ann curry tonight in amman. thank you. >>> back in this country now to another big story we are following tonight, that out-of-control wildfire in yosemite national park, now one of the biggest in california history. it is roughly the size of chicago. so big they can see it on the international space station, the image nasa provided us. nbc's tom costello joins us with the latest. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, lester. that's the smoke behind me off the top of the trees and also the building there. the fire service fire chief tells me this is the toughest fire he has fought in his 30-year career. sunrise this morning in tuolumne, california, brought relief. the town was still standing. the fire over the ridge and in the river canyons below stretches some 200 square miles including yosemite national park. commanders think they're starting to get the upper hand, but it is only 15% contained. we are facing record fuel, dry conditions across this state. >> the fire shot over here. >> reporter: tucked between th

nbc's amman mohyeldin is in cairo for us tonight. amman, what's the latest? >> reporter: good evening, lester. the egyptian government announced today that 79 people were killed in violence on saturday, and this evening, more than 35 people were killed when they were suffocated to death after police fired tear gas into a police van to thwart an alleged prison break. an uneasy calm on the streets of cairo today, the country's military standing watch. today, the general speaking for the first time since a bloody crackdown began this week said the military would not stand by and watch violence rip the country apart. the muslim brotherhood isn't backing down either, calling for more protest. when police launched their bloody assault on morsi supporters, they turned their anger on the country's christians. at the church of the angel michael in giza, this is all that remains, sacred texts, destroyed icons, rows of charred pews. rida gabala showed me where the altar once stood. since wednesday, more than 60 churches have been attacked, cristyans killed, businesses a

. >> nbc news foreign correspondent amman mojadine. amman, stay safe. >>> david miranda was on his way back to rio from berlin where he had been meeting with a docume t documenta documentaryi documentary. his electronic possessions including his cell phone, lap top and memory sticks contain -- were all confiscated indefinitely. richard, unsurprisingly, glen greenawald had a few things to say got this. his response was its bad enough to prosecute and imprison sources. it's worse still to imprison journalists who tell the truth. your thoughts? >> what's despottic is killing european nationals. egypt at the moment is under despotic power. this is all wrong, it's stupid. and it duds send a chilling message to the journalists working on this. let's be clear, he wasn't just the partner of glean greenawald, he was acting as a go-between. that's not to say that's a reason to detain him. but he's something more than just the partner of a journalist. he was engaged in this journalism. and it's not surprising to anyone that anyone with their demo

amman is joining us live. you and others have been urging the government. obviously, they decided not to wait any longer. >> reporter: that's correct, chris. in fact, can you probably see this road behind me. this is one of cairo's major highways here. in fact, it's supposed to be busy this time of day as people go home from work. you can see behind me it's rather empty because a few minutes ago, a state of emergency was declared across the country according to egyptian presidency. what that means it will give police and the government here the authority to carry out all kinds of emergency laws. more importantly, how that is going to be interpreted in the coming days and hours with those being arrested and particularly with those that are in many of these protest locations. it is going to be extremely alarming for human rights activists. the egyptian police earlier today move in 7:30 a.m. local time and cleared these two areas that were supporting the former president mohammed morsi and led to the type of violence we are seeing unfold. the concern among sec

ask amman i understand a nighttime curfew implemented in cairo? >> reporter: that is correct. they announced it will be imposing a curfew on various parts of the capital, as well as various states or -- rather throughout the entire country. this comes just about an hour after the egyptian government also imposed a state of imagine across the country at 4:00 p.m. local time and expected to last one month. we can certainly expect that situation to remain very tense in the coming hours. in addition to that declaration of emergency across the country and now the curfew, the presidency has authorized the country's military to support or augment police in restoring law and order and that is because throughout the course of the day the egyptian police has been strained in its efforts to restore security after clashing with protesters, mostly supporters of the ousted president morsi. it began with that early morning raid at about 7:30 a.m. local time. the death tolls are varying and because many of the voebodies a still in locations that are not accessible to health officials so a hug

