0 jennifer aniston, the story has been done more than us on any two people but it's not true. >> the best of her loves. >> the best in my book. but nobody did! >> sheryl crow highly entertainment. that is tomorrow night. that is all for tonight. "ac 360" starts right now. good evening everyone. a busy night on syria, political push back and doubts about the reliability of russia and the shaky practicalities of kiss arming a superpower during a civil war. senator john mccain joins us and the man that led the u.n. weapons inspection team in iraq. later developments in george zimmerman's confrontation with his estranged wife that ended like this. now shellie zimmerman stepping to the spotlight and her lawyer speaking out about the angry incident and christopher story murdered execution style at age four. his mother condemned to die for ordering the hit. after more than two decades on death row show is free. the question, though is justice finally being done or a killer going free because of bad police work all those years ago? we begin that the proposed deal with russia and syria could be a bid to grow time and growing doubts whether it would be possible to neutralize the stockpile as well, happening on the anniversary of the 12th an verse oh of the 9/11 attacks. president and vice president marking the event at the white house. 9/11 you remember, anthrax letters, smallpox fears and a war with iraq a war like today, was proceeded by diplomatic overtures weapons inspectors comings and goings and serious doubts about the wisdom and judgment of the commander in chief. there were echoes as secretary kerry departs for geneva and talks with his russian counterpart and putting the chemical stockpile under international control. whether four should remain an option whether syria should not live up to the deal and the mechanics of securing and destroying tons of mustard gas, sarin and nerve gas and nobody knows how much chemical weapons, what tonnage there really is. back home. doubts about russia's president, vladimir putin, but also about president obama after his speech last night. >> he cannot speak to the nation as a commander in chief. he cannot speak to the world as a commander in chief. he just cannot do it. i don't know what it is. >> republican senator corker there questioning the president's ability as president, basically, complaining that he's not making the case that america's credibility is on the line. we'll hear from john mccain coming up shortly. but first, jim acosta at the white house. what is the latest on this proposal from russia? is happening? >> reporter: the white house won't get into a back and forth with the senator but the president is getting back to the ceremonial duties that you see with a commander in chief. he's honoring the victims today. he was at a volunteer event for the chronically ill bagging lunches for them. as for the russian proposal, jay, first of all, the white house is not setting a timeline as to when syria will have to give up it's chemical weapons that was something asked time and again today that are not giving a timeline at this point, but you really got the sense, anderson, the white house is setting expectations for this russian proposal. they were saying at the press briefing earlier today that russia is assad's best friend, that the russians haven't been very cooperative in recent years, and this was all sort of punctuated by white house press secretary jay carney who he said russian practice stestige was oe with this proposal. here is what he had to say. >> russia is assad and syria's closest ally. russia played the role of blocking international efforts thus far to holds assad accountable and the proposition put forward to deal with assad's chemical weapons presents a real opportunity, if it were to be successful. >> reporter: now, it's interesting to point out, anderson, at the end of the news conference, jay carney called on a russian reporter who said now, wait a minute, this whole russian proposal came from those constructive conversations going on between the president and president putin of russia and jay carney had to say you know what? you got a point there. >> secretary kerry, as we said is headed to geneva to meet his counterpart. how optimistic are they they will hash out a deal since the sides seem so far apart? >> you get the sense they are cautiously optimistic but at the same time, jay -- or anderson, you're hearing the same thing from jay carney here at the white house you hear at the state department. the state department spokesperson said at this briefing earlier this afternoon with reporters that what secretary kerry is doing over there in geneva is testing the seriousness, as she put it, of the russian proposal. they are looking at what will be on paper at this point, let alone what might come down the road at one point during this breathing. jen saki said they are going to the meeting with the russian foreign minister with eyes wide open. so a measure of optimism, anderson, but also, a whole lot of caution. they are just not sure if this will work out and setting those expectations. >> appreciate the reporting. the skeptics in congress said they dropped consideration of a use of force resolution and at the same time lawmakers joined the white house opposing any deal with russia and syria that precludes action up front. here is senator john mccain. senator mccain, vladimir putin said the military force had to be off the table in order to for a deal to get done. does that make any sense to you? >> makes no sense and may be indicative we'll have a lot of difficulties with the russian sponsors resolution, so no, makes no sense whatsoever. >> there is a lot of people out there who think the united states is essentially being played, the obama administration, the u.s. is being played by russia and syria. to them you say what? >> i'm very, very concerned and very skeptical. i'm concerned that john kerry has to fly to geneva to meet with them about a resolution that is going through the united nations security council. why isn't lab roff coming to new york while they shape this agreement? i note with some interest that yesterday bashar assad's aircraft began their bombing operations and killing operations, which had been stood down while the threat of the united states launching attack was prevalent, and so i'm very skeptical, and i hope that i'm wrong. >> i talked to david kay, former chief u.n. weapons inspectors in iraq and will talk to him tonight. and i'm going to talk to him tonight. he said this has never been done before in the mist of a civil war, if it takes 500 to a thousand inspectors, there aren't that many qualified inspectors ready to go. so what kind of a timetable do you actually see for some sort of tally of the sites and securing of the sites, not even talking destruction of the actual weapons. >> the resolution could take a couple days. all the problems that you just outlined in that of david kay are very important. the syrian government knows where these weapons are. so we would ask them to show the international monitors where they are. we would then take charge of those, and a lot of them are in areas that are not totally contested. would it be a complicated and difficult exercise? yes, indeed. but as opposed to allowing those chemical weapons to be continued to be used, as we know bashar assad has done a number of times in the past, is not to the degree that this latest atrocity was, that then i think we have the lesser of two evils. >> logistically, would there be some sort of international security force on the ground