the 72-year-old hussein is a member of prime minister nawaz sharif's pakistan league. the president of pakistan is often seen as symbolic position with the prime minister holding the real political power, but hussein's victory has significance especially to the prime minister sharif recently returned to power following his party's landslide showing in may's general elections. for first time in the history of pakistan, an elected government saw a president that had completed a full term. hussein served as governor of a province in 1999 when sharif was in his second term as prime minister. karachi, the country's largest commercial center, is the capital of the province, but his pakistan mission league. for sharif's government hussein represents an opportunity to strengthen his presence in the important southern province. not only does hussein have experience and influence as its former governor, but he also served as head of karachi's chr of commerce. sharif has tough challenges ahead including a string of terrorist attacks by islamic extremists and the sluggish economy

here he is hussein's leading the song this is who say. hussein was religious this old footage shows him among a group of chechens performing a special kind of prayer. bishan was to be a theological scola but that would never be. a little bit. they say time heals all wounds for frankly though this is not quite true. memories of those days will linger deep in my heart. i see him in my dream he says mother i can't go home. not coming home. you. know who much a guy of nell says present home with his youngest sons and a grandson who is called hussein in honor of his murdered uncle. had to forgive the. spiritual leaders. agreed to. the village and stayed out of his sight. he promised not to chase down the mudra but deep down he could never truly forgive him. the move to do this with you can't even imagine how difficult it is to restrain myself this is a hellish unbearable leverich i have to be patient and restrained the others like i would restrain a good race horse when i have to restrain my brothers and his brothers. the koch asian vendetta c

once helped saddam hussein and the iraq ease with its chemical weapons attacks on iranian troops we'll dive into that topic in a moment. it's monday august twenty sixth four pm in washington d.c. and lopez and you are watching r t let's get straight to today's top stories the national security agency was one of the most to secretive organizations in the u.s. now a hardly a day goes by when we don't hear about the n.s.a.'s latest scandal this weekend was no exception to major headlines ran on the front pages of newspapers around the world the first was a revelation that a number of n.s.a. employees were actually using the surveillance program capabilities to spy on their lovers or as they called it operation love i n t that's according to the chairwoman of the senate intelligence community committee dianne feinstein there are also about one thousand cases that this was actually happening that we know about and people who participated were reportedly disciplined. the second major revelation to come out this week the german publication der spiegel reports that the n.s.a. managed to crack

he gave us iraq and afghanistan, and he was buddies with hussein, you know, worked with him when husseins actually using poisen gaseses, and look at where iraq is today. it's a disaster. it's more allied with iran right now, and the al-qaeda's in iraq, and there's a death toll coming up every single day. hardly would he be able to give us advice on what to do in afghanistan. neil: having said that, i will say this, there is some debate as to whether he individually encouraged hussein to use gaseses on his people. leaving that aside. i want to stress this, sir, if i can. is it your sense, then, that his other argument that russia or china could take advantage of this and seize on this vacuum if we do not? >> i did make that accusation just to clarify, but we as a country and he part of it, actually, we were allies with hussein, but that's another subject. you're asking about the danger of escalation, really, with russia and china. i think it's very, very serious, and i think the markets are telling us that, and i think the price of oil is telling us that because it's really a big thing, s

they were even during the saddam hussein times when and saddam hussein was a dictator let me go now to baghdad how many are you doing and there's a thousand number of people that have be directly lies under saddam hussein can you repeat that was the number of people being killed every month under saddam hussein that's so sure i think you do have to understand the the the loss of life under these regimes was very considerable the loss of life that continues no continues not because the americans went there but because the people who were supporters of those murderous regimes are still trying to do what the americans had hoped they would be able to start to say. that even the scene as it were is one way would be a case for further intervention i think i think one has to be very careful here to give due credit to the united states for its motives you may well say that and this often turns out to be the case we saw this if you like even the second world war where the war that was designed to stop hitler's atrocities ended up causing a lot of atrocities i still feel very uncomfortable over

led liberation from saddam hussein. multiculturalism fails a stress test in the u.k. with an anti muslim wabi blocking the expansion of islam calling it a violent and incompatible with today's britain. the search coming to life from the russian capital i'm marina joshie welcome to the program now the u.n. arab league envoy to syria. says there's evidence suggesting that some kind of chemical substance was used in an attack near damascus a week ago but that there is no proof that the us a government is responsible such an assault in itself could be enough for the u.s. and its allies to launch a military offensive against the war torn country despite warnings from russia and the u.n. sean thomas reports block starboard yumi who is the u.n. envoy and the arab league envoy on that the situation in syria spoke in geneva on wednesday saying that any military action in the world should be carried out only with the u.n. security council's sanction as stood. related by international law very clear and direct in his message he did say that evidence suggests that some chemical s