. >> joining me live from cairo nbc amman mulhadeen. you see the marching that is going on this morning. bring us up-to-speed. >> reporter: we have a very volatile situation developing in parts of cairo as well as the rest of the run. the major protesters that were called for in cairo were supposed to converge on what is called ramsey square. a lot of fatalities. a make-field hospital set up there and 27 bodies counted by this independent eyewitness. at the same time, in another part of cairo not too far away from where we have been standing hearing gunfire coming from a bridge from our offices here. the sounds of military helicopters flying above overhead. we have been able to see the protesters some civilians and others wielding weapons and firing tear gas on the prij and led to horrific scenes of people jumping off the bridges to try to avoid the random gunfire from both sides. against that backdrop the violence isn't just in cairo but across the countries. another city reports people have been shot as they approached the governor's

and joining us from cairo, nbc news foreign correspondent amman mojadin. when we look at the rising crescendo of a potential strike as early as thursday, as i mentioned, are we understand to understand that most of the diplomatic solutions are off the table from the u.s. perspective? >> yes. i mean as far as a diplomatic solution that would avert a military one. as a component of any military strike the united states were to initiate, it is trying very hard to get diplomatic backing which is a different thing. so you've seen some of that happening over the last couple of days, and you saw an important element in that recipe coming today with the arab league saying that chemical weapons were used and appearing to back some open international response. stopped short of saying that bombing military sites in syria was acceptable. but it's exactly the kind of regional backing, important backing that the united states would want if it was to undertake the action. >> and amman, give us perspective here on what game syria is playing. obviously, some sort of puniti

a team from switzerland and amman tied there. >>> up next, bill karins up next. [ whispering ] uh!he house caught fire and we were out on the streets. [ whispering ] shhh. it's only a dream. and we have home insurance. but if we made a claim, our rate would go up... [ whispering ] shhh. you did it right. you have allstate claim rate guard so your rates won't go up just because of a claim. [ whispering ] are we still in a dream? no, you're in an allstate commercial. so get allstate home insurance with claim rate guard... [ whispering ] goodnight. there are so many people in our bedroom. [ dennis ] talk to an allstate agent... [ doorbell rings ] ...and let the good life in. . >>> time for "first buzz," richard lui and bill karins join me. we'll start with running of the bulls. >> i have done it in pamplona, spain. this is in virginia where they had seven runs. they were trying to replicate what's in pamplona, called the great bull run. they did seven of them. they put 12 bums out there and run. as you see them running here, they had some trouble. when they first let out the first six

amman, i want to get more one question in to you. in terms of how and where the u.s. sides, i think we've done a very adequate job of explaining the complexity of the situation, but edward lutsvoc in "the new york times" writes a decisive outcome for either side would be unacceptable for the u.s. an iranian backed restoration of the iranian agreement would increase iran's power across the middle east. at this stage, stalemate is the only viable policy option left. that is, i think, a fairly dramatic assessment of where the u.s. needs to go which is to press, he says, for stalemate. what do you think of that? >> it's pushing for a stalemate from a political end may be an objective, but you got to keep in mind if it doesn't bring an end to the killing of innocent syrians to the people who are suffering to the humanitarian crisis it has created across the region, then everybody loses. there's an irony in all of this which is over the course of the last two years, the stated policy of the united states and others has been that they don't want this conflict to spread beyon

