U.S. Demands Probe of Chemical Attack Claims; Is Hope for Democracy in Egypt Dead?
JESSICA YELLIN, HOST: And happening now, the United States and United Nations demanding an immediate investigation into claims the Syrian government launched a massive chemical weapons attack on more than a thousand civilians. CNN is live inside Syria with the very latest. Plus, disturbing new details emerging about one of the suspects behind the