soldiers in syria. how could iran help me. >> charlie: supplies, weaponry. >> we always have this kind of of -- >> charlie: hezbollah fighters have been here. >> in the border -- only on the border where the terrorist attacked them on the border with lebanon. this is where hezbollah retaliated. this is where you have cooperation. that's good. >> charlie: hezbollah forces are in syria today? >> on the border area of lebanon where they want to protect and serve and cooperate with us. but they don't exist all overseer i can't. they cannot exist all overseer i can't. from any region that they exist on the border. >> charlie: what advice are you getting from the russians? >> about? >> charlie: this war. how to end this war. >> looking for a solution, we have this advice and we are convinced about it. >> charlie: do you have plan to end the war? >> of course. >> charlie: which is -- at very beginning it was fullly political when you have these terrorists the first part of the same plan which is political shou

whether it's coming up with some kind of plan for syria that is syria should remain within its international borders, syria should be some kind of federal estate. this has nothing to do with whether the parties in syria could agree this at this point. it these do with the u.s. being diplomatically committed to working with others, to find a future for syria. i think what a lot of countries looking for is if you're going to use military -- if you're going to use weapons, bombing in the context of -- in dropping them on a country, it can't just be in terms of the -- of an international agreement. it also has to be done in terms of what the political way forward is. and that's where we have essentially told people that we're washing our hands of syria. that we want assad to go and that's that. but i think many people and, indeed, many leaders in that g-20 have real suspicions about what this opposition in syria would look like, what are their plans,? how could they ever take over syria and ensure that it would be a better place than it is today? >> judy, it's remarkable how different we have ap

syria is a signatory to this protocol. that norm needs to be reestablished by demonstrating this is not acceptable behavior and also warning the regime not to do this again. >> brown: john mearsheimer, a limited, punitive strike? >> no, i disagree almost completely with what ivo said. i think the united states has no strategic interest in this particular case. our core strategic interests are not at stake. there's no compelling moral case for intervening in syria. and very importantly, it's not clear that using military force is going to do request good. when president obama was asked what this strike is likely to accomplish, he basically had no good answer to that question so my bottom line is that the united states should work diplomatically to try and settle this war but it should stay out militarily to include a limited strike with cruise missiles. >> brown: hisham melhem, you have argued a limited strike might not be enough. >> a limited strike, a punitive strike that will will keep bashar al-assad in government, mayb

we'll have more on syria, right after the other news of the day. >> ifill: the day's news on syria was a tonic for wall street. stocks rallied as it appeared diplomacy was overtaking the possibility of military action. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 128 points to close at 15,191. the nasdaq rose almost 23 points to close at 3729. this is primary day in new york city, with voters choosing party nominees for mayor and other races. in the mayor's contest, democratic front-runner bill de blasio hopes to get 40% of the vote-- enough to avoid a runoff. among the republicans, former transit authority head joe lhota holds a commanding lead. the ultimate winner will succeed mayor michael bloomberg, who's held the office for 12 years. the u.s. justice department has released hundreds of classified documents that depict misuse of domestic surveillance in 2009. they show incidents in which the national security agency went too far, and then misled a secret oversight court about the violations. to halt the collection of phone data. so the liberty group civil liberties groups sued to

difference in syria. so you have a policy that's kind of ineffective, even for those of us who believe in it, and we believe in it not because it's a great policy but because the alternative is much worse. that would be my case. if we don't do this, the credibility with iran is very bad. and the second thing i'd say-- to go back to mark's argument about the economy-- i do think the president should make a case yes the economy needs to be refurbished and we need to invest at home but america can't withdrawal wrau from the world and the world becomes a much more dangerous place unless we're an aggressive force in the world, and that aggressiviveness and assertiveness will be gone, at leaf for a time. >> woodruff: is that an argument that will win votes? >> >> it may win votes in the congress. i'm not sure it will win votes in the country. >> woodruff: we haven't even talked about that. >> congress has to hear from them. let's be very blunt about this-- there are people in congress in the republican party wh

