Carney said the president will not be offering any concessions. House democrats unveiled an Immigration Reform bill for 11 million undocumented workers living in the United States. It tightens border security. Minority leader nancy pelosi said shes hopeful that republicans and democrats will now be able to come together to pass legislation. Millions of people tried to log in for governmentbacked healthcare but there were glitches. Government Officials Say curious onlookers and repeat visitors may be blamed for the high volume. Inside story is next. Getting syria to agree to give up its chemical weapons was one thing. Now comes the hard part. How will International Inspectors find and destroy deadly syrian arms in the middle of a war . Youre watching inside story from washington. [ music ] hello, im sheila, when more than 1,000 syrian civilians died as a result of a chemicals weapon attack in a damascus neighborhood, world reaction came quickly. President obama said a red line had been crossed and such an attack would not be tolerated again. But an agreement from the International Community took more time and a lot of more work. Now there is a plan in place to get all the deadly chemicals weapons out of the hands of the syrian regime. Well talk about that Challenging Mission that began today with weapons experts. But first this background. A team of International Inspectors hit the road in damascus early wednesday deployed to destroy all of president bashar alassads chemicals weapons. Hichemical weapons watch dog pls to work closely with u. N. Authority. The arsenal is at the center of international contention. The team has nine months to eliminate it all. This is quite the ambitious timeline and the situation on the ground will complicate the mission. Reporter the ocpw was given a mandate last week after hours of intense negotiation the u. S. And russia authored a deal endorsing a plan for political transition. The Security Council has shown when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things. Provided this resolution is fully implemented, we will have eliminated one of the largest chemical weapons programs on earth from one of the most volatile places on earth. Reporter before the u. N. Votes the they described procedures in destroying the stock pile. New methods may include slamming with sledge hammers, blowing up, driving tanks over shells and breaking down certain machines. The inspectors face grave risks. An u. N. Convoy came under sniper fire. There is no confirmation of who pulled the trigger. [ gunfire ] reporter the ocpw has never worked on arsenal this type before nor in the middle of war. Earlier this year israel carried out airstrikes on syria directed at a chemical Weapons Research center outside of damascus. The aim, to thwart any plans to transfer weapons to hezbollah. The fear is still relevant today. One thing we will do, we will make sure the weapons of mass destruction or chemical weapons would not reach the hands of terrorists in lebanon. Reporter todays operations stand from a deadly chemical attack on august 31st in a rebel control suburb in damascus. 1400 people were killed, including women and children. The u. S. And its all allyies sad they had crossed the red line. More 2 million are now refugees. Joining us now to help us understand the process of chemical weapons inspection and destruction are from gentlemen knee contravirginiageneva. He re use of chemical weapons in syria in the europe parliament. And from oslo, is a former u. N. Weapons inspector in iraq in 200 2002 and 2003. He is risk analysis for a consulting firm. You were in iraq in the aftermath of the war there, a very challenging environment. The syrian foreign minister said that seven of the 19 declared sites are, in fact, combat zones. How much more difficult will the work be for the inspectors in syria now . Well, i think we can define the iraqi inspections in two periods. We have the early one from 91 after the gulf war with the inspections. That was a tough territory in the tense that you had a war zone. They had an incredible weapons arsenal there. And another period from 2002 to 2003 was more quiet period, and certainly so it was very different than what the weapons inspectors are facing in syria today. John, the opcw has been tasked with destroying these weapons of mass destruction. The manufacturing sites by november. Thats a pretty short timeline. Has there ever been a weapons destruction period that is taking place in such a short time frame . No, there hasnt been. The final deadline of the summer of next year is going to be extremely tighter. Were speaking about nine months. However, in terms of the operations we have to separate two things from each other. One is the destruction of installations and equipment. The other part is the destruction of the Chemical Warfare agents. In november what were talking is the destruction of installations. As your introductory film indicated one could use methods that are not really foreseen in the Chemical Weapons Convention as such, but given the extraordinary circumstances they might be acceptable to the International Community. Thats exploding buildings, thats putting cement in to reactor vessels, crushing munitions and equipment. Is this something that the inspectors will already have planned for . Will they know that they may, in fact, be asking the Syrian Military to drive tanks over empty shells . Sure, as my colleague just mentioned, weve had experiences with doing that. Thats why i made the distinction between the appearance of 2002 and 2003 in iraq and the period of 1991. At that early part, for the first 18 months they pretty much destroyed 80 of the iraqi weapons wmd arsenal doing pretty much the same things youre talking about right now. Why dont they simply fly