investigate the massacre. after 15 months by some reports, 12,000 dead, that kind of promise from a brutal dictator doesn't cut much ice. after friday's atrocity doubly so. with body after body in the ground, nightmare stories are emerging from hula with the massacre happened. we spoke with an 11-year-old survivor. this little boy said they will kill him. they being the same militia men who he says killed the rest of his family. quote, they were talking to my mom, he says. i'm not sure what happened, but they shot her five times. they shot her in the head. then the turned and shot my sister rasha in the head. then he shot my brother nader in the neck and back. he's talk about the arabic for ghosts. armed men to the regime who carried out the massacre. a warning, we're going to show you some of the resulting carnage. the video has been partially blurred but the obscenity is clear enough. they went in after syrian forces pounded hula with heavy artillery. those are all small bodies of children you're seeing there. they entered the neighborhood, went door to door, pulled women and children out of homes and murdered them at close range. slitting throats, pressing guns so close to heads of kids, there were powder burns on some of the dead children. again, the regime denies any responsibility. but today went further denying it's ever broken the ceasefire. >> translator: during this time, syria has not done a single violation of annan's plan or the understanding between syria and the united nations. >> now, that is an absolute lie. it's plain and simple a lie. even a diplomat today had no problem saying so. >> what ask clear is government forces were involved. they were shelling using tanks and artillery. and appears to be militia entering the houses and slaughtering people in what is a war crime that took place throughout the day on friday. >> a crime. again, the answer so far has been a security council condemnation which did not directly blame the regime for it because russia objected. russia is syria's ally. and acting like syria's lawyer in all this. so there was that in today's expulsion of diplomats. the u.s. holds the syrian regime fully responsible for the massacre. general martin dempsey chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says they are more likely. the white house, however, cautioned reporters not to read too much into those remarks. a lot of talk from all sides while the reality on the ground plays out on images and in tears. look at this photo posted on twitter over the weekend by an activist. it claims to be taken in hula on saturday. two bodies on the hood of a u.n. suv. we don't know if they're a father and daughter. we don't know who they are. we do know that in the four days since they were killed, dozens more have died. alex thompson has been on the ground. he's on with us. they blame armed terrorists for everything over the months of this conflict even the killing of peaceful protesters in the streets. all reports seem to indicate it's the power military groups that are dressed in military outfits who work in tandem with government forces. can you explain how it is that the shabia work with the regime, how they work with the military? >> i think we've got to be very careful about this, anderso i haven't seen a single shred of proof, hard evidence, to prove that they do work in concert. of course it is suggested that's what happened. what happened in thelages in hula around lunchtime early afternoon was a concerted perhaps shelling that killed around 20 people. that could only have come from the government. that was indeed then followed up by groups of men moving house to house who were not in fact shel clearly that ggts some kind of working in tandem. ti we have radio interception or hevidence, that's not going to be easy prove. >>it's impossible as you said unless there are interpts to know exactly who it was that slit the throats of children, that put guns up to the foreheads of children and pulled the trigger. does it make any -- i mean, is there any evidence to support syrian regime claims, however, that it was anybody associated with the opposition forces? >> no. i suspect we will never get firm proof either way. because it is not an environment in which to do forensic investigations. and the key for any forensic investigation is the more time goes by, the more the investigation degrades. this is chaotic. people are coming, people are going, people moving in and out all the time for obvious reasons. no evidence either way. >> and for the syrian regime forces to say that they're shocked by this, i mean, we have seen videos of syrian military forces fired upon protesters. we've seen snipers on rooftops firing into crowds. >> we have seen snipers on rooftops firing at crowds. there are plenty of snipers from the rebel side as well. one of them was clearly firing at opposition the other day. they're not making light of this in any sense, but this is a war. you are going to get civilians killed. for the very simple reason that in this war, the free syrian army rebels are -- where there are civilians. you can argue that's a cynical form of warfare. it's open to them. and not exactly using in population as human shields. but if you're in homs, or hula or wherever it may be, incoming heavy weapons from the other side. exactly what they will use. and if you are armed in a rebel army are a legitimate target in a time of war. no question about that. the civilian casualties will be extremely high. that's what we're seeing in this country day in and day out, week in and week out. >> appreciate your reporting, thank you. want to turn next to thomas friedman who has history writing on the violence. he's been awarded two pulitzer prizes. he's currently foreign affairs columnist at the paper. we're pleased to have him with us tonight. we've been seeing children killed now for 15 months. and this uprising in syria began with the arrest of children for spraying graffiti. and now people say it's a turning point. if you think so, how so? >> it feels like it is, anderson. mostly because it feels like both the russians and chinese who have been serving as assad's lawyer in syria defending the regime, it feels like they no longer want to be playing quite that role. and that could be an opening, i think, for some kind of move to a transition government. i hope. >> although we heard describing it yesterday as a disco party, what was happening in syria. a bizarre turn of phrase. >> yeah. i don't expect much, you know, sympathy. but i do understand they see this will stain