0 where are my windows around here? >> you have a window that the tourists can see in. >> that's true. i get to see faces but you get to see the sunshine. >> have a great day. evening. good to see you. >> all right. take care. >> all right. hello, everyone. top of the hour. i'm don lemon. we're continuing our special coverage of the syria crisis. boy, do we have a lot to tell you about following the president's decision to hit pause so congress could vote. we start with the parade of leaders from both parties hitting the sunday talk shows. >> the president really felt very strongly that the congress of the united states weighing in makes our nation stronger in whatever action we take. >> this is a clear failure of leadership. if you feel so strongly about it and doesn't want to take the action himself, call us back in to session tomorrow. >> i think also, too, his response was in recognition of many republicans and democrats who were calling for congressional participation. so i think he made the right choice. >> but if congress overrules a decision of the president of an issue of national security that could set a catastrophic precedent in the future. it would be very dangerous precedent to be setting. president of the united states is the commander in chief. >> the commander in chief has set up high stakes showdown with his opposition by asking opposition in congress by asking them to authorize the military strike against syria. there's new information about what's been found at the site of those apparent chemical attacks. >> i can share with you today that blood and hair samples that have come to us through an appropriate chain of custody from east damascus, from first responders, it has tested positive for signatures of sarin. so, each day that goes by this case is even stronger. >> several hours after kerry's interview, members of congress got a briefing on capitol hill, receiving a classified intelligence briefing from white house, pentagon and state department officials. senior congressional correspondent data bash standing by on capitol hill. what do the lawmakers say after that briefing? >> reporter: there's still a lot of very strong skepticism that this is the right thing to do. first, let me just give you one example. and this i really picked it out. she was articulate and doesn't stand alone. this is janice hahn who took the red eye from california just to be here to get information and then flying right back. listen to what she said where she stands after hearing from the administration. >> i am hoping to find an answer to the question, is there another way to hold assad accountable? this is what the international community wants to do. we want to hold him accountable. we want there to be consequences. what that? is that just going to war? is that bombing? is that killing more people? i'm not -- i'm not there yet. >> if the vote was held today, do you think it would pass? >> you know, that's a very good question. there was a limited number of members of congress in here. i feel it's evenly divided. >> would you not vote for it today? >> i would not vote for it today. >> and again, she was not alone in saying that even from several members of the president's own party and also from republicans. one other thing that's very clear coming out of this briefing and talking to members of both parties is that the way that the administration drafted the language that you and i first talked about last night on the air, don, is too broad. it's too broad. in fact, chris van hollen called the way they wrote it a partial blank check saying the way to change sit narrowing it in terms of a timeline on it and does not yet have and also making very clear in writing that there would be no boots on the ground. those are some examples of how they say they want to change it and other members of congress, republicans and democrats said they get it, there needs to be changes because the way it's written right now it simply won't pass. those are things coming out of the briefing lasted over two hours. >> dana bash on capitol hill, thank you for your reporting. straight ahead, i should say ahead of possible u.s. military strikes in syria, the fbi and homeland security are warning americans of an increased risk of cyber attacks. disruptions by hackers have been taking place for months, even bringing down the website of "the new york times" last week. meantime, u.s. law enforcement officials say an attack on syria could spark retaliation in the form of terrorist attacks on the united states or u.s. interests abroad. and for the time being, it's hurry up and wait with u.s. military action in syria, a real possibility. the pentagon is keeping five warships armed with cruise missiles in the mediterranean sea ready and waiting for president obama's order to strike. that decision waits for congress. and their september 9th return to washington. want to get to the barbara starr live at the pentagon now. barbara, what and where are the syrian targets the u.s. identified? >> well, the general understanding, don, is it's all over the country, certainly a lot of them most likely in and around damascus where some of the chemical activity has taken place according to the administration. you know, look for them when they get the order, if they get the order, to go after regime targets. installations, command and control. especially the weapons delivery systems. not the chemical weapons themselves. but the artillery, the depots, the things to allow the regime to put those chemical weapons on targets. to fire them. that's what they're going to go after when they get the order, the ships remain in the mediterranean. about 40 tomahawk cruise missiles on each of the five ships. the military says they remain ready to go whenever they get an order from the president. >> barbara, you know, the u.s. military seems to be acting very transparent when it comes to its plans for syria. are they worried at all about the syrian government using this time to move weapons or place human shields next to likely targets? >> reporter: well, u.s. intelligence satellites are over syria 24/7 and have been for sometime. that's very public information, well understood. and they keep an eye on the movement of syrian troops, installations that sort of thing. the human shields issue is, of course, another problem that is always faced and they, i think, would hope to get information on the ground from opposition groups if that were to take place. but again, the satellites overhead, the intelligence assets will be able they say to give them a very current picture right up until the time of firing but look. there's no mistaking it. there's always a risk here. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you very much for that. a powerful call for international action on syria from the arab league now. during a meeting today in cairo, the group called for the united nations and the international community to take deterrent and necessary measures against the syrian regime. earlier, saudi arabia's foreign minister used stronger language saying the syrian regime has crossed all the lines with the tyranny, it's time for us to ask international community to carry its responsibility and put an end to this tragedy. cnn's senior national correspondent nic robertson now in amman, jordan. nic, how significant is this development? >> it is significant. saudi diplomats say the statement is choreographed over the last ten days. jordan, the united arab emirates, bahrain all helping to try to get as strong a statement as possible from the arab league. the saudis believe they have 70% to 80% of support in the arab world. they have been pushing as hard as they can for intervention inside syria. they've been realizing that intervention without a political capability and will. the united states and european countries, not quite capable of doing that right now. they have been pushing hard so the fact that the saudis are weighing in, strongly as they are, this is the arab nation that's going to carry most weight in the region to carry the issue forward, don. >> so nic, what would arab support of intervention mean? weapons, troops, access to military bases in what does it mean? >> reporter: well, right now the saudis, qataris supplies weapons to the rebels, the saudis here through jordan do it in a low-key way. they don't want to bring retribution. what shape could it take? intervention forces anything between 50 to 200,000. numbers i have heard discussed with diplomats in the region here but nobody really thinks that anyone is close to that. there isn't the political will. there isn't the international political support for that. so at the moment it comes down to weapons and a diplomat told me quite simply the expectation is that this will continue blow for blow that they will -- and qataris and others will support weapons and the russians will continue and the iranians and others continue to support assad and that the fight will continue, don. >> nic, we have a new development to ask you about. egypt's former president morsi will stand trial for incitement and thug ri, all tied to the clashes of december 2012. what do you make of this? >> reporter: it's perhaps given what we have seen in egypt over the last few weeks, it is not surprising that a military leadership are now taking the ousted president to court. 14 other muslim brotherhood members and will go to court with him. a date isn't set but it's a very clear message of the authoritarian line that this military leadership is taking in egypt right now and harks back if you will, there are many parallels to mubarak when he was ousted. ended up in court. the charges were similar. behind bars well over two years and then released a barely week or so ago. now the replacement is facing the same scenario, don. >> nic robertson, thank you very much for that. today on cnn, secretary of state kerry grabbed headlines telling us signatures of sarin gas found in syria at the site of the alleged attack. so why are they a red line? what makes them so bad? that's next. also, if you missed that, headline-stealing interview, we'll re-air it just ahead. a g. little carrot. little bit of hummus. lonely wing... well we have got the perfect match for you. of course you can't beat the classics. delish... sabra hummus. dip life to the fullest. sabra hummus. you need a girls' weekend and you need it now. ladies, let's go to vegas. cute! waiter! girls' weekend here! priceline savings without the bidding.