this stuff out of syria. Put it on a plane and put it in a destruction facility in a place not in the middle of a w war. You have the Chemical Weapons Convention that prevents any treaty to receive chemical weapons from anybody. And the other part of the article that nobody can transfer chemical weapons to somebody else. In this case, syria, of course. So in other words, arsenal one is one of the core prohibitions asking them to fly them out, ship them out is really asking for an exception over one of the core prohibitions. While the idea was raised in the framework treatment, concluded between the United States and russia in geneva about half a month ago, the decision by the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons does not include that particular option. If i could turn to you, how significant is it in the world of chemical weapons and simply the terms of the treaty. If syria is fully disarmed, and what assurance do we have that syria will be fully disarmed . Well, i think what were asking for is called the complete declaration from syria, which were expecting any day now, which will basically assign what kind of amounts, what kind of weaponry, where they expect it to be and accordingly well have an assumed full overview. When that happens the job is at least less speculative. At least seen from the outset right now. If you got the full corporation from the syrians we have an incredible aggressive program. But also pretty high likelihood of success to the extend that destroying the weapons capabilities. As far as transporting it out, certainly got the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the russians have made the clear statement about not likely inviting any parties to export the weaponry outside of the country. Gentlemen, stay with us. We have to take a break. Well have more with our guests in just a moment. Still with us, the director and bjorn, risk analyst. How much work will be carried out by the inspector, and how much work will be carried out by the syrians. And how will we know by the end of the day that the work has been done. The inspectors will oversee the destruction of operations and in the end theyll certify everything has been destroyed that was declared by the syrians. Obviously they also are empowered should new information arise that there are other sites, other types of munitions or equipment lying around. They can go immediately to those sites, too. Normally one would expect that the syrians would be in charge of destroying their chemical weapons and installations. This is the normal procedure. However, at the same time what has already happened is that an appeal is being made to the International Community for money, for equipment, for expertise from people to assist with this program so it can be completed in a short time frame. Often the weapons are destroyed in High Temperature incendiarincinerators. This is again the dilemma, fast and dirty or doing it right . According to this convention, we cant do it fast and dirty. On the other hand the timeline is such that one needs the High Pressure here. As farre far as incinerators goe dont know on the outset what we have in syria, whether we have facilities that are able to destroy this material. And while we know that it also depends on the kind of material they have. Some of this material is, less say, certain weapon types have precursors or components alone arent that dangerous but mixed are very dangerous. It really has to do with being on site, se seeing whats thered making some risk judgment of what you can do relative to the convention, agreements, and what you have to do to get the job done. John, the negotiations between the u. S. And the russians, which took place in geneva on the subject of the Syrian Chemical Weapons arsenal, one of the back and forth points was exactly what the syrian have. We think that the russians and americans came to an agreement of what they have and more or less where it was. How important is that declaration or that assessment Going Forward . Well, its going to be extremely important. Right now the inspectors have arrived in damascus, and part of the mission they have to undertake and certify that those declarations are correct. Obviously they will still need further details. So thats why theyre going to sit together now, this whole week with syrian authorities to get the fine details completely done, completely in order. But for all the sites, they need, for example, gps coordinates to know exactly where they are. How much there is going to be and so forth. As my colleague in norway has said, we need to know exactly what the competition of th compe agents and the agents and its precursors. The syrians have suggested much of their chemical weapons arsenals are in the precursor stage, and as you have said that will make it much easier to destroy. When youve got th the the prec, which are not necessarily toxic, what do you do, dump them down the drain . [ laughing ] again going back to the operations early 90s, well, that wasa lot about using enough diesel fuel to basically burn it. We have a convention that we have to adhere to. But it does make transportation to other areas easier, and one might suggest going down the road when you have audited whats there, the weapons inspectors have done the job, they might find the fact that some of these precursors might easily just be burned on site like components like alcohols. When it comes to precursors, sarin gas components we might think differently, but certainly so if youre talking about binary weapons where each components is not that dangerous, you might be very flexible in finding ultimate solution. Just quickly before we have to say goo goodbye and thank yo. Obviously the safety is a big concern for the International Community how