saturday. high level meetings ongoing throughout the day as the administration tries to figure out how to respond. we know that they are considering a number of possibilities, strikes from those cruise ships as you just talked about, a potential possibility. we know that president obama has ruled out the possibility of putting boots on the ground at this point in time. we also know that they are not considering imposing a no-fly zone. those two options really off the table. but the question is what happens next? there is increasing pressure, mara, for this administration to do something as the death toll mounts in syria. mara? kristen, a new reuters ipsos poll taken finds that only 25% of americans would support u.s. intervention if it turns out the assad government is guilty. is u.s. public opinion a factor in the white house s decision on this? reporter: well, look, i think this is something that has certainly been at the backdrop of these negotiations. for the past several month
aware of the fact that the nation is war weary in the wake of the war in iraq and afghanistan, as that war continues to wind down. so it is something that the administration is mindful of, the president certainly proceeding with caution. he doesn t want to repeat mistakes that were made in the past. he doesn t want to act without having all of facts. that s what the white house says. that is why you re seeing a deliberative response. that is why the president is saying he s not going to make a definitive decision until he knows exactly what happened and has absolute confirmation about the fact that chemical weapons were used by the assad regime. mara, meetings continue to go on at the white house behind the scenes. mara. kristen welker, live at the white house, thanks so much. we go to cairo. ayman, iran has reportedly warned that the u.s. should not cross syria s red line. what s the feeling in the middle east about where this crisis is heading?
backfire in the gop. one of san diego mayor bob filner s accusers was in the room when he made the apology. was it enough? we ll ask her, just ahead. hello, everyone, welcome to weekends with alex witt, i m mara schiavocampo in for alex. it s 1:00 in the east, 10:00 out west. a u.n. spokesperson says tomorrow they ll visit the place of the alleged attack. a senior white house official is brushing off the decision by the syrian government saying it s, quote, too late to be credible and the evidence has likely already been damaged. meanwhile, the u.s. navy moved a fourth ship armed with cruise missiles into the eastern mediterranean sea but without immediate orders to strike
west. i m mara schiavocampo in for alex witt. developing news out of syria right now, the syrian government reached an agreement with the united nations to allow inspectors to visit the site of an alleged chemical attack last week. word just a short time ago from a u.n. spokesman saying inspections will begin tomorrow. a senior white house official tells nbc news the decision by the syrian government is, quote, too late to be credible and says any evidence has likely been damaged or destroyed by continued bombings. meanwhile, the syrian government warned that any military intervention by the united states would set the middle east aflame and iran says u.s. action would have severe consequences. this morning, republican senator bob corker called for a surgical response. i hope the president, as soon as we get back to washington, will ask for authorization from congress to do something in a very surgical and proportional way. something that gets their attention, that causes them to
really with concern. they are saying this might be too little too late. here s aly b little bit of what white house is saying. at this juncture, any belated decision by the regime to grant access would be considered to late to be credible including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime s persistent shelling and other international actions over the last five days. we know conversations are going on behind the scenes here at the white house. president obama met with his national security team on saturday to discuss how exactly to respond, of course, he has called the use of chemical weapons a red line in syria. but the question is, what happens next? we know that president obama has ruled out putting boots on the ground. he is unlikely to establish a no-fly zone. we know what he is more likely considering would be limited air strikes that would potentially