civilians in benghazi. he pointed out at yesterday's briefing, there were significant parts of libya that were out of the control of the gadhafi regime and how is libya different than syria. he said that when you look at the opposition in syria, as they see it, there isn't an organized opposition that you can give aid to or the u.s. could give aid to at this point. those are the distinctions that the administration is making at least publicly. carol, there is another element. if the government were to see regime change, if asad was out, there is concern that whoever would replace him could be more unfriendly to the u.s. >> i no he that president obama is considering sanctions against syria. many americans are wondering, is this the first step of deeper u.s. involvement? >> reporter: i think if you asked the administration, they would say the first step has been condemning the violence. they have repeatedly said, we have been condemning the violence over and over again. they have been doing this since