bashar al assad was never meant to be president. his father had ruled his nation with an iron fist for 30 years and had groomed another son to lead. but after that son was killed in a car crash, the president summoned bashar, then an eye doctor in london. told him, come back to damascus. do you sometimes wish that you were still an opt moll gist? >> you cannot look back to see yourself as a doctor. it's an important position. >> reporter: and indeed he does. just last month, an independent united nations commission who interviewed more than 220 syrians, issued a report, stating that the syrian government committed, quote, crimes against humanity, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence against protesters, including children. do you acknowledge what the u.n. said? >> the concrete evidence that you have and we'll see if that's true or not. you have a lot of allegations now. >> reporter: did the u.n. not send up these documents? nothing at all. they don't even have the names. who are the raped people, the tortured people? who

it is clear what the strategy of the bashar al-assad regime is. it is to attempt to channel peaceful resistance, which it cannot handle. it has no clue how to to channel piece of resistance. it has no clue how to handle peaceful resistance. channel it as best it can in the direction of insurrection. it believes it knows how to handle insurrection. this is the kind of language that that regime understands quite well. what we are hoping may still happen, namely, by virtue of the arab league initiative. there is going to be a meeting this weekend. is that somehow the arab league will be able to persuade the syrian regime to accept monitors, witnesses on the ground. our view is that it is less likely that this regime will do its worst if there are witnesses present. our view is that the best future, the syria's best scenario for a stable transition that preserve stability in the region is one that would be peaceful. this regime has a vote in all of that turns out. i am not about to tell people trying to defend their houses and their families that they

and bashar al assad says welcome, on the security council he has russia and china. the last time the security council discussed syria, he not only had russia and china, he had india and brazil and south africa to the eternal shame on his side. >> thanks for being on, appreciate it let us know what you think we're on facebook, add us to your circumstanles. >>> coming up, new polling showing mitt romney holding the lead, but support for gingrich drops. >>> and amazing pictures out of north korea. mourners filling the streets of pyongyang. whether real or not, the cries, you see them there, just incredible look at the most important moments coming up. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. >>> in politics, six case before the iowa caucuses, a report shows that support is dropping for gingrich and growing for santorum. a new poll shows that mitt romney and ron paul are the front-runners, aamong the likely gop caucus participant

approves the use of force against bashar assad's forces in syria who are causing massacre's it would be a mistake for america not to participate and i don't think anybody in the middle east will forgive the united states of america human rights clearing to the human rights when he says really fairly or three you have to try and if that's what the u.n. wants to go ahead but the question of human rights the concern about human rights whether it's in libya whether it's in syria or whether it was in iraq is always a physically fit for u.s. primacy and for the u.s. to intervene whether it's libya syria or whether you're going to run to the nine situation all right if i go back to london the little girl only going to london because you guys are going to tramp exactly where you want to go hillary was saying you know during the cold war the united states had some constraint it had the soviet union is the new soviet union for the united states in the greater middle east iran. well that's what i want to go i want to get laid out it's let me go to london first go ahead fareed go ahead sure. so

approves the use of force against bashar al assad's forces in syria who are causing massacres it would be a mistake for america not to participate and i don't think anybody in the middle east will forgive the united states of america if you were not claiming to help when the israelis is really fairly or three you know if that's what the u.n. wants. but i'm not quite sure of your rights the concern about human rights whether it's in libya whether it's in syria or whether it was in iraq is always a fake leaf for us primacy and for the u.s. to intervene whether it's libya i don't agree syria or if we're going to rally the ninety's ration writer for a fight for i'm going to back to my knowledge economy is you guys are going to trump exactly where i wanted to go he was saying you know during the cold war the united states had a constraint it had the soviet union is a new soviet union for the united states in the greater middle east iran. well that's what i want to bring our i want to go let's go to london first go ahead fareed go ahead. so the question i want to. become the new soviet union

