it was extremely broad in its escape and there was no language in it about, first, trying to pursue a diplomatic solution. >> senator susan collins, republican of maine, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, to the nuts and bolts of how to make a diplomatic deal work and put syria's chemical weapons under international control. for that we turn to jeffrey brown. >> brown: it's a stockpile that's believed to be the largest in the world, a prewar map compiled by the monterey institute shows where syria's chemical weapons and production facilities were thought to be, spread through the western half of the country. definitive information on the current situation is much harder to come by. to walk us through we turn to charles duelfer, a top u.n. weapons inspector in iraq during the 1990s, after the u.s. invasion in 2003, he led the c.i.a.'s iraq survey group which continued to look for weapons of mass destruction. he's author of "hide and seek: the search for truth in he's author of "hide and seek: the search for truth in iraq." >> thank you. >> first the question, what does it mean to hand over chemical weapons? what happens physically? who does it? >> well, the process would be, presumably, set out by it security council where they put the burden of proof and the burden of doing these things on the syrian government. so they would constitute a group of weapons inspectors but the burden of showing where the weapons were and accounting for them would be on the syrian government. they would show the weapon inspectors where they were, how many they had and the weapons inspectors would have to verify the veracity of that. >> if that's the case and based on experience, what kind of ground rules, because you think about what could go wrong and how to do it right, what kind of ground rules would you like to set? >> we have done this successfully in the case of iraq. in 1999 the weapons inspectors were far more successful than they knew. at that point in time we laid out very strict rules by which the weapons inspectors had access to locations, to documents, to people. it was a weapons inspectors that could select the location they would inspect. it was the obligation of the country, in this case damascus to consolidate the weapons at certain known locations and provide an inventory of what they had, and then the weapons inspectors would either destroy them or guard them or account for them or put them under lock and key, perhaps in some kind of a bunker that would have international supervision. >> and how easy would it be for the syrians to either move or hide these things if they wanted to make it difficult? >> well, this is the challenge of being a weapons inspector. the syrians would give them a statement of their inventory. certainly the weapons inspectors would count the agent that they had. but by access to other syrians, people in the military they may be able to interview, they could test the veracity of that and they could go to other countries that may have data. for example, countries which may have sold scud missiles to the syrians and they could provide data on how much they provided to the syrians. there's a number of angles the weapons inspectors could pursue. >> can you ever be sure that you've not them all? how would you know? >> well we were never sure in the case of iraq and it turned out we did know a hell of a love more than we thought. but certainly under the current circumstances with syria we can get it down better than it is now and by that whole process syria will lose the advantage of having these chemical weapons. it's a major step now that they even acknowledge they have such stocks. this is a sizable achievement by the russians. in the case of iraq you had a cat & mouse game. is it possible or likely that something like this would happen in syria? >> we will have to see, and the weapons inspectors would have to take that as one of the possibilities and they would have to plan their inspections in certain ways so they can take nevertheless you can reduce the uncertainty, reduce the accounting for emissions, by accounting for the production runs, the production equipment. certainly you can get rid of the bulk of the syrian >> another bigo sa dthat presumably, these are the most valuable and secure things in syria that the army and the government would have them in areas they could protect and therefore they should be able to lead the weapons inspectors to those sites or bring the weapons inspectors to the sites so hey could do what a i have to do. >> how long would this take, thinking about the presidentiffe clearly would be that, i mean, from i giving this talk tonight, how long does something like this take to verify and to get the weapons? >> well, the first step is to negotiate the terms under which the weapons inspectors are going to operate. and that's probably with the rate of the u.n. doing it, it will be weeks rather than days. >> weeks? >> weeks. >> just to negotiate how this is going to work? >> yeah. what access, who gets to pick the sites and there's a fundamental point does this happen under the threat of a military attack? in other words is it a co- versive element or as russia says, the threat of force has to be taken off the table first? i think that's salable, because even if the threat of force is not explicit, it's implicit up to this point. >> that's the big diplomatic question right now. but once they decide, if we get past the weeks of negotiations you're talking about, how long does it take to actually go in and gain control of the weapons and facilities. >> the bulk of it will happen quickly. there are chemical weapons certificates thought the world. they can be assembled. it will be clear very early on if the syrians will bring them to the sites of where these weapons are. it could drag on over time but there will be early indications i think, in the course of a month or two, that we will see if syria is in fact serious. but again that assumes overcoming some diplomatic rules in the u.n. >> a month or two. i'm asking you because we are in sort of day to day mode here thinking about what might happen but to pursue this would be a question of now months. >> for the weapons inspectors to get on the ground and again getting a serious handle on the control of the weapons and what the inventories are, it would take that long. but there would be early indications about whether bashar al-assad is serious about this so the diplomats and the politicians will get appear early indication of just if this is really going to work out. >> charles duelfer thanks again. >> thank you. >> ifill: we return to another troubled spot in the middle