tonight leon panetta, former secretary of defense, c.i.a. director, white house chief of staff and congressman. we talk about syria and other issues. >> in many ways, what will happen here in syria, i think will define america's role in the world. and if we do nothing, if we back away, i think it will weaken the united states, and i think it could change the stature of the united states for the 21st century. >> rose: we continue this evening with the conversation about a new film called "the family," directed by bless, and starring robert de niro and michelle pfeiffer. >> >> when you work with great actors, eats a reminder of how to do it right. >> rose: we conclude with an exhibition at the asia society called "iran modern." >> when i went to iran, i was able to see in fact this period was very different from today. obviously, there are similarities, but it's different its difference is also in terms of the political environment. in that very period the u.s. and iran were not just politically closer but also there were many cultural ties. i

also, leon panetta, another former defense secretary and cia director, he said this. the united states draws a red line, the credibility of this country is dependent on him backing up his word. joining us now from cambridge, massachusetts, cnn senior political analyst david gergen who hosted the event with secretary gates and leon panetta. they both said the president shouldn't have gone to congress for authorization to begin with. pretty candid, pretty blunt for two members of his former administration. set the scene. how did this go down? >> both men refrained from speaking in the sensitive moments when the president was making decisions, but once his course was set, they felt they could come to southern methodist university last night and open up. and boy, did they open up. it became apparent that even in their loyalty, and they remain loyal to the president, they have sharply different views ahow this should have happened. neither would have drawn a red line for starters. neither would have gone to congress once a red line was drawn. they both felt he should have

leon panetta saying -- an electronic pearl harbor. we go back to your title is rebuttal of sort of the founding documents of this that said cyber war is going to happen. why is there such a big industry? >> yes. for a number of different reason. first, i think it's important acknowledge that when leon panetta when he was secretary of defense or head of the cia, when he spoke about pearl harbor, he did this for political reasons more than anything else. usually when you he said he wanted to create an impression to congress to pass cybersecurity, the russian -- [inaudible] if senators and congressman are really and representatives are really disasterred -- scared then they would legislate accordingfully. -- accordingly. it didn't play out this way. and it points to the core problem. age lot of people have understood that the threat may serve their interest political interest in the international interest. if you have people scared, sometimes you goat sell them a product. of course, those people who really believe if and want to discount

>> senator, leon panetta says if you draw a red line you've got to enforce it.ob gates says it's a joke to trust putin. however we ended up here, didn't president obama really make a hash of this? >> well, i think it's very easy to always monday morning quarterback in a really difficult mess like this is. there are no good solutions to this problem. there was no good answer. it's a civil war where we're not sure who the bad guys and the good guys are but we did know that there were chemical weapons used and what the president has accomplished, no matter how he got here, he's got putin doing the right thing and he's got assad recognizing and admitting that he has chemical weapons and them moving in the right direction to get rid of them and that's what this was about. and so you can monday morning quarterback the way it went about. the play calling. but the results are a win for national security and for the standard of our nation being the moral high ground in the world. >> i just want to point out, it was leon panetta and job gates, the two secretaries of defen

coming up, leon panetta questioning president obama's strategy on syria. we'll let you know why the former secretary of defense says the country's credibility is at stake. that's coming up next. >>> about i big changes coming your iphone. we'll take a look at it. >>> everything is coming up roses for the oakland a's but definitely not smelling like roses at the coliseum. we'll tell you about the new sewage spill reported near the dugout. >>> on today's top story, families of the shooting victims will be on capitol hill pushing for congress to act on new gun laws. today marking nine months since that tragedy at the navy yard. pushing gun violence and debate back into the spotlight. >>> the ceo of starbucks is chiming in on the gun debate asking customers to stop bringing firearms into stores. you says people carrying guns had holsters are making some uncomfortable. they will not ask those carrying weapons to leave, though. >>> leon panetta says president obama should take a hard line against syria to keep other countries from using chemical weapons. he also

speaking at a college forum, both robert gates and leon panetta say they would have told the president not to seek approval from congress for a military strike. gates opposes a military strike, likening it to throwing gasoline on a fire. panetta says obama must follow through on his words. >> my view would have been that once the president came to that conclusion, that he should have directed limited action going after assad to make very clear to the world that when we draw a line and we give our word, damn it, we back it up. >>> a federal judge has ordered a new trial for five new orleans police officers who were convicted of civil rights violations after shooting and killing two unarmed people shortly after hurricane katrina. the judge cited quote grotesque misconduct arguing that prosecutors unfairly altered the case. >>> some experts are blaming hurricane katrina for allowing a dangerous brain-eating amoeba into local tap water systems. water fountains have been shut off and officials are trying to kill the parasite with chlorine. >>> a house in connecticut was completely destroyed

