mrs. assadefused to comment on her husband's regime and its use of tanks and artillery to kill protesters. in an e-mail to the london times, according to the bbc, her office wrote, "the first lady's very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities. these days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. she listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence." if that's true, somehow she's found plenty of time for online shopping. this month e-mails obtained by "anderson cooper 360" believed to be from the private accounts of the syrian president and his wife provide a glimpse into their life of luxury. in february 3, the day opposition fighters reported more than 200 killed in the massacre, it appears the first lady e-mailed a friend about shoes costing as much as $7,000 a pair. the e-mail read, "these are really iconic pieces for spring and fabulous styles." during the past year of unrest, mrs. assad seems to have spent much of her tim

also met with the opposition group he said that the doors are open for there to be eventual peace mr assad from reports indicated that he is open to and welcoming mr mr non's efforts to help reach peace in syria however this is the syrian exiled opposition group labeled kofi annan stripped to damascus of failure now russia is one of many countries that said that the security council should very much assist and support mr are non efforts to reach some kind of peace in syria full peace in syria and so those efforts should not be thwarted they should not be undermined he called on all members of the security council including the u.s. and european countries to fully support mr jeffords and not undermine them by asking for for change or endorsing essentially the opposition in syria take a listen to what foreign minister of russia sergei lavrov had to say. and it's because of this those fish i hope this mission won't be ruined and that all sides will support ko few nine just like we do every time we have a feeling that we managed to achieve some positive change in the streets of damascus there'

also met with the opposition group he said that the doors are open for there to be eventual peace mr assad from reports indicated that he is open to and welcoming mr mr non's efforts to help reach peace in syria however this is the syrian exiled opposition group labeled kofi annan strip she didn't ask is a failure now russia is one of many countries that said that the security council should very much assists and support mr anon efforts to reach some kind of peace syria and there's the sluice and i hope this mission won't be ruined and that all sides will support coup few naan just like we do every time we have a feeling that we managed to achieve some positive change in the streets of damascus there's an immediate counterweight reaction and any steps forward are dismissed i hope this will happen with the attitude of countries in the middle east and some mustard states to the mission of us. arab league envoy kofi in arms and it was very strange that two days after is first visit to damascus the opposition syrian national council claim the mission had already failed i think it's irresponsib

government against the major players in this case mr assad sources tell r.t. that the u.s. is now working on flipping none other than private bradley manning the u.s. soldier is facing twenty two federal charges for allegedly leaking seven hundred thousand documents and video to wiki leaks he's one of six americans obama's administration has charged with espionage if one of those cases makes it to the supreme court and the supreme court upholds the espionage act as an act which essentially criminalizes any whistleblower anybody who exposes work crimes anybody who challenges the official narrative of the lies of the state. then that's it because that would mean that any leaker can automatically be sent to prison for life and at that point any idea of freedom of information is over we will only know what the state wants us to know it's supposed to be about. protecting the national security the united states that is not journalism industry will you would they will be as being something that is a message to him be careful who you talk to be careful who you write what you write

mrs. assadhis week with families of those killed by the opposition, showing her support for the syrian regime and in leaked e-mail she jokingly calls herself the real dictator. here's cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: her name means supreme in arabic. in the past they called her their princess diana. the your peen union now calls her under sanction. they're banning her from traveling to eu countries, freezing her accounts in the eu. >> i cannot say to you in strong enough terms how much we are concerned about what's going on in syria. >> reporter: it's to put more pressure on assad's regime to stop. but a man who once worked with her on her charities believe it stems from a recent release of private hacked e-mails between the assads and their inner circle. cnn and other media organizations have obtained mm of those e-mails. >> very clear lit outlines what many people behind the scenes knew that during one year was completely standing by her man and not only standing by her man, the president, be sh

mrs. assadomment on her husband's regime and its use of tanks and artillery to kill protesters. in an e-mail to the london times, according to the bbc, her office wrote, "the first lady's very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities. these days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. she listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence." if that's true, somehow she's found plenty of time for online shopping. this month e-mails obtained by "anderson cooper 360" believed to be from the private accounts of the syrian president and his wife provide a glimpse into their life of luxury. in february 3, the day opposition fighters reported more than 200 killed in the massacre, it appears the first lady e-mailed a friend about shoes costing as much as $7,000 a pair. the e-mail read, "these are really iconic pieces for spring and fabulous styles." during the past year of unrest, mrs. assad seems to have spent much of her time shopping

