Its high noon here in the east. Welcome to weekends with alex witt. New today, president obamas first interview since his National Address on sooer yyria. It comes aa a day after the u. S. And russia agreed to a diehl on the chemical weapons. What we can do is make sure that the worst weapons, the indiscriminate weapons that dont distinguish between a soldier and an infant are not used. And if we get that accomplished, then we may also have a foundation to begin what has to be an International Process in which assad sponsors primarily iran and russia recognize this is terrible for the Syrian People and they are willing to come in a serious way to arrive at some sort of political settlement that would deal with the underlying terrible conflict and a bit earlier today, secretary kerry met with israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu who warned that diplomacy alone cannot solve the crisis. The syrians must be stripped of all its kchemical weapons. That would make our entire region a lot safer. If diplomacy has any chance to work, it must be coupled with a credible military threat. Joining me now with more, nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker. Good sunday to you, kristen. I know you were watching these sunday talk shows today. The deal did not get a lot of support. How has the white house been framing it . Reporter well, good afternoon, alex. President obama, the white house stressing that this is an important first step but also acknowledging that there is a lot of work that remains and also a lot of uncertainty. But youre right. Lawmakers flocked to the sunday talk shows, many of them criticizing this deal. Republicans, including senator john mccain, calling this a victory for president vladimir putin. Those democrats who say they support the deal also expressed a fair amount of skepticism about whether or not president Bashar Al Assad will follow through with this plan thats been put in place. Heres a little bit more of what president obama had to say specifically on that point, about whether or not this is a victory for vladimir putin. Take a listen. I know sometimes this gets framed or looked at through the lens of the u. S. Versus russia. Thats not what this is about. What this is about is how do we make sure we dont have the worst weapons in the hands either of a murderous regime or in the alternative, some elements of the opposition that are as opposed to the United States as they are to assad. Reporter now, one of the contentious issues is the u. N. Resolution thats still being hammered out. The Obama Administration has said that it doesnt need to include the threat of military action. The white house saying that the president reserves the right to take military action unilaterally if president obama feels as though assad is not following through with the proposed plan. Chemical weapons experts say the real work, though, is going to begin when inspectors actually try to remove those chemical weapons. Theyre spread out all over the country. They say its a difficult task regardless of the situation. This would have to take place in the middle of a civil war, which makes it infinitely more complex. One u. S. Official telling nbc news that the job is simply daunting. Alex . Okay. To say the least, i think. Kristen welker, thank you so much. To colorado now and the growing catastrophe there. President obama signed a disaster declaration and ordered federal aid for the waterstricken state. Flooding has claimed at least four lives. And Officials Say more than 500 are unaccounted for, but they stress those numbersi could either rise or fall since communication is so poor in areas. Those unaccounted for are not necessarily considered missing. Meantime, the flooding has now spread over a 4500 square mile area. Thats almost as large as the entire state of connecticut. Many residents say theyre in complete shock. The houses were just crumbling off of the mountainside. And peoples entire lives, everything that they owned just fell off of a mountain into a river and down. The water force coming down this road was so intense that it tore up six inches of tarmac and asphalt. We painted sos on the driveway this morning in big orange letters, and not an hour later. More than 1700 people have been evacuated from laramer county. Crews are working around the clock to reach those who are stranded. Nbcs joe fryer is in boulder, colorado, for us. As i look at is that still the boulder, colorado, stream behind you that look like a rushing river . Reporter yeah, that is the Boulder Creek behind us here. It does continue to go down, but it is moving here pretty quickly. The rain has actually picked up here in boulder in the last few minutes. Because of the rain and the low visibility, those helicopter rescues weve been seeing over the last few days, well, those are on hold right now. The helicopters are not taking off. As you mentioned, in the last few days the National Guard and military have been able to rescue about 1750 people. Still, the recovery is far from over. Alex, apologies there. A little audio issues. We can also tell you the laramer county sheriff sent out a few tweets in the past hour. In laramer county alone, thats the county surrounding ft. Collins, nearly 500 people there are considered unaccounted for. They say some names have been added to the list. Others have been taken off the list. The sheriff there also confirming that an 80yearold woman who was missing is presumed dead. That would be the fifth death statewide tied to these floods. Alex . Yeah, hey, joe, when we last left you about this time yesterday, there was rain in the forecast. What happened there overnight . Was there kind of insult to injury with that . Reporter you know, overnight was actually pretty dry. This rain were seeing right now has literally started picking up in it the last half hour. So thankfully it has been dry for a couple of days. That has helped a lot of these waters recede. This is certainly not going to help because we still