>> it has all been about syria. tuesday, nozick tries, he had a conference call with the british -- no surprises, he had a conference call with the british prime minister and french president. reassuring themselves they are still on the same page, that they want to run this to the ground, the new diplomatic opening, but are still willing to use military force when they deem it necessary. he went to capitol hill to talk to senior lawmakers. they have to figure out where this planned resolution that was going to be held to a vote this week is going. with all these new diplomatic possibilities, the pressure is sort of off congress. there were many lawmakers who did not vote -- who did not want to vote yes on this resolution. some of those now think they do not have to anymore. they do not feel obliged to do that anymore because there are all these other opportunities areas i think what obama did on capitol hill was discussing a way forward for the resolution. there has been a lot of zigzagging when it comes to policy.

hezbollah's involvement in syria has come at a price. rebels or their sympathizers have been regularly firing rockets at shiite towns in lebanon. among the most frequent targets: the hezbollah-dominated town of hermel. vice-mayor issam blabel took us to the site of last tuesday's rocket attack. >> the rocket fell at 4:00 in the afternoon, when people are resting in their homes. >> warner: hermel has been hit with more than 70 rockets in the last month, ever since the battle for qusayr intensified. >> every house here has a hezbollah member, and the shi'a are almost all supporters of hezbollah. they claim that this is a base for launching operations against them, but they are targeting it because it's purely a shi'a village. >> warner: the rebels have said if hezbollah doesn't withdraw from syria, they are going to increase attacks on hezbollah bases in lebanon. >> our bases and offices are not exposed, and nobody knows where they are. >> warner: blabel said 3,500 hezbollah fighters are in syria. whatever the number, they are battle-teste

it's not going to happen in syria. this is a civil war in america's civil war, 750,000 americans were killed in a population of 34 million. syria's 24m, 100,000 have been killed so far. >> woodruff: let me bring it back -- >> in process cannot be solved by an outside power. >> woodruff: he is basically saying the u. cannot fix this. >> he is basically wrong. one this is not a civil war. it's a national uprising against almost after a ntury of dictatorship. the united states can help solve this by assisting this free and democratic movement that has risen in syria. in order to level the playing field, the regime of assad is supported by iran, hezbollah and iraq and the rebels have next to nothing. if the situation continues without u.s. assistance, what we have is the infiltration of radical elements into syria and should these radical elements be victorious they'll be in control of chem call weapons in the middle east. >> woodruff: we've seen the infiltration by al qaeda and islamist groups to the operation. >> the ame

it's not going to happen in syria. this is a civil war in america's vi war, 750,000 americans were killed in a population of 34 million. syria's 24m, 100,000 have been killed so far. >> woodruff: let me bring it back -- >> in process cannot be solved by an outside power. >> woodruff: he is basically saying the u.s. cannot fix this. >> he is basically wrong. one this is not a civil war. it's a national uprising against almost after a century of dictatorship. the united states can help solve this by assisting this free and democratic movement that has risen in syria. in order to level the playing field, the regime of assad is supported by iran, hezbollah and iraq and the rebels have next to nothing. if the situation continues without u.s. assistance, what we have is the infiltration of radical elements into syria and should these radical elements be victorious they'll be in control of chem call weapons in the middle east. >> woodruff: we've seen the infiltration by al qaeda and islamist groups to the operation. >> the am

mission. >> suarez: they are now in syria because in part syria final plea became a signatory to the chemical weapon convention. is that what gives the o.p.c.w. the authority to do this work? once you become a signatory you are submitting yourself to the gaze of this outfit. >> that's right. syria made the decision largely made on advice i think from russia to join the chemical weapons convention, and in doing that they assume a lot of obligations -- to have inspectors, to disarm. there's a long process and there's a long track record for accomplishing this that they have to now follow. the security council has laid down a very tough timeline and time schedule and have also increetsed some of the authorities of the weapons inspectors itself to execute this mission. >> suarez: as far as you know, are they doing a good job in syria so far, both sides are doing what they signed up for. the weapons inspectors are there. and the sir jans so far, laid out what they've got with pretty good credibility. you know, sometimes good things happen. so far, so good. >> suarez: when organizations li