them if this continues much longer. >> all these diplomats now sends a message. does it change beyond that? >> i think we have to start by saying what is it we want? and first of all, perfect isn't on the menu there. it isn't on the menu because you really have two kind of arab states. you have what were the homogeneous societies where all could get against the dictator. and other societies that are called tribes with flags. so what is it we want? what would be the ideal outcome here? what we want to prevent basically are two things. one is a civil war. and the other is state collapse. civil war and state collapse in syria would really spill over to all the surrounding states. it would be a terrible human disaster for that country as well. if you want to avoid state collapse in civil war, what do you need then? you need some kind of transition regime where assad leaves but remnants of his regime stay and at the same time you bring in the opposition groups. that would be the ideal scenario. how do you get that? one of two ways. either the russians are over it because they've had leverage with assad. or you get some internal revolt within the assad camp. ideally from the army where they basically push him out. >> what do you think about those like senator mccain for instance or mitt romney now who called for arming the opposition? >> again, i think arming the opposition in the context of a broader strategy, something i would look at. i'd like to know who we're arming and what their objectives are and whether we share their values beyond getting rid of the assad regime. what i would prefer at this stage would be again either working on the russians trying to cut a deal with them to push assad out, or i would be ready to consider a no fly zone or a humanitarian corridor. i think to have this impact. i think there's a lot of people in any syrian regime particularly in the military who are sitting on the fence. they're seeing what's going on. they're watching what's happening both inside syria and on the world stage. and they're trying to see will assad stay? should i lean with him? will he go? should i lean away? if we had a humanitarian no fly zone, it could be enough to tip inside to throw him out of power. >> what about the ceasefire, so-called, that kofi annan was pressing, has that been a complete failure? >> it sure looks to be. you saw what happened with this massacre over the weekend. ideally it would be ideal to go back to that ceasefire. that would have allowed the opposition movement to return to its non-violent roots. it was assad who opened fire on these young boys in dara. he wanted to strip the opposition movement from their non-violent roots as a movement of all against him as you had in egypt and tunisia and wants to turn it into a sectarian war. unfortunately he's been successful. >> is there a u.s. role for syria then? is this something that -- i mean, people said in egypt the u.s. basically just had to witness it happening. is there a u.s. role? >> well, there's two roles i think that we could play very importantly. one is to be the interface with putin. to in a sense say to putin, all right, it's going to take a deal. what is it you want? this is a transactional guy. you want something on defense in europe. what is it? this clearly -- this can't be working for you vladimir. you are basically the lawyer for a mass murderer. in the long run this is not going to work for you. what do you need? there's got to be a transaction there. i think that's obama's role. i think they're about to have a meeting. and we also should be part of an arab league, u.n., turkish/nato whatever framework you want to use, we should consider some kind of humanitarian corridor, some kind of safe area that hopefully could tip that balance inside syria so they oust assad and you can get ideally some traditional government. but it's going to be messy. this is not going to be easy. perfect is nowhere near on the menu there. >> perfect not on the menu. tom friedman, thanks. >> pleasure. >> let us know what you think. find us on facebook. i'm tweeting on this. donald trump doubling down on his birther claims about president obama. mitt romney campaigns with donald trump tonight. in fact, these two are together today. we'll talk to a romney supporter in a moment. ing.. you can feel. introducing the all new cadillac xts, available with the patented safety alert seat. when there is danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward. a living, breathing intelligence helping business, do more business. in here, opportunities are created and protected. gonna need more wool! demand is instantly recognized and securely acted on across the company. around the world. turning a new trend, into a global phenomenon. it's the at&t network -- securing a world of new opportunities. ♪ it's got a million more pixels than hdtv. and with six times more coverage, this ipad with verizon 4g lte can really take you places--- yea... ♪ mac and cheese, mac mac and cheese, ♪ ♪ can i have some please ♪ is that my cat... ? noo... yea... the new ipad with verizon 4g lte. more amazing in more places. skbljtsds. raw politics now. governor romney does not doubt president obama was born in hawaii but he brought the issue up about amending the constitution. we'll play the tape and let you decide for yourself what you think he said. he made those remarks at a las vegas fund raiser with america's best known birther right now, we're talking about donald trump, who doubled down on his beliefs. >> nothing's changed my mind. and by the way, you know, you have a huge group of people. i walk down the street and people are screaming, please don't give that up. look, a publisher came out last week and had a statement about obama given to them by obama when he was doing a book as a young man a number of years ago in the '90s born in kenya and raised in indonesia. this was a at the same time. this was from obama. >> that's not true. the publisher says it was only a typo. and president obama has produced both a short and long form birth certificate showing he was born in hawaii. he made the long form version public in part to quiet mr. trump who claims to have investigators in hawaii on the case. we sent gary tuchman to hawaii around the same time to find evidence that mr. obama was born through but no trump investigators. i asked him about it months ago. >> we've had a team in hawaii talking to everyone from the state health department to the school where obama's mother went to other families in the hospital at the same time as he was