. >> reporter: at the amman mosque, hundreds of bodies were lined up for collection, blocks of ice to keep them cold. the carpet wet, the air filled with freshener to mask the smell. families distraught and overwhelmed. this woman searched for her son. he's 19. her only photo is an old picture from school. he went to the protest yesterday and never came home. he may be here, but some of the bodies are so burned i can't tell, she said. collapsed on a chair, this woman doesn't need to look any further. at her feet, her 27-year-old husband shot in the head, father of their toddler. she has no job or money. i pray to god to give me strength, she said. egypt may have overstepped in its crackdown, but it isn't showing signs of remorse. and tonight, lester, that mosque with the bodies inside was just raided by egyptian police. they disbursed the crowds with tear gas and seized the bodies. lester? >> richard engel in cairo. thank you. president obama took time from his summer vacation today to publicly decry egypt's deadly crackdown. >> the united states strongly condemns the steps that have

chaplain who walked to the gun town amman he was charged with aiding the enemy but then cleared and he thinks the u.s. prosecuted him for objecting to a prisoner. certain want time was the muslim chaplain assigned to the detention camp. and basically after objecting to the horrible conditions the enormous amount of abuse that was going on there i was real roaded and accused of being a terrorist myself and that landed me in prison by the u.s. military there were reports. stories from prisoners how they were maybe subjected to being put in you know what you might call this a turning circle where interrogators attempted to force them to you know make prostration like in the form of the muslim prayer in the center of the circle and then of course there was such a humiliation being carried out on the part of female interrogators down in guantanamo the white house has returned rated that is standing by president obama's pledge to close the detention camp but it seems the flow of money into the prison isn't trying up and the total car keeping the facility running reportedly exceeded five bill

attack further with dr you blame a political analyst and a professor of these that in a university in amman joining me live from jordan is capitalism so the nothing's totally clear yet but the syrian government forces they apparently have the upper hand in the fighting so why would they resort to chemical weapons at this stage. i think the real question is what the syrian government do something like this at the same. time there's a you and delegation that has just arrived to syria to investigate the usage of chemical weapons it would be political suicide on the other hand if we ask ourselves who is benefiting politically from such allegations we have to look at what's going on regionally and employer nationally as you know there was a few meetings over the last couple of weeks between the united states and russia to plan for geneva through the. peace conference in syria and the united states government has has has expressed displeasure at the fact that the syrian government has decided to attend that gin they have a two meetings so this allegation would provide grounds for banning the syri

. >> reporter: after amman al zawahiri, in a taped message, encourages attacks in the middle east. a worldwide travel alert issued friday, cautions americans traveling abroad, of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist inf infrastructure. >> i feel like they're not telling us the complete truth. a halfway truth. i try to put it behind me. >> any of the changes due to flying, it puts you on alert. >> vigilance means that you should be always having the extra sense of alertness about you. >> reporter: there's simple, common sense measures travelers can take to ease their anxiety. >> if something looks to a reasonable, prudent person, not to feel comfortable with it, that's good enough to make the phone call. >> reporter: and while terrorists have targeted subways and trains in the past, for now, the nypd has no immediate plans to step up security in new york city. >> i don't have any concerns. >> you can't live in fear. no. >> reporter: and this current global travel alert will stay in effect for the rest of the summer, until the end of

>> oh, chris, amman is absolutely right.e watching in effect the early stages of what is essentially going to be, i'm afraid to say, a very bloody confrontation between the military that is determined to basically clear the cairo streets of these encampments and muslim brotherhood supporters that are determined to stay there. we are about to watch what essentially is an extraordinarily bad game of political chicken engaged in the streets of cairo because neither side is prepared to give ground and it doesn't look like a happy picture for those people who are there when the military is determined to act. >> so there is nothing very briefly that you can see happening that will keep this from devolving even further? >> i think the military, the military leadership that is controlling the show in cairo has basically given these protesters another few days, trying to find a quiet way to prevent the inevitable confrontation but despite the mediation has taken place as you know, senator mccain and senator graham were there a couple

. >> joining us now from cairo is nbc news fornt correspondent amman mojadine.s there a sense, given the chaos on the ground right now that the europeans may have more leverage in terms of determining an outcome here or at least calming the violence that has erupted in the last week? >> well, certainly if you speak to the egyptian government, they have been very clear about

