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> pelley: good evening. you just heard the secretary of defense sa">
captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. you just heard the secretary of defense say it, u.s. military forces are ready to go if and when the president gives the green light for a strike against syria. this would be punishment for that chemical weapons attack last week that left more than 300 syrian civilians dead, many of them women and children. vice president biden today became the highest ranking administration official to declare that the assad regime was behind that attack. the syrian government denies it. u.n. inspectors have not finished their investigation. so what evidence does the united states have? david martin has found out at the pentagon. >> reporter: before the u.s. acts it plans to publicly reveal some of the intelligence which vice president biden said today proves who is to blame for the mass casualties in syria. >> there is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in syria, the syria regime. >> reporter: intercepted senior communications to tests of tissue samples taken from victims down to the simple fact the regime is the only one in syria known to have chemical weapons. david cameron warned there is no smoking gun. >> that is never 100% certainty. there's never one piece or several pieces of intelligence that can give you absolute certainty. >> reporter: traveling in asia chuck hagel spoke by phone with britain and france, two countries pledged to join the u.s. in punishing syria for using chemical weapons. then he was asked by a reporter at the pentagon which has moved four destroyers in the mediterranean if they are ready to go. >> we are ready to go like that. >> reporter: each of the destroyers are armed with 300 cruise missles, carries a 1,000 pound warhead has a range of 1,000 miles or more and an accuracy to within about 15 feet. standard procedure would be for the ships to fire an opening salvo at night, wait for satellites to assess the damage and re-strike any target that were not destroyed, a process that could take a few days. the british parliament meets in a session on thursday to meet on a motion to authorize military action. although president obama has not yet made a final decision, u.s. officials expect a strike will begin soon after that. >> pelley: david, what could the syrians do if the united states does eventually attack? >> well, for one they could try to attack the fleet but i think the ships are probably too far offshore and too well defended for that. the other thing, scott, they could try to use chemical weapons again, since it is unlikely a single strike will completely eliminate them. >> pelley: david martin following developments at the pentagon. david, thank you very much. the u.s. view of all of this got a major endorsement today from 22 arab countries. the arab league said that it agrees the assad dictatorship was behind the chemical attack. the whitehouse made a point of saying today that it is not the goal of any u.s. military action to remove assad from power, though that is exactly what many syrians would like. holly william is just across the syrian border in turkey. >> reporter: a father is reunited with his young son who he thought had died in last week's alleged chemical attack. it's a rare moment of joy in a brutal and relentless war that's claimed more than 100,000 lives. if the u.s. does launch strikes against the regime, many syrians will celebrate. brigadier general mohammad al- aboud used to be an officer in the syrian army. he defected to the opposition and told us he commands 10,000 fighters in eastern syria. we met with him in turkey with meetings with other rebels leaders. we've been waiting for our american friends to make this decision for a long time, he said. we want the u.s. to target the leadership, their rocket launches and chemical weapons facilities. but as the u.s. weighs military action, u.n. weapons inspectors are still investigating whether chemical weapons were used. they postponed their work today because of security concerns. and it's not clear when they'll release their findings. at a press conference in damascus, the syrian foreign minister denied accusations his government has been hindering the inspector's work and was defiant in the face of possible u.s. strikes. we have the means to defend ourselves, he said. and we will surprise everyone. senior members of the syrian opposition told us today that they have given the u.s. details about possible targets. but we don't know, scott, how the u.s. is treating that information. >> pelley: holly williams on the syrian border for us tonight. holly, thank you. also in the news, one of the biggest wild fires in california history got even bigger today. this is what the so-called rim fire looks like from space. firefighters are telling us it's now 20% contained and that is progress. but overnight it grew by another 30,000 acres to a total of 180,000 acres in all. 111 structures have burned. manuel bojorquez is there. >> reporter: these flames pushed deeper into yosemite national park. by sunrise the burn zone had doubled to almost 65 square miles. the main tourist areas remain unaffected but the fire is erratic. michael williams is on the rim fire command team. >> when you get a fire that's this massive and you start to get these different columns in different areas, it creates the wind. we get this heated massive blume developing. when it actually settles back down on the fire what it does is spread the fire in a different direction. >> reporter: the fire has reached the reservoir which provides water to san francisco. they fear ash gets in the water but so far it has not been contaminated. crews soaked the ground to protect 2,000 year old sequoias. samantha smith's home is here. she's been living at a red cross shelter since fleeing home last week. >> if you were on my front porch you would be looking at