coming up the debate on capitol hill continues over a potential u.s. strike on syria this while the war torn nation of syria remains in a growing state of chaos the latest updates ahead the california state senate overwhelmingly voted to reject indefinite detention in the meantime the highest court in the nation is considering hearing a lawsuit challenging the n.d.a. a complete update coming up. and it's been months since the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in west texas and now five other facilities storing the same chemical that caused the deadly blast have turned away the state fire marshal the state fire marshal himself joins us later in the show.

it's wednesday september fourth five pm in washington d.c. i'm sam sachs and you're watching our team and we begin in stockholm soon was asked to again make the case for military strikes in syria could you describe the dynamic to be a nobel peace prize winner and getting ready to attack syria i would refer you to the speech that i gave. when i received the nobel prize. and i think i started the speech by saying that compared to previous recipients i was certainly not worthy the question though that all of us face not just me. our citizens face not just political leaders is at what point do we say we need to confront actions that. are

violating our common humanity meanwhile the president's plans for congress to approve military strikes are unraveling on tuesday night the senate foreign relations committee released its draft of an authorization for force in syria it narrows the much broader authorization submitted to congress by the white house over the weekend the senate's plan imposes a sixty day limit on any military operations in syria and it explicitly forbids deployment of u.s. troops on the ground in syria and this afternoon the senate foreign relations committee passed their resolution in a ten to seven vote the next step is to piece together sixty votes to move the resolution forward and hold a full vote on it next week but then it goes to the house of representatives where its prospects are dim or today the house foreign relations committee stage hearing two on syria something secretary of state john kerry defense secretary chuck hagel

and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey to the hill for the second day in a row to make the case for u.s. intervention and they faced off against skeptical lawmakers this will not stop the butchering in the killing that takes place over there so what is the purpose what is the end game here where is the imminent danger to the united states i have spoken to hundreds of constituents this represents about three hundred e-mails that moffat's has got and not a one not a one member in my district in south carolina or the e-mails of people that have contacted my office say go to syria and fight this regime so far most members of the house who have taken a stance on syria are opposed to military strikes r.t. was on the hill and caught up with some members of the house foreign relations committee this is what they had to say. you got out how to own on the rebel side you've got hezbollah which is

a terrorist group on the syrian side you've got two terrorist groups fighting each other and we want to get involved in this every time i hear this administration say this is going to be clear targeted and concise and brief the conversation always tends to steer into. in some way shape or form we're going to support opposition what that signifies to me is we're going to get dragged into a civil war that we have no business in doing the u.n. car the charter is quite clear about those doing charter for bids one country attacking another country except under the auspices of international organizations or because a treaty it's neither one of which applies here so where is all of this had it in our military strikes really the appropriate response to alleged breaches of international law but i was joined earlier to scott's this by steven slessor political commentator and author of the book act of creation the founding of the united nations i started off by playing a clip of what senator rand paul said to our two yesterday about every thinks

congress is getting duped by the white house part of the problem here though is in my biggest complaint about it is you know i want to be proud of the president for bringing this forward but then they say well they won't adamantly say they're going to adhere to congressional verdict so is the vote just feed or is it just pretend and that's a pretty important thing if the president wants credit for believing in current question authority and coming forward with us he needs to say yes the binding absolutely i would never go to war if i lose the vote but it's telling that they're not willing to say that i then asked stephen if he agrees that this is all theater now i think that the president genuinely wants the support of congress because he's on a sticky wicket i mean frankly the american people don't support action on syria he doesn't have the support of the united nations. nato has been silent so congress is the only kind of stable institution which could give him some sort of

legal authority for what he's doing but there will be a real dilemma if he doesn't get that congressional vote in him in support of his action today the president said he didn't come up with the red line that the world came up with a red line when it signed on to for example the chemical weapons convention and other treaties so really what is an appropriate response when nations violate these conventions is it a military strike. listen i think he's genuine in being concerned about enforcing the issue of chemical weapons and the this so-called international norm it's just that this is the wrong place and the wrong time to enforce it we don't want to get involved in a in a civil war in syria which has no end no relationship to our national security so this is not the right place to do it as it is the middle east is a tinderbox to bud that it's already exploding if americans. endorse

a missile strike in the way that the president has outlined we're going to have tremendous kind of outbursts of america and any american isn't throughout that region and we just can't afford any more turmoil that is going to afflict that area and also our foreign policy well what do you make of arguments that have been made by secretary of state kerry and secretary of defense hagel that if we don't respond to these actions that it will embolden future bad actors to use similar weapons which will threaten the national security interest of the united states and other allies around the world you know when ronald reagan lost one hundred thirty seven marines in lebanon back in one thousand nine hundred two he withdrew them right away he did not talk about enforcing. norms of that sort because he did not see that as an act of weakness on the american on the side of the american presidency he saw that as