. >> reporter: in amman, jordan, and in istanbul, turkey, hundreds of protesters rallied against u.s. intervention in syria. after friday prayers, a cleric issued another warning to washington. >>translator: if the americans commit such mistake, victory will belong to the resistance and proud nation of syria. >> reporter: one the the assad regime's diplomats less bold. >> we do not opt, they leave us one option which is to do whatever we can to defend ourselves. >> reporter: administration officials for the first time assigned a motive to the syrian regime for carrying out the chemical weapons attack. in fact two of them. the intelligence report cited their frustration not being able to oust rebels from damascus with conventional arms. senior u.s. officials briefing reporters on background talked about manpower shortage, desire to free up troops from targeted areas to make another push on aleppo. >> james rosen at the state department, thank you. if and when the u.s. strikes, it will hardly be a sneak attack. national correspondent jennifer griffin at the pentagon tonight with how tha

amman javers is here. they have ties to the assad regime. was yesterday a warning shot across the bow? >> it could have been. here's the trick, it has ties to the assad regime but they claim to be independent, young patriotic hackers who are doing their own thing in support of the syrian regime. what was it really? effectively they were able to bring down "the new york times" website for a period of time. not a huge consequence to that, unless you're "the new york times." but it is a reminder of what you call the asymmetric threat response, which is when you have a small country with a small military like syria relative to the size of the united states, have you to worry a little bit about what's going to happen if the united states comes after you. how do you respond to that? well, hacking, terrorism, other things that are not a military-to-military fight. that's what syria's options are to fight back against the united states. that's what we could see. might be a little reminder. in that way maybe it is a shot across the bow. >> like twitt

amman zacould that be group. >> he was moved toward a more violent path in al qaeda and certainly thehe muslim broorgehood pushed out will take that same path and move towards a new transnational agenda and put more risks outs of egypt. >> you're in egypt and looking for an option to become empowered. you have a perception what is happening to the government. talk about that and the potentially radicalization of those individuals. >> absolutely. those in the muslim brotherhood are not inclined to support u.s. foreign policy but al qaeda's message to suppress the muslim whole. in that sense, that becomes a very, very attractive message when you see your brothers shot down in the streets and ultimately killed. >> where is the incubator? what we were concerned about a month ago? >> i don't think yet but it certainly could be inspect syria is the place where you have the greatest danger of foreigners coming to syria and joining al qaeda and then potentially going back to western europe and even the united states and launching terrorist attacks. the instability there gives them free rein i

embassy in amman, jordan. it's not just benghazi. there has been an increased threat against u.s. interest in the middle east. this is very much ayman al will zawahiri's strategy. >> there is some disagreement in the intelligence community about what may be happening. some believe it's all about a possible attack in yemen. some believe it is about a broader range of attacks in the region. but there is no disagreement over how serious it is. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >>> well, let's bring in tom fuentes, our law enforcement analyst, a former assistant fbi director and, as far as working overseas, he was on interpol's executive committee for many years. tom, good to see you. about these embassy closures, it's absolutely huge that this is actually going on. what does it tell you about the intel they have? >> hi, anna. yes, it is unprecedented for them simultaneously i think we could say the threat is credible but they would have intercepted conversations with senior al qaeda members discussing possible attacks on u.s. facilities or western interests, to coincide with the end

. >> amman mohyeldin in cairo, thank you. >>> the joint military exercises the president is cancelling with egypt are nicknamed operation bright star. they date back to the 1978 camp david accords. involving tens of thousands troops in almost a dozen countries every two years. nbc news chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski join us with more. when this initially came out, there was a sense that canceling bright star was sort of a tap on the wrist, as opposed to taking away the more than $4 billion in aid we are sending to egypt. is that right description? is this more serious than people at first understood? >> i think your first description is accurate. as a matter of fact, two years ago, when egypt was in a state of turmoil, as they were throwing out the long-term dictator, hosni mubarak, that exercise was canceled, with no appreciable effect on the relationship between the two u.s. militaries. and one official here said they dare say that given the kind of turmoil in egypt right now, that if we didn't cancel it, the egyptian military may very well have canceled it, because th