. >> rose: i had former secretary of defense leon panetta here on friday who made the case that others have made including former secretaryates that at the end if you don't have some russian american compromise here that the president has to act-- even if he doesn't have in the case of leon panetta congressional authority because of the risk of how it will be read in tehran and north korea is too severe, has the president put himself in that place? gary? >>. >> if the agreement breaks down and there's non-compliance of use of chemical weapons by the syrian government because they feel they have to given their battlefield situation the president has no choice but to use military force and i thich this time around the white house is unlikely to make the mistake of seeking congressional authorization because that clearly is not on the table. >> rose: david? >> if they're not going to get congressional authorization after a use of chemical weapons against the syrian people i think it's going to be harder to get it for what what would be a complex technical argument over compliance with the

leon panetta spelled out the price of governing from crisis to crisis. he wrote in an op-ed, u.s.itizens will lose truth and the world will view the united states as less able to back its word with power. >> how much does this struggle damages in the eyes of the world. >> i think it does. right now we don't have a competit competitor. there didn't seem to be much of a price to pay. the recovery is continuing, but there are two areas, first is the credibility of american government. our treasury bills are the reserve investments of the world. if that changes, if people start worrying about getting repaid, as they should frankly worry, given what we're doing, that would change things dramatically. it raises huge costs for the united states. the second is, in all this crisis management, nobody is talking about what we should be doing for the long term in this country. we are seriously underfunding investments in education, in infrastructure, in basic science. that's the seed capital that produces growth. you know, we had these slogans where people said it's not about big government o

speaking at a college forum, both robert gates and leon panetta says they would have told the president not to seek approval from congress for a military strike. gates opposed a military strike likening to throwing gasoline on an extremely complex fire. but panetta said obama must fall through on his word. >> so my view would have been that once the president came to that conclusion, that he should have directed limited action going after assad, to make very clear to the world that when we draw a line and we give our word, damn it, we back it up. >>> a federal judge has ordered a new trial for five new orleans police officers who were convicted of civil rights violations after shooting and killing two unarmed people shortly after hurricane katrina. the judge cited grotesque prosecutorial high school conduct arguing they unfairly altered the case. >>> and talk about the great escape. oh, well, at least the great attempt. a man under arrest in ohio attempted to flee police custody by jumping out of a moving cruiser, but as you can see, that did not work out too well. turned out to be road

this is leon panetta talking about how badly the syria situation was handled. >> it is the responsibilitychiefçéñr to t action. so my view would have been once the president came to that conclusion that she should have the world thatçó when we draw a line and give our word, dar# it, we back it up. çó (applause) >> what else can youÑ amen? if we make a promise or a considered a threat or çó whatever. ái we either do it or we lose our credibility altogether. i say leon paneda kept his credibility. recent americans don't approve of the way president obama handled syria or the economy or their health care, but nancy pelosi, she thinks it is only the republicans who are critical and so she's standing up for hei man. >> he's brilliant and he has a vision for our country, and he's brigiant and has knowledge of the issue and judgments of what the right path would be. and respectful of other people's views. that is a package that they don't like. it is effective. looii at me. i am effective and i am a target and i am not the president and so it doesn'tÑi matter. >> for a while i thought she was t

critical park of obama administration now to sell a military strike against syria, former secretary leon panetta left in charge by the president when the president had something else to do, we don't know what that el circumstance -- else circumstance he led the attack on ben been. panetta signed a book dill for his memoir, general petraeus is now working for a big street wall street firm, kkr, no doubt making a big seem salary, and chief of staff jack lew. a integral part of what was the administration's 12 month stonewall, dodging questions about the president on the night of the attack, and finally president obama himself, rewarded with a second term, despite obvious failures of his white house during the attack, now one year afterwards, he has succeeded in doing absolutely nothing about benghazi. his administration continues to stonewall, the state department refuses to hold anyone accountable but his administration has allegedly retaliated against one of those who testified against the administration in congressional hearings. and tonight, on the eve of that attack a year ago, a report in wa

the defense secretary, leon panetta, and a ceremonial handshake, give everyone the students inclined. and that was general martin dempsey, the head of the chief of staff and he said, i would like to claim you as well. and he's going to be. you can imagine what the students felt and what they will carry with them from this and being in this great hall and people trying to do their best to help us out, it is quite a moving and wonderful thing at the same time. i will finish with one last story, then it's time for you to ask questions. where to nashville, tennessee. and we were giving talks at a school there. and a young man came to pick us up and he's a teacher at the school. he had nice clothes and a haircut. i thought he had been figured out. young guy, what does he know? he got his card and said that i saw the film world peace and the fourth-grade achievement and i said that i like that film. and i said oh, that's nice, would you like about her. and he said that i liked that you have the students write the letter. the military leader wages this on the troops and they have to write a