once held saddam hussein and the iraqis with its chemical weapons attacks on iranian troops. ♪ tens ofhousands gathered at the nation's capital this weekend in remembrance of the 1963 march on washington. even though the nation has come a very long way, many feel that the struggle for martin luther king's dream still continues. more on the sights and sounds later in today's show. it's monday, august 26. pam 5 p.m. in washington, d.c. the national security agency was once the most secretive organization in the u.s. now, hardly a day goes by when we don't hear about the nsa's latest scandal. this weekend was no exception. two major headlines ran on the front pages of newspapers around the world this weekend. the first was a revelation that a number of nsa employees were actually using the surveillance program's capabilities to spy on their lovers. or, as they called it, operation love-int. that's according to the chairwoman of the senate intelligence committee diane feinstein. there are about one case per year during the past ten years that we know about. and the people who participated

investigation that was underway saddam hussein and his regime are busy doing. we possibly can to ensure that instructors. finding absolutely nothing. well they found nothing because there was nothing but it was an argument that couldn't be heard through the deafening sound of war drums iraq is not the only example when the u.s. effectively rendered a diplomatic solution obsolete with serbian leaders on the other hand refused even to discuss key elements of the peace agreement before the us started a two month long bombing campaign of the former yugoslavia the us love government had accepted proposals for the near independence of cost of all within the republic of serbia as well as an international peacekeeping force in kosovo but the agreement that nato put forward had a clause that they could not accept in the words of former secretary of state henry kissinger the text which called on serbia to admit need to troops throughout yugoslavia was a provocation an excuse to start bombing runway is not a document that an angelic could have accepted years later we see

invaded iran and western countries again sorry but pathologically producer provided saddam hussein with chemical weapons to gas iranians killing many thousands even people are dying as we speak i'm a victim of chemical weapons the iranians defended their country and prevented saddam hussein from taking any part of the country because it was an issue of sovereignty western countries have to come to some sort of agreement with iran and in fact in the talks that just took place recently the iranians were willing to make significant strides forward to reach some sort of agreement either a step by step agreement or otherwise and western countries the five plus one people who were there simply did not have the authority and they said we have to go back and speak to our governments so and iran has been waiting for weeks right now so when the iranians go to the negotiating table they go there with authority and western countries their representatives don't have that authority. to reply to that go ahead. well i have no idea whether or not but negotiators claimed they did or didn't have authority

i am talking about saddam hussein a decade ago. now and then concerns bat dictator turned devil, terrorizing a region? what's the difference in the mainstream media pushing the president to act because it's the right thing to do. same mainstream media at the behind of trouble in iraq argued it was the wrong thing to do. back then we had not given the u.n. enough time. now the u.n. is not worth the time? brent, what has changed sneer -- changed sneer. >> it isn't the people reporting the news. it's the world view. it's the president that has changed. it's a remarkable turn of events. it's deja vu all over again except the media are reporting it in the exact opposite way. they saw how saddam hussein as something that didn't merit american intervention. in fact saddam hussein had innovated kuwait and was saber rattling. in the case of assad, as horrific as this is, assad has not invaded anybody. he has not threatened american interests directly and no one is asking the question, what are we going to accomplish by this? what is the end

support for saddam hussein continue even after he used chemical weapons?oice but to weaken the ayatollah and the extremist iranian regime at the time but it was a pretty regrettable way to carry out the policy. >> we contacted foreign policy magazine for a response to the claim that rick was misquoted saying u.s. officials new beforehand saddam hussein sbaended to use the chemical weapons in the 1988 battles but a senior editor said they stand by the accuracy of their reporting and says they have documentation saying u.s. officials knew before the battles previously that saddam hussein had previously used chemical weapons and, therefore, had the will to use them again. wolf? >> that's a little different than what apparently is in the article. everybody knew he had chemical weapons but did the united states know specifically that saddam hussein was going to eyes chemical weapons against the iranians or the kurds? >> this gentlemen, rick francona said he's misquoted when foreign policy said he said americans knew before the battle saddam was using the weapon

gaddafi did not want to have happen to him what happened to saddam hussein. when we went after gaddafi, we went after khan. he went into the black market operation himself and was selling nuclear weapons technology to the libyans. they were his best customer. to the iraqis, north koreans, and we shut down khan's black market operation. we took out three major sources of proliferation. that in and of itself is reason enough for what we did to saddam hussein in iraq. the threat has not gone away. you may remember it was discovered in the spring of 2007 that a few months after north korea set off their first nuclear test that the north koreans had built a nuclear reactor a couple of producing plutonium in the eastern syrian desert. syria's a mess today. imagine what would have happened if the israelis had not taken out that nuclear reactor. we also found from khan that pakistani officials were bribed for the latest technology for enriching uranium. we know from a scientist who has seen it that the north koreans now have 2000 centrifuges operating to produce enha

it once helped saddam hussein and the iraqis with its chemical weapons attacks on iranian troops will dive into that topic in a moment's these. days it's sure it's it's it's the tens of thousands gathered at the nation's capital this weekend in remembrance of the one nine hundred sixty three march on washington even though the nation has come a very long way many feel that the struggle for martin luther king's dream still continues more on the weekends sights and sounds later in today show. it's monday august twenty sixth five pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you are watching r t well a national security agency was once the most secretive organization in the u.s. now hardly a day goes by when we don't hear about the n.s.a.'s latest scandal this weekend was no exception to major headlines ran on the front pages of newspapers around the. this weekend the first was a revelation that a number of n.s.a. employees were actually using the surveillance program capabilities to spy on their lovers or as they called it operation love dash i n t that's according to the chairwoman of the

