Has to go. And call her never say die dieana diana. Marathon swimmer diana nyad will say never say never. Thats up next on cbs this morning for saturday, august 31st, 2013. Captioning funded by cbs and welcome to the weekend, a long holiday weekend. I hope its a good one for everyone. Well get right to syria. President obama says he has not yet made a final decision to launch a military strike but if he does order one, it will be limited in scope. Early this morning a team of u. N. Chemical weapons inspectors left syria after completing its investigation and crossed into neighboring lebanon. We have Team Coverage including Elizabeth Palmer in syrias capital, but we start with jeff pegues at the white house. Good morning to you, jeff. Good morning, vinita. Later today republicans are going to get a briefing on the state of syria. They believe the case is strong against the Syrian Government. The president says the military strike would not include Ground Troops but he believes something must be done. This kind of attack is a challenge to the world. We cannot accept a world where women and children and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale. But so far some members of congress are not convinced. Senator joe manchin released a statement says there needs to be compelling evidence that theres an immeant threat to the American People. I do not believe that this situation meets that threshold. And hes not alone. More than 160 house members, democrats and republicans, are urging the president to get authorization from congress before striking syria. But the administration is moving ahead. Friday the white house declassified intelligence on the august 21st attack. Senior Administration Officials say bashir al assads forces targeted 12 different neighborhoods with deadly chemical weapons. According to the Intelligence Report as early as three days before the morning of the attack, regime operatives prepared chemical munitions and the day of the incident the Syrian Government launched a rocket, an artillery attack with multiple attacks with chemical filled rockets targeting people on the ground killing 4,129 people including 426 children. Secretary of state john kerry believes u. S. Credibility is on the line if nothing is done. This is the indiscriminate inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what assad did to his own people. President obama says that any action in syria will be limited and will not include a longterm military commitment. Anthony and vip kneenita . Jeff pegues in washington. Thank you. We leerning of air strikes looming. Thats adding to the tex inside syria. Elizabeth palmer has managed to get inside the capital damascus. Elizabeth, good morning. Reporter good morning. We had reaction to official reaction to president obamas Statement Last night. Boiled down it was disdain and denial. No politician came on air to respond here however, a written statement was read from the Foreign Ministry. It says that the new casualty figures, for example, cited by secretary of state kerry, are an illusion. It accuses the United States of presenting as evidence unverifiable material gathered from social media. And so in essence absolutely not accepting or even responding specifically to any of the charges in the Obama Administrations statement. Meanwhile, the weapons inspectors who have been in here now for some days have completely finished their mission. The last of the team pulled out of syria before dawn on saturday. After four days of fieldwork, visiting the suburbs of da mass cause hit by what appears to have been chemical strikes on august 21st. The samples they gathered from victims of the attack along with water, soil, and shrapnel will now with sent to european laboratories for analysis. The results and the inspectors final report could take as long as two weeks. But International Politics are moving faster than that and syrians in damascus going through the motions of normal life are stuck, worrying and waiting. This woman too nervous to show her face on camera feels helpless. What worries you more . Chemical weapons or american missiles . To us its the same. Theyre both dangerous. Reporter what would you say to the American People . End this with the least amount of damage and deaths possible. Reporter in the last couple of hours, syrias Great International ally russia has weighed in. President putin says the idea that searthe Syrian Government would use chemical weapons when its already won is utter nonsense. He suggests that the g20 meeting next week would be a good venue for a discussion on what to do. Anthony and vinita . Elizabeth palmer in damascus. Thanks, liz. The Obama Administration is trying to win supplying pore for the attack on syrian people, but are the American People buying it . David is at our Washington Bureau this morning. Hi, david. Good morning. Good to be with you. So were hearing about shipping in the mediterranean. Yesterday we heard president obama talking about not putting boots on the ground. I think the real question ef about is asking is when will the u. S. Get involved if they get involved . Well, now that the inspectors are out, theres a window thats opening up that people would widely expect would probably allow the president to begin the strikes. They clearly didnt want to do that while the inspectors were still there. You could imagine it starting as quickly as later on today. Now, what we dont know is what the americans are seeing happening on the ground in syria via satellite, electronic intercepts, because clearly the syrians are trying to move things out of the way and protect key assets. I think as you listen to president obama before in making his statements i think the big concern that has come up among his supporters