to protect inspectors? >> i don't think it would have to be robust. i do think that the -- i know the free syrian army would not interfere with those activities because of the threat of those weapons being used against him. in the areas that are controlled by al qaeda and i will freely admit, there is one more of them flowing in every single day, then i think it is very complicated, and we would have to look at perhaps an international force. we might have to look at some things, but you can also look at a negotiated departure of bashar assad, his people to say that we will secure these areas where these weapons are stored, as well. >> for you, though, bottom line moving forward in the next hours and days, you're saying there is no way the u.s. should take the threat of military force off the table? >> i don't see how you can and have credibility. if someone can explain to me how that's possible, i'd like to hear that discussion, but the weapons have to go out first. but again, i would not ignore the free syrian army because as long as this conflict goes on, the more killing is going on, and you're the last person i have to tell what the effects in the refugee camps are, the 100,000 killed, the children refugees and the destabilization of the surrounding countries that is descending into chaos. >> senator mccain, appreciate your time. >> thank you. senator mccain said is worth under scoring, neither a deal or prospect of one is likely to change the dynamics on the ground. the killing goes on. according to the opposition regime, air forces hit a hospital in northern syria killing 11 and wounding dozens more. that doesn't change. russia that country has been syria's enabler for decades and whether syria or snowden, an all around thorn in america's side. >> when president putin who was prime minister when medvedev was and he came back into power, i think we saw more rhetoric on the russian side. >> we are extremely disappointed the russian government to take this step. >> i encouraged mr. putin to think forward as opposed to backwards. >> we have a lot of fish to fry, if you will, with the russians. >> obviously this is disputed by president putin. >> if the president of russia chooses yet again to ignore it, that's his choice. >> on syria, i said listen, i don't expect us to agree. >> because of the guaranteed russian obstruction -- >> we've seen two years of russian transjensen. >> blocked by the russians and resisted by russia. >> quite a recent history. the question is what, if anything, is different now. the obama administration seems to think something may have changed. joining me is senior fellow at the brookings institution for middle east policy and gloria borger. we just heard senator mccain saying he doesn't see how you can have credibility of the consequences of assad if it doesn't involvement the threat of military force, there has to be the threat of military force. do you agree with that? >> i do, except that i think we have basically unilaterally disarmed. the vote the president was looking at in the house at the last count was 25 votes in favor of 217 he needed. so i think it's very clear that we're not going to get the kind of authorization of force he needs to have a credible threat. that leaves him with two choices, one is to play this out, to string it along, to make it look like there is more there than there really is. and the other is to do what senator mccain said and think more broadly about the conflict as a whole and not just about chemical weapons and develop a strategy on the ground that strengthens the free army and shows a credible threat from that direction, not unilateral american force but coalition supporting the free syrian army. >> gloria, is it possible if this deal falls apart or doesn't work out several weeks from now in the details that then the president can go back with the strength in hand and get approval for military action? >> you know, it's very hard to count votes on this now. it's very hard for me to see how his hand would be strengthened in all of this, anderson. look, i think what they have to be thinking at the white house is that yes, this could fall apart. okay? because if the russians are saying you have to take the threat of force off the table, that's kind of non-negotiable i would think from our point of view. so what is their plan b? it could be, anderson, the president could decide, having made the moral case to the american public, having tried to go to congress, that he could actually go without congress, that raises all kinds of political questions for him, or he could decide, for example, to just have a vote in the senate where perhaps he might have a little bit more support and then not have a vote in the house. i mean, there is president for this with bill clinton and kosovo and the nato air strikes there. he had approval from the senate and went. >> mike, what about that? and the possibility that the obama administration could decide to go at it alone because even though they tossed it over to congress, they said the president has the authority to go it alone. >> those options make sense to me as theatrical options. i can't see this president doing that because all along on syria from the very beginning, he's shown a deep, deep reluctance to get involved and to use force. in general, he said in interviews, i came to end wars. he said in the second inaugural, i brought a decade of war to an end. i think he sees this has part of a legacy and would have to go through a massive paradigm shift to do that. >> he has made the case this would be limited, as secretary of state kerry said, that it would be unbelievably small, so if he sticks with what he originally said and don't forget at the outset of this process that played out over the last two or three weeks, the president seemed willing not to go to congress, then seemed to have a change of heart, and went to congress. so why wouldn't he then decide after this plays out that he's played out this string and he might just decide to do what he originally seemed to be intending to do. >> mike and gloria, there is a logistical timetable in terms of readiness that we have to talk about. military officials saying this high readiness level has to be reassessed in the next couple weeks, the u.s. can't maintain this level in the region for that length of time. the destroyers need to be switched out. how long can you stay in a three-point stance? what about that, mike? >> look, you know, it's quite possible. he may -- when really faced with it, if the russians are not forthcoming and he has a tremendous political embarrassment in front of him at the tend eend, he'll look after the best interest and may have a change of heart. i was struck just watching him over the last two weeks. we had kerry coming out. colorado kerry channeled his inner churchill and president obama played hamlet. we saw that several times, churchill, hamlet, churchill, hamlet. it's hard to imagine. >> you know, i think the timetable here is really key as jim acosta said and the white house said there is no timetable. i think here we heard senator graham say this yesterday, that people want to see impatience on the part of john kerry, and they want to see something within the next couple of weeks as far as the u.n. is concerned. >> yeah, and a lot of that will be worked out between kerry and his counterpart starting tomorrow. gloria, mike, thanks very much. let us know what you think on twitter @andersoncooper. coming up, what happens when weapons inspectors hit the ground? 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