now we know that hamza alkhalee is dead. pictures of his body are disturbing. his family received his remains. it appeared the 13-year-old had been tortured. he was mutilated. many of the pictures we've received are too graphic to broadcast. cnn made repeated attempts to reach for comment without success. hamza's murder brought syrians into the streets. even children have joined the protests. we'll have more on dramatic developments in syria and the strongest words yet from washington in just a moment. but first, a look at the other stories we're covering tonight. what do robert e. lee and sarah palin have in common? they both went to gettysburg, one of them lost, the other may have just begun to fight. and housing prices keep falling, in some places they haven't been this low since the 1960s. edie hill asks, does the american dream get dragged down with them? then the sheriff of arizona, he deported 25,000 illegal immigrants, and now he wants to take his wild west show to washington. for more now on the murder and mutilation of 13-year-old hamza ali khateeb, none of our reporters can tell the story from inside syria, it's too dangerous. the government refuses to allow it. arwa is in beirut. arwa, what has been the response of the protesters in syria to the reports of this heinous torture of a 13-year-old boy? >> reporter: well, eliot, what we did hear from a prominent syrian activist who is in damascus, she said that, first of all, she firmly believes the report the video that we're seeing to be authentic. and she believes that the syrian regime deliberately released the boy's body back to his family to send a chilling message. the message being that the regime had absolutely no red lines when it came to how it was going to be handling these voices of dissent. no matter what the age, no matter if the individual in question was a child or an adult. however, the regime's intent to terrorize people off the streets, it appears to have caused the opposite effect. we saw numerous demonstrations across the country with people chanting their support for the 13-year-old child vowing that hamza's blood would not have been spilt in vain. we saw children taking the streets despite the fact the same fate could be facing them. >> there's also the pseudo amnesty assad has issued. is anyone taking that seriously? >> reporter: this is not exactly an amnesty or general pardon in the sense that many would understand it. we're not expecting to see any sort of a mass release of detainees from prison. although it is intended to apply to anyone who was detained up until today. basically up until tuesday. according the decree that was published on the syrian/arab news agency, this basically is more of a reduction in sentence. a death sentence reduced to life in prison, a life in prison sentence, depending on what the crime was being reduced to, for example, 20 years of hard labor. and so this move is really being greeted with much skepticism, especially amongst activists who are viewing it as another move by the regime to try to maintain their credibility. not amongst the opposition per se, but more amongst their own loyalists. >> all right, arwa. thanks so much for that report. >> thank you. the state department today, secretary hillary clinton had strong words about syria's president. senior state department producer elise labbott was there and joins me now. >> i asked secretary clinton about this young boy today. and she was visibly shaken when she talked about him. she used his full name. and here's what she had to say. let's take a listen. >> i too was very concerned by the reports about the young boy. in fact, i think what that symbolizes for many syrians is the total lapse of any effort by the syrian government to work with and listen to their own people. >> so, eliot, i asked secretary clinton if this action meant that the syrian regime had really lost all legitimacy. she said that every day that goes by, the government is becoming more untenable. and she said she hopes that this young boy will not die in vain. she hopes the government will end the brutality and move towards democracy. really the strongest comments i've heard from anybody in this administration about the future of this regime. >> you know, elise, there obviously is the frustration. i think it is impossible for anybody who has seen the video, seen the pictures of what is almost a medieval act of torture not to respond that way. but i guess the question for the state department is what will happen next with respect to u.s. policy? is there a tangible, definitive next step that the secretary indicated will follow because of this heinous behavior? >> well, the next step is to go to the u.n. security council and the u.n. is pushing for a strong condemnation of the regime. but the question is, what is that going to do? it's not calling for any sanctions. they're having a lot of problems with the russians. so it's really not clear what leverage, what influence the u.s. has in terms of cracking down on the regime and getting it to end the brutality of its people, eliot. >> all right. thank you, elise. we turn now to one of the wisest minds in the arab world. the director of middle eastern studies at johns hopkins university at florida. he was my professor 30 years ago, back my fenreshman year at princeton. your wisdom was evident even back then. >> thank you very much. >> this is mortifying, factually. the question i have for you, will this fundamentally change the internal dynamics within syria? >> i don't think so, eliot. i think this regime is a very strange beast. the it's a very strange regime. it rests on a minority community, they're a mountain people, they've come down to the city thairvgs joined the army, they are the intelligence bearers of the regime. and they are committed to him. they will not be defections. there will not be a crack in the regime as there was in libya. this is a strange regime. it's a regime at war with the population. and 10% to 11% of the population have managed to capture state power, they will fight to keep this regime. >> had managed to fool the west, apparently, into we believe that somehow he was a voice of reform. does this rip that mask off and finally make it clear he is no such thing? >> absolutely. but, remember, this story has a trail. the trail is that in the year 2000 when he died and installed his son. imagine a country being handed over from father to son. he installed his second son because his first son died in a car accident. so he brought this ophthalmologist from london who loved the music of phil collins, who faked he was at one with the modern world. 