east: egypt. two months ago, the army deposed brotherhood's mohammed morsi. he was elected after the heady 2011 uprising that overthrew president hosni mubarak. but does this mean more democracy for egypt, or a return to the past? our chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner reports from cairo. >> the chamber of the upper house of parliament, a committee rewriting egypt's constitution for the second time in as many years, convened at the initial session on sunday. it was an over-50 cloud of statesmen clerics, business leaders and generals and one figure, a young man wearing a t- shirt no one had heard of. he was mahmoud batter, a leader of the rebel movement that led a petition against mohammed morsi and his muslim brotherhood-led government, triggering nationwide protest on june 30. two days later on july 3, the army chief appeared on television to say egypt's armed forces had removed the first democratically elected leader in the country's history. one of the fellow co-founders, mack meuld al-faka has no apologies for returning to the mill tore to out oust the president he voted for, who came to believe he was serving the islamist agenda, not egypt. >> actually all of the co- founders votedded for him. >> so you felt betrayed? >> the brotherhood and their ambassador and mohammed morsi betrayed us, betrayed the egyptian people. eeven betrayed his responsibility. >> general alsisi gave that responsibility to an interim civilian-led government headed by judge monsieur, opposing a state of emergency, alsisi promised the short-term government would move briskly down a road map to ensure civilian democracy within nine months. >> in many corners of this ancient city capital of the arab's world's most populous country, we found people feel safer. many think the government is only a facade and the real power lies with general al-sisi. but they seem fine with that for now. >> we found public relations manager ayman fahrad sitting in a cafe. who do you think is running the country right now? >> now -- the general rule. >> general alsisi's rule. >> protecting the muslim brotherhood and i would like to salute him. >> when i asked who was running the country you said president monsieur but you were laughing. why were you laughing. >> i feel like you know the answer. >> the interim government has one job that can't wait nine months. to start rebuilding an economy battered by the constant strife since the 2011 up rising that toppled long time ruler hosni mubarak. the streets are empty of tourists and foreign investors, the country's most visitd site, the pyramids, now a ghost time. the interim government is surviving on cash infusions from the gulf. yet nor difficult will be rebuilding the trust between two groups of egyptians who united in the revolution of 2011 but couldn't agree on anything after that. in one camp, more secular minded egyptians like this former parliamentarian. in her apartment in the upscale district, she insisted morsi's oust was not a queue but a popular impeachment. >> what you saw was a struggle from the soul of egypt, a society divided, one that wanted a real civil society and the other one that wanted a theo trattic society. >> she said general alsisi appeared like a breath of hope. >> he is looked upon as a national savior. >> but across town in suburban new cairo at a protest that was called on short notice, computer science professor mohammed saw no heros. >> democracy doesn't come on tanks. democracy comes through the ballot box. here to protect against the regime and i'm sure you know of the killing and so forth -- >> the killing started even before morsi's removal amidst the bloody climax august 14 when the police moved in to disperse two brotherhood sit ins in cairo. hundreds of protesters were killed that day. what may seem surprising is that many self styled liberals tee fend the take over and the crock down that followed. >> object to the democracy egypt itself. >> a leading secular voice in the 2011 revolution said thek down prevented civil war. >> do you consider yourself a liberal? >> in a way, yes. socially liberal. >> so do you think there's anything inconsistent in being a liberal and yet now so many liberals support this -- the interim government in which the most powerful figure is general alsisi. >> egyptians would have guns themselves and there would have been a real massacre. >> there are a few, very few, liberal voices who have rayed objections to the military' takeover. >> many people in egypt now believe that the solution is with the military, and this is a problem, at least for me. >> ahmed maher heads the april 6 movement which spearheaded the 2011 uprising. >> the brotherhood breached power by the ballot box. so we could, even if not immediately, we could have removed him that way. we made many mistakes but the return to the military rule again is very harmful. using the military now will mean they could depose any president in the future. >> the oust was referred to as a coup. he has been paying the price, ruled under state investigation, shunned by family and friends, and publicly vilified by egypt's media which has fallen in line behind general alsisi. >> the people that are critical or have misgivings regarding the role of the military, they are attacked viciously in the streets and the media. >> who is running the country right now? >> do you want to put me in jail or what? i think that, yes, the military establishment has a large role in government, even when morsi was there. >> do you see it in danger. >> you are accusing me that i'm a traitor and an agent, that i am being paid to prevent chaos in egypt. this indicates that our voice is annoying to them. >> well what is incredibly successful is a smear campaign against the few dissenting voices that criticize the military and the police. >> the country director for human rights watch says voices like mahers can't get on tv any longer in egypt.r of the media. has disappeared, the dissent. there were a lot of options in 2011 and 2012 and all of that is being rolled back now because there's only a security response not a political response. >> we took the tough charge that this station on tv was one of the voices for indeen after the 2011 revolution, it's under mined by the government via habib el-beem. >> i don't think it's possible for anyone to return to the way it was after april 25. nobody can describe the state egypt is in right now as being the perfect state of affairs. it's an imperfect situation but it is one for which i progress forward or we can go backwards. >> how confident are you that at the end of this time frame, which comes up in april, that there will