wouldn't you agree, mike viquera? >> absolute. >> yeah. >> you look at what was already on the plate, we are going to have the debt ceiling expire: huge fight about that, the usual spending fight, whether to shut down the government. we will have obamacare quote, unquote implemented beginning october 1st and we all know particular tea party senator ted cruz lying up to bring that down. the immigration debate hanging over congress and to follow along with what mr. shifter was saying, this fall really was, if you look at it in sort of a cold-eyed political way, probably the president's last best chance to accomplish something in his second term. next year, we head into a mid-term election. after that, it's hillary clinton and whoever else is going to challenge her, joe biden on the democratic side and who is going to emerge on the republican side and the news media is going to be consumed with that and the press room behind me is going to be thinner and thinner and thinner for those daily bri briefings, less and less in

mike viquera has more from washington. >> good afternoon, del. the administration says there is also doubt the president's red line has been crossed. the question is: will there be a military price to pay for the assad regime? >> after initially insisting on access for u.n. inspectors, now the white house says it's too late. any belated decision by the regime to grant access to the team would be considered too late to be credible. a senior administration official says, adding there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the syrian regime by civilians. the navy as fire power to the region. defense secretary chuck hagel travelling in malaysia says the military is ready. >> president obama has asked the defense department to prepare occasions for all contingencies. we have done that, and again, we are prepared to exercise whatever option, if he decides to employ 1 of those options. >> since the chemical attacks and the horrific images of death and suffering seen globally, the white house has toughened it's rhetoric aga

mike viquera joins us from the white house. >> reporter: intelligence sources say there's high confidence the that bashar al assad are responsible for the chemical attack. the president said he still hasn't made a decision but after the event of today there's little doubt that the response is going to be military and there's little doubt that it's going to come soon. president obama is now talkinging openly of a military response insisting there is little choice even in the face of skepticism from the american public. >> it's important for us to recognize that when over 1,000 people are killed including hundreds of innocent children through the use of a weapon that 98% or 99% of humanity should not. used even in war and there is no action then we're sending a signal that that internation international -- >> reporter: tony? i guess we lost that spot. let me just conclude by the president talking about war weariness. 80% of the public thinks the president should go to congress to consult before launching an attack. just 42% favor military action to syria at this point. >> mike, thank you. o

mike viquera joining united states now. mike?rter: thomas, the president says the case is rock-solid. the military is ready but any perspective military action now was expected in the next few days now is going to come later if it comes at all. a surprise to everyone. the president reversing course, saying he wants to consult with congress and one of the most immediate concerns that was brought up was, if you are tell grabbing a military strike, congress doesn't return to september 9th. will the syrian military have an opportunity to hide what it wants to hide, the likely targets, to move things around? will the american ability to degrade as president obama put it, degrade that capability, will that be harmed by a delay? well, the president spoke directly to that issue in the rose garden earlier today. >> our capacity to execute this mission is not time sensitive. it will be effective tomorrow or next week or one month from now. i am prepared to give that order. but having made my decision as commander in chief based on what i a

. >> mike viquera joins us. there was forrest whittaker, oprah winfrey was there, i'm curious who the crowd responded to most. >> you know tony it was an extraordinary day, it was renewal, celebration and commemoration. a lot of people who were talented public speakers really moved the crowd. and i gt to mention there was music that was extraordinary. it was a rainy day, drizzled off and own. partnered the cliche it didn't dampen the spirits of the crowd. president obama talked about putting a shoulder to the gate and pushing back and both he and president obama who spoke after the members of the king family spoke paid some overtly political comments about the gridlock in washington as well. president obama took the podium, he immediately noted the symbolism and the reality of the fact that here we are, 50 years to the day after this speech on these very steps where we're standing where this crowd had gathered today. here is an african american, the first in american history, his rhetorical motif because they ma

. >> mike viquera in washington. >>> opposition leader general sallim edris about the three-year conflict. must aftoustapha helped organiz trip. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> did senator john mccain indicate any american involvement during that trip back in may? >> during his trip, senator mccain, who had been long an advocate for greater leadership in the forklift of syria, on behalf of the syrian revolution and the people discussed the need for greater leadership and intervention by the united states but stated the sort of political realities in washington and that at the end of the day, the decision remains the president's, but he assured in multiple meetings including with general hadris that he continued to work in congress and in the senate to add more pressure on administration to act. >> have members of congress been in contact since the alleged checkcal we hope attack >> as far as i know, since the weaponstac that happened a few days ago, there has been no contact between members of congress and him directly, but i wouldn't say that no american officials have talk

mike viquera, arningsz, washingt washington. >>> general wesley clark earlier told me that whatever action the obama administration takes, it's important that it resolve the situation in syria politically and not just militarily. >> are we just going to target some dumps of nerve gas in there that we believe are present? or are we going to put the pressure on to try to bring a peace agreement through a -- through a negotiated settlement that includes an exit strategy for bashar assad. we don't know yet. >> he said we need to build a coalition of the willing, nato and the arab league and it work to bring stability to the region. >>> people in the lebanese city of tripoli are protesting a double bomb okay friday. the attack targeted two of the city's mosque did during friday prayers. officials say 47 people were killed. the attack marks the deadliest fallout from syria's civil war to hit leb anon. a string of attacks across iraq has killed at least 46 people. the sites targeted include a wedding party convoy and a car load of duty soldiers. >>> in cairo, two separate trials in one, egyptian