embassies in qatar, kuwait, tel aviv, cairo, amman and bangladesh all posted notices on their twitter pages. >> it's possible we may have additional days of closing, as well. of course depending on our analysis. >> reporter: security at u.s. embassies and consulates was tested last year. four americans including ambassador chris stevens were killed during a terrorist attack on the consulate in benghazi, libya last september. the embassy in libya will be closed. some for more than a day. state department officials say they are reacting out of an abundance of caution. susan mcginnis, kpix 5. >> american diplomatic posts in europe, latin america and others are normally closed sunday anyway. >>> the white house is disappointed with russia for giving temporary asylum to former u.s. security contractor edward snowden. yesterday, snowden highlighted by the circle there left the moscow airport. he can stay in russia for a year as long as he doesn't leave the country and doesn't leak any more u.s. secrets. he faces charges in the u.s. for releasing information about surveillance programs. >> m

amman is joining us live. you and others have been urging the

advocate for civil liberties he was along with his fellow michigan congressman republican just in amman one of the authors of the proposal to defund the national security agency's metadata collection program that was narrowly defeated in the house of representatives last month i started my conversation with congressman conyers by asking him about his number one legislative priority as a michigan representative jobs. you have said that your number one legislator purty right now is jobs h.r. one thousand can you tell us about this well essentially of all the things that i would love to accomplish as a thought or legislator would be to create an economy where everybody's working. for a number of reasons obviously a person who is working is the person who is going towards some kind of fulfillment he's sustaining him so or her so. it's also good for the national economy. because it helps move us more quickly out of this recession that we've been working your way. it's also important in that it provides. for lot of people. hell in terms of small businesses being able to maintain themselves or

let me bring in nbc amman who is in cairo. we know a fast moving story while most americans slept. give us a sense where things stand today. >> if you look at the last three major gopts in 23 hours you get a sense of what is unfolding from so many angles. you start out with the sense in the peninsula militants stopped police vans belonging to the ministry of interior and executed them in short range and 25 we understand it 25 people were killed. that is one incident. giving you an indication of the lawlessness and militants rising in the peninsula. on the other hand, here in cairo late last evening the police forces here transporting 36 individuals belonging to the muslim brotherhood they allege were involved in activities the past week and transferring them from a police station to prison and in that process they killed 36 of those prisoners. they allege that the prisoners were attempting to break out of the truck that was transporting them that they were trying to escape. the muslim brotherhood said this was cold blooded murder on the hands of the police force who wanted to kill

you hear the reporting coming from amman there. the fact that yemeni officials foiled this al qaeda plot. is there a new effort by yemeni official to take on the responsibility, the government responsibility to crack down on what is a problem with terrorists, al qaeda terrorists in yemen? >> we hope so. the past few years serious challenges to yemeni government authority. al qaeda was known to take over large parts of regions of yemen and able to seize populated areas. it took a coordinated assault to get rid of them. i think they are still in a position if they did it right they might be able to seize an entire port or oil pipeline or refinery and cause strategic damage and do something that is of greater significant than blowing up a building. >> chuck schumer talked this morning about the efforts against al qaeda. take a listen. >> al qaeda in iraq and afghanistan has been decimated largely by the drones and now we are focusing that attention on yemen which is al qaeda arabian benz la who did this. give us time and they will be

. >> joining us now from cairo is nbc news fornt correspondent amman mojadine.s there a sense, given the chaos on the ground right now that the europeans may have more leverage in terms of determining an outcome here or at least calming the violence that has erupted in the last week? >> well, certainly if you speak to the egyptian government, they have been very clear about their interest in foreign -- foreign power to use its leverage over the government, whether it's financial, diplomatic or political to try and shape what the egyptian government here is doing. on more than one occasion, they have said that they take into consideration their allies, their concerns of international community, but when it comes down to what's happening here in egypt, they are making their own sovereign decision. so they are striking a more defiant tone when it comes to the type of -- the united states and the european union are talking about perhaps cutting off aid or shaping the economic benefits of this relationship. today the saudi king pledged his commitment to pledge money