be have been a full restoration of democracy and that the military will step back? >> i'm quite confident and quite optimistic about this process being completed by april. but it's something that makes me relax. but we have to learn from the last couple of years and compromise a little bit as long as -- >> ass egyptians watch the proceedings each day they're failing to compromise is becoming vivid and the bloodshed under mubarak the past three years, the military government that followed and the brother hood but a few blocks away university professor mohammed ibrahim, out shopping with her young daughter said polarization, not the spirit of compromise affects egypt now. >> there are two groups. if you are not with me you are opposite of me and there's no logic in when we speak with each other. i don't listen to. >> what will it take to change that? >> we will take much more time in order to be like american people, like english people, to be democratic from inside. >> time egypt today may not have. >> we will have more reporting from margaret this week including tomorrow. her interview with egypt's prime minister. >> today's news on syria was a tonic for wall street. stocks rallieds -- it-- >> peered diplomacy was overtaking the possibility of military action. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 128 points to close at 15, 191. the nasdaq rose almost 23 points to close at 3729. this is primary day in new york city, with voters choosing party nominees for mayor and other races. in the mayor's contest, front- runner bill de blasio hopes to get 40% of the vote, enough to avoid a runoff. among the republicans, former transit authority head joe lhota holds a commanding lead. the ultimate winner will succeed mayor michael bloomberg, who's held the office for 12 years. the justice department has released hundreds of classified documents from 2009 that depict misuse of domestic surveillan they show incidents in which the national security agency went too far, and then misled a secret oversight court about its violations. at one point, a federal judge even threatened to halt the collection of phone data. civil liberties groups sued to force release of the material. in india, a court convicted four men today in the fatal gang rape of a young woman last year. the incident triggered worldwide condemnation and reforms in india's sexual violence laws. we have a report from john sparks of independent television news. >> reporter: not long after sunrise, a police van swept past the cameras and into a district court in delhi. inside the vehicle, four men wearing hoods, four men accused of a crime that shocked and deeply shamed the people of india. outside of the gate, an angry crowd formed. >> we want justice. >> reporter: they have come to hear the judge's verdict and deliver an impromptu one of their own. "a death sentence for everyone convicted of rape," said this woman. five men and one juvenile were charged with torturing, raping, and murdering a 23-year-old physiotherapy student last november. police say the gang attacked the woman and a male friend after they boarded this bus. the men beat them with an iron bar, gang raped the woman, and threw them off the moving vehicle. the 23-year-old died two weeks later. word of the attack quickly spread, and young middle-class protectors took to the streets-- violence against women in india no longer something they were prepared to ignore. politicians scrambled to respond, increasing penalties and stepping up fast-track courts for rape. the murder of the 23-year-old student was the first case to be heard. a lawyer brought news of the verdict. "all four were found guilty on all charges, and tomorrow a sentencing hearing will begin," he said. >> reporter: the juvenile was barely given a year sentence. another gang member took his own life in jail. >> ifill: the four convicted men now face the possibility of death by hanging, the maximum penalty for their crimes. crews working to control a wildfire east of san francisco made significant progress overnight. the blaze that's scorching mount diablo state park is now at least 45% contained. it started on sunday and has since blackened five square miles of woodlands. 75 homes are still threatened. americans are facing a growing crisis in cancer care. that warning, issued today by the institute of medicine, found demand is growing just as the work force of cancer specialists is shrinking. at the same time, costs continue to rise. the report called for patients to get more involved in picking their care and their caregivers. an apparent outbreak of food soning-- possibly linked to chobani greek yogurt-- has spread to nearly 90 people, that according to the u.s. food and drug administration. chobani had already announced a voluntary recall of 35 varieties of its yogurt that may have been contaminated by mold. the f.d.a. is now working with the company to speed up that process. congress today awarded its highest civilian honor to four young, black girls killed in a church bombing in alabama, three weeks after the march on washington, 50 years ago. in a ceremony at the capitol, the congressional gold medal was given posthumously to addie mae collins, carole robertson, cynthia wesley and denise mcnair. their deaths helped spur the passage of the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act a year later. alabama congresswoman terri sewell paid tribute. >> the names of the four little girls will never appear on the wall here in congress. but their legacy truly paved the way for me and so many others to serve here in congress. i know that the journey that i now take, as alabama's first black congresswoman, would not be possible had it not been for the journey of addie, carole, denise, and cynthia. >> ifill: past recipients of the medal include other civil rights figures, as well as the wright brothers, mother teresa, and bob hope. >> woodruff: and online, you may have noticed a different look to our rundown. we've launched a new initiative to track the most important stories of the day, as they evolve. you can find this new blog on our home page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, hari sreenivasan reports on the mayoral contest in new york city, and the legacy left by michael bloomberg's 12- year tenure. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. on behalf of all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ( theme music playing ) ♪ you must remember this ♪ a kiss is still a kiss ♪ a sigh is just a sigh ♪ the fundamental things apply ♪ ♪ as time goes by. ( doorbell rings ) jean: oh. - morning. - morning, john. i don't see... you said you'd look after them.