[Becky Anderson:] Seemingly the land of difficult options.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] Knowing that potentially chemical weapons have been used inside of Syria, doesn't tell us when they were used, how they were used...
[Anderson:] Well, as Obama's red line on chemical weapons appears to shift, tonight I ask a former army general what western powers led by Washington do next.
[Announcer:] Live from CNN London, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
[Anderson:] Also ahead this hour...
[Unidentified Male:] It's a misnomer to call them lone wolves, because even though they are physically alone, of course they're interacting with other people online.
[Anderson:] Following the digital footprint of terrorists. A closer look at the role of social media in online jihad. And, he's an Oscar winning actor, a Prada model and now a judge. Red carpet eye candy Adrian Brody is my guest this hour from New York Tribeca Film Festival. First up this hour, U.S. President Barack Obama says the world cannot stand by and allow the use of chemical weapons against civilians. But he also says the U.S. will act, quote, prudently and deliberately before responding to intelligence reports on Syria. Now Mr. Obama says assessments that Syria had used chemical weapons are preliminary. But during a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, he again warned it could be a gamechanger.
[Obama:] We're going to be working with countries like Jordan to try to obtain more direct evidence and confirmation of this potential use. In the meantime, I've been very clear publicly, but also privately, that for the Syrian government to utilize chemical weapons on its people crosses a line that will change my calculus and how the United States approaches these issues. So, you know, this is not an on or off switch, this is an ongoing challenge that all of us have to be concerned about.
[Anderson:] Well, you may remember the United States announced last week that it's sending up to 200 more troops to Jordan. They would be ready for military action in Syria is President Obama orders it. Well, Mr. Obama says there are still a range of questions, quote, about how, when, and where the Syrian regime used chemical weapons. He's promising, and I quote again, a definitive answer as soon as possible. Let's get more on this. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr looking now for you at the evidence gathered so far.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] March 19, Aleppo, Syria, there is talk civilians here have been attacked with chemical weapons, but no confirmation. Now, suddenly, defense secretary Chuck Hagel traveling in the Middle East.
[Chuck Hagel, U.s. Defense Secretary:] The U.S. intelligence community assesses with some degree of varying confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin.
[Starr:] The White House sent letters to congress responding to questions about chemical weapons use and calling for UN investigation. After the debacle over Iraqi weapons, Hagel says the U.S. needs to confirm exactly what happened.
[Hagel:] We need all the facts. We need all the information.
[Starr:] Senator John McCain told CNN's Jake Tapper it's not the response he wants.
[Sen. John Mccain,  Arizona:] Disappointment, but not surprise. The president has not wanted to engage in Syria in any way, any meaningful way, for a couple of years.
[Starr:] McCain wants a no-fly zone, weapons provided to the Syrian opposition, and chemical weapons secured. President Obama had promised action, but was never specific.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized, that would change my calculus.
[Starr:] A senior U.S. official says the Syrians continue moving chemical stockpiles, causing even more worry. Hagel is sending the first armored divisions headquarters from Fort Bliss, Texas to Jordan. The official tells CNN it will spearhead securing Syria's weapons if ordered.
[Andrew Tabler, Washington Institute For Near East Policy:] We could use air strikes, drone strikes. There could be teams of special forces who go into the country.
[Starr:] But the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is reviewing military options, says troops aren't the answer.
[Mccain:] You have confidence that we could secure it?
[Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman, U.s. Joint Chiefs:] Now as I sit here today simply because they've been moving it and the number of sites is quite numerous.
[Starr:] The U.S. is adamant there will be no go it alone military action for American troops, but many allies are still reluctant to get involved. And it's raising questions about where all of this is headed. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
[Anderson:] Right. We're going to discuss where this is headed shortly. Firstly, just from the Syrian government. It says it doesn't have chemical weapons and wouldn't use them if it did. Well, today it strongly denied the allegations saying they lack credibility. Syria's information minister told Russia TV, quote, it's baseless and it's a new tactic to put political and economic pressure on Syria. So, after several warnings about red lines and gamechangers, what will it actually take for the United States to act, if at all? We're joined by a special guest tonight, Major General James "Spider" Marks now retired. You've spent more than three decades in the U.S. Army, ending his career as commanding general of the army's intelligence center. Sir, you will know more about intelligence than I will ever know at this point. The president wants the facts, does he have what it takes at this point? Certainly his red line seems to be shifting. What happens next?
