like a newborn. that part didn t make sense because some of the most basic resources still aren t being given to these kids. as complicated as many things are in the world, the other thing that didn t make sense was we couldn t get food to these camps. there are a lot of complicated problems as you guys know but feeding the children shouldn t be one of them. i think there s a lot of good intentioned people both inside of lebanon and other aid organizations but because the situation is so complicated there, it makes it very hard to achieve basic things. you wrote in a very personal way as a father yourself. this struck me here, you said i often think of my own children and how disappointed they would be that their daddy couldn t do more to help kids like them. why disappointed? you know, i mean, i think kids, kids get it i think a little bit more inherently than adults do. and i think that they see a kid staving and they it doesn t make sense. the sayings go, there but for
for them. arwa, thanks so much. arwa damon covering things for us from our beirut bureau in lebanon. we ll get reaction from syrians living in america. they re going to join us later in the hour. other news, there s a huge fire fight that broke out today in afghanistan right outside the american consulate. that s the u.s. consulate in the city of herat which is in far western afghanistan. the fight s over now but a state department official says a wave of attackers assaulted the front gate of the consulate. started firing at the afghan troops there. all of the attackers reportedly dead. no american staffers hurt but two local policemen and a security guard were killed. the talibandon send an e-mail to cnn saying they were behind that attack. and new jersey, this is devastation. i mean, it is hard to even see
took from that syrian refugee camp. sort of give our viewers a sense of that and the humanitarian crisis that s now being overlooked because we ve gotten so much into the politics of this. but that s just 700,000 alone in lebanon. there s obviously many more in jordan and iraq and in the surrounding countries. what did you see in that camp there? well, it s just complete heartache and grief everywhere we went. there were just incredible stories. lebanon is in a unique position with its syrian refugees. the lebanese government here does not officially allow the united nations to set up refugee camps like the ones we ve seen in jordan and in turkey. so as a result, the syrians that come to lebanon are really surviving on their own. so when you go to the tent cities that we went to yesterday all along the border, about 1400 of them all along that border, these are people that are literally surviving on their own. they are sometimes collecting garbage, sifting through whatever scrap meta
and i recommended that we force the syrian administration to the table, give them one more shot at this to call a ceasefire, and then work out a transition. i m for doing it at the last moment if at all possible. i m not going to give up on any of these situations, luke, until i make my decision. well, your decision will come next week and it will be a fascinating one to see. congressman big pascrell, from new jersey, thanks for joining us. a pleasure to be with you. a programming note as president obama prepares to address the nation on tuesday, this sunday on meet the press david gregory will interview white house chief of staff denis mcdonagh. coming up on andrea mitchell reports a region edge. we ll have a live report from beirut where the state department issued a new warning for americans abroad. lebanon has also been flooded with more than, get this, 700,000 syrian refugees. take a look at these pictures provided by nbc s aymen mohedin.
doubt the u.s. embassy certainly encourages people to take the risk seriously. they did not provide any specific intelligence reasons as to why they are taking this measure. and it s important to note that this measure is actual lit first time lebanon, the american embassy in lebanon has reduced its staff since 2006 when there was the war between israel and hezbollah. so it gives you a sense of the gravity of the moment that u.s. officials here are considering. there are a variety of reasons, among them obvious lit tensions in syria, the possible u.s. military strike on that country. but it is also the september 11th anniversary that is approaching, there are growing concerns there may be some type of attack or threat to u.s. embassies and diplomatic facilities. keep in mind this is not based on specific intelligence according to sources but overall security climate is leading officials to make this conclusion about reducing staff, not only here in lebanon but also in neighboring turke