last year, leon panetta said sequestration is allowed to go into effect, it will be a disaster for national defense and disaster for defense communities, as well, because of all the cutbacks and furloughs and people making less money. aren't you concerned that in this global environment we find ourselves in with the u.s. having to be involved in so many different places around the world that the defense department being cut so indiscriminately is a problem? >> well, i guess first, i would say maybe we shouldn't be involved in so many places around the world. that's one luxury i have working at a libertarian think tank. my republican friends on capitol hill explained defense is only 25% of the budget and has to take 50% of the sequester. they think it's unfair. certainly i would agree more across the board cuts would be better or fairer, but better would be to actually craft a budget and figure out ways to phase out programs that no longer of justifiable and do it in a more intelligent way. here's the reality. we had three choices, going into the 2011 debt limit fight that gave us the budget

robert gates, leon panetta hitting the president hard for refusing to put the decision in congress's hands. take a listen. >> uth is i foolishly, naively had hoped that the congress would have acted by now and this would be more academic than it is, butt is obvious that the administration hastruggled with syria, and it is a complex problem. >> when the president of the united states draws a red line, the credibility of this country is dependent on him backing up his word. >> house speaker john boehner announced his intention to put the defunding of obama care trektly into the language of the continuing resolution to fund government and to n adjourn the house until that legislation passes. president obama appeed incredulous that the gop house leaders could be so, well, brazen and bold in their unpress deputied assault on obama care. have you never seen it being used to extort the president or a governing party and trying to force issues that hav nothing to do with the budget or the debt. >> as the battle over the budget and obama care begin, another scandal that dogs the obama adminis

robert gates, leon panetta hitting the president hard for choosing to put the decision in congress hands. take a listen. >> truth is i foolishly, naÏvely had hoped the congress would have acted by now. and this would be more academic than it is. it is obvious that the administration has struggled with syria and it is a problem. >> when the president of the united states draws a redline, the credibility of this country is dependent on him packing up his word he had to. lou: much more on that. and the rally began after the federal reserve announced they would be no tapering of their bond buying program. the policies will remain in place, investors loved it, the dow jones and the s&p closing all-time record highs. the nasdaq posting is highest close in 13 years. we will have a lot more on how the fed fold the street. evacuation than colorado continue at this hour as flood waters claimed lives of six people begin to recede 600 people still unaccounted for, and as you see on the screen, the massive damage and destruction widespread, damage estimated to be in the aliens of dollars. the latest

we'll tell you what leon panetta and robert gates are saying now. .easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everi'm with scottrade. me. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine. [ male announcer ] some things arsigned to draw crowds. others are designed to leave them behind. ♪ the all-new 2014 lexus is. it's your move. the all-new 2014 lexus is. wit's hard to find contractors with the passion and the skill, and that's why we use angie's list. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time with honest reviews on over 720 local services. i want it done right. i don't want to have to worry about it or have to come back and redo it. with angie's list, i was able to turn my home into the home of my dreams. for over 18 years, we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today. >>> u.s. prosecutors have obtained approval to seize control of a skyscraper in new york city owned by the go

i do somewhat agree with leon panetta on this but it goes further than that.turing to the united states. i could hear reagan turning over in his grave as this was going on. considering that russia has been the one sending them all of the equipment and military and arm ma meants that they need. for them to come forward and say all of a sudden, we're going to take care of that, i'm not sure how many people believe that and how it's going to affect the outcome. >> senator, i want to read the op-ed because most americans raise their eyebrows. "i would rather disagree with the case president obama made on american exceptionalism stating that the united states policy is what makes america different. it's what makes us exceptional. it is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional whatever the motivation." and senator john mccain just tweeted that putin's new york op-ed is an insult to intelligence of every american. do you agree? >> sure. that's what i was referring to when i said he was lecturing us. read further and he says, if somethi