a tactical measure to sustain our national interests over the long run if the president simply changes his mind or says the so-called red line that he drew i fear no longer applies today because circumstances have changed i think people will accept that i don't think they will hold that against them and i don't think regard the presidency is necessarily a weak one given that the administration has previously demanded that assad must go . plus the initial very broad authorization for force that they submitted to congress over the weekend and if you include the calls from senator mccain that there should be more authority to bolster the opposition is it fair to assume that this goes beyond chemical weapons and that this is more about tilting the balance in the syrian civil war in favor of the opposition. not according to the president the president says this is going to be a kind of neutral strike simply to punish the syrian government for the use of chemical weapons but in fact this is the danger once you send those missiles in

let's say the effect is immediate and it does require a lot of activity by the syrian government you that you are then going to have voices in this country saying well let's complete the job let's wipe the regime out and start airing at this point or on the contrary if it doesn't work if in fact it doesn't stop assad from using chemical weapons in the future you're going to have further demands at this country to send more missiles in and finally send ground troops in in order to enforce the norm so either way it's a loser in my in my estimation right or it's a precarious situation where we're moving into trying to walk the line of punishing punishing the assad government for using this and also not getting involved in this sort of civil war in toppling the government but we're out of time stephen schlesinger political commentator and author of act of creation thank you thank you one word we've heard used by the president again and again when discussing military

options in syria is the word proportional as in there needs to be a proportional response to syrian president bashar al assad's alleged use of chemical weapons what exactly does a proportional u.s. response mean especially when syria hasn't actually attacked the us artie's this wall with more. over one hundred thousand dad and a bloody syrian civil war a chemical attack blamed on the assad government appears to be a rat line the military plan that has been developed by our joint chiefs and that i believe is appropriate is proportional it is limited in this case the administration sees proportional as limited in. sir vention through airstrikes no boots on the ground with the goal of deterring assad from using chemical weapons regime change according to the administration is not the goal if i is arrogant

enough and i would say foolish enough to retaliate to the consequences of his own criminal activity. the united states and our allies have ample ways to make him regret that decision the call for action in syria comes two years after a multi-state military intervention in libya the united states and british forces fired dozens of cruise missiles at the north african country coalition forces and force a no fly zone this all in an effort to crack down on libyan leader moammar gadhafi there's some things that a no fly zone can do. in terms of air traffic. and things that it can't do in terms of low low flying helicopter. activity for example the operation aided the rebels and destroyed key targets here libyan rebels rest in the bed of the ousted leader's palace international intervention lasted until the gruesome death of the longtime

libyan leader oh oh oh oh oh. oh. oh in addition to libya the calls for military involvement in syria have prompted fears of another ordeal like iraq but full fledged invasion lasted for nearly a decade resulted in hundreds of thousands of iraqi deaths and over four thousand american deaths well past conflicts show that military intervention is not a guarantee for peace and democracy the world has seen that when intervention adds violence remains a part of daily life as the country struggles to pick up the pieces that's perhaps why most u.s. citizens now are weary of getting involved in another conflict and washington live all are taking now on to some news regarding indefinite detention this week the california state senate unanimously voted thirty seven to zero to reject the

federal government's indefinite detention powers as prescribed by the national defense authorization act. nearly two years ago california measure reads it is the policy of this state to refuse to provide material support for or to participate in any way with the implementation within the state of any federal law that purports to authorize indefinite detention of a person within california that measure was previously passed by the california state assembly alternately if the measure is signed into law by california governor jerry brown it would make it difficult for the federal government to use its indefinite detention powers at least in the state of california elsewhere the main plaintiffs in a long legal battle against the n.b.a.'s indefinite detention provision are planning to file paperwork in the coming days to have their case heard before the united states supreme court this would be the last remaining legal challenge available to critics of indefinite detention after a u.s.

court of appeals ruled last year that the plaintiffs a lacked standing to challenge the law for the latest on this fight i was joined earlier by tangerine bolen founder of revolution truth and a plaintiff in this and d.a. case and i started off by asking her how effective this measure in california could be if signed into law curtailing the government's indefinite detention powers. well it's a great question and i have a two part answer the first says it's effective just in that all these groups have come together and congress is taking it seriously so. you know i think about how to move move us down to that and go a little closer to really know looking at the n.b.a. it's also got a full of loopholes and most significantly loophole that i thought was an over reliance on hideous corpus you get programs as a measure of last resort so much can be indefinitely detained and held for a long time before the government actually honors p.b.'s corpus that could be kind

