Today. martha: wendell goler traveling with the president, joins us live from stockholm. wendell, how did the president defend his decision to request military action in syria? reporter: the president defended the accuracy with the intelligence with russian president putin comparing situation in syria with iraq in 2003. president obama says no one denies chemical weapons were used and the dispute who used them. they were fired from areas controlled by the syrian government into the areas of opposition strength. he warnerred it is easier to find reasons not to act. i do think that we have to act. because if we don t, we are effectively saying that even though we may condemn it and issue resolutions and so forth and so on, somebody who is not shamed by resolutions can continue to act with impunity. reporter: the president said
Campaigning than getting actual results. he has a campaign team got him in oval office for second time when odds were against him. he needs the team to craft a message. the american people do not want american military intervention in syria. he is bringing out attack dogs. stephanie cutter, campaign manager. he is calling the team back in not to get votes for congest essentially to shame them into voting for this. we saw this with president obama s message this morning. shifting blame for the red line to the rest of the world and saying that the ball is essentially in congress s court. that is exactly what the old campaign team is going to do. bill: indeed done. stephanie cutter, david axelrod, david plouffe. back here yesterday. alan what do you think. what year is it? bill: is it necessary strategy? did you ever have to find yourself in this position in the first place? he is in a terrible spot. he never should have said red line. he is now asking congress to do something he orig
So the people following the press conference are just now coming from syria and wonder was the view of their country. they have a lot of countrymen in this country. we have roots and links to syria. i think the main problem has been for 2 1/2 years now is we have a war without a clear political solution. that at the end of the day we must get a cease-fire and get the peace process and get people to talk to each other. i total hi understand the complex situation also on the opposition because we have part of the opposition here in sweden which is now conducted of different groups. they want to get something out of the picture. but what do they want instead? that s a question we need to attend to. the weapons inspectors present in damascus is headed by sweden. in this country we are asking for the time to be able to see
A contentious relationship. now all of a sudden at the final hour, after john kerry came out and gave his speech he s decided he s going do go to congress. but he s saying, i retain the right and authority to attack any how. is this just trying to get additional cover from the from the united states congress? i don t think it s sincere. the president was serious about doing this, he would have done it, gone before the american people, and explained we cannot tolerate chemical weapons being used anywhere in the world against any people. and that sy decided to take this action, and i take full responsibility. when i look at what happened in libya, and the second and authored order, to the point where we lost an ambassador, nothing has been done, no response whatsoever, no one held accountable. and now in libya, al qaeda and the muslim brotherhood are training fighters to go where, to go to syria? i think that s the concern the
Deterrents, a limited strike against syria, will not only not establish deterrents, it will say to the iranians, is that all there is? we re home free. many people are saying, there s something in the national review tonight, if we don t take actions now, hezbollah, iran and north korea are all going to take notice that we re backed into a corner, the president is if we don t take notice, if we don t do something, it looks like the nation s weak, and the nation will run. that assumes that a strike is a magic bullet, it depends on the extent of the strike, and how powerful it is. there s obviously a spectrum between go big and go light. if you go big, which is what senator mccain wants to do, you may establish a deterrent effect. you will tip the balance of power inside syria. i think that s why there s such opposition to that, people don t believe the opposition if it came to power would be in our interest. a life strike will not create a deterrent effect.