and his wife. >> mrs. assad seems as supportive of that kind of murdering gone on in the family name as her husband appears to be. after one speech in which he vowed to crack down on the protesters she said and i quote very strong no messing around with regard to her husband. she also wrote an email directly to him which said if we are strong together, we will overcome this together. i love you. we are also hearing tonight that the european union is freezing the assets and bank accounts of british born mrs. assad. that might at least put a crimp in her online shopping habits. >> shepard: we will see. jonathan hunt, thank you. police are searching for the gunman who killed three kids and a rabbi outside a jewish school in the southwest of france. the french president nicholas sarkozy today called it it the worst school attack in the nation's history. he also raised the nation's terror alert level to the highest they have in france. police say the killer opened fire, then took off on a motorcycle and they say some

>>jonathan: having said that and knowing that it will put pressure on mrs. assad, no one is under any allusion, trace, this is going to change the situation for the tens of thousands of syrian civilians who are being affected by the violence perpetrated against them by president assad. >>trace: as if the horror needs to be increased there is growing concerns over the number of children affected by violence. >>jonathan: the part of the united nations that focuses on the fate of children tells us they believe some 500 children have been killed in this ongoing crackdown. that goes along with the thousands of adult killed, and those displayed. and the former u.n. secretary-general is headed to capitals of russia and china to try to get those two governments on board with tougher u.n. security council against syria russia and china are allies of president assad and have prevented real diplomatic pressure from being allied. >>trace: jonathan, thank you from new york. the white house and republicans trading jabs again over president obama's health care overhaul. the pres

there's also reasons that mr. assad must go.on any sort of human decency terms, he's a guy that has had 9,000 innocent people goed, yes, he should go, but for the united states, quote-unquote, say he must go, there's a tremendous, shall we say, gap between that -- >> why is there that gap? because we were afraid that gadhafi might kill thousands and thousands of civilians so we went in. but here we have assad who it's safe to say that he and his father other than a couple of years in the early 1990s have been sworn enemies of the united states for decades. why is it that we go in to countries, you know -- go in after gadhafi and not assad? >> in part you go into countries where it's not all that difficult to go in. to go into syria would be militarily a bigger challenge shall we say than libya was given the air force and the army. diplomatically gadhafi was totally isolated, had zero support in the arab world, assad has considerable support. they are not also the nato or international thing. to take this on would be yet another

in august, while mrs. assad was worrying about jewelry and having that exchange in the city of hama, citizens were being shot upon. on august 22nd, the u.n. said that more than 2200 syrians had been killed. just days after the arab league suspended the membership, they called on asod to resign, asod's wife e-mailed a friend apparently to visit. are you coming around the 27bd or before, she wrote in if so, please, can you bring the harry potter deathly hallows part 2. thousands of civilians are dying, others are calling on her husband to step down and syria's first lady is tracking down the latest installment of harry potter. bashar al assad using an e-mailed one of his aides. he writes, check out this video on youtube. the link is to a spoof video that mocked a theory that the regime had hit entanks from international observers had homs. and here's what was happening in homs. in bar ba ar ma at that time, indiscriminate shelling was reducing neighborhoods to rubble. a month later, with the siege of homs in full

in august, while mrs. assad was worrying about jewelry and having that communication in the city of homa, the reality was citizens were being fired upon, shot dead in the street. on august 22nd, the u.n. said that more than 2200 syrians had been killed. on november 20est, just days after the arab league had suspended their membership they called on assad to resign, assad's wife e-mailed a friend apparently to visit. are you coming around the 2nd or before, she wrote in if so, please, can you bring the harry potter deathly hallows part 2. released on 2nd december. thousands of civilians are dying, others are calling on her husband to step down and syria's first lady is tracking down the latest installment of harry potter. on december 29th, bashar al asead using the e-mail e-mailed one of his aides. right now. it mocked the regime that they had hidden from tanks. and here is what is happening in homs add that time while they were on their mission. civilians took a monitor in an orange vest to see the dead body of

diplomatic cover, but he had an uncomfortable nudge when the russian president refused to say whether mr. assad would stay in power. information is still coming out about what happened in baba amr well as under siege. yuen rights watch has -- un rights watch has released this chart. this is taken on a 25th of february. the shelling did not stop for another five days. among the dead was the sunday times reporter and a french photographer. their bodies have now been handed over to damascus. a photographer would end in the same attack is now back in london. bj wounded in the same attack is now back in london. -- wounded in the same attack is now back in london. >> we will make sure ithat there is a day of reckoning for those responsible. i have a clear message for those in authority in syria. make a choice. turn your back on this criminal regime or face justice for the blood that is on your hands. >> at the united nations in new york, the syrian ambassador said his government was being slandered on no evidence other than opposition rumors. the international criticism is not going away. >> proteste