assad and he's very much in terms of supporting bashar al assad standing with iran so there are other players new players exist. you've got a much bigger. americas' position is quite. to you i mean everything we just heard we do everything we just heard more than one iraq should sounds like to me. yes i'm sorry what i wanted to know and i think is extremely important from my colleague in tel aviv is the united states one of the most important impacts of what happened in iraq of the u.s. invasion as the united states has ignited sectarian tension and conflict in the middle east which is having profound effects ripple effects throughout the region i think syria is a critical piece here so is saudi arabia of course iran is the one positive thing as is as the united states withdraws even though we had a very bloody to day today in baghdad in iraq as the united states withdraws the one positive potential peace here is the united states will have less of an ability to actually use iraq as a battleground for these sectarian tensions that we've been igniting in the region that's the one poten

syria's promise to end its crackdown on protesters those protesters are rising up against president bashar assad's regime assad is calling them armed gangs meanwhile iraq is trying to recover after a series of suicide bombs tore through the neighborhoods in baghdad killing at least sixty nine people many of them shiites well there's one thing to be said about both attacks we see a unified theme of sectarian violence now so what does it mean for the middle east and how does the west playing into this here is my discussion with lawyer and author eva golinger. i would say absolutely it's an attempt to sabotage the mission of the arab league and the attempts to try to resolve the conflict in syria in a peaceful way and also you know to try to paint a picture of what's happening in syria as just absolute chaos and instability and of course to terrorize as well those who have now come there on the mission i mean of obviously that would be a scary situation to be in their first day arriving into the country that there would be this level of terrorist attack and and there's no question that it was

government the obama administration has been very clear that they are calling for bashar al assad to resign to step down in fact for there to be regime change in the country they're not looking for some way to negotiate a solution to the conflict that's that's going on in the country they're looking for a way really to to force out of power but what the u.s. can do is what they've done in the case of other countries i mean they can intensify economic sanctions against syria they can continue in the campaign to try to garner support for some kind of military aggression towards syria but they will continue to do what they have been doing which is providing arms to those militant groups inside syria that are engaging in this kind of struggle this this fight against the syrian government and i think that that's probably the number one thing the u.s. will continue to do is to provide funding and arms to groups inside syria to continue to follow men on rest and try to overthrow the assad regime. a tense moment the u.s. . is saying quote credible reports that the acid regime continues to in

." > this is bashar al-ass"bbc wos america." syria's president strikes back. he says he is not responsible for the recent bloodshed. >> i did my best to tell people you should not go guilty would you did your best. you do not feel guilty when you do not kill people. inote ling for oa rev- russia. the recent president said the recent vote should be in a live boy. coming home. we travel to fort hood, texas, where the joye is tinge with sacrifice. withhe joy is tinged sacrifice. welcome to our viewers on pbs, america, and around the globe. during the past nine months the people of syria have taken to the streets in protest against their government, and over 4000 have paid with their life. in rare television interview with barbara walters, the syrian president, bashar al-assad, flatly denied he ordered the use of brutality. instead blaming the violence on others. paul would starts the coverage -- paul woods starts the coverage. >> day after day unarmed syrian protectors have come out to face machine guns, snipers, and army vehicles. the costs so far is 4000 dead m

approved the use of force against bashar assad's forces in syria who are causing massacre's it would be a mistake for america not to participate and i don't think anybody in the middle east will forgive the united states of america human rights period to human rights when this is really a fairly a three you have your time if that's what the u.n. wants. but i'm not quite sure of the. concern about human rights whether it's in libya whether it's in syria or whether it was in iraq is always a fake leaf for u.s. pilots see and for the u.s. to intervene whether it's libya where they don't agree syria is the only reality was the nicest ration right a fair fight if i go back to london. as you guys are going to try and exactly where i wanted to go hillary was saying you know during the cold war the united states had a constraint it had the soviet union is a new soviet union for the united states in the greater middle east iran. well that's a reality that it's let me go to london first go ahead fareed go ahead. so the question of the saying is that iran become the new soviet union for the uni