fifteen twenty years so it's kind of meaningless and the issue with the n.p.a. is the suspension of due process all of our rights not just to be a source of corpus so it's good that it's well let's move on from the other avenue that you guys are sort of working here and that is through a supreme court to hear your case what are you hoping to hear from the high court in response. well first of all that they take the case they don't have to it's a little bit worrisome because as we've seen the judiciary even all the way up to the supreme court has tended to defer to the executive while we're in the war on terror so they don't have to take the case they could say that this is all settled this is the international laws of war and this is what congress decided we're not touching it we have obviously they do take the case and that they take the constitutional issue seriously there were two issues we brought forth the first amendment. free speech freedom of association and due process we have right really significant really important questions all along the road as you know last year we

won and even though people's court agreed that we raised very very tricky question the supreme court ought to take this case many lawsuits against the government spying on americans have been tossed out after courts ruled that they didn't have standing since they couldn't prove they were actually spied on that's now changed in light of n.s.a. revelations we'll probably see a lot more lawsuits come out what new information may come to what sort of action might be taken by the government that could help your case and give plaintiffs against india is standing up the appeals court so they didn't have. you know that's such a great question and i'm glad you asked that as you know chris hedges also was part of the clapper case one of the journalists that ailes and they lost on standing grounds precisely what you described they couldn't prove that they were being spied on well now we can't so you know it's a roundabout thing but it can affect our case positively and that the government can quite easily square him out of business say when you can't prove anything thing

you have no standing in our case it's really really absurd we were to die in standing because you have to be indefinitely detained before you could have founding well some of the deputy detained there secretly almost and secretly arrested and they are they're held secretly somewhere we don't know where they are denied absent through an attorney no phone calls the family or friends and it's legal now to hold them for as long as this. wishes there's no way that you can find those people so you know absurdity them bound and pope but we were going to continue to get judges like dr tyson cochran for i who really can see this all out assault on the u.s. constitution and start to roll it back moving on from state governments to the supreme court to now congress which is working on a new and right now is there an opportunity during the process to rein in these powers what should people know during this coming to. well you know there are several center senators and congressmen and women who are really fighting to reopen

but their operatives are being rejected at every turn people in both the democrat democratic and republican parties are halting them and their track and rejecting the amendment so i totally applaud my friends and colleagues who are fighting this in congress just like i do those who are fighting in california and to the cation efforts and i think what needs to happen though is every one of us or because of the killy feel we need to deal with it as broken as diffusion broken due to sherry's what not at politics but not so we need to fight on every front and the congressional fight not over but right now is looking rather pessimistic so should be an interesting few months ahead i was to dream bolen founder of revolutionary revolution truth and plaintive thank you thank you. moving on to the latest leak coming from edward snowden according to a top secret intelligence report outlined by the washington post that is fiercely trying to deploy

a counter drone strategy the report titled threats to unmanned aerial vehicles includes dozens of intelligence assessments dating back to two thousand and six exposing a number of methods used by al qaeda to downed u.s. drones including jamming g.p.s. signals blocking infrared tags used to pinpoint targets using observation balloons and even hobby airplanes it also describes al qaeda attempts to recruit more engineers and technicians to specifically focus on countered drone operations but the intelligence committee noted that they are confident that al qaeda quote whacks the technical knowledge to successfully deploy a counter drone strike system though they caution that should they should al qaeda affectively created counter drone strategy that it would be quote highly disruptive for u.s. operations in afghanistan and pakistan finally the report noted that the album that al qaeda is also focused on deal of drone strikes by taking advantage of growing

public outrage toward drone warfare in response the intelligence community wondered whether or not they are losing the battle of public opinion and one suggestion to turn the tide was a stop using the term drone strike and start using the term lethal u.a.b. operation. now still ahead on our team who can forget that powerful plant explosion in west texas that state's fire marshal wants to prevent similar tragedies but there are major hurdles standing in the way we'll talk to him next after the break . i know c.n.n. m s n b c news have taken some knots lately but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate. that was funny but it's close it's a bit like thank. goodness because one

whole attention and the mainstream media work side by side with you actually on you . look. at our teenagers we have a different. oh well because the news of the world just is not this funny i'm not like damnit i'm not you. guys stick to the jokes i will handle them. the the supply of it was terrible a. very hard to take that. once again. to supply has he ever had sex with her mate there is no.