i liken syria to a forest fire. the really big ones cannot be >> reporter: yet after the thousands of american troop deaths and billions of dollars spent in iraq before the u.s. pull-out in late 2011. there is some pushback on capitol hill to maliki's requests. in a letter to the president yesterday, mccain and five other senators of both parties urged mr obama to press maliki to formulate a comprehensive political and security strategy that can stabilize the country. high on their list of complaints: iran's influence in iraq, and iran's use of iraqi airspace to transit military assistance into syria to support president bashar assad and his forces. iraq's ambassador to the u.s., lukman faily, says baghdad has told iran it won't tolerate such overflights of weapons. but until promised u.s. fighter jets are delivered next fall, he insists, there is little his country can do. >> we think it's a bit unfair for others to ask us to stop a plane or to stop a plane while we haven't got the capabilities to force down a plan

strike against syria. good evening. i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour this labor day, we assess the military options as u.s. ships move into the red sea. plus, margaret warner-- on the ground in cairo-- gets reaction from the arab world. >> i did not hear anyone with confidence that the united states could act effectively, and was doing it really with the region's interests at hearts. >> brown: then, ray suarez examines how the civil rights movement influenced drives for equal rights for women and gay americans. and it took 53 hours in the water and 35 years of trying. diana nyad became the first person to swim from cuba to florida without a cage. >> we should never, ever give up. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutio

and in order to do that-- syria is a failed nation. we have two sectarian groups fighting each other it's sunni arabs, and the alites and other minorities along with the many rich sunnis still clinging to this regime. if america goes in and helps one side conquer the other, things could become-- it's not going to solve the problem. we did that in iraq. we gave the shiites a total win against the sunnis, and now the sunnis are all radicalized and joining al qaeda. we cannot rebuild-- if we go in, we have to either rebuild syria or we have to divide it up into three states, like we did in yugoslavia. and america disappoint have the-- the problem is, today, americans don't want to do it. they don't want to spend the money. this would be an extremely expensive endeavor. should the world do it? yes, absolutely. the suffering is enormous in syria and it's going to get a lot worse. agriculture has collapsed and this winter we're going to see many, many more refugees and people starving. >> warner: that raises an important point about public o

inside syria who are displaced. so you've got a crisis inside and a crisis outside, and this is-- this is now becoming-- this is now going beyond-- beyond the bounds of any one agency. >> warner: wells, sarah crowe of unicef, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: still to come on the "newshour": the fort hood shooter is found guilty of murder; a u.s. staff sergeant gets life in prison for killing afghan civilians; the questions raised by chelsea manning; shields and lowry on the week's news and robert macneil with martin luther king, jr. in 1963. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: supporters of ousted president mohammed morsi held scattered rallies in egypt today but turnout was low. protesters chanted against the takeover by the military as they marched through cairo, but they avoided areas barricaded by the authorities. hundreds of members of morsi's muslim brotherhood have been arrested, making rallies harder to organize. yesterday, former egyptian president hosni mubara

what happens on the other side of this buffer inside syria. regarding the rebels taking over an any movements vis-a-vis the chemical weapons. this is not only an israeli matter. we are in close contact with the u.s. on this issue. this is a strategic interest for both countries. >> warner: yesterday on netanyahu's order at least one iron dome antimissile battery was moved north to the golan. the system was used most recently to protect israel from rocket attacks during the gaza conflict. the vice premiere was explicit about the dangers. >> it means that chemical weapons, if it will move toward the terrorists, it would change dramatically the balance of power in the middle east. that's something that i believe most of the world cannot tolerate. >> warner: the assad regime is believed to have the largest chemical weapons arsenal in the middle east say western intelligence sources, but it's fate is uncertain as assad loses his grip on parts of the country. just yesterday israeli tv reported islamist rebel forces near one chemical weapons site and