11 years later we can see the myth of assad as a reformer. he's as cruel and could be even more cold-blooded than his late father. >> other than to the fact you were seeking some sort of consistency in u.s. policy. gadhafi to assad, they begin to look very similar these days. >> they look very similar, but let's remember one thing about assad, the syria regime, it's centrally located. it has no oil, nevertheless, it has convinced the rest of the world that syria is a major player. take a look at the arabs. the arabs broke with gadhafi. he calls himself as the king of the kings of africa. he turned his back on them, but the arabs are very committed to the syrian regime. this is a much more centrally placed regime in the game of nations than the gadhafi regime. >> we the united states, we were hesitant to move even with respect to gadhafi and libya until we had the perimeter of the arab nations themselves saying, yes, we want to unseat gadhafi. will there be that sort of unity? or any sort of unity of leaders turning on assad? you say no? >> there is no chance that the arab states will single out the syrian regime and say this is a brutal regime. they don't like bah bashar. they favored his father. but they will not break with him as they did with gadhafi. >> can the united states and should the united states act in unis unison? >> to be honest, i don't see american policy going in that direction. go back to may 19 when the famous speech president obama gave at the state department about the arab -- >> famous or infamous. but we'll come back to that. >> but when you go back to that speech, he basically said we had a mandate in libya, we don't have a mandate in syria. he drew a line about where american power can be used and can't be used. and let's remember that even on libya, president obama's half in, not fully in, let alone on syria. >> the libyan debacle, the quagmire stalemate is problematic in and of itself. but the question of looking for consistency when you read the speech he gave on may 19, when you read the speech he gave when he accepted the nobel peace prize considering the legitimacy of force. one would think that applying those standards to assad and syria, it is a perfect example of a legitimate use of force. >> well, the right to protect is one of the great issues in our world. but president obama is very, very timid, if you will. that's one word. but very, very careful about the use of american power. we haven't even recalled our ambassador from damascus. and we keep saying, even president obama says he has that choice. he can either lead the process of reform or get out of the way. and imagine in a bunker in the world where assad lives with his brother and brother-in-law and his gang and the intelligence around him. this is just idle talk. >> there have been so many false starts, so many -- the big speech that assad pretended to give a few weeks ago that he was going to lay out reform amounted to nothing. the amnesty, so called amnesty. is that meaningful at all? to whom is he appealing? >> the regime, the ruler can both grant life and he can also kill. so this is him showing the syrian people, i master of your universe. remember, there were only 6 million syrians when the father was president. now there are 22 million syrians. 16 million people have known no other president than them. so the message is we have the power to grant pardon and we have the power to kill children. >> and the capacity seems unabated, unlimited by moral dictate. the images of children marching in the street. and we have no idea how widespread that might be. does that crystallize -- does that happen in assad where fear is the dominant emotion? >> i think people are not afraid. and he's wondering, why aren't you afraid of me as your elders were afraid of my father? i think the barrier of fear has been broken. and you have a standoff between the regime that cannot be overthrown yet and a population that can't be sent back to their homes and back to the fear. >> so does this stalemate of brutality continue? and do the bodies pile up and the images of children being mutilated continue to pour fourth with no resolution? >> i wish there was another verdict. this man has rounded up tens -- there are at least -- you hear 10,000 people have been rounded up as prisoners, 1,000 or more have been killed. people are fleeing to jordan, fleeing to lebanon, and yet the regime does not blink and the regime does not crack. >> let's come back to the lesson to be taken from where the united states has intervened and where not. we see mubarak being pushed out, the punitive ally, we see gadhafi standing up to our force, letting the french take the lead. and we see no response of any magnitude in syria. what does the leadership in saudi arabia or bahrain take from this in terms of understanding the use of u.s. power? >> well, i'm afraid there may be a terrible lesson,which is that people who are vulnerable to our judgment, such as the ruler in tunisia and egypt are easier to overthrow to people who are not vulnerable to our judgment such as gadhafi or the ruler in syria. so i think there are things in the world that don't really lend themselves to american power. we have to admit that and we have to face that. and this syrian debacle, the syrian massacre, the standoff between the regime and the population is evident of that. >> if you were to receive a phone call from the president and he said, professor, tell me what we do with syria. is this a situation where we simply can't determine the outcome? or would you say, mr. president, full steam ahead, we must stand up for the lessons you are trying to teach in libya and intervene for the cause of reality. >> well, if that was president bush, he would call me, president obama is not going to call me -- >> what would you say? >> i think i really honestly don't know what the issue is. i think we have to separate ourselves from this regime. we have to shed the illusion that this regime is going to reform. and we have to take away from the regime one argument, which is the regime always frightens us by saying we're a secular dictatorship. we have to say we're willing to face the alternative. it takes that courageous first step. willing to face the alternative. >> we need to be willing to sacrifice some degree of uncertainty and risk and understand that is what the world will look like otherwise we have tyrants and villains as allies. >> that's about it. >> we'll have you back whenever you can. thank you, sir. coming up, jeffrey toobin is here to talk politics. what is going on there? >> sarah palin is here in new york having dinner tonight with donald trump. they're discussing their shared psychological condition. attention-getting deficit disorder. and later tonight, we may hear her gettysburg tweet. >> i'd never heard that psychological interpretation. attention -- >> attention-getting deficit disorder. >> can't wait for the conversation. and you'll be joined by rick lazio. but first a quick look at sarah palin out on the town here in new york tonight. >> what do you think of donald trump donating to democrats? >> i think i'll go change his mind right now and make sure that he's contributing to constitutional conservatives. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. ♪ bridgestone is using natural rubber, researching ways to enhance its quality and performance, and making their factories more environmentally friendly. producing products that save on fuel and emissions, and some that can be reused again. ♪ and promoting eco-friendly and safety driving campaigns. ♪ one team. one planet. bridgestone. at this very moment, there's a rare harmonic convergence happening right here in manhattan. sarah palin is about to share a pizza with none other than donald trump. trump who briefly flirted with the republican presidential run of his own is the latest stop on palin's one nation tour, adding him to a list of national monuments that includes the lincoln memorial, the gettysburg battlefield, and the liberty bell. donald trump and sarah palin, i would love to be a fly on that wall. and i don't know why we think they're eating pizza. sounds like not exactly their choice of food. joining me now is cnn senior analyst jeffrey toobin and rick lazio, a good friend of the show and a great personal friend. rick, let me start with you. >> yep. >> none other than perhaps the most powerful person in the republican party has been dumping all over sarah palin. you now have this remarkable event of palin and trump who suck up all the energy of the republican party going off to have dinner. meanwhile, you've got huntsman, you've got romney, you've got pawlenty serious candidates wandering aimlessly with no candidates following them. is this good? >> well, i guess it's a success for both of them. you've got two master showmen. you've got donald trump who fanned the flames, teased if media, and was in the headlines for weeks. and sarah palin that was out of the spotlight for a while but is back in. i think for the candidates who are like maybe pawlenty or like michele bauchmann who were in respectively iowa and new hampshire over the last couple of days, it does tend to suck the oxygen away from them. i think when romney makes his announcement in new hampshire, that will get its own -- >> i think that's an important distinction between candidates who already have some stature. you have palin and trump -- we had a conversation with him a few weeks ago, he refused to answer any serious questions, take any positions. neither palin nor trump has been willing to define himself or herself. what does that mean about being able to manipulate the politics at the moment? >> it means it's better to be famous than anything else. they're both really famous and got a lot of support. sarah palin is still about 10% in the polls. that doesn't sound like much except when you consider the leading candidate who is romney by and large is only about 17% in the polls. so she remains very popular -- somewhat popular among the slice of the republican electorate that votes in primaries. and so until she decides whether she's running or not, she's going to suck up a lot of the oxygen. >> you may be right. we are perhaps playing her game. here we are talking about her. shame on us would be one response. but, rick, is this going to succeed in rebranding her? is it going to work? >> well, she's got an important movie coming out that, i think, in part is an effort to reposition -- well, to her. in terms of her repositioning. attempts to tell a much more sympathetic story about sarah palin. and frankly, she has got an interesting story. she's an interesting person, that's why people like her. she's looking for ways to directly connect with the people as opposed to going through the media, which is a real challenge. but she does understand, which jeff was saying, the nature of contemporary politics,which is a celebrity political culture. >> but this rebranding business, is there one person who thinks poorly of sarah palin now that she's gone to gettysburg, she's riding around in a bus is going to think differently of her? i can't imagine this changing one person's opinion. >> rick, try to defend maybe the thinking of the republican leadership in not having tried to push her back at this point. her negatives are 60%, very high for somebody who wants to be president. >> right. >> even among independents, they're -- >> she can read the polls. >> so explain the logic of how -- you've been a successful politician. how does she begin to appeal -- how does she begin to appeal to those middle independent swing voters without whom she can't win? >> you're absolutely right. the swing voters are the key. part of the electorate right now. she's having real difficulty of reaching out to suburban voters, democrats, and independents. her appeal, an intense appeal is to that part of the republican base that is really attracted to her populism. her appeal is strong. she's got an intensity to her appeal that will be very helpful. so republican leadership to the extent they can control these things. they don't want to turn her off, they want to rechannel her so she's seen as contributing to what they think is a majority. >> who do you have in mind? who could possibly tell you? but roger, he's -- if she was a serious candidate and was a possibly running for president, he would take her off the air. she's a fox news analyst. he took off rick santorum, took off newt gingrich when they became clearly candidates. he hasn't taken her off because she's just making a spectacle of herself. she's not running for president. >> i'm about to quote some words that were attributed to him in an article. and this is somebody who is quoting roger ales. he thinks she's stupid. he helped boost her up, people like sarah palin haven't e