know theres a lot of water built up in the system from all that rain we had last week. This will probably just add to it. So it could exacerbate some of the problems that weve been seeing in some of these towns. Yeah, joe, for all those parents of kids that are at the boulder you know, university of colorado at boulder there, do you know any updates on the campus . Is that okay . I know they had canceled classes. Do you know whats in stock for tomorrow . Reporter actually, i have not been able to check to see. I know they canceled classes on thursday and friday. We havent been able to see what the situation is for tomorrow. We know there was some damage to some parts of the university, mostly flooding in basements and things like that. Everyone at the university was safe. No one was hurt or anything like that. We will have to check and see what the status is for classes there tomorrow. Yeah, im sure. You, kids, parents, everybody checking on that. Okay, joe. Thank you very much for that live report. We appreciate that. We have seen many striking images from this disaster. Many were taken from high above the damage. Lets look at a field of parked cars partially submerged. Look at that. That is near greeley, colorado, yesterday. All this happened as rivers flooded the towns and the farms from the rockies. Lets look at a group of trailers all smashed together there at a storage site. Dozens of them floating away when the flood waters rose. And lets look at that green dot in the middle of your screen. Thats a tractor partially submerged in a field after the flooding along the south platt river. Incredible pictures. Well, today marks 50 years since the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four little girls this birmingham, alabama. This morning at the iconic church, a Remembrance Service was held to commemorate a turning point in the struggle for civil rights. The city is also hosting empowerment week which started wednesday, to demonstrate the impact of the civil rights movement. Joining me now, nbcs sarah daloff, whos in birmingham to mark this occasion. Lets talk about the mood there overall today. Its got to be one of remembrance and a certain sadness. Often times from the ashes rises a phoenix. Anything positive to come from this . Reporter youre seeing a mix of emotions here today, alex, because it is so different for each and every person whos coming here to remember those four girls and the way of life at the time of this bombing. For some people, it is closing the wounds from 50 years ago and for others it is just opening them back up all over again. For many who were in birmingham at the time of the bombing, these four girls didnt just represent tragic loss. They also represented a terrible way of life where violence against those who stood for civil rights was all too common. Bombings, beatings, very frequent things. Now we just a few minutes ago spoke to Sarah Collins rudolph. Shes the sister of one of the victims of that bombing. She was in the bathroom with her sister when the bomb went off. Today she carries scars, both physical and mental, but it was important to be here today. Obviously, a very emotional, a very difficult day for her. Absolutely. I know that former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and eric holder scheduled to speak. Interestingly, Condoleezza Rice grew up in birmingham. Didnt she know one of the victims . Reporter thats correct. She says she used to play dolls with one of these young victims. And she commented about this tightknit community here. If you went to one of these churches or if you were in fact community, you knew one of these little girls or the family of one of the girls. That is how wide this impact was. That is how tightknit this community was at the time. Everybody knew someone that was terribly affected by the bombing if not one of the little girls that was killed, someone who was badly injured in the explosion. And sarah, i mentioned this empowerment week, which started wednesday. What can you tell us about that . Reporter its a range of activities, really, all aimed at recognizing the strides the civil rights have made and the sacrifice these four little girls and others have made to get the country where it is today. And these arent all solemn occasions like the Memorial Service or the tolling of the bells to mark the moment of the explosion today. Theres also some more upbeat things. Jamie foxx is giving a concert tonight. Youre going to hear Condoleezza Rice and eric holder hold a Panel Discussion. Okay. Nbcs sarah dallof in birmingham. Thank you. A leading democrat in the house assesses the chemical weapons deal with a scathing description of russia. And righting the ship. It is still there after 20 months. Could tomorrow be the day when the Costa Concordia finally floats away . Well mr. Baldwin. It appears our journey has come to a delightful end. Then i better use the capital one purchase eraser to redeem my venture miles for this trip. Purchase eraser . Its the easy way to erase any recent travel expense. I just pick a charge, like my flight with a few taps, its taken care of. Impressive baldwin. Does it work for hotels . Absolutely thank goodness. Mrs. Villain and i are planning our. You scare me. And i like it. Lets go whats in your wallet . Some headlines making news on the west coast. The Los Angeles Times has a front page story titled immigrants find a legal workaround. Its about how many Illegal Immigrants are in the u. S. Theyre discovering they can find work by running their own companies. That is because theres no law prohibiting People Living in the country illegally from starting a business or becoming an independent contractor. And this headline drivers ease off the gas in cultural shift. Its about how since the economy went south in 80s, oregon residents are now driving light. Thats only getting behind the wheel when they absolutely have to. President obama said in a new interview out this morning that confiscating syrias chemical weapons could