is whether or not he has sufficient evidence to operate. Among his critics, its been whether the strike has been too light. In other words, in the end it wont really be more than a pin prick for assad. Well, david minei mean thats the point. What is the mission here . We want to limit a strike but not a regime change apparently burke its the assad regime theyre alleged committed this attack, so what option does the president really have in terms of an attack . Anthony, youve asked just the right question which is what the strategic objective here. If you heard what the president said on pbs yesterday talking to our colleague gwen he said what he thought he was trying to do is send a shot across the bough to assad. That would be a limited effort to try to keep him from using chemical weapons again. Thats not at all clear that thats the case. In fact, you can imagine a scene in which assad might use chemical weapons while an attack was under way and blame it on the u. S. For you know hitting Chemical Stores or Something Like that. Thats certainly a concern of many in the pentagon. The other strategic objective would be to try to go for regime change, and the president has looked at the examples of iraq and whats happened in afghanistan when the u. S. Attacked in 2001 after 911. 11. And what you determine is while you may be satisfied at the beginning, your ability to control the outmonths and years of that is in question. Is it worth raising the antiamerican feeling in the arab world and beyond if its for such a limited goal. How will assad receive this message knowing that the president is saying this is a limited time limited scope. It really begs the question will he then think i just have to wait this out. Theyll only be here a fixed amount of time. Thats right. Only be here if what were hearing is correct, it will only be tomahawk missiles, no meshes there. I think there is a risk to the administration here that assad survives this steps out and says ive not only been active in trying to put down a civil war, ive put down the americans, and of course hes long charged that the americans are behind the civil war. So theres every possibility, i think here that assad could attempt to emerge from this stronger. But we dont know. You know once you start the missiles flying here you really cannot predict the outcome. How does the president make the case that this is actually a threat to the security of the American People, david . Well, i dont think weve ever heard the president make the case that these chemical weapons could be used against the United States in the u. S. I think its fairly clear that the syrians do not have that delivery capability. They could strike at neighboring countries including American Allies jordan israel and so forth. And remember theres the Syrian Electronic Army that has been very effective in Cyber Attacks including one against the New York Times last week and its entirely possible you could see a Cyber Response to a conventional attack. Now, we dont know how good they are. We dont know the degree to which they are supported by the iranians who are Getting Better in their cyber capabilities. But there are all kinds of ways for assad to retaliate. Some of them hard to attribute back to him. David singer in washington, thank you. Thank you. If he acts hell be going it almost alone. Only france appears to be backing them. Even britain has backed out. He responds with this statement, as always the United States values its relationship with united kingdom. They continue to consult closely on syria and the broad range of challenges that our countries raise together. The london tabloid calls the falling out over syria a death notice for the special relationship saying a funeral for it will be held at the french embassy. Syria will be a major topic of discussion tomorrow morning on face the nation here on cbs with Major Garrett sitting in for bob schieffer. His guests will include senator john mccain and zaks by sham blin and tim kaine. The dow closed out by dropping 30e6r points to just over 14,800. For the month dow is down 4. 4 and the s p 500 fell 3. 1 . With millions of americans on the road for this Labor Day Weekend holiday, the price of gasoline becomes a bigger concern than usual. This morning the National Average is 3. 58 a gallon. If the u. S. Strikes against syria, thats almost sure to rise. Lets talk it over with seen yore columnist michael san tell leeny. Good morning. Good morning. Is syria the direct reason for all a is thats happening, the fears of was happening in the middle east . In the past couple of weeks, oil prices have popped up higher. Theyve actually calmed down the last couple of days but, yes, theyre giving upward pressure but honestly this is lower prices in the u. S. Than in the past few Labor Day Weekends. Actually overall drierk is down a bit, isnt it . Yes. In terms of fuel efficiency in terms of cars on the road. Also summer driving southbound ending, demand goes down and when cooler weather goes in they ship to a winter grade, which is cheaper to produce. So it seems like we might be getting lucky here. Speaking of lucky, the Silver Lining is the there is a boost in consumer confidence. Yeah. Even though the prices are up, people are having more awareness of their home value as well as the general economy. Yeah. The general economy has lifted a little bit from more than a year ago. Basically the intention to drive is consistent with the idea that the economys a little bit further. How much of an x factor do you think syria is for the economy in general at this point . Its psychological backdrop. I dont think its a direct by the way, not even a big oil producer. Theyre not even an Important Oil porter. Its not really something that