an ominous milestone tonight for syria. an activist group says the death toll in the civil war there has surpassed 100,000. also today, the u.s. is pressing its case that the assad regime has crossed its line. what is the u.s. going to do about it? here is national security correspondent jennifer griffin. reporter: the u.s. military quietly built up forces on the border with syria, alerting congress last week that 1,000 of 5,000 u.s. troops deployed to jordan for recent military exercises will remain behind to man f-16 fighter jets and defensive patriot missile batteries. today, the chairman of the joint chiefs suggested some u.s. trainers could be sent to lebanon to deal with the spillover from syria. when you say would we send the united states army or military into lebanon, i am talking about teams of trainers and i m talking about
accelerating military sales for equipment for them. reporter: americans aren t sure the u.s. should arm syria s rebels, which consist of some islamist factions. 66% of those polled disapprove of obama administration s decision, only 24% approve. my concern has been that ensuring that syria s airplanes don t fly addresses 10% of the problem in terms of casualties in syria. and if we conduct a no-fly zone, it is an act of war, and i would like to understand the plan to make peace before we start a war. reporter: it has been three weeks since the white house announced its intention to aid syrian rebels militarily. since then, no one in the administration will confirm what it has or has not done in light of that commitment. i think our options f for assisting the removal of assad and development of a democratic government there, i think our options have
reporter: he says there was no stand down order, but the call was made that security forces had to protect tripoli inste instead. those places that were in a position of harm, potential harm, and ultimately harm in benghazi to american lives, we learn today he was not told to stand down but in fact he was told to stay. reporter: in response to general hamm, white house spokesperson says the pentagon and joint chiefs were consulted ahead of the 9/11 anniversary, the white house says typically combat and the commanders wouldn t participate in those meetings. thank you. join me friday, 10:00 p.m. eastern, for a special look where we are in the libya investigation. benghazi, the truth behind the smokescreen. 10:00 p.m. friday. abandoning a tool to fight terrorism to soothe hurt feelings, that s later in the grapevine. up next, is the u.s. getting ready to pull the trigger literally in syria? i m only human ]
constitution that renounces ties with al qaeda, ends violence and is committed to protection f women and minorities in the country. how comforting. we re going to take the afghan taliban at their word? it s an interesting strategy. they still list mullah omar as the group s leader and the u.s. is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture. we were warned about the dangers of the so-called obama doctrine. do you remember this? i will meet with not just our allies and our friends, but i will initiate tough diplomacy with our enemies. and that includes syria, iran, north korea, venezuela, i would meet with them, and i would meet
willy-nilly is not a good recipe for meeting american interests over the long term. let s recap, in afghanistan, we re going to negotiate with the regime who shielded the terrorists who are responsible for 9/11. in syria, we re going to arm the next generation of terrorists, pretty incredible. joining me with reaction, michigan congressman mike rodgers. congressman, thanks for being with us. thanks for having me. i view the taliban as one of the most sadistic regimes in history, with their enforcement of sharia law. is this a good idea? i don t think so, and there hasn t been much consultation with congress about reopening the office in qatar and then recognizing them other than what we ve read in the media, which is concerning enough. and think about this, sean. this is an organization, the taliban, who s closed in afghanistan over the last few months, over 500 children s schools. we can t have those kids getting educated. the majority of those are girls