joining us from beirut, lebanon is foreign correspondent, amman mow hadean. >> there is word from theaction to the notion that the president may

the americans, the fresh, the turks and the saudis have an operation room in amman.y are in constant touch with the rebel there is. as the situation stands now, the u.s. is still giving non-lethal aid. what that means is nig goggles, kevlar vest, m.r.e.s. the united states so far has not started putting weapons into the hands of rebel bus they are taking a big role in veting who does get the weapons coming through jordan. >> warner: you mentioned the pictures from khaldiyeh and, two, the assad regime released this video of him visiting troops. is there also an image were going on between two sides? >> oh, there's no doubt and that's been since the very beginning. the other thing that we saw this week is president bashar al-assad opened an instagram account and this is another occasion for very calm leader-like photographs that were put out on the web. on the rebel side, there are seven youtube channels that are with the f.s.a.. you can watch almost every battle that takes place, putting out more content than al jazeera or pbs. it's a huge amount of video. both sides

joining us from beirut, lebanon is foreign correspondent, amman mow hadean. >> there is word from the british, they're not going to do anything. what is the reaction to the notion that the president may go it alone as it were? >> well, now there's a few different sets of reactions. one specifically set because of a u.s. strike on syria and two, the humanitarian consequences of that and three, the possible fallout in terms of regional conflict. obviously, people are concerned about the possibility of a u.s. air strike or any type of strike given the fact that there has been intervention that is ended so disastrously in iraq and elsewhere. the concern among the governments has do more with the concern of security and that in places like lebanon, they've already seen violence from syria spill over here. this is a very divided country in terms of ethnic makeup. a lot of is actually mirrors inside of syria. they're afraid if there's a conflict from syria that spreads across the region, countries like lebanon will definitely feel that pinch. more importantly, on a humanitarian level, you lo

local authorities are said to be working with federal and state officials in amman and from possiblet here in the bay. barbara starr reports that in the middle east, u.s. intelligence is closely watching for a terrorist reaction. >> i qaeda is stronger than it was from 911. >> dozens of intelligence in detail are scowling and databases and telephone intercepts. they are going on here for clothes. the u.s. response is going beyond and closing embassies across the areas. the press secretary stated that he ordered the forces to a higher state of alert. 1500 marines are on board. they will now remain off the coast of yemen ready to react. cnn has agreed to withhold details of the intercepts. they stated that the information is so sensitive. the top republican on the committee stated that the controversial role in as a surveillance program that picked up this chatter. >> we have heard that they have what is intended to be done as some individuals who are making plans such as, before 911. >> >> a lottery ticket worth more than $1.1 million was sold at a milpitas gas station, lottery offici

amman? >> good morning, mikap. egypt is waking up to the scope of what happened yesterday and it is one that many people here are realizing it was worse than what they anticipated, and that is because as you were saying the death toll now stands at about 421 people. 43 additional security force members were killed. get this, there are still about 200 bodies still unaccounted for laying in one of the mosque near one of the sit-in locations. it is a dangerous day here, to say the least. the muslim brotherhood and their supporters are calling for nationwide protests in the coming hours. that is going to challenge the government. the reason why that's so important is because yesterday, the interim government here declared a state of emergency, effectively putting the country back under martial law that was used during the time of mubarak for 30 years. one of the major stipulations of that emergency law, it bans any public demonstrations or protests. it is going to be interesting to see how rigorously they try to enforc

our senior international court, nick robertson, joins us from amman, jordan, where military leaders fromts allies will meet to talk options. tell us more, nick. >> reporter: well, they're coming here over the next day or so amid a lot of secrecy, precisely where's the meeting, how long will it last. we're told not to expect a press conference afterwards. the united states, great britain, france, italy, germany, qatar, saudi arabia, turkey, all sending military chiefs here. we're told they're going to discuss the regional situation and the crisis inside syria. but for jordan, this is a major concern. this huge escalation, the conflict, the chemical attack just over its border. and jordan here not the stablest of nations right now, concerned that if this country is seen as somehow getting directly involved in the fight, being a place where intervention is planned or being used for some kind of intervention, then there could be strikes back here. jordan really trying to downplay this meeting out of concerns for its own security. but no doubt a response to that chemical, alleged chemical att