mr. assad is in no -- does not plan to do that. mr. annan on homes of much is pin, because he has support behind in, is set off on a mission already rejected it by the opposition. >> i suppose it also raises something of a test for the syrian opposition and its credibility in eyes of the international community. do they acknowledge what is said here? does kofi annan taken on board? among those supporting this theory national council, especially countries like saudi arabia and qatar and someone, who believed to be funneling funds, etc., in its direction and also arms to the opposition, which now has cover from the arab league in its resolution which called on arab states to provide all necessary political and material support for the opposition. so, it is not just a challenge to the opposition but for those supporting them. any political solution has to involve obviously talking to the powers that be in damascus. how can you possibly have a political situation with one half of the picture ignored? the regime is not ready to just put eve

mr. schiff. russia and china in the security council. their behavior to protect the assad regime has been reprehensible. and i think, frankly, they have heard that message from the entire international community, not just the united states and our western partners. the entire arab world and the majority of members of the united nations. soon after the second double veto the general assembly took up more or less the same resolution that was blocked in the security council. it was adopted by an overwhelming majority, over 130 countries voted in favor. a very small handful, i think about eight countries, voted no. and they include russia and china and venezuela and zimbabwe and north korea and iran and syria. it was company that one would -- it's very unique company that russia and china typically don't like to find themselves in. that has been followed by continued strong action out of the human rights council and repeated international unity with the glaring exception of russia and china on issues related to syria. i think the combination of that kind of isolation has given

they recognize that their link will be cut to hezbollah if mr. assad falls. so we see this throughout the region. they have never gotten along that well, the iranians, with the taliban. and, yet, they're willing to help the taliban to some degree to fight us in afghanistan. and we also see their mischief in all around the world, of course where they attempted to kill an arab ambassador. this is an on going effort. it is something we have to accept as part of the scheme. and we certainly take a lot of prudent steps to maintain our own force protection. but we also see them trying to find their way in and take advantage of anything that any of these asia wakening causes that come up. they tried it in cairo. i think they were pretty well rebuff there. the iranian revolution is not being seen as an example for any of the arab nations in their awakening. so it's not completely successful. it's highly concerning. >> my time is about up. i'll ask you briefly, is all this activity in the region by iran evidence of the fear that people including in the region have tha

leaks aimed at prosecuting a songe under the espionage act you're going to continue to go after mr assad to make a point with words and we're not going to let any group or whether it's al qaeda or whether it's an australian national and some say they'll go to any lengths. to make the point the us gov within the federal criminal arena likes to charge others who are either aided and abetted assisted or were a full blown coconspirator or likes to go after those in an effort to flip. to get them to cooperate with the u.s. government against the major players in this case mr a song sources tell r t that the u.s. is now working on flipping none other than private bradley manning the u.s. soldier is facing twenty two federal charges for allegedly leaking seven hundred thousand documents and video to wiki leaks he's one of six americans obama's administration has charged with espionage if one of those cases makes it to the supreme court and the supreme court upholds the espionage as an act which essentially criminalizes any whistleblower anybody who exposes war crimes anybody who challenges the

mr. assad has that opportunity. there's not even any jurisdiction over him yet. but he has the opportunity as a political leader and someone who presumably has a stake in all of this to understand he has an opportunity to talk to his russian colleagues, i am ready to go and he will be outside of this jurisdiction. but if you wants to wait until the jurisdiction is triggered by the international community and wait for the indictment to be prepared and then say you should never have gone down this path and get the opportunity, that is a surreal argument. take the opportunity now while it is before you. >> it hasn't happened yet and may not for a long time because of russian freedom. >> exactly. i am debating in response to your argument. i am not going to hold this against international injustice that they have the capacity to actually bring someone to justice and then argue that in fact we should put that aside as an option and only talk about the opportunity to avoid justice for mr. assad and give him every opportunity. there will come a point that has to face up

mr. assad, you have to go. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. paulsen: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to rise today to congratulate eden prairie boy's swimming team and diving team on wipping the minnesota state championship recently. the eden prairie eagles earned more than 100 points over their two closest competitors that tied for second place. a key relay team of aaron greenberg, maverick, mike and breist also set a new state record in the 200-yard freestyle relay and they took home first place in the 400-yard relay. these student athletes have absolutely seen that teamwork builds character, confidence and self-worth. it also teaches our young people the importance of working together to find common ground lessons such as playing comp

