Woodruff we continue our march on washington conversation series, as a father and son reflect on what that event has young people were found with courage and some often radical symptoms, i wouldnt have the ifill and we close with the story of Army Staff Sergeant ty Michael Carter, who received the nations highest military honor today for his bravery druing the war on afghanistan. Thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff the United States insisted today it is undeniable that syrias rulers gassed their own people last week, just outside damascus. That was coupled with new warnings of repercussions yet to opportunit jeervemake no mistake, presidene accountability for those who would use the worlds most heinous weapons. From secretary of state john kerry, a warning, there is no doubt that it happened. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, killing of women and children and innocent bystander is a moral on sen tir. For five days syria refused to let the u. N instead it attacked the area further, shelling it and systematically are destroying evidence. That is not the behavior of a vernment that has nothing to hide. Kerry spoke hours after a u. N, the team finally made it to a makeshift hospital, in a rebelheld area where they met with doctors and took blood and tissue samples from survivors. Local officials said it all came too late since those killed have already been buried. But in an interview with a russian newspaper, syrian president b ashar assad denied using chemical weapons. First h, first they level accusations and then collect evidence. Ban kimoon spoke in seoul, south korea. Clearly, this was a major and terrible incident. We all told the families of the victims attract. Meanwhile u. S. Navy fighters and jets were available in the region. Over the weekend, president obama met with his military and National Security advisors to hash out a response. Defense secretary chuck hagel weighed in today as he visited visitedness indonesia. It will be within the framework of justification. John mccain led congressional support of rons. If the United States doesnt stand by and take serious action, such as launching cruise missiles, our credibility is diminished more, if theres anything less. More cautious if their tone, democratic senator jack reed on face the nation yesterday. We cant let ourselves get in a situation where this becomes a springboard for a general military operations in syria to try to change the dynamic. That dynamic is going to be long term very difficult and ultimately established and settled by the syrians. Woodruff overseas, pressing for action. All within our power to act within the International Community to bring those responsible to justice. Woodruff in jerusalem, the French Foreign minister says theres been no decision on international intervention. But it is unthinkable that once what happened is proven and those responsible identified there will not be a strong response by the International Community. From moscow one of syrias largest allies warned the international comucialt community to tread carefully. The use of force without the approval of the United NationsSecurity Council is a very grave violation of international law. If anybody thinks that bombing and destroying the syrian infrastructure and leaving the are battle field for the opponent to win that is an illusion. Woodruff meanwhile britain u. N. Security councils approval a woodruff to discuss what u. S. Actions against syria might look like and the the strategic objectives behind them, im joined by Richard Haass, a former Top State Department and National Security council official. Hes now president of the council on foreign relations. And jeffrey white, formerly a Senior Analyst at the Defense Intelligence agency and currently a defense fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy. Military resp. Welcome back to the newshour to both of you. Richard haass, if theres been undenial use of chemical weapons against assad against his own people, what then is the administration waiting for . Well, what theyre waiting for is to essentially put into place the International Political context. That means theres some kind of a coalition of the willing, a number of the nato allies, possibly nato more formally, a number of arab states, australia you heard from, an International Coalition essentially that would participate in it and also talk about what to do if theres various forms of retaliation from syria and any of the countries backing syria. Brown what would be the purpose Richard Haass of an action the energies would take . Twofold, principally to underscore, that chemical destruction including biological and nuclear did cannot become the normal weapon. Cannot in any way be diluted. This far transcends syria. Secondly, the United States may commit a socalled red line. The president basically threw down the gauntlet over the last year or so telling the syrians that if they were to use chemical weapons it would be a game changer, would change his calculus and so forth. The sierraians have apparently used chemical weapons twice, last year and now. Sending an announcement to iran where the United States has put down a red line. The word of the United States is to be taken seriously. So the stakes as large as they are in syria judy actually far transcend what is going on there. Woodruff jeff white if there were to be an attack, what would the