let's get right to the region where abc's martha raddatz is tracking all of this on the ground in ammanrdan. good morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, george and elizabeth. this region is bracing for a possible military attack on syria, which could come soon. this morning potential targets have been identified, allies consulted, and military commanders await only the green light to launch attacks. these images seen around the world have had a profound effect in washington. secretary of state john kerry saying in no uncertain terms that what the assad regime has done will not go unpunished. >> make no mistake, president obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people. >> reporter: for kerry the attacks seemed personal. >> as a father, i can't get the image out of my head of a man who held up his dead child, wailing while chaos swirled around him. >> reporter: while the administration is convinced a chemical attack occurred, the u.n. is proceeding with its investigation. those inspectors

we're joined by msnbc news foreign correspondent amman residing from cairo. >> reporter: good morning, steve. there's no doubt about it. the u.s. embassy here in cairo is one of the largest diplomatic facilities in the world, heavily guarded and today it would normally be lined up for business. people would be lined up for all kinds of services. today it's shut down. we're not sure when it will reopen that's because of this new terrorist threat that's emerged in recent days. there's no intelligence to suggest that this facility here is, indeed, the target. nonetheless, officials here cannot take that risk. so, in the course of the last several days they have beefed up security around the u.s. embassy. it is, as we mentioned, heavily guarded. in the past already blast walls, traffic has been diverted in recent months because the embassy here finds itself at the risk of terroristic related attack and in a dangerous political environment where there are constant protests outside the u.s. embassy walls. many of the political leaders in this country have been bashing the united states gove

joint chiefs and head of central command holding meetings with counterparts from across the region in ammanu.s. navy destroyers and submarines are now positioned in the mediterranean sea armed with cruise missiles ready to carry out strikes inside syria if the president orders them. fighter jets are at the ready, as well, although the jets themselves would not cross into syrian airspace. >> we will use our aircraft and our bombers to launch glide weapons, standoff weapons from well outside the syrian surface-to-missile threat so that our aircrews will not be in any danger and can return home safely. >> reporter: but the white house does not want the u.s. to act alone and has been aggressively trying to get u.n. authorization for a possible strike. the u.n. secretary-general has already promised action if the reports are true and has inspectors on the ground this morning. >> such a crime against humanity should result in serious consequences. >> reporter: syria's leader, bashar al assad, said overnight that any attack by the u.s. would end in failure. as for how soon a u.s. strike could occu

meantime in istanbul, turkey and amman, jordan, proterse turn out by the hundreds to oppose any westernin the two year syrian civil war. one protester in jordan say we have examples of iraq and libya to show us what this kind of strike could cause in the way of destruction. in tehran, friday prayers saw leading iranian cleric warning in his sermon in america commits the quote, unquote, mistake striking assad regime, victory will belong to syria. prime minister cameron meantime projecting classic british stow system in the set back. he told interview, obviously politics is difficult. cameron made clear by no means london is not withdrawing entirely. >> we'll take to continue to take the case with the united nation and work with all the members, whether eu, or nato, g8 or g20 to condemn what's happened in syria. it is we uphold the international taboo on the use of chemical weapons but one thing, that was proposed, the potential, only after another vote, involvement of british military in any actions. that won't be happening. >> reporter: so some curious turns of event at donald rumsfeld

