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So there are international inspectors, international teams that could go in and at least begin the process if there's a willingness on the part of the syrian regime to allow them to do it. >> reporter: right, but let's look at the conditions under which inspectors were in saddam hussein's iraq. it was saddam hussein's iraq. they did not have a security issue con fronting them. same with gaddafi. that security did not necessarily exist for those u.n. inspections teams. we're talking about different dynamics. we're talking about a civil war raging in syria with no clear front lines, with battle ...

And that it was only the looming threat of force that finally pushed russia and syria to act. so, in the administration's version, yesterday's goof was actually part of the plan all along. >> you did not miss speak, did you? >> no i didn't miss speak. >> and you meant to say what you said at that time, isn't that correct? >> i did. >> reporter: looking ahead, the practical obstacles to ridding syria of weapons at sites like this one may be more imposing than the diplomatic. syria has an estimated 1,000 tons of chemical weapons in six known sites and many unknown. now likely disbursed as the u....

>> holy [ bleep ]. >> reporter: something he doesn't normally do. blame it on the anesthesia. might as well blame this on it too. >> turn around. >> no. rar reported one poster, turn around, men are all the same even when they're doped up, lol. not many men get to experience love at first sight. >> you're my wife? >> reporter: cnn, new york. crisis in syria. president obama will walk a careful line in a speech to the nation tonight, and trying to keep the door open to a possible deal. we're seeing the first cracks in that potential breakthrough. u.s. officials fear the syrian and russian lea...

And if something was voted on and failed, it would pull the rug out from under him. so listen to what the senate majority leader harry reid said when asked about the prospect for any vote. >> i'm not guaranteeing anything. i do know this. our schedule is being driven by developments that are taking place, not by some artificial timeline. >> reporter: so now here's what is happening behind the scenes at this point. there is a group, a pretty broad group of bipartisan senators, john mccain, chuck schumer and others, who are working on a potential fall-back authorization that includes and incorpo...

They still believe this russian plan could do that, but they also add this caveat, wolf, and that is if assad strikes again, they believe the u.s. could hit syria in retaliation and nobody here in washington will bat an eye. >> if he were to strike again. for all practical purposes, assuming that the bashar al assad regime does not use chemical weapons any time soon, the prospect of u.s. military action, military strikes, that's on hold at least for the time being. >> reporter: that's right. administration officials i talked to earlier today, wolf, say that the pressure is now off of congress ...