the flames right now if my front porch is still there. >> reporter: you don't know whether the home is still standing. >> no, we don't know if it's there or not. >> reporter: smith is seven months pregnant. >> he's only due in two months. i don't know if we'll have the crib. >> reporter: officials have not said when residents will be allowed to check on their homes. scott, an increase in humidity today was expected to help suppress the flames. >> pelley: manuel, thanks. people in arizona use the word haboob, to describe a severe weather event in their state. it's arabic for wind and in phoenix last night it translated into a towering cloud of blowing sand, hundreds of feet in the air. there were no injuries but it knocked down trees and power lines. six year old nathan woessner knows what it's like to be enveloped in sand. two months ago he was buried alive during an outing at the indiana dunes national lake shore. some thought the boy would never make it but look who dean reynolds met. >> reporter: his parents say he doesn't recall much that month when the sand swallowed him off when park rangers and earth movers spent four hours removing him from a stovepipe sink hole. >> did you prepare for the worst. >> we were prepared for the worst yes. >> reporter: for his mother and father it feels like it happened yesterday. the agonizing weight that gave way to a moment of incandescent joy. >> just being there with him and touching him and feeling him or kissing him. that's all i wanted to do was just touch him and hold him. many, many nights i lie awake thinking and praying and thanking god for what he did for our family. >> reporter: do you think you witnessed and are continuing to witness a miracle? >> yes, i did, without a doubt. this is god's miracle. >> reporter: a miracle because while nathan had fallen 11 feet below the surface, he landed in an air pocket that kept him from suffocating. a miracle because since his rescue july 12th, he has gone from this, to this, to this. >> i can go upside down and hold it for like ten minutes. >> exactly the same as he was before. >> reporter: a slight cough is the only remnant of the trauma he endured. last week, nathan started first grade where his fame is already assured. and tomorrow, scott, nathan will travel from his home in central illinois back to indiana for a special reunion with the rescue workers who saved his life and the medical staffers who are still amazed by his quick recovery. >> pelley: dean reynolds in our chicago news room, dean, thanks very much. some patients have died of preventable diseases at veterans' hospitals. wait until you here what happened to the administrators. and scientists have identified the cause of mysterious death of dolphins when the cbs evening news continues. the cbs evening news continues. and. ny, side effects may include 24-hour headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. if you have persistent diarrhea, contact your doctor right away. other serious stomach conditions may exist. don't take nexium if you take clopidogrel. 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[ male announcer ] helping you -- now that's what's important to us. >> pelley: we have a follow up for you tonight on a cbs news investigation. back in january, we told you that veterans in a hospital in pittsburgh knew for more than a year that it had an outbreak of legionnaire's disease. the hospital knew but the hospital kept it secret until five patients died and 21 others became ill. were the people who run the hospital punished? quite the contrary. here's elaine quijano. >> nobody should ever have to walk into a hospital and die like the way he died. >> reporter: last fall, dave and bob nicholas spoke to us after losing their 87 year old father to legionnaires disease. william nicholas a navy veteran caught the pneumonia. bob wanted accountability. >> it was a preventable situation and the va chose not to do anything about it. if something was done my dad would be alive today. >> reporter: after our investigation the attorney general found the va failed -- the regional director michael mooreland. just days after that finding the department gave him a nearly $63,000 service award for saving the government money on a hospital construction project and for starting a new infection prevention program. >> i hope that award that has blood all over it, the deaths of five veterans, i hope that he sleeps well at night. >> reporter: maureen lost her 83 year old father navy veteran to the outbreak. >> he never come off the ventilator. that's where he stayed. he never recovered from that. >> reporter: last year veterans affairs gave out nearly $97 million in bonuses. now congress plans to review the bonuses given to va officials who oversaw hospitals that had problem with patient care. for example, according to the inspector general, the buffalo va exposed more than 700 patients to hepatitis over a two year period by reusing insulin pens. cbs news has learned that during that time, upstate new york regional director david west was awarded nearly $26,000 in bonuses. failure to monitor mental health patients at the atlanta va led to three deaths. we found the former director james clark received over $31,000 in bonuses the years two of those patients died. and records show hospital director teri gerick wolf got a $13,000 bonus the year that pittsburgh va failed to prevent then mismanage the legionnaires outbreak. the nicholas brothers and maureen are suing the va for the deaths of their fathers in the outbreak. >> it's a slap in the face to every veteran and their families. >> reporter: in a statement the va says it takes seriously any issue that occurs at our 1700 facilities and veterans are being well served by a caring and effective work force. the va told us michael mooreland $63,000 reward is under review. we have contacted the officials for our story and their reaction and we never heard from the other one, one declined to comment and the others referred us to the va. >> elaine thanks very much. a testifies against his would-be assassin and the video is made public for the first time. that story, straight ahead. i have flat feet. i found this out at the free dr.scholl's foot mapping center at walmart. in less than two minutes, i got my foot map and my custom number. i'm a 440. i'm a 210. 