telling them all but get out of the area. reporter: the defense secretary told the bbc u.s. ships are positioned, preparations complete. we are ready to go. reporter: and a defense official tells cnn if the president chooses the most limited option, it could be over in two to three days. cruise missiles could target syria s weapons launchers and command and control facilities, but that s it. the options we are considering are not about regime change. reporter: and this some say could backfire on the white house. it may give bashar al assad a propaganda advantage by saying he was able to resist the united states attacks. reporter: the administration continues to accuse bashar al assad of gassing his own people. there is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons. reporter: but so far, they ve offered no hard evidence. the intelligence community is working on an assessment. reporter: u.s. officials tell cnn that assessment includes forensi
thanks so much, al. let s get to the core of the apple story. we re told the announcement of a new generation iphone is expected next month. that s good, until you think about the potential cost, that s bad but what makes it better is this other rumor getting a lot of buzz an iphone trade-in program at apple stores. what could this mean? christine romans please tell us. it would be like i would take this iphone to an apple store and give me 250 bucks toward the purchase of the new. it would be like you go with your old car to buy a new car. maeshz take the old car in, trade up for the new car. there are other places that have done this but if apple can get in the game it could get their hands on the old phones they could repurpose them for the emerging markets, certified pre-own apple iphone perhaps and then they have you, the customer, right there in the store ready to do a trade-up why would apple start this service? i feel like they offered some service similar to this in the
must be held accountable. reporter: another sign to expect action, u.s. officials all but telling u.n. inspectors, get out of the way. and it s clear the security situation isn t safe for the team in syria. reporter: the defense secretary told the bbc u.s. ships are positioned, preparations complete. we are ready to go. reporter: and a defense official tells cnn if the president chooses the most limited option, it could be over in two to three days. cruise missiles could target syria s weapons launchers and command and control facilities, but that s it. the options we are considering are not about regime change. reporter: and this some say could backfire on the white house. it may give bashar al assad a propaganda advantage by saying he was able to resist the united states attacks. reporter: the administration continues to accuse bashar al assad of gassing his own people. there is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons. reporter: but
but that s it. the options that we are considering are not about regime change. reporter: that, some say, could backfire on the white house. it may give bashar al assad a propaganda advantage by saying he was able to resist the united states attacks. > > . reporter: the heinous use of chemical weapons. reporter: but so far they offered no hard evidence. the intelligence community is working on an assessment. reporter: u.s. officials tell cnn that assessment includes forensic evidence that chemical weapons were used and satellite activity at chemical weapons depots and communications of syrian forces. now, sources told me they intercepted calls between syria and military commanders and the website foreign policy has additional details reporting it was a panic call from the ministry of defense. an official there calling one of
president told us chemical weapons uses aa question mark. now vice president biden saying there s no doubt chemical weapons were used and defense secretary chuck hagel says u.s. forces in the region are ready to go with armed u.s. warships already in the region. iran warning of a disaster if the u.s. intervenes in syria. we re covering all the angles of the story including the only western network reporter on the ground inside syria. let s begin with chris lawrence at the pentagon. chris, what s the latest in. reporter: military officials say once they get the order they could be ready to go within hours but while obama administration officials continue to verbally hammer bashar al assad we re still waiting to get the hard evidence that he s responsible. the latest warning to syria comes directly from the white house. those who use chemical weapons against defenseless men, women and children, should and