targets be . What would be weapons be . It depends. It could be anything from a small trying with cruise missiles alone up to a very large military operation including aircraft. In all likelihood well focus initially on targets that are associated with the Chemical Warfare operation with command and control of syrian forceswiy were involved in firing the weapons. But it could also be broader than that and to include attacks on surface to surface missile units and air force units. Woodruff youre not talking about the storage locations the stock piles of chemical weapons i dont think those will be attacked. Release of agents into the air or into the ground or whatever and that would leave the u. S. Open to you know accusations that were actually causing the Chemical Warfare problem in syria. Pretty wide range that the u. S. And any allies would choose to hit. Youre saying command and control to what what size targets are we talking about . I think were talking about you know a target set, right . Made up of various types of targets ranging from ground force units, artillery u and so on to command and control nodes, to headquarters of units in the damascus area to the ministry of defense to the syrian army headquarters. Its up to the administration and its allies to decide exactly what target set they want to hit. But theyve got a wide variety theyve goe means to do it. So its a matter of you know an internal decision. Woodruff Richard Haass you talked about consulting with others. What allies are you is it your understanding the u. S. Would do this in concert with . Would there need to be a United Nations involvement . There would not need to be a United Nations involvement judy. Quiet honestly we couldnt get it. Quite possibly the russians and comoins would prevent it. Its not the only form of multilateralism. Willing to give this a degree of international support, and considerable legitimate meas. Can i speak one other point here . Theres going to be a ceiling often it. What the United States is going to do is react to cw, chemical weapons. Of anything open ended. This is going to be punitive and theres going to be an end to it. The administration wanting to respond wants equally to avoid becoming a protagonist. In this civil war i syria. To thread the needle, doing enoughake the message on chemicals but without getting fashion and what could be in the end a very difficult undertaking. Woodruff youre saying in change the balance of the power equation right now in syria . If we wanted to change the balance of power i would argue a better way to do it rather than using u. S. Military forces directly would be to provide significantly help to those members of the opposition we could work with, to give them the kind o of antiarmor and antiaware fare weapons. What could be a long term quagmire in ways that could be recommend nishence in afghanistan and iraq. Woodruff jeffrey white, what would be the on the part of the syrians. There cosh, thought is the Syrian Government will roll with the punch. Woodruff why do you think that . I dont think they want to commit suicide by retaliation. Utle or its allies or its interests would lead to i think even greater strikes against the Syrian Government. Woodruff what about iran, what about hezbollah which isvd backers . Hezbollah theyre not interested in getting into itw. And iran i think will be very cautious in kind of a traditional way. Theres always the possibility for some kind of covert act against u. S. Interest, a terrorist attack or so on. And hezbollah and iran can certainly mount those but i dont think any great large scale direct retaliation against anybody. Woodruff Richard Haass use is moments ago the office of house spieker john boehner said, in conversation with the white house, not with the president but the white house, said that any military action has to be preceded by consultation with congress, clearly to find objectives, broader objectives for stability. What does this statement introduce, is this going to be an element of consulting with congress . The consultations have already begun. I dont think the administration will require or slow down for any formal congressional authorization but it would be foolish not to consult with congress. Reinforce the idea that the United States does need to respond to chemical weapons but there needs to be a ceiling on that response. There is just as much concern in doing too much as it is in doing too little in congress. I thought senator reed in your prepared piece got it about right. Underscore this norm, this taboo against chemical weapons. It cant go without reaction but this shouldnt be the beginning if you will of an open ended american participation in thesy. I think thats what any consultations with congress would reinforce. Woodruff Richard Haass, jeffrey white, we thank you boat. Both. Ifill still to come on the newshour, the Massive Wildfire outside yosemite; the march on washington, 50 years on; and the medal of honor is awarded to one of our bravest. But first, with the other news holman the leaders of two former militant groups in egypt are offering a truce to end the violence. The islamist organizations called today for supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi to halt their street protests if the militarybacked government ends its crackdown. Meanwhile, former president Hosni Mubarak appeared in court sunday for the First Time Since being