it's not going to happen in syria. this is a civil war in america's civil war, 750,000 americans were killed in a population of 34 million. syria's 24m, 100,000 have been killed so far. >> woodruff: let me bring it back -- >> in process cannot be solved by an outside power. >> woodruff: he is basically saying the u.s. cannot fix this. >> he is basically wrong. one this is not a civil war. it's a national uprising against almost after a century of dictatorship. the united states can help solve this by assisting this free and democratic movement that has risen in syria. in order to level the playing field, the regime of assad is supported by iran, hezbollah and iraq and the rebels have next to nothing. if the situation continues without u.s. assistance, what we have is the infiltration of radical elements into syr and should these radical elemes be victorious they'll be in control of chem call weapons in the middle east. >> woodruff: we've seen the infiltration by al qaeda and islamist groups to the operation. >> the ame

arm the rebels in syria? ray suarez examines a growing rift between the white house and key members of the president's cabinet. >> brown: spencer michels has the story of new discoveries about mars coming from the rover vehicle known as "curiosity," the product of nasa's jet propulsion lab. >> it may sound familiar but what scientists here at jpl are actually looking for are signof lfeast and present on the red planet >> woodruff: mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> brown: and we close with a conversation with pulitzer- prize-winning humorist dave barry about miami, the "insane city" that's the focus of his new novel. >> the people come from everywhere, people just weird people are attracted to miami. the wildlife is weird, the weather is weird, it's a festering stew of weirdness. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: bnsf railway. >> support also comes from carnegie corporation of new york, a foundation created t

it's very easy to get to syria. it's unlike afghanistan which is very hard to reach so they're coming into syria and picking up weapons to fight the assad regime and fighting alongside of syrian forces so they don't necessarily join the syrian forces but they fight alongside them. the one biggest group is the islamic state of iraq. >> suarez: is it important, greg who they are, where they're coming from? does it create an x factor in this war that it's not just syrians fighting it anymore? >> well, obviously it's very important the syrians. i mean, even these islamist groups are going to great lengths to try to brand themselves as syrian even as many of their fighters and much of their capabilities stems from their ability to import fighters with deep experience from iraq and elsewhere but it also matters to the united states and to this administration which for whom a worst-case scenario is a chaotic state in the the end in which you have an attraction for jihadists from other countries and a place where it's hard

parliament for an attack on syria. and just three weeks to go until the german election. how will the country change if parish time burke becomes chancellor --

and certainly for syria. and syria is so all of that many of us just want to, you know, not think about it because tens of thousands, over 150,000 people have died, the humanitarian conditions are all of, al qaeda-linked groups are growing in strength daily. syria itself is coming apart. we all effectively don't have a solution but i think that's not good enough. i think thissed a mrgs has to actively -- i think this administration has to put together a coalition, make it a priority and make clear we are willing to use force in some ways to stop the killing. that's one thing i would say. >> trudy? >> i just want to follow up on that. i just came back from the turkish-syrian border, and it was -- actually i would say almost tragic, watching and listening, as secretary kerry said, we're ready to talk with islamists, there was a new islamist coalition that is the powerhouse open the ground inside syria bit that is a trap much our own making. and actually, by failing to act, we have allowed an al qaeda-belt to fl

he wrote: >> woodruff: meanwhile, in syria, the civil war raged on. new amateur video out today showed victims of aerial bombing, filling a hospital at a rebel stronghold in the north, near aleppo. the rebels have been pleading for u.s. weapons, and "the washington post" reported that after months of delays, the c.i.a. began shipping them light arms and other munitions over the past two weeks. that was disputed by general salim idris, who commands the main rebel faction. he told npr that u.s. assistance has been limited to food and medical materials, as well as flak jackets and communications gear. so, can the u.s. and russia- who have been at loggerheads for years over syria come to an agreement? for answers, i'm joined by angela stent - director of the center for eurasian, russian and east european studies at georgetown university. she has served in the state department and at the national intelligence council. and andranik migranyan is the director of the institute for democracy and cooperation, a non-governmental organization- that has close ties

