've created a very large, far reaching national security state that is, you know, learning new information every day about. this week we're seeing a real backlash, i think, to all the

stuff that emanated for that moment. for the first time, i notice no one is citing 9/11 as a reason to go into syria overtly. no one saying we can't have another 9/11 on our hands but it's clearly in the backdrop of everything we're talking about with respect to what are the ramifications. can we get into a war based on faulty pretenses. it's still with us. >> al qaeda men as, what happens to america when it intervenes in the middle east. it's a lose lose proposition. that is a powerful line of argument for american public. not just war weariness but general sadness. >> his sort of vague threat of all actions will be on the table if you attack me. that definitely he's trying to play towards that fear that americans have. >> it's also if you look at what the russians have been saying consistently for the last two years, what have they been saying, saying you're going to encourage safe haven, work on

the side of the al qaeda affiliated rebels and really this is an anti-terrorist action that assad and his regime have undertaken. it's an effective argument clearly still for some parts of the american public. >> putin made no shortage -- no shortage of mentions of al qaeda from the mouth of putin. director of "out of the clear blue sky" thank you so much. it's out in new york but in theaters nationwide september 11th. thanks for your time, danielle. national security adviser susan rice expected to make her case for syria at the new america foundation any moment now. we'll bring you her speech live just ahead. [ male announcer ] pepcid® presents: the burns family bbq.

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for a store near you go to benjaminmoore.com/bayarea. >> lets listen in. >> contributions to national security discourse including the challenge that brings us together today. in response to bashar al assad's

barbaric use of chemical weapons against the syrian people, president obama after careful consideration has decided it's in the national security interest of the united states to conduct limited military strikes against the syrian regime. president obama has asked congress for its support in this action because in a democracy our policies are stronger, more effective and more sustainable when they have the support of the american people and their elected leaders. tomorrow evening the president will address the nation and make his case for taking action. today i want to take this opportunity to explain why syria's use of chemical weapons is a serious threat to our national security and why it is

in our interest to take limited military action to deter future use. there's no denying what happened on august 21st. around 2:30 in the morning while most of damascus was still asleep, assad's forces loaded warheads filled with deadly chemicals onto rockets and launched them into suburbs controlled or contested by opposition forces. they unleashed hellish chaos and terror on a massive scale. innocent civilians were jolted awake choking on poison. some never woke up at all. in the end more than 1400 were dead, more than 400 of them children. in recent days we've been

shocked by the videos from neighborhoods near damascus. as a parent i cannot look at those pictures, those little children laying on the ground, their eyes glassy, their bodies twitching and not think of my own two kids. i can only imagine the agony of those parents in damascus. sarin is odorless and colorless. so victims may not even know they have been exposed until it's too late. sarin targets the bodies central nervous system making every breath a struggle and causing foaming at the nose and mouth, intense nausea and uncontrollable convulsions. the death of any innocent in

syria or around the world is a tragedy, whether by bullet or land mine or poisonous gas. but chemical weapons are different. they are wholly indiscriminate. gas plumes shift and spread without warning. the masses of people they can fell are immense. the torturous death they bring is indescribable. chemical weapons like other weapons of mass destruction kill on a scope and scale that is entirely different from conventional weapons. opening the door to their use anywhere threatens u.s. -- the united states and our p