. >> that was leon panetta on what he read into putin's op ed. just within the last few minutes, assad told a russian station that it's not because of the u.s. threat to strike. given washington's expiration to move on, they have no choice but to give putin his moment in the sun by elevating the proposal. the president has boxed himself this. >> i think we will have a crippled team walking into the room where putin holds all the cards. >> according to a planned leak, they propose that syria join the organization for prohibition and declare the weapons for where they are made and decide with them how and where they are destroyed. thing that makes the success of a diplomatic response, they continue to deny that assad was the who used the chemical weapons at all. in his op ed, he claims that no one doubts poison gas was used, but there is every reason to believe it was used not by the syrian army, but opposition forces to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons. >> the rugs who suggested that the rebels might have perpetrated the atta

this is leon panetta talking about how badly the syria situation was handled. >> it is the responsibilityhe authority goes with it in commander in chief to take action so my view would have been that once the president came to that conclusion that he should have directed limited action going after assad to make very clear to the world that when we draw a line and we give our word, damn it, we back it up. >> what else can you say but amen? if we make a promise or consider a threat, whatever, we either do it or we lose our credibility a altogether. >>> recent polls show americans don't approve of the way president obama has handled syria or the economy or their health care. but nancy pelosi, well, she thinks it's only the republicans who are critical so she's standing up for her man. >> he's brilliant. he has a vision for our country. he's brilliant. has knowledge of the issues and judgment about what the right path would be. respectful of other people's views. that's a package that they don't like. that's a package -- it's effective. look at me. i'm effective 00 a target. i'm not the presi

the president overruled hillary clinton, david petraeus, leon panetta, in terms of arming the rebelsoint. the red line had been breached. the president had promised serious consequences and then with the shrug of the shoulders. now you have consensus from the security team. for the reasons secretary kerry laid out in a quite compelling way yesterday, and the president of the united states once again slugs his shoulders and throws up an obstacle in his own way. when you are agree with intervention or not, when you are agree that the president should take this to congress, the incompetence on display toast past week has been absolutely breath taking. >> members of congress weigh in on all sides. after a quick break. why do people count on sunsweet prune juice to stay fit on the inside? it's made only from prunes, nothing else. it works, simple as that. it's a natural source of fiber and five essential vitamins. it's the smart choice for me. stay fit on the inside with sunsweet's amazing juices. test. . . . >>> the constitution gives congress the power t >>> the constitution gives congr

the tone rankled leon panetta as well as chair of foreign relations committee bob menendez. >> putin should be the last person to lecture the united states about human values and human rights. >> to be honest, i was at dinner and almost wanted to vomit. >> the man tasked with sitting down and negotiating, secretary of state john kerry arrived in geneva hours ago. so far remained mum on the latest salvo. in an effort to put 1,000 ton chemical weapons arsenal under international control, each side has been vocal about who truly has the upper hand. yesterday the obama administration continued to assert the americans and not the russians were in the driver's seat. >> there is no question that the credible threat of u.s. military force brought us this diplomatic opening. a complete about face by the syrian regime and acknowledgement for the first time in its existence they hold chemical weapons. >> in an interview with russian state tv syrian president bashar al assad made the case for putin confirming the stockpile would be placed under international control assad said the admission and

. >> reporter: former defense secretary leon panetta wrote the wounds caused by sequestration are weakening the united states' ability to respond effectively to a major crisis beyond the war zone in afghanistan. bret? >> jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you. the situation with syria has many questioning what is president obama's foreign policy. senior political analyst brit hume is here with some thoughts. welcome back. >> thank you, bret. the predicament facing president obama on syria can be traced to two notions that shaped his foreign policy from the start. one is his evident belief that america and its foreign interventions are a big part of what was wrong with the world. the other was or is his apparent view that his mere presence in office would change the attitude of the world, and especially the muslim world, toward the u.s. neither of these ideas has proved out, but the president who is thought a bright fellow has been slow to learn that. unfortunately he was quick to pick up on another notion that congress should be bypassed on recess appointments to immigration laws to th

, it is the president of russia or at foreign secretary of defense former secretary of defense leon panettais morning. >> president putin should be the last person to lecture the united states about our human values and our human rights. >> for more now i am delighted to say we're joined by ambassador mark ginsburg. mr. ginsburg, i have to ask you the obvious question. what was this man thinking? what was he hoping to accomplish by writing this? >> how many bottles of vodka do you think you can open up while writing an op-ed in the krem lynn. >> a few. >> how do you translate the word hu hutszpa into russian? they're back in play and the world is back and i am leading it and i have the president of the united states on the ropes here, and by the way, my hands are completely clean on syria. >> oh, yeah. so let's just go through that. here is a man whose opposed to the united nations every step of the way over the last eight years, and now he says he believes the united nations is the most important body and it is a man who talks about american exceptionalism where as he is imbused the notion