born. none of them say they've been contacted by anyone working for you. >> well, maybe they're not saying it and haven't contacted the same people. >> we've interviewed the former director of health. one of the officials who've seen the certificate you're talking about in the vault. she says she hasn't been contacted by your people. i mean, isn't that somebody they should talk to if they're there? >> i've been told recently the birth certificate is missing. i've been told it's not there and it doesn't exist. if that's the case, that's a big problem. >> who told you that? >> i heard that two days ago from somebody. >> can you name one person your investigators talked to? >> i don't want to do that. it's not appropriate. >> you can't say anything? >> it's not appropriate. >> he never revealed names or anything they found out. as for the missing birth certificate, it was revealed there after. mitt romney says i don't agree with all the people who supports me and my guess is they don't agree with everything i believe in. donald trump has been aiming to raise $2 million tonight for the romney campaign and hinted today that he might personally donate millions more. he's also made robocalls for the campaign. up on the romney website right now this picture of donald trump as uncle sam next to amounts you can donate for a contest. the winner gets flown to new york for a dinner with mitt romney and donald trump. could his support cause problems with votes? showing an endorsement would make one in four voters less likely to vote for governor romney. the governor also said he needs to get 50.1% to win and he's happy to have the help of quote, a lot of good people. back to those remarks mentioned at the top. he was talking tonight about president obama's lack of business experience. listen. >> sometimes i just don't think he understands what it takes to help people. i know he wants to help, but he doesn't know what he's got to do. i was speaking with one of these business owners who owns a couple of restaurants in town. he said, you know, i'd like to change the constitution. i'd like to have a provision in the constitution that in addition to the age of the president and birthplace of the president being set by the constitution, i'd like it also to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he can become president of the united states. >> joining me now is romney adviser kevin madden. some people are looking at those comments that the candidate made tonight saying it was sort of a dog whistle. the fact he would bring up the birth requirements in the constitution on a day where donald trump has talked about birtherism with a dog whistle on this issue. fair? >> no. well, i just don't agree with that. i think it was -- the governor was actually relaying a conversation he had with a voter. the voter's emphasis was on the business experience. that's what governor romney is finding as he engages voters across the country. they're focused on the economy. they're focused on somebody who can turn the economy around. that's been the entire focus of the governor's message today when he was out there in colorado, he was talking about energy. he was talking about how important energy is to helping sustain the economy in that region of the country and how important the economy is in turning the economy around. >> but he is holding this big event with donald trump tonight and donald trump is on his website and trump is out there talking about birther stuff. when a supporter in a crowd said something false about obama to mccain, mccain set that supporter straight. democrats are saying the fact that mitt romney hasn't said donald trump is wrong shows romney doesn't have backbone. that's what democrats are saying. does he have an obligation in any way to set his surrogates straight on the birther claims? >> oh, he has. >> you think he's spoken to donald trump? >> every time this issue has come up, he made it clear he disagrees with donl trump and the emphasis on the issue. he believes the reason we need to beat president obama in november is because he hasn't done enough to fix the american economy. every time he's had an event, he's talked about what it is that he would do to fix the economy. >> does he have an obligation to say something to donald trump? >> i think he has said it. he's said time and time again that the focus of the campaign has to be the economy. >> but, i mean, but then why -- if donald trump is the surrogate, why does he continue to talk about this stuff? >> the media tends to ask trump about this issue a lot. i think every time he's talking about governor romney in the context of this campaign, he's never mentioned that issue. he's focused on issues like china and making sure that we have a level playing field there on international trade and monetary policy. he's focused on governor romney's, his plan to turn around the economy and get more people back to work. that's the framework of our message to the american people on what they should be -- the issue they should be using to make up their mind. on election day in november, there's only going to be two names on the ballot when people go in to choose who they want on the ballot. it's going to be romney and obama. those are their inside they're delivering to voters. i think that's what's going to matter to the voters yet to be persuaded. >> do you think the poll we cited from awhile back that trump's endorsement is a negative, that his message may play well but alienates the middle. do you buy that? >> i don't know. i think a lot of these polls they ask questions, it's basically a favorability test on these surrogates. i don't think there are many surrogates that are really going to matter. to reiterate the point i just made, what's really going to matter is who has a better vision for this country going forward. a plan to put the american economy back on work. president obama's failed policies, governor romney's promise of a better america, a better economy. and that's really what's going to make people change their mind in those last weeks up until the election. >> you were saying it doesn't really matter what surrogates say. when hilary rosen, supporter of president obama, visited the white house and said something about ann romney, the obama white house was quick to distance themselves from her and a lot of conservatives jumped on her for speaking for the candidate. isn't it fair, then, for democrats to do the same about what donald trump is saying? >> you know, having worked on so many campaigns, i think all the scrutiny is fair.