there's no doubt at that republicies under saddam hussein use -- iraqis under shuk uaddam hussein usedmical weapons. there was a long war in the '80s against iran. the iraqis used it then. if you listen to the obama administration rate now, there's no doubt in their minds that the regime of president bashar al assad is doing exactly the same thing right now despite all the denials coming from damascus. the key question is what if anything is the international community led by the united states going to do. i know that the president is preoccupied with this decision now. >> i can't imagine -- to be a fly on the wall in these conversations. thousands of lives hang in the balance. wolf blitzer, thank you. again, you can watch wolf blitzer on afternoons here on cnn with "the situation room." thank you, wolf. >>> just ahead, a little girl and her fight for a lung transplant. it pays off. take a look at sarah murnaghan now. she's getting ready to leave the hospital. such a great story. an exclusive interview with our jason carroll coming up next. peace of mind is important when you're runnin

it looks like saddam hussein did in iraq to the kurds. let's remember, enter the iranians when there's a civil war between iran and iraq, saddam hussein used chemical weapons and these are similar image to what we see coming from iraq from the kurdish area and from the iranian area. >> this is the incident in 1980 in which saddam hussein used chemical agents against the kurds. >> exactly. now, you know, he's gaining in the battlefield he's gaining ground. >> assad? >> sorry, assad. and his allies in the region are helping him. iran, hezbollah, and he's looking at egypt and he's thinking, you know what, they toppled the president. we had islamists winning. it didn't succeed and now back to the old regime. even mubarak is coming by. >> you think assad is making the calculation he looks at the regional picture saying actually this arab spring, this wave of revolution, we're now seeing retrenchment, i can hold on to this. i can stick this out. >> exactly. also he sees confusion by the west. we weren't able to call a coup a real coup for days

and much broader by sated sat saddam hussein. i feel motor people but my caring is the peace and prosperity to the united states. i don't see a threat that merits the use of military force. >> tom, the president and the white house and other agencies have essentially leaked the details of what we are about to do. you know, the source and weapons and duration and the purpose, and one can argue that the president here has drawn this out and dithered as some call it. has that dithering allowed assad to move the military assets avoid consequences. >> there are reports to that affect, gregg. let me go back to congress. it is important. if obama does decide to go to congress. it is a place, speaking to staffers on the hill just today about this, over the last five years, president obama, his relationship with congress is not great and there is not a resvorof good will. if he goes that route it is a moment of need and if he decides not to go to congress that is perilous politically. he is in a tough spot. >> ralph, secretary kerry said

assad can push back on the un the way saddam hussein hussein did. get the verification is the doctors and others treating the patients know what it is by now and any doctor looking at the videos also knows. we know it is a chemical attack taking place. who did it is the issue then? we have intelligence services on the ground. they should be given the mission to go and do an investigation to get at the rockets that were fired and where were they fired from and witnesses to see that. you can't four rockets in a neighborhood and not have the people provide testimony. it is discernible rather quickly. >> i want to be able to read from a statement that is a freedom freedom in canada and also from the prime freedom in the uk. in this meeting with the president shortly after phone calls were made and other countries are being talked to. can we put words on the screen. serious response are being talked about this from the britain prime minister and significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response from the international community and both h

there's a an issue and distinct time. >> it's not true of hussein?ddam was everything bashar is and worse. again and again we need to stay with syria. we can't revisit iraq and relitigate. >> i agree with you. we don't want to draw false equivalents. all we know is what we know and iraq is our most recent one that we can draw comparisons. >> especially in light of what was done today. the key question is american support for military action against syria. if we take it as a given that really it would be a great idea to get rid of bashar assad and for the u.s. to get involved then you need a whole lot more american support that exists. >> stand by. we'll talk much more about this. i want to get to this because i think it's really important as well. we're talking about cyber space. the president said the u.s. would be vjustified by punishin the regime. what kind of reaction could we expect? one threat is a cyber war putting us all on the front line, all of us. here is brian todd. >> reporter: server not found. a screen designation that many new york ti

led liberation from saddam hussein. and. his fails a stress test in the united kingdom with an anti muslim lobby blocking the expansion of islam calling it violent and incompatible with today's britain. very good evening my name is kevin irwin this is our t.v. our top story then the u.n. arab league envoy to syria lakhdar brahimi says there's evidence suggesting that some kind of chemical substance was issued in an attack near damascus a week ago but there's no proof at this point that the assad government is responsible but such an assault in itself could be enough for the u.s. and its allies to launch a military offensive against the war torn country despite the u.n. in syria saying the inspectors need more time to go to the site ok let's check out what the latest is now in washington our correspondent john h. you can is there a lot of high level talks today would have. been of those high level talks. i'm sorry kevin the u.s. and its allies are in a rush to act they're ready to start bombing syria even as the u.n. secretar