much will they rely on the regime and how much will they rely on the rebels . This is a good question for success in this operation. I mean, the United Nations, thats part of the reason why we had this Security Council resolution. The United Nations has a special agency that is going to negotiate this security and safety of all foreign staff, International Staff inside the country. But there is going to be absolutely critical to the whole operation that they can move safely through the areas. We hope and we hope also that the arab countries backing some of the rebel movements will be able to persuade them to adhere to the International Agreements and the destruction operations. John and byjornb thank you very much. Well look at the syrian weapons and the changing equation for the neighbors. Youre watching inside story. Stay with us. Obama were bothed pleased there is an possibility of finally getting chemical weapon stock piles out of syria. But i think we both share deep concern that we have to be able to verify and enforce what has now been agreed to as the United Nations. Chemical weapons inside of syria obviously threaten syrian civilians but over long term pose a threat to israel. We want to make sure that we get those indiscriminate horrible weapons out of there. That was president obama while hosting israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu moon monday in the oval office. Here to speak with us, ambassador documented the use of chemical weapons in iraq in 1988 for the Senate Foreign relations committee. Ambassador, if i can start with you, what does it mean for the region if syria is successfully disarmed . Well, it clearly is a passtive development topositit to eliminate these weapons. In terms of regional security, i dont think it makes a great deal of difference. These weapons were notthe real beneficiaries of syrian disarmament are the global ban on chemical weapons because now there are very few countries have them with syria signing up, and the Syrian People because once these weapons are gone they wont be a threat to the Syrian People. Thats really the main use of these weapons, is against insurgents. In terms ofas the ambassador said, there has been this strategic where these weapons have been seen as a bid by syria to hold at bay israels weapons program. Does israel in any way do you think feel more secure because these weapons are gone . I think marginally yes. There has always been a concern on the israeli part that these source of weapons may be transferred within the region to hostile parties such as hezbollah or hamas. Thats the only way they would be seen a. But now that they are out of the way, its a positive balance. Now to the possibility of openings with iran, these two things seem to be moving together. Is there a relationship between syrias decision to own up to its chemical weapons, arsenal, and to disarm and to the seeming opening with iran . Im not sure there is a direct relationship, although its important to note that iran is one of the victims of saddam husseins chemical weapons and the iranians do not view these weapons favorbly. But what can be said with certainty is that had the United States gone ahead with a military action rather than having this diplomatic solution, it would have been much more difficult for president rouhani of iran to watch his Diplomatic Initiative which seems to offer such hopes. The fact that there is a resolution instead of a military response is a positive solution. The International Community is dependent upon the continued good behavior, if you will, of the assad regime or of people close to the assad regime in order to carry this out. In a lot of ways its interesting. A lot of significant actors here have a vested interest in this process. First and foremost the United States and russia, but also as you said the assad regime. And this is why i actually think over all theyre going comply for the most part with this disarmament process. For them as well it is a way to stay engaged with the International Development and international process. Yes, implicitly it recognizes them as the sovereign power in syria or whats left of it. And ambassador, do you think for president assad, this represents in a funny kind of way sort of a life boat . Im not sure if its a life boat, but what he has done is get rid of weapons that he couldnt use because of the certainty of a Strong International response. Incidentally now there is no incentive for syria to cheat because while it could hide away the weapons, the moment they were brought out there would an strong and likely military response. But his position is clearly much stronger now. The rebels have been losing momentum. This is a significant diplomatic triumphant or syria, and the rebels have responded to these developments by moving in a radical way with a number of the groups linking up with the Alqaeda Nusra front. And the they would come out in support of the assad regime. We have about a minute left. In terms of the assad regime itself. It sounds like this was not a lot for them to give up. They seem to have gotten a lot basically in International Terms here. What do you think happens Going Forward . Obviously there was the threat of intervention, was that a significant threat in this instance . I think it posedi think it was an unknown element for the regime, and it threw them off balance for a while. I wouldnt say that this has been a gift to them as such. I think they very narrowly avoided a catastrophe of their own making. Now that they know the bounds in which they are allowed to fight the war they can craft their actions accordingly and most likely avoid a significant western military response. And continuing huge numbers of civilian deaths. Yes, thats the tactic of bombarding urban areas wit