impacts us too directly. Lets talk about after labor day . Will it then become an issue . Looking at the forecast Hurricane Season is around the corner. Those are the wild cards but i do thing youre going to see downward pressure on gasoline prices more than upward. As long as you stay a fair distance from that 4 a gallon National Average it seems like people can kind of stomach it. Its the psychological bare yore that seems to trip people up. Michael santoli, thanks for joining us this morning. In a lot of places its going to be a scorcher. Lets get more on that from meteorologist craig setzer from media station wfor. Good morning, craig. Theyre on the edge of the heat bubble. Severe weather is possible over the upper midwest. Possibility of severe storm, damaging wind maybe even hail across that part of the country. But the rest of the nation is going to be hot. Highs in the 90s to above 100 once again. The east coast scattered afternoon storms as well as over the rockies. Jetstream is well to the north. Thats the reason for all this hot weather and because the pattern is rather stagnant expect hot weather to last right through the holiday weekend, the traditional last weekend of summer. Anthony and vinita . Craig setzer of wfortv. Thanks, craig. In california shifting winds around Yosemite National park have blown dense smoke to six nearby counties. Evacuation orders for some nearby communities have been lifted. As much as 333 square miles burned since it zwan two weeks ago. The cause has not been determined. A georgia man has been found guilty in the shooting death of a toddler who was sitting in his stroller last march. Jurors took only two hours to convict 18yearold elkins. He and an accomplice pulled a gun on her and demanded money. When she refused he shot her in the leg and the child between the eyes. Manuel bojorquez reports on filners last day in office and the legal troubles that are still to come. Reporter there was no sign of bob filner at san diego city hall during his last day as mayor. His photograph in the lobby have been removed. Even one of his final acts, weighing in on a zoning battle over a jack in the box drivethrough was rescinded. Michelle tyler once of the women who claimed he made unwanted vapss. Advances. Its a good day because the city of san diego can move on and riffoefocus on the needs of this great city. Reporter filner a democrat had served over eight months of his term when the allegations surfaced. His Communications Director was Irene Mccormick jackson was the first to report. I saw him place his hands where they did not belong on numerous women. I was blaked in a filner headlock and moved around like a rag doll while he whispered sexual comments in my ear. Reporter filner denied the allegations but one after another claimed sexual harass harassment harassment, more than 20 of them. Eventually filner said he would seek therapy but would not resign. That changed after a few weeks. The city would pay his legal costs in a pending harassment suit but filner had to go. To all the women that i have offended offended, i had no intention to be offensive, to violate any physical or emotional space. Reporter his troubles could deepen. Theyre investigating his conduct toward women and could bring chl charges. The city will have an interim mayor until a special election in november. For cbs this Morning Saturday, manuel bojorquez, los angeles. Supreme Court Justice ruth baiter ginsburg will officiate today at a samesex wedding. Shell preside over a private ceremony at the kennedy center. One of the men getting married asked her to officiate. Hes a longtime friend. Its the first time a sitting judge will perform a samesex marriage. Long distance swimmer diane nyad calls it her final attempt. An attempt she has failed to complete four times before. Elaine quijano reports on nyads new strategy. Reporter at 64 years old diana nyad couldnt resist the call of the ocean one more time. Shes tried to swim from cuba to the key west four times. Each time shes come up short. Why are you making this attempt again . I hadnt reached the end or the wall where theres nothing more to give. If i dont make it i will this time be able to look myself in the mirror and say theres nothing more. Reporter no one has success successfully flown the florida straits without a shark cage. Her first attempt was in 1978. I did my best. I didnt give up. Reporter her recent swims were derailed by stings from jellyfish. This time shell wear a full body suit and face mask to prevent the venomous sting. The sting takes you into an area called science fix. You feel like youve been dipped in hot burning oi. You go on you burst into flames. Reporter the swim could take more than three days to complete. Nyad will be accompanied by a support crew of four boats and 40 people that will help her navigate the changing weather and unpredictable ocean current. John bartlett is the navigator. Explain what makes it so complicated . What makes it so complicated is were going to be out there going through currents that are three times the speed we travel. Reporter Pauline Berry is in charge of keeping nyad fueled for her swim. Using a hydration pouch, they will feed nyad a steady supply of protein mixtures and electrolytes. Were looking for signs of dehydration, signs of confusion. We want to make sure she keeps her diet up as well as she possibly can. What if you dont make it . Im sure i wont want to have a party momentarily but ill feel proud. Ill feel like the journey was worthwhile. Reporter a journey with a destination just beyond the horizon. For cbs this Morning Saturday elaine quijano, key west. She talks about the stings in the story on the last swim nine stijs before she quit. Wow. And this is her fifth try and s