[Maj. Gen. James Marks, U.s. Army:] Well, a red line Becky, you know, a red line is defined as immutable. It shouldn't shift. But apparently the administration is very concerned. They really don't want to have to face this problem, but they must. The Secretary of Defense has come out and said with some degree of confidence we our intelligence community has assessed that Syria the regime in Syria has used chemical weapons against its own population. That, by definition, falls into the category of weapons of mass destruction. We address those as we would chemical as we should nuclear, any form of weapon of mass destruction. So the thing that the administration has to do is it has to galvanize and international body, and it could be very narrowly defined. As long as it includes elements from the EU, the United Nations must be the lead element. The United States cannot. And maybe even countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council to get involved and be prepared to help separate the warring parties. There needs to be more, Becky, than a no-fly zone. There needs to be a no-move zone so we can get in and start getting our arms around the inventory. That's the biggest challenge.
[Anderson:] Yeah. Let me put this to you. Do you think he misspoke when using this red line criteria? Because at this point to many, many people around the world it looks like President Obama is prevaricating, not necessarily for me, but I'm just suggesting to our viewers around the world it looks like prevarication. It's not now whether there are weapons of mass destruction, but how and where they might have been used. I mean, it doesn't look good, does it?
[Marks:] No, it doesn't. When the truth changes, you always have a problem. You never want to take options off the table and you never want to completely stick options on the table and say this is what we're going to do and our administration now is kind of wringing its hands that we're confronted with this. Now, there is an element of command and control coming out of the First Armored Division. And what that really means is that will be the element around which we can galvanize other enablers to keep things from spilling over and if the and if an international body...
[Anderson:] What do you mean sorry, let me just stop you there. You're saying we'll get other enablers to help us out what do you mean by that in sort of clear language that I can understand.
[Marks:] Well, and again, I'm trying to prevaricate, and I'm not trying to beat around the bush here, what I'm saying is, is there are a number of government agencies and international bodies that need the support that the military can provide to get into Syria and begin to...
[Anderson:] ...something around in Jordan, right?
[Marks:] Absolutely. If you're on the ground in Jordan, we also have a presence up in Turkey. We've got to be able to try to contain that. And then if you need to get inspectors in there, if you need to get vehicles in there, there you know, you have to create a humanitarian corridor to get innocents out of there. And that can only be done with the military. And so there are a number of missions here that we've got to...
[Anderson:] ...war zone yep. I get it. Let's just have a listen to a couple of bits of sound I want our viewers to hear today. One from Carney, who is the spokesman for the White House and that's going to be followed immediately by David Cameron, the prime minister of the UK. And let's see if we've learned anything from what we hear from these two strategic players. Let's have a listen.
[Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary:] The president wants the facts. And I'm not going to set a timeline, because the facts need to be what drives this investigation not a deadline.
[David Cameron, Prime Minister Of England:] Use of chemical weapons, probably by the regime, it's extremely serious. This is a war crime. But we need to go on gathering this evidence and also to send a very clear warning to the Syrian regime about these appalling actions.
[Anderson:] Walk me through the difficulty of any boots on the ground and indeed the idea of operating a no-fly zone. And is it any clearer at this point at this hour whether we are any closer to military action being triggered? Two questions for you there.
[Marks:] Becky, there are several approaches to this, and embedded in that are a bunch of different facts. Tell me if you think I'm getting off base here. First of all, no-fly zone. No-fly zone only accomplishes one thing. Number one it really accomplishes nothing Syria is not flying anything essentially to arm its population, but what that can do is that can help you establish this corridor so good people and citizens and civilians can get out. That would be very beneficial. Boots on the ground I would hazard to say is not likely, only because it is so messy at this point and there has to be a number of diplomatic initiatives and efforts that bring a body together, not the United States exclusively. And we all understand that. So getting boots on the ground has to take a number of nations, the local population i.e. the GCC and the regional leaders need to step up and say this is unacceptable. We don't know, as your prime minister indicated, that we need to tell the Syrian regime that this is bad, my goodness, they know it's bad.
[Anderson:] More importantly, you've got to get Russia and China on side, right, because otherwise they're just going to ignore the UN security council.
[Marks:] They'll completely get in the way. They'll barricade it, absolutely. They will get in the way and they'll not let this happen. So the United Nations is a place where you at least need to talk about it, but you don't have to rely exclusively on that body in order to establish a body in order to solve this problem that we've now acknowledged exists. And we can't qualify it. You can't take intelligence and start backing off from what you identify. Look, we've had the Sec. Def, the secretary of defense came forward and said we've got a problem. If that's not true, then we have an internal issue within our administration.
[Anderson:] Sir, it's always a pleasure having you on. You make a lot of sense. And I've been calling you striker, which is just an added name for you this evening is General James "Spider" Marks, of course as I say forgive me, always a pleasure. Still to come tonight, people are still being pulled out alive from Wednesday's huge building collapse in Bangladesh. We're going to find out where rescue efforts stand now. Africa's rhino's lives are under threat because of demand for their horns. We're going to take a look at what's being done to curb this crisis. And he apologizes and accepts the ban as Liverpool's Luis Suarez takes his punishment for biting another player. We're going to look at the fallout and the reaction.