340. that number matched the dr.scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts with just the right support to help relieve stress on my feet. i'm a believer. find a walmart with a foot mapping center at drscholls.com i'm a believer. fby eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, she's agreed to give it up. that's today? 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[ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. >> pelley: scientists have been baffled with dolphins along the east coat. today genetic tests confirmed a measles-like virus the likely the cause. researchers say there's little to do to stop it. over the past few months the bodies of more than 330 dolphins have washed up on shore. we got a look today at a piece of historic video tape that the public has never seen. president gerald ford testifying about the 1975 attempt on his life by manson follower lynette "squeaky" fromme. ford said he saw her sneaking towards him and assumed she wanted to shake hands. >> as soon as i stopped, i saw a hand come through the crowd in the first row and that was the only active gesture that i saw. but in the hand was a weapon. >> pelley: a secret service agent grabbed the gun. it never w fromme was sentenced to life in prison but was released four years ago. the ford testimony was recorded in washington and played in her trial in sacramento. whatever became of dr. martin luther king's copy of the i have a dream speech? 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>> people started to stand and i walked over and he was just folding the paper and i said dr. king can i have that copy of the speech. >> reporter: did he hesitate? >> he turned and handed it to me, just as he did, a rabbi came and congratulated him and it was over. >> reporter: the words dr. king spoke that day are legendary but as for the three pages they were written on, rabbling took them away in a biography of truman. he embarked as a successful career of a basketball coach. >> for over 20 years i never looked at the speech again. >> then one day in 18984, local news paper reporter interviewed raveling about the significance of being the first african american coach at iowa. >> he said to me, "were you ever involved in civil rights movement?" i told him the story and said you have the speech. >> reporter: they found the speech where he left it in the truman book. it has been framed and in a bank vault for the last 30 years. >> it doesn't have a title, it's not been identified as i have a dream. you can simply see the date. you'll see that he pretty much followed the script. >> five score years ago, a great american moved symbolic stands today. >> there's an asterisk on the copy. >> this is where we now go into the ad lib part of the i have a dream speech. >> i have a dream. >> reporter: it's true, those famous words were ad libbed, turning a planned four minute speech into a 16-minute historic address. >> i have a dream. >> reporter: at age 76, raveling considers himself the guardian of the speech. >> the speech belongs to america, the speech belongs to the black folks. it doesn't belong to me. >> free at last, free at last. thank god almighty, we are free at last. >> reporter: coach raveling says he will never sell the speech. some things don't equate to money. he's been tested in that regard having been offered $3.5 million dollars a few years ago. he declined. >> pelley: did he say what prompted him for the speech to begin with? >> reporter: he was quite candid saying he wishes he had a better response saying it was just impulse but giving he was a great basketball player and coach he showed great court awareness. >> thanks very much. that will be it for the cbs evening news for tonight. we'll be in washington tomorrow to bring you live coverage of the president's address at the lincoln memorial. until then, for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald breaking news a rapidly spreading grass fire in fairfield is still burning at this hour. there are reports of at least 15 homes damaged including five that appear to be severely damaged. >> it has triggered at least 50 evacuations. an evacuation center set up at fairfield high school. so far, there are no reported injuries. we want to show you these pictures from just about an hour ago. this is the fire at its peak. along marigold drive. fire g one house... then that's just one of the burning homes. the fire was burning unchecked in the neighborhood along marigold drive. fire engulfing one house and jumping to the next and the next. at first, fire crews appeared to be completely outgunned. reporter steve large and his camera crew from our sister station kovr arrived on scene even before the firefighters. >> reporter: this is martin lawler's home. he was watching it burn live and in fact he is still standing across the street. but let me just show you here, that home is on fire. the one next to it to my left is on fire. but right now, this address, 2879 marigold, you have to watch out, there's a lot of equipment on the ground here, that right now is safe and you can see this line of firefighters that's trying to keep these homes that have not been hit yet, keep them safe. and right now, the wind is -- looks to be from my perspective blowing to the east. and that probably is what caused this fire to jump from rooftop to rooftop. the embers, as we all know, can spark a fire very quickly. from this rooftop to one next door there's a vacant lot and beyond that you can see fire trucks all down marigold. as we were driving in, they were asking for more and more and more