create the foundation for a political settlement in the now 2 1 2year syrian civil war. Joining me now, democratic congressman adam schiff. Good to see you. Thanks for joining me. Your reaction, first off, to this deal. I think its a very positive step forward. Look, this is going to be really tough trying to place these stockpiles under u. N. Supervision in the middle of a civil war. Nonetheless, its the first path that has the potential of taking these weapons off the battlefield so assad cant use them again and more than that when the regime ultimately falls, it ensures that these weapons dont get in the hands of al qaeda, hezbollah, or others who may use them against us or our allies. This is a very positive step forward. Its a positive step on a long and tough road ahead. But i applaud what weve been able to work out. Interesting because earlier today you said that president putin is like a lawyer who lost control of his client, meaning president assad. But with this deal, did he just get his client off . Well, i think he got his client, perhaps, back under control. You know, well have to see. But, yes, i think hes like the lawyer that lost control of his client. If he were a shrew, if we were that chess player people are making him out to be, that grand master seeing moves well in advance, he would have told putin in no Uncertain Terms a year ago, drawn his own red line and said, look, youre ahead on the battlefield, dont do anything stupid like using chemical weapons that could drag the u. S. Into this conflict. But he didnt do that. If there were any independent heads, which there arent, theyd be questioning him. Why did you leave it go to the brink when assad had momentum militarily . So hes trying to gain control of his client. Well see in the weeks and months to come whether he can do that successfully. But this is in russias interest. Its also in the United States interest. Had we gone through with a military strike, that may have deterred assad. It may have degraded his capability, but it would not have dealt with the problem of those chemical weapons. Those might ultimately have fallen in the wrong hands. And i want to get to that in a moment, but if syria does not comply with all these deadlines that are being laid out, should the u. S. Use military force . Well, i think the u. S. Needs to act in concert with others. The primary concern i have is that the u. S. May have been at the verge of acting unilaterally. I dont think we should act unilaterally in pursuit of an International Convention of the use of chemical weapons. During the process of syria compiling its inventory, we need to work on an International Consensus for what we do if the regime balks, if they stall, if they hide. We need to try to find an international answer to that problem. We have some time to do it. I think thats got to be priority number one. So i want to talk about president s here with you. Assad is believed to have used chemical weapons. If this deal happens, his punishment will be just turn over the rest of the stockpile. Iraq used kchemical weapons on ir iran. Is there enough of a deterrent to stop other militaries from using them . Thats a great question. I suppose it all depends on how this chapter ends. I dont think its going to be enough merely to take the chemical weapons away. The people who use them and assad himself ultimately are going to have to be held accountable. Id love to see them dragged before in a National Criminal court on work crimes charges. Id love to see those named within those special units that have responsibility for chemical weapons put on a list of those that will be tried as war criminals. If we can hold them accountable, it will tell future dictators and their henchmen that if they go down this path, they will be ultimately called to account. Politically speaking, representative schiff, does this deal match the rhetoric weve heard from president obama and secretary kerry over the last few weeks, and does it matter . There are so many who have criticized this president saying his speech was coming from Different Directions and didnt have this cohesive message. Yet, the fact is the president said, we want you to stop using chemical weapons, and it would seem that if this deal goes through, hes won without launching one tomahawk missile. Thats the thing. If we were to look back into a crystal ball and see where we were today, syria signing the chemical weapons ban, all without a single shot fired, wed say any administration that can make that happen has got to be brilliant. Now, its been ugly getting here. This has been an uncertain and checkered step forward, but this is where we are. This holds the potential of getting those weapons off the battlefield. Now, is this going to be as good as the hype . Time alone will tell if we can enforce this, if the russians are serious about this, if assad can be brought to heel on this. Its going to be a challenge, but you know, there are some precedents that should give us some optimism. If you look at what the inspectors were able to do in iraq, it was opposed by saddam hussein, he tried to delay, but nonetheless it was largely successful in going after those chemical stockpiles. There have been recent reports that the u. S. Has supplied Light Weapons via the cia. They finally began reaching the rebels. Can you tell us anything about the scale of these supplies or why its taken so long after president obamas announcement . Well, you know, i cant get into great specifics, but i can say that i dont think were talking about a level of weaponry thats likely to change the balance on the battlefield. And this is a concern that i have, which is if its not enough to change the balance, were going to be called on to provide more weapons. If those arent enough, well be called on to provide even more sophisticated weapons. Pretty soon, you are stuck in the middle of this war and taking it ownership for it. Then if the regime falls too precipitously and theres chaos a , its going to be our re