>> my view is that we should state very clearly our opposition to mr. assad, the president took a long time to reach that conclusion. i also believe that it's essential for us to work with turkey, as well as with saudi arabia, who are of like mind with us in certain respects with regard to syria to encourage the arming 6 of the syrian rebels. i also believe it's important for us to recognize that the aloeites should receive communication from us and from others, that there is a future. in syria for them, after assad. in terms of military action, i've not taken a step at this point to encourage military action on our part. that's an option for us, but have not reached that point at this stage. i'll continue to be briefed week to week as to the developments in that country. and that could change at some point in the future. but at the current stage i'm not favoring a military involvement, direct military involvement by the united states. >> thank you very much. >> polls show your favorability dropping. does that concern you going forward and what do you think o

mr. assad has that opportunity right now. there's not even any jurisdiction over him yet by the icc. but he has the opportunity as a political leader, as someone who's presumably has some smarts in all of this to understand that he has an opportunity. he can talk to his russian colleagues right now, prepare that for me. i'm there in a week ready to go, and he'll be outside of icc jurisdiction period at that point. but if he wants to wait until the icc jurisdiction is triggered by the international community through the security council and then wait for the indictment to be prepared and then say, oh, no, no, no, you should never have gone down this path, you should give me the opportunity to get to that doca, i think that's a surreal argument. take the opportunity now while it's before you. >> but it's all politics, isn't it? it hasn't happened in the security council yet because of russian vetoes. >> well, exactly. but i'm just stating in response to your argument i'm not going to hold this against international justice or t

that where is their power comes from, not mr. assad. i think you'll see that's where the tipping point is, when do you start to see members of the regime and members of the military begin to decide they're not going to kill syrians because mr. assad said so. >> host: keith, missouri, democrat line. >> caller: in morning. i'd like to make one point and two quick questions. point is that no american should lose his life over this matter in syria, and the questions are, what would happen to those americans who took up arms and vowed to kill the government leaders in this country? would they not be nil the streets? and the other question is, what gives the united states the right to go around the world saying, who should be what country lead leader? we need to concentrate on the people in our country. >> guest: these is not about an armed incentury rex against the government in sir ra. that is about freedom-loving anymore syria choosing not to leave under repression and they're only friend is iran. i don't have a lot of sympathy for the reg

the telegraph reports that leaked e-mail from the family private accounts show mrs. assad no remorse for her husband's ruthless slaughter of his own people. the chief fox correspondent is with us. the russians still blocking the united nations calls for president assad to get out. hand than >>jonathan: the russian and chinese have blocked all resolutions that would condemn assad and call for him to step down and now france and other western nations are push for a presidential statement tomorrow which would criticize assad's call for humanitarian aid to get in their quickly and there is one piece of good news. members of the red cross met with the russian foreign minister today and they reported that foreign minister is signing on for the calls to get humanitarian aid in and now. >> i had to make clear that we not only wanted to assist but also, very important for us for protection which really means protection of medical mission and it means access to check conditions and treatment. >>jonathan: and he said the russian foreign minister agreed and was supportive. it is a mau

general saying it is time for mr. assad to take action if he is committed to peace. no one believes it. >>shepard: the hope was the arab league members could convince him of something but it lookings like there is nothing coming out their baghdad meeting. >>jonathan: only half of the leaders belonging to the league actually turned up for it. that shows the split in the arab world between sunnies and shiites. remember, president assad is a sight -- a shiite and the divisions and suspicions between those two parts of the muslim party is at the root of the arab league not getting a unified position and statement against president assad today in baghdad. >>shepard: and now we will talk to a fellow from the brookings institution, a public policy organization in washington, dc. thank you, michael, as always. where are we, pal, do you know? >>guest: well, jonathan was getting at it. because when you talk about the sunni shia problem you realize that if we try to do a little bit to help, say, start to arm the opposition, we could make things worse rather than better. what do

as for mrs. assads with these stressful times is by doing a lot of online shopping for designer shoes, for expensive furniture from paris and in one case for a fondue set apparently to serve a ham some continue tore her murderous husband in his presidential palace. >> shepard: incredible. jonathan, thank you. newt gingrich, he said i have to win mississippi and i have to win alabama for my candidacy to be viable, period. must win states. crucial to the southern strategy. had to have them. he didn't win mississippi. didn't win alabama. so he is out of the race, right? no. >> i'm staying in the race because i want to see if i can't in the second half of the race, louisiana is sort of halftime. i want to see if we can't reset the whole race around the idea of really big ideas and really big solutions. >> shepard: newt gingrich is promoting his really big ideas today in illinois ahead of tuesday's primary. ron paul focusing on this weekend's caucuses in missouri. mitt romney is taking another day off from