released from prison last week. Hes being retried for the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising that drove him from power. A separate trial also opened for three Muslim Brotherhood leaders accused of inciting violence. The United Nations said today it expects all Member States to respect the privacy of diplomatic communications. That came after the german magazine der spiegel reported the u. S. National Security Agency hacked into internal communications at u. N. Headquarters in new york. The magazine cited documents obtained from n. S. A. Leaker edward snowden. They claimed the n. S. A. Also bugged the European Unions offices in washington. In china, disgraced political figure bo xilai now awaits the verdict in his corruption trial. In closing arguments today, bo denounced the two main witnesses against him. He charged his wife is deranged and his former police chief is dishonest. Prosecutors argued bo made millions of dollars illegally and interfered in a murder investigation. He was a rising star in the Ruling Communist Party before the scandal broke. The school year is just Getting Started in most of the u. S. , and already the weather has intervened. Severe heat in the midwest today forced schools in at least six states to end classes early. Readings reached nearly 100 degrees in much of the region, including nebraska, iowa, minnesota, the dakotas and illinois. Many of the affected schools have sections that are not air conditioned. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost 64 points to close at 14,946. The nasdaq fell a fraction of a point to close at 3657. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to gwen. Ifill thousands of firefighters pushed today to make headway against one of the largest fires in californias history. Brown by air, and by land, and all out to south on the enormous wind fire is raging in mountains. Rra nevada effort. Brown the fire has schooled some 237 square miles of california forest since i flamed to life a week ago. Burning at the northwestern edge of Yosemite National park. We are facing record dry fuel conditions across this state. That has led to well above average the number of fires since the beginning of may and with this fire and others were certainly in stretching the number of acres in record that we have bender. Brown some 3600 firefighters managed today to expand continued lines to 15 of the fire. To face the challenges of rugged pa parched terrain. Knowing where it could go is a little unpredictable. Brown another unpredictable pharmacist where the fire do reach out to affect San Francisco, more than 200 miles away. On friday governor jerry brown declared a state of emergency, to protect transmission lines. Also at risk, the hetchhetchy reservoir. Source of nearly all of the citys water. Officials maintain Water Quality has not been affected. Still Governor Brown warned the effects may be seen when the winter rainy season comes. Youve got a moon scape where the floods can contaminate the waters. Brown in terms of Property Damage the fire has destroyed relatively few buildings and several small towns are under threat. The system camp near the town of berkeley, a 90yearold tourist facility burned to the ground. Theres a lot of summer camps a lot of flammable, i would imagine they had their hands full. Brown elsewhere residents evacuation centers. Its sad you know, you never think youre going to be here in the situation. And when you watch other people on tv that you cant help that are in it, then when it hits home, wow. Brown as for yosemite, the majority of the park with its majestic vistas and waterfalls remains relatively unaffected. While some back hiking has been closed, it remains open to visitors and campers. Firefighters are trying to protect two groves of the parks famous giant sequoias estimated to be 200 years ol. Old. We get two updates on the situation this evening from officials dealing with the fire. First, captain mike mohler. Hes the Public Information officer with the California Department of forestry and fire protection, and has been in the rim fire area since thursday. I talked to him a short time captain mohler, thanks for joining us. We heard about slightly more acquaintment today. Whats your assessment of the latest situation . Well, yeah were up to 15 contained, on the rim fire. What that means to us right now is yes, weve increased our containment but this is a 150,000 acre fire, weve had extreme weather conditions. We still are have a difficult firefight in front of us. Brown what are the conditions that the firefighters are experiencing at this point . We are experiencing wind shifts, this fire is building up into a column which creates erratic winds. We have critical fuel moisture and steep rocky rocky terrain that makes i. T. Difficult to ge. Brown are you going to predict ahead of it or reaght as it happen . We do predict the weather thats key in fighting these fires but Mother Nature we have to work with her and aust and we have to do this on a daily basis, we have to be dynamic and ready for theire fronts and we do predict it. We place containment lines what we call tins plannings and hopefully we are ready when the fire comes. Brown what resources do we have . Do you have enough in terms of equipment and firefighters themselves . We do. This fire is not only the number one fire in the state of california but it is also the number one fire in t