chance to speak to many of you and congress as a whole is taking this issue with the soberness and seriousness that it deserves is greatly appreciated. i think indicates the decision for us to present this issue to congress. as i ve said last week, secretary kerry made clear in his presentation last week, we have high confidence that syria used in an indiscriminate fashion chemical weapons that killed thousands of people, including over 400 children, and in direct violation of international norm against using chemical weapons. that poses a serious national security threat to the united states and to the region. and as a consequence, assad and syria needs to be held accountable. i made the decision that america
keep them disbursed in anticipation of a u.s. attack but the pentagon says u.s. military officials say they can deal with that. they will keep reprogramming the targets into the missiles ready to go whenever president obama orders a strike. that is what the u.s. military will tell congress today. carol? is it possible to completely hide, let s say, the chemical weapons that are in syria? well, you raise a very good point. the two biggies, if you will, the chemical stockpiles, will the u.s. know exactly where those are? they don t want to hit the chemical agents because that could disburse into the atmosphere and cause a real catastrophe so they ve got to keep on top of that. they are worried that they will know where all of that is. and, of course, the other issue, as this retargeting happens, human shields, civilian casualties. they need to make sure as much as they can that they will not inadvertently strike any target
35 years after her first attempt, diana nyad finally completes that brutal swim of 100 miles. he says it s about basketball, but can he help free an american doing 15 years of hard labor? the cnn newsroom starts now. good morning. i m carol costello. thanks for being with me. right now debating syria behind the closed doors of the white house. just minutes ago we watched john boehner and nancy pelosi arrive with a number of other key lawmakers. they re meeting now with the president over military action in syria. the debate so divided, the stakes so high lawmakers are trickling back to washington about a week early. in fact, later today the senate foreign relations committee holds a hearing with top administration officials. secretary of state john kerry, defense check tear chuck hagel,
well, you know there s another rumor we heard that russia is talking about sending some kind of delegation to the united states to lobby members of congress. is that true? reporter: that s what they are saying. deliberate attempt by russian politicians to try and influence that vote in congress. a group of members of russia s parliament say they want to travel to the united states to meet with members of congress to try to bring them around to the russian view to persuade them to take a balanced view on syria, which means they want them to object the president s proposal to intervene militarily. we don t know precisely who or when they are going, but they have to get there before the congress votes. carol? phil black reporting live from moscow this morning. weak and indecisive, that s how some are characterizing president obama after he decided to seek congressional approval on possible action in syria, but given the anger in the wake of the iraq and afghanistan wars and a coun
syria. believe it or not, there s still skepticism about that. the other is how these attacks affect national security. many lawmakers don t understand what the president is saying when he says this is a problem for national security and u.s. strikes would be helpful in protecting american national security. so two big things the administration officials will have to do to convince congress today. the other thing i want to tell you about is the republicans who will be in the hearing today. we ve got john mccain and bob porker, the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee, who have been largely supportive of the president on this, but there is a big divide, rand paul and marco rubio will also be in this hearing, and as you know, rand paul has been very against the united states striking syria, so we ll have to see how republicans in this hearing fall. will they follow john mccain s lead or rand paul s lead, carol? rand paul has a point in many americans mind, how is s