nick robertson is in amman.ome very disturbing images. >> reporter: wolf, jordan's position has been very clear. they say they want a diplomatic solution. indeed, when you look at their position right now over these military meetings that are going on here involving saudi arabia, the united states, qatar, turkey, britain, france, germany, italy, it is really to play down the profile of this meeting. it doesn't want to be perceived as hosting a meeting where there's going to be a decision over intervention in syria based on these alleged chemical att k attacks. gordon feels that would put them in potentially a very dangerous situation, missile strikes, potentially chemical missile strikes, even from syria would be one of their concerns. terrorist strikes as well precipitated by the assad regime would be another one of their concerns. it is pretty much an open skreet here that there is weapons smuggling into the hands of syrian rebels going on. saudi arabia says it's supplying weapons. the jordanian government's p

amman is also like that and to some degree the uae has less of the sectarian divide but in other countriesthe issue saudi arabia and bahrain for example it's clearly liked red state blue state in america on this issue. and this one. like mitigates against the divide is the unity that exists and countries on culture. we as a whole series of questions about air culture versus persian culture versus arab contributions to civilization versus persian countries etc.. in iran obviously when we pulled iran they view their culture superior. in turkey they viewed over them is superior. in the arab world there is that sense of arab culture trumps my political differences with iran or my political support for iran so even among sunni and shia both these gets very strong attitudes of arab culture being superior. that is where i will stop and take any questions you may have. [applause] >> thank you. >> we have questions and many good questions from our students and i'm going to try to summarize some of these and lump sum together on the topics. the first ones have to do with the upcoming election in ira

. >> amman, please be safe. ayman mohyeldin in cairo. i want to throw to senator lindsey graham bite and richard, i want to get your take on the potential downside of this whole situation. have a listen. >> he had new elections, the brotherhood would get creamed at the ballot box, but they're going to be a very formidable force on the streets. they're going to get a line with al qaeda. al qaeda is going to come uninvited into egypt and a failed state and that means gas prices go up for us, the suez canal gets compromised and egypt becomes a staging area for terrorist acts against israel. this is an absolute disaster in the making. >> it's possible. one of the first rules of the middle east is things have to get worse before they get even worse. we're beginning to see that in egypt. it's hard to exaggerate the degree of polarization. you're having all these killings on both sides. this is clearly winner take all, loser lose all politics. the united states has virtually no influence over the trajectory of egypt, continue our aid, cut our a

intelligence intercepted communications between al qaeda leader amman al zawahari in pakistan and thel wing based in yemen. as al qaeda's central leadership weakens analysts say the organization is leaning on affiliate groups even more. we will continue to follow that. a lot of politics and media to cover this morning as well. down in the polls and zapped in momentum, anthony weiner is trying to stay on message in his bid to become new york's next mayor. >> how is that working for him. >> not well. >> really? >> that has been difficult with a press focused on scandal instead of issues. >> but the people are still with him. if i can talk issues. >> he goes to the people. >> what did the people say? >> he finds out they're not necessarily with him. take a look. >> [ bleep ] you. go back to your hampton house. >> you're very passionate. >> i'm passionate. more passionate than you on twitter. i'm a social media expert. okay. get someone to handle your [ bleep ]. you are disgusting. >> okay. >> disgusting. >> you've had your say. >> thank you all for quoting -- >> you have little kids here

pakistan, the tribal areas, afghanistan, maybe even the top figure in al qaeda now with bin laden gone, amman zawahiri. this looks scarier than some of the chatter they pick up. >> put this in a perspective over the past ten years, let's say. it used to be we heard of the chatter going on around the clock. we had a discussion yesterday on "meet the press" about the about of al qaeda to still strike, compared to five, six, seven, ten years ago. is this the world our intel community live in constantly five years ago, six years ago? this is just news now because there's a re-emergens of chatter the likes of which we haven't heard in five or six years? >> joe, often in the past, the intelligence committee has picked up more specificity, real plots, somebody coming at the united states, planning to take out the subway system in new york or planning some other kind of attack. sometimes what we picked are people in the midst of those attacks. think of the underwear bomber, mutallab who came to detroit in 2009. this is more -- is more general. i think if anything's changed it's that in the aftermath