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mr. assad's powers of governance. and at yesterday's senate arms services committee meeting, he questioned leon panetta as well. >> there's no question they have huge stock piles, and if it got into the wrong hands, it would really be a threat to the security not only of the regional countries but the united states. >> are you recognizing you don't want to address this in an open session, but can you compare it to the situation we found in libya last year? i know 20,000 man pads disappeared in libya. so how do we compare? >> it's 100 times worse than what we dealt with in libya. and for that reason, that's why it's raised even greater concerns about our ability to address how we can secure those sites. host: and the financial times, this is their take on the syrian situation. retreating rebels feel abandoned by west. janette in new york city. good morning. what do you think about u.s. military intervention in syria? caller: well, excuse me, i think it's high time that israel -- host: janettea, turn down the volume on

i do not have a lot of sympathy for the regime here or for mr. assad. this has been going on for more than a year. these are not people taking up arms and have been storming the capital. these are people going to market, children in school, family's going to church. this is a very distinct difference. this is not an arms insurrection. are there people called it insurrectionists matter trying to fight? of course there are. they are very few and far between. this is not about some kind of organized civil war that is going on. this is about denying the people of syria the right. host: here is a viewer off of twitter. guest: a nuclear iran is a threat to the whole world. many countries in the region have decided not to have nuclear weapons. it also changes the posture for everyone because of the iranian regime's very close relationship with hezbollah, terroristnd other organizations. one president has been enormously successful on nuclear security. we got the new treaty negotiated and ratified. so, i think president obama has been herculean in these efforts

mr. secretary that assad should be viewed as a war criminal, i think that is a good analysis to take. in february there was a report issued, 72 pages but this is the sum and substance of it to me, such violations, talking about the gross human rights violations, originated from paumss and directives issued at the highest levels of the government and armed forces government. do you agree with that? >> yes. >> the problem is if you go after him, maybe itten trenches him. but i have come to understands that he will do what he will do, but from his point of view, he believes that he is rational and trying to kill as many people as we can, and wait us out and hope we walk away. i think it would be good for the syrian people to know that the international community views what is being done to them is an outrage, and they would get support that we all saw what happened to them is unacceptable. i think it would help them. let's into the situation of what happens after he leaves. do you believe, secretary and general, that the people are going through the pain and suffering at the end of the d

responsibility that they should, they could be helpful here in the effort to remove assad. >> i appreciate those efforts and mr. putin just got re-elected and i would hope that he would not want the blood of the syrian people on his hands. i would hope that russia and china step up and support the resolution, and both the countries in my view, i don't know why they would not want pursue every possible means to stop what is happening and the bloodshed there, i hope they understand that we are very serious about that. and we will in the congress look at actions we can take here, this is wrong and they are on the wrong side of history both with respect to to syrian regime they are on the wrong side of history, with respect to iran and they will look back at this a as a big mistake by both countries if they do not step up to the plate right now. i also wanted to ask about the assad regime's relationship with some of the groups we labeled terrorists groups, what are their republican with hezbollah? >> -- what is their relationship with hezbollah? >> that is better addressed in a closed session in terms of a specifi

mr. secretary that assad should be viewed as a war criminal, i think that is a good analysis to take. in february there was a report issued, 72 pages but this is the sum and substance of it to me, such violations, talking about the gross human rights violations, originated from paumss and directives ised at the highest levels of the government and armed forces government. do you agree with that? >> yes >> the problem is if you go after him, maybe itten trenches him. but i have come to understands that he will d what he will do, but from his point of view, he believes that he is rational and trying to kill as many people as we can, and wait us out and hope we walk away. i think it would be good for the syrian people to know that the international community views what is being done to them is an outrage, and they would get support that we all saw what happened to them is unacceptable. i think it would help them. let's into the situation of what happens after he leaves. do you believe, secretary and general, that the people are going through the pain and suffering at the end of the day t