the regime's view that whoever controls qusair controls the center of syria. the fierce battle here has seen fighters from the lebanese shia militant group hezbollah cross into syria and fight alongside the regime's forces. their intervention proving too much for the rebels. "we have nearly 1,000 wounded people here," this man says, "but the outside world has forgotten us." the syrian regime is hailing this as a vital strategic victory. qusair dominates an important cross border supply route in and out of lebanon. but qusair is also the key to controlling the central area of syria around homs. and the corridor which links damascus to president assad's alawite heartland around the northern coastal city of latakia. i managed to travel to qusair last year and saw syrian tanks and troops during a brief lull in the fighting. but even then people feared president assad's forces would take revenge on the town for supporting the rebels. >> maybe two or three week, not more. and he will come back. >> reporter: they did come back and today qusair is once again under the

sending arm to its rebels in syria. the president overruled it significance of this that we are finding it out now. >> and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. you had across-the-board and these are not groups that walk in lock step. state department and cia and defense the fact they came up first of all the fact that it's out in the open, i mean neither general damp tee nor secretary panetta was particularly eager to talk about it. but it was, it did give us a look into this administration, the argument at the white house among the national security people was that it would strengthen groups they felt. the arms would, inside the syria who were radical, islamists that were possibly be sunni allies, other radicals elsewhere. the failure to do it, and the skeptics add that the president was running for re-election on the thesis that he was disentangling us from iraq, afghanistan, and further conflicts in that area. and that this would dilute that argument. and the irony is, of course, that the group that has taken t

policy in dealing with syria. there were also concerns about the terms of a negotiation, and prime minister erdogan stuck to the position that assad's removal needed to happen before conditions could begin. he backed away from every single one of those positions. and it seemed to me as if prime minister erdogan was bending over backwards to cooperate, toinar oat differences between turket and united states, and to broaden the possibilities for cooperation between them. the no-fly zone was not mentioned. he seems now to agree assad's removal should not be a precondition displarg for talkses. >> for talks, and it seems he is no longer pushing the u.s. to take a more active role nonetheless policy towards syria. so i saw this as an interesting shift on the part of the turkish government. >> warner: henri barkey, how do you read the body language and language? the body language seemed like he was having fun but as time went by he seemed as if he was not very happy today. i think he didn't get what he wanted. he had--

it's not only syria because it will start in syria. i say: you are do anything to prevent the region from having a crazy war? he says: yes. so there seems to be, in this conversation a recognition by the president, without knowing the developing story, that they would listen to the idea of somehow giving up control of the chemical weapons. >> so he left that door open at the same time he absolutely denied using chemical weapons on the rebels, even denied the existence of chemical weapons in the hands of the regime. >> yes. >> charlie, how did you find his demeanor? how did he dom across to you? was he defiant or -- >> north of these things. i thought he was calm. there was no stridency about him. we had a conversation which began with, are you prepared to strike? we went through everything in terms of very tough moments about the fact that many people believe he is the worst kind of dictator ask that he used enormous chemical weapons and against his own people. and at all times, there was a sense of calm. there was a sense of being con

and millions of refugees in and around syria. opposition forces have lost ground over the past six months and some have wondered whether lethal support may be too great in come... too late in coming. even so, the "washington post" reported today that the house and senate intelligence committee last week approved obama administration plans to ship weapons to the rebels through the c.i.a. according to reports, those arms could get to syrian rebels in the next few weeks. for more on possible u.s. military intervention in syria, i'm joined by jeffrey white, a former senior analyst at the defense intelligence agency, now at the washington institute for near east policy. and john mearsheimer, a west point graduate and former air force officer, now a professor at the university of chicago. we thank you both, gentlemen, for being with us. jeffrey white, to you first. do you get a sense from reading this letter sent by general dempsey of what the obama administration is likely to do? >> i think we're going to see a small-scale commitment

