congressman, every nation, every individual, every group responds in their own self interest. reporter: why then aren t america s allies offering a military response. mr. secretary, you said the world is watching what we are doing, but i have yet to hear some concrete things of what the world is doing. reporter: and what if the u.s. is dragged into a bigger war in the middle east. have you made contingency plans for us being in an escalated military operation in the region? in the spirit of your compliment on my conciseness, yes. reporter: house armed services chairman is not willing to predict they ll authorize force. it will be one of the toughest votes in congress. reporter: recent polls show the american public opposed to force in syria, prompting calls for the president to make the case from the oval office. bret? thanks, mike. let s get some insight into president obama s strategy.
attack. one person has been killed by gunfire in daraa. the group says three members of the government s security forces were also killed in clashes with army defectors. business leaders in los angeles is preparing to roll out the red carpet for the man expected to become china s next president. xi jinping arrives in california for a two-day visit hosted by state governor jerry brown. visit will include a tour of the port of los angeles, china shipping terminal, which is undergoing an upgrade as sign of u.s. trade continues to grow. those are the headlines from cnn, the world s news leader. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. good morning from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. and good afternoon from cnn hong kong, i m andrew stevens and you re watching world business today. the top stories this thursday, february 16th. the accounting scandal surrounding olympus escalates. seven arrests are made regarding the billion dollar fraud of the jab