syria's promise to end its crackdown on protesters protesters there are rising up against president bashar assad's regime but assad is calling the armed gangs terrorists seeking to divide the country meanwhile iraq is picking up the pieces today after a series of suicide bombs tore through neighborhoods in baghdad killing at least sixty nine people it appears the targets were shia sections of the city now amid the suicide bombings in both countries we are seeing a unified theme sectarian violence is ravaging iraq and syria putting both nations on the brink of civil war and as religious and sectarian tensions rise what does this mean for the middle east and how does this play how does the west play into this well to help me look into all of this lawyer and author eva golinger joins us now welcome back eva first want to talk about the timing of the bombings in syria they happened shortly after the arrival of the arab league observers is it a coincidence or are they aimed at disrupting their efforts. i would say absolutely it's an attempt to sabotage the mission of the arab league and the att

look, bashar al assad is a very -- on the surface of it, is a very well-mannered man. he's speaking good english. this is his third language, because he was educated in arabic and french before he was educated in english. he really believes that, in many ways, he's a man much misunderstood. and the decision to go public, if you will, the decision to go to barbara walters, to bring barbara walters and talk to her, you bring barbara walters because, in fact, as we know, bashar al assad is a creature of the order of power in the arab world. she had once interviewed yassar arafat. so you come because you believe you have a good story to tell, and you tell an incredible story. and here you are the dictator, you are basically almost the owner of this country, syria. but now you disown the forces of order, you disown the killers, and you make yourself, you know, the innocent man on the scene. >> he's essentially saying, no one really controls the the army, no one's in charge, that i'm not the one making -- dictating stuff. he's a dictator. he just says, i'm the president. he'

>> i think bashar al assad think that the laws of gravity don't apply to him. and he also believes what happened to gadhafi in tripoli and what happened to hosni mubarak will not happen to him. he believes that he's really immune to this fury. and he believes that his community will really actually fight for him and keep him in power. and i think in this kind of, you know, in this parallel universe, as you described it, it makes perfect sense for bashar al assad think that he could ride out the storm. for example, the arab league imposes sanctions on him. guess what he says. he said, we had 35 years, 40 years of sanctions. we can live with sanctions. the arab league again, in way, tries to corner him, he has nothing but contempt for the arab league. the united nations human rights council issues a report accusing him of war crimes. what does he say? he has no regard for the united nations. and when pressed, does he not think much of the united nations? he thinks -- he says, we only play the game that we are members of the united nations. this is a man who is re

depose bashar. the dictator must go. and persecuted want one thing only, for the assad regime to end before more innocent people have to suffer. until their country is free, they will remain here as refugees in jordan. >> syrian officials have already agreed to allow international monitors into the country, but how much access will they actually have? we put that question to a syria expert, who spoke to us earlier. >> there's already one official restriction to the movement of these monitors, which is they are not allowed to enter any sensitive military compound. other than that, they're supposedly allowed to visit any place they want. it will be very important that they see the protests, places like homs, hama, and deraa. if they're really able to go there and talk to protesters, to be in demonstrations, that would encourage, obviously, more people to turn out against the regime and to go to the streets. this is not in the interests of the regime. at the same time, they will listen to a lot of stories they're not suppos

the obama administration has said bashar al-assad must go. tomorrow secretary of state hillary clinton will meet with syrian exiles in geneva. and tomorrow on this broadcast, we will have more from inside syria. clarissa linked up with those uo have taken up arms to fight the assad regime. some of them defectors from the syrian army itself. elsewhere in that part of the world, iran claims it has captured one of america's most sophisticated spy planes. u.s. intelligence is spying intensely on iranian sites believed to be developing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. bob orr tells us an unmanned u.s. drone did vanish over the weekend. >> reporter: the secret stealth drone-- nicknamed the beast of kandahar-- is one of america's most sophisticated intelligence tools. for the past four years, the r.q.-170 has flown high-altitude surveillance missions over the battlefields in afghanistan and its border with pakistan. on the night of the bin laden raid, one of the radar-evading unmanned aircraft monitored the navy seals' assault. ict now u.s.