syria's government says the soldiers were victims of poison gases. as ever, the inspectors gave little away. >> why are you here? >> because of our investigation. >> reporter: they brought in medical equipment to take samples and took statements from at least five soldiers. the syrians refused to allow journalists to talk to the troops. on the capital's streets today, they are waiting for retaliation from the united states. though many said britain's decision not to strike syria is welcome. >> for sure, if they are saying they are against these attack to syria, it's good for us. >> reporter: "britain's made the right decision," he says, "and it'll affect the americans." well, the american people, not the government. "i'm not sure it'll have any effect on the american decision," he says. "but it's good. " the u.n. mission here is now over. the inspectors will have left syria by the morning, taking their chemical samples for testing in europe. as soon as they cross the border, though, they will report to the u.n. secretary general. their initial findin

syria is looking to hezbollah for help. but the syrian government is really powerless or seems powerless to, for instance, seal that board cher is one of the things that the general idris is asking, keep the hamas fighters to getting in. so i think that for a country like lebanon which suffered through a 15-year civil war and then another 15 more years after the civil war of occupation by the syrians, this is an unexpected kind of freedom but one they are really not ready to handle yet. >> suarez: our margaret warner joining us from beirut. thanks a lot, margaret. we turn now to another nation struggling to cope with the chaos in next door syria, the kingdom of jordan. the country is now home to roughly a third of syria's estimated million and a half refugees. the newshour's foreign editor justin kenny traveled to the kingdom last week and produced this report. >> reporter: this is zatari, it's now second-largest refugee camp on earth. just over a year ago, the site didn't exist. jordan's king abdullah now calls it his coun

it's not going to happen in syria. this is a civil war in america's civil war, 750,000 americans were killed in a population of 34 million. syria's 24m, 100,000 have been killed so far. >> woodruff: let me bring it back -- >> in process cannot be solved by an outside power. >> woodruff: he is basically saying the u.s. cannot fix this. >> he is basically wrong. one this is not a civil war. it's a national uprising against almost after a century of dictatorship. the united states can help solve this by assisting this free and democratic movement that has risen in syria. in order to level the playing field, the regime of assad is supported by iran, hezbollah and iraq and the rebels have next to nothing. if the situation continues without u.s. assistance, what we have is the infiltration of radical elements into syria and should these radical elements be victorious they'll be in control of chem call weapons in the middle east. >> woodruff: we've seen the infiltration by al qaeda and islamist groups to the operation. >> the

the focus is syria. gwen ifill examines the complexities facing president obama and the international community. here on monday night, we talk with former treasury secretary hank paulson about the financial crisis, five years after the fall of lehman brothers. i'm judy woodruff on behalf of all of us at the "pbs newshour," have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> this is bbc world news america. funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundatio

. >> woodruff: then, with syria high on the agenda for mr. obama's meeting today with turkey's prime minister. margaret warner has our update on the conflict and renewed efforts to put an end to the bloodshed. >> brown: ray suarez explores how demographic shifts and biblical ideas of helping others are changing the ways evangelical christians view the immigration debate. >> i think this is a moral issue. i do think if you welcome the stranger and treat him as you would treat jesus, it throws things into a whole different light and messes up your politics. >> woodruff: and we close with the story of a scientific first, as researchers announced they cloned a baby's genes to create embryonic stem cells. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> more than two years ago, the people of b.p. made a commitment to the gulf. and everyday since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are

remember, the russians have been supplying syria for many, many years. and recently, as of as least a year ago, the russian support stepped up dramatically as far as weapons are concerned. and so one has to question whether the russians are really sincere in this effort and it doesn't give you confidence when president putin says, "well, the united states has to renounce all iewfs violence." that is, obviously, unacceptable. but this has to be played out, gwen. it has to be, at least for a period of time eye hope a short period of time, but you cannot ignore it. >> ifill: you are in frequent contact with people in the fee syrian resistance. do you know how they reacted to last night's speech? >> they're-- they're-- they're terribly dispirited. they're still courageous, and they'll still fight obut they-- it was a real blow to hir moral. they were hoping that the president would at least make reference to increased assistance to them. he assured people, americans, of no boots on the ground, but he said to senator graham and to me that he would be very fav