obama, melanie barnes and "washington post" columnist and msnbc political analyst, ezra klein and ayman mohyeldin, msnbc correspondent. i want to go to you, ayman, the president, they keep doubling down on the terms, credible and corroborative. needing more evidence as to whether assad is using chemical weapons. how much do you think the international community and specifically syrians are taking stock in this notion that the white house is moving perhaps towards action of some kind in syria? >> well you know, i've been speaking to people overseas. and trying to gauge their reaction from the syrian opposition leaders, the syrian coalition, they put out a statement yesterday, in which they said that time has come for u.s. action. that the evidence is so overwhelming, not only from an anecdotal level, but also from the u.s. intelligence assessments and some of its closest allies, that there is no more excuse for inaction and the blood of the syrian people is now really weighing in on the countries that are not getting involved to put an end to it. this is no longer a situation that is just simply a

nbc news foreign correspondent, ayman mohyeldin, and connecticut senator, richard blumenthal. senator, i'll ask you to stand by for one second while we check in with kristen and ayman. kristen, let's begin with the political calculations that go into what the white house is looking for, especially when the administration is receiving pressure from the rights about what it would mean if syria has, indeed, used chemical weapons on its open people. >> reporter: well, thomas, right now the administration essentially trying to buy some time, because there aren't any good options when it comes to syria. putting troops on the ground could cost thousands of american lives, arming the rebels is difficult, because it's not quite clear who the opposition forces are. a no-fly zone, also tricky. so the united states really trying to carve out some more time, but also making the point that they want to be 100% certain of this latest intelligence, which suggests that syria has used chemical weapons. they say there are still questions about the origin of those chemical weapons, and they point

nbc news foreign correspondent, ayman mohyeldin, and connecticut senator, richard blumenthal.you to stand

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. >> let's go to ayman mohyeldin, who is in new york, thanks for joining us.ather used back in the bad old days? >> well you know, that's a good question. but it's very difficult to ascertain that right now because we simply don't know the nature of the chemicals that were used. obviously the syrian regime has a host of weapons as we understand, including nerve gas, mustard gas, sarin gas. and in the past we've heard from syrian rebels say the regime used the concentrated teargas. nonetheless, it didn't necessarily cause the mass killings that we've seen used previously, including in places like iraq. so it's still a little bit early. i think it will depend on the intelligence assessment by the united states and other countries. >> is there a sense that assad knows that if he did resort, this is speculation, but close to what we think is happening. did he know in resorting to chemical weapons, that he would bring an international response? >> there's no doubt that the u.s. has made very clear that the u.s. of chemical weapons would be a game-changer, crossing