have been you know concentrating on the position that there is no dialogue with such a president dr bashar assad i believe there is still a gap between both parties i mean there is syrian regime and his counter let's say falls or political foes inside and outside the republic of syria so i did all to be more pressure and more efforts being perpetrated by independent arab states that they haven't played a role so far in the arab league and major clout powerbrokers all the thanks for sure for the russian federation and their support for syrian regime so far so there should be a certain balance between both parties in order to have a certain dire political dialogue between conflicting parties inside syria. so you talked about the western interests there. says that sympathy with the opposition and destabilizing the situation is in fact an indirect way of making sure that any full scale intervention is justified as we saw in libya so do you do you really believe that is the agenda that the west has i believe it's through any foreign intervention i believe in i urge what the surrogate lavrov has

to bring about changes of bashar al assad to leave power will all of syria's problems disappear once president has left the scene or is that just the first step . well i don't personally think it's any step at all and i think that the us is out of place calling for any other government to to step down in the us is acting as though it's some kind of world emperor that orders governments in and then orders them out. i think that assad government has been very clear that it wants to resolve the internal conflict it's been working from day one that these protests began to negotiate a solution to implement reforms that president bashar assad has been very clear that there will be reforms in the country that one of the main problems inhibiting those reforms are impeding them has been the uprising of armed civilian militants who are fighting against government forces and that's what's caused so many of these casualties that have been taking place so many of the the deaths that have occurred over the past several months so i think that the really the solution is not whether or not bashar al

the uprising began last march, a revolt against the 40-year dictatorship of bashar al-assad and his father before him. assad has tried to conceal his crackdown by banning independent reporting. but, cbs news correspondent clarissa ward was able to slip into syria. tonight, she speaks to a growing army of rebels fighting for their freedom. >> reporter: it was not a long drive, but our guides were taking no chances. past a government checkpoint, the car twisted along dark back roads outside the capital city damascus. after a certain point, we were blindfolded to protect the location of the safe house where we would find members of the free syrian army. they are former syrian soldiers. they say they refused orders to fire on their own countrymen and so decided to take up arms against the assad regime. the commander spoke off camera for his own security. he told us "we are fighting for those who have made our children orphaned and our wives widows." he claimed that his men have carried out attacks on military targets around the capital-- the heart of assad's power base. no one knows just how l

sanctions continue to pile on damascus a worker alleged civilian abuses by forces loyal to president bashar lost that. as long as parties claim to win it gets first posed revolution election and frustration in the streets as many believe their boys are not heard. next twenty four soldiers were killed and thirteen injured in pakistan as nato aircraft attacked the tribal region bordering afghanistan last month the incident sparked angry reactions from islam about artie's tariq well who talks to the country's former head of intelligence tommy go about the consequences the incident may have for the future of u.s. pakistani relations. i don't let them with the nato forces attacks residential districts of pakistan's tribal areas servicemen were killed others wounded how will this incident impact the pakistan u.s. relations and how will pakistan respond to it. retired pakistani army general who served as the director general of the interest services intelligence is talking to us about the aftermath of the incident in your opinion what are the consequences of this incident can we say that pakistan

towards the regime that is not helpful at all what is helpful is to have the reforms that president bashar assad put on the table. being be made more substantial be made more concrete to have an application of these these changes these reforms this will take some time this will require an atmosphere that is a calm atmosphere it's very difficult for the army and for the police in syria and for the security forces to actually but if rain from arresting people who are shooting at government institutions or deserted from the army any country in the world where you would have part of the army deserted. occupying certain buildings and shooting at civilians then that would be that would actually compel the security forces to interfere forcefully and stop these people so that's what's happening right now in syria as you mentioned regarding you mentioned a moment ago about weapons being smuggled into syria from places such as turkey and lebanon where weapons being smuggled and going to the opposition a moment ago you mentioned the issue of you know could there be an outside and external military in