way. one of the poor. but i suspect. the reply. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and should clarify that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy which threaten all voters. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is because for the excellent work of our government and across several we've been hijacked why handful of

transnational corporations they will profit by the screwing what our founding fathers once built up my job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem to try to fix the rational debate in a real discussion of critical issues facing america if i ever go ready to join the movement then walk a little bit there. and welcome back after the massive west texas fertilizer plant explosion earlier this year you would think it would be a top priority in texas to make sure something similar doesn't happen again but it might since the explosion in five different facilities in texas storing large quantities of the same sort of fertilizer that sparked an explosion at the west facility have turned away state fire marshal inspectors you see in texas there is no state fire code and fire marshals lack the ability to force inspections on

businesses that refuse to cooperate so is this hands off lax regulation environment putting the safety of many texans at risk joining me now is texas state fire marshal chris chameleon chris welcome to the show thank you just so we're clear how this works you're the state fire marshal you have a job to inspect these facilities but you're being turned away and prevented from doing that is that correct well of the sixty two inspections that we've completely zavala here inspections we like that clear for those of you stay there is not a state what park and we were requesting permission to do a code inspection to see how it was still to. compares to the park and up. by did not want to come on the property now since the. one has changed. and we have back we were supposed to inspect them today gotcha so

the vast majority of plants are being inspected just these five and now now for what might be a reason for these plants to turn you away that you know wouldn't be a safety issue i guess. well we're hoping it's not a safety issue begs the question of why they not laos was it a miscommunication on our part or what whatever it was we want to make sure we clear that up and we sent them a letter stating the best practices for storage of ammonium nitrate and some other information and just will make sure their release where that. i said we're not forcing the issue because there's no we don't have any authority to force the issue but certainly we encourage them and there's been a lot of media coverage on the spy facilities and again one have already changed their mind and i have a meeting potentially this friday with another entity that may allow him on the property as well. are you concerned by your lack of authority to force these

inspections and if there are these plans that are refusing these inspections can you say with confidence that what happened at west won't happen again when i cannot say that with confidence also we have seen their facilities. is a policy issue that has to be determined by the legislature that's a statute that have to be. facilitate that ability to have a state wide bar code and that's not in present state law currently and we'll see what the legislature of the homeland security and public safety committee is reviewing all the issues with the west the investigation itself as well as the aftermath of best practices and and to their credit they want to make sure that these businesses are aware of the best practices money and nitrate and the various regulatory issues that most vary state agencies as well as federal all being reviewed simultaneously the presence issues equitable order upon the federal

government to review how such as a west occurred in an order any gaps in the records or armas and so while working collectively together and certainly the texas legislature the house homeland security committee. has us looking at a number of things we're creating a map as well to help citizens know where these facilities are in the state. all that will be completed by november so there is a lot of activity going on and certainly this will help our help in the policy terminations to say where we go forward but certainly i would give a lot of credit to home a security committee for these various charges that we are working on right now in the state fire marshal's office because certainly we all not want another west to occur as it is to tragically putting lives lost on a million dollars worth of property that you know there's no doubt there's things can be done better and we're all working collectively to achieve that goal after

west you know we learned of these major gaps these holes in sort of the federal regulation framework care of of inspectors i think the plant wasn't inspected it until like mid one nine hundred eighty s. as an inspector then and this is simply impossible for federal inspectors to go around and look at every plant given the staffing in funding issues so it's it relies on these on these state inspectors here at texas given until there's a legislative fix that allows all these facilities to be inspected is this is a public safety issue. well we're working to minimize that right now hence doing all these voluntary inspections state by marshall offices agreed to do annual volunteer inspections as a state to provide feedback to these various. entities that have ten thousand pounds or more money in the tree to make sure they're aware of the best practices there's baalei sions of fire code that we alert them to that and strongly encourage

them to make those fixes simultaneously you know the state fire marshal office architects for matures and there are some other things that they are insurance commissioners looking at during the interim study of this. review of wes before we go into the two thousand and fifteen session ledger comes they will have a lot of. answers and back of what we think should be done and be opened up to the legislature charmin if you will joseph and we'll keep an eye on what goes on there chris clearly texas state fire marshal thank you thank you for shit your time and finally exploding whales in the atlantic ocean that was the scene more than thirty years ago as the british navy turned its torpedoes on whales mistaking them for enemy submarines during the falklands war recently published diaries belonging to crew members at the time shed light on this previously untold story according to plymouth herald two of the three whale casualties came by way of missiles torpedoes

excuse me fire from anti-submarine frigate with the fitting name of the h.m.s. brilliant the third whale was taken out by the ship's helicopter the british ministry of defense explained what the whale of a mistake was by saying the sooner sonar equipment at the time was not very advanced and was often mistaken by whale signals captain ahab each your heart out and that'll do it i'm sam sachs see you back here at eight pm. syria and barack obama's combine looted powers toward the american administration is determined to punish the assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons other than members of mainstream media many are skeptical of the president's claims and the necessity to attack syria so what is obama's plan and does it make any sense. at all or.