the president's former defense secretary, leon panetta wrote recently in an op-ed, "u.s.trust in our system of governing and the world will view the united states as less able to back its word with power." how much does this internal -- eternal/internal struggle in washington damage us in the eyes of the world? >> i think it does. right now, we don't have a competitor, and so it seems as though we can careen from crisis from crisis, and there doesn't seem to be much of a price to pay. the american economy, the recovery is continuing. but there are two areas. first is the credibility of american government. we benefit enormously from the fact that the dollar is the reserve currency of the world and our treasury bills are the reserve investments of the world. if that changes, if people start worrying about getting repaid, as they shouldn't, frankly, worry, given what we're doing, that would change things dramatically. it raises huge costs for the united states. the second is, in all this crisis management, nobody is talking about what we should be doing for the long-term in

this particularly troubles me, and i just saw my old colleague, who i'd always worked well with, leon panettaactually criticizing barack obama, saying, before i go to war, not in clear self-defense, was before i make this discretionary decision to start war, i'm going to ask congress. and panetta attacked him for that and many of the media have, when they talked about the president's weakness. it's because he apparently has this belief in democracy and said, look, if we're going to use armed forces, if we're going to send our young people in to be killed, we'll ask congress. for years, there's been in drum beat of the presidents acting unilaterally or being highhanded. and you have the view that the president is always -- in the middle ages, there was a saying that the king could do no wrong, which meant if something wrong happened, blame somebody else, because you wanted to preserve the monarchy's integrity. today the view of many in the media is the president can do no right. so when he makes this important democratic step that many of us have been looking for for years, it now becomes weak

the administration is willing to wait to see if anything comes of this, let me play for you what leon panettaad to say this morning. >> do you believe that we have to set some time limits here and that we can't let this drag on. >> you'd give a deadline for diplomacy? >> i don't know if a deadline, but internally we have to make clear that this cannot just drag on. >> panetta says if it drags on it it hurts u.s. credibility. >> i think he's right about that. you set an internal deadline. you don't need to set a public deadline. at some point you tell the russians, enough is enough. either you deliver on the deal or you're not. the froms has been given a chance that he badly needed to build a case for action if he ends up needing to take action because as everybody knows he was going to lose the vote in congress. his speech the other night was just the beginning in the effort to do that, really. >> so it seems to me that this becomes an important day, david, what needs to be accomplished? you have john kerry meeting with the russian foreign minister and the president meeting with his cabinet.

you don't have anybody in the administration like rahm emanuel who knows the house side, leon panettaportman in the bush administration or rumsfeld and cheney. >> jonathan, you're being squeamish here. isn't it a question of elitism? doesn't he think he's better than the house members? >> come on. >> you don't think that's true? he's president of the united states, he is better -- >> listen, he's the president of the united states. he's certainly in a more elevated role than they are, but i will say i don't think he's wanted to spend, for whatever reason, a lot of time with members of the house of representatives. he doesn't have much time for the sort of basic parochial politics that follow in the house. and you make a good point, which is now he's asking for something, if not transactional, certainly asking for a favor from these guys who he doesn't have relationships with. it's a hard thing to do that. and all these members are hearing in their district from people who don't want them to go into syria. all the political pressure on them is to not help them. so, they've got to have

former defence secretary and former cia director leon panetta says the u.s.ith. >> i don't think we ought to kid ourselves. this will be very tough. the russians have been playing for time along with the syrians. this could be a stalling tactic. i believe we have to set time limits here we can't let this drag on. >> as savannah said, open-ended talks could hurt u.s. credibility. >>> a federal judge refused to grant bail wednesday to a texas actress who sent ricin laced mail. it poses a serious flight risk. she has been behind bars since her arrest in june. she has pleaded not guilty to all charges, a 12-year-old girl who survived a brain-eating amozambique ba infection was released from an arkansas hospital on wednesday. she contracted it at a water park in july. she is the third person known to have survived the parasite. on monday, she'll head back to school part time. >>> a dramatic video that shows the dangers firefighters face each day was released by boise, idaho fire officials on wednesday's 9/11 anniversary. they held a helmet camp last month t. fire

who led the command, and robin wright for the woodrow wilson center and jeremy bash, served as leon panetta'sef of staff both at the defense department and the cia. thank you all for being with me this morning. i think we can all agree that was kind of a surprise in washington yesterday. and i want to play a little bit from you of what the president said about how this would affect military action. let's take a listen. >> our military has positioned assets in the region. the chairman of the joint chiefs has informed me we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. moreover, the chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive. it will be effective tomorrow. or next week. or one month from now. >> well, let me ask the general. does this complicate matters, or not? >> no, we've been through this before. if you recall back to iraq and saddam, we literally were single minutes away from launching lams when kofi anand -- >> same ole same ole? >> same old. >> how would the military respond if, for example, congress did not authorize the use of force and th

the tone rankled leon panetta as well as chair of foreign relations committee bob