sanctions continue to pile on damascus over alleged civilian abuses by forces loyal to president bashar al assad. islamize parties claim to win edges first post revolution election and it frustrates them in the streets as many believe their voices are not heard. in the russian capital you're watching r t r marina joshua welcome to the program now it's a big day for voting in the world's biggest country with people deciding on a fresh board of lawmakers for the lower house of parliament. well the may intrigue rest in the ruling united russia party and whether it retains its overwhelming support among the population as its rivals pledge to offer a tough competition well forward now crossed over spawn and sarah firth is in sandro moscow where we're watching the voting process roll out over russia's nine time zones and now the polling station doors of open in moscow what do we know so far. as these polling stations that must get out of the eight then they in the eight say that it will russia a huge country and placed in some of the eastern regions of a she's already underway it's been going

a real concrete solution based on reforms can be implemented and that is what president president bashar al assad announced earlier and that is what he intends to do about enough of a a very base there political analyst and journalist thank you. both still to come this hour here on beaten by the clock the u. bungles its own bailout cash deadline as the book struggles to convince member states to chip in for the common good of all of the euro. we're going to be transformative moment maybe very social and economic justice in america not backing down the occupy movement gains momentum after three solid months of a worldwide crusade against global financial fraud. ten minutes past the hour now here in the russian capital let's go to the oil rig story that capsized in russia's far east on sunday where rescue operations are continuing despite fading hopes of finding any more survivors a total of fourteen have now been safely brought to shore and have been treated in local hospitals. griefs met some of them as they arrived in port. dry land and the end of a nightmare for the weary few on board

hitting new heights as the obama administration increases the pressure tonight on the dictatorship of bashar al-assad. today they buried the dead in the city of homs as many as 60 civilians were apparently kidnapped and murdered in the last two days. in geneva, secretary of state hillary clinton met with syrian exiles and called them courageous in their commitment to freedom and democracy. the uprising began last march, a revolt against the 40-year dictatorship of bashar al-assad and his father before him. assad has tried to conceal his crackdown by banning independent reporting. but, cbs news correspondent clarissa ward was able to slip into syria. tonight, she speaks to a growing army of rebels fighting for their freedom. >> reporter: it was not a long drive, but our guides were taking no chances. past a government checkpoint, the car twisted along dark back roads outside the capital city damascus. after a certain point, we were blindfolded to protect the location of the safe house where we would find members of the free syrian army. they are former syrian soldiers. they say they refused o

sanctions continue to pile up on damascus over alleged civilian abuses by forces loyal to president bashar. is on his party's claim to win a gypsy first post revolution election and frustration in the streets as many believe their voices are not heard. while u.s. pakistani relations are under the microscope next as r.t. talks to pakistan's former head of intelligence go to stay with us for that. i don't let them with the nato forces attacks residential districts of pakistan's tribal areas servicemen were killed others wounded how will this incident impact the pakistan u.s. relations and how will pakistan respond to it. retired pakistani army general who served as the director general of the interest services intelligence is talking to us about the aftermath of the incident in your opinion what are the consequences of this incident can we say that pakistan has already responded in full or should we expect further actions from it while there are very bad at the moment and i think that is the public. this is only going to get. to the right wing. with america they're trying to manipulate in by

libya campaign at all presently the organization has focused on syria where the uprising against bashar al assad's regime has entered its nine month claiming more than four thousand lives it has suspended syria's membership and imposed a series of sanctions that include cutting off transactions with the country's central bank and freezing the assets of top government officials in response to syria has accused that we're going to of catering to the interests of the west well some analysts claim the arab league's actions are at the very least inconsistent but it's extraordinarily ironic and hypocritical for the g.c.c. and for any other member of the arab league i would argue to be asking demands of the syrian government when they themselves have failed to make those demands upon their own people and have even failed to make those demands upon others of their colleagues within the same region such for example is the arab league's lack of action on bahrain and yemen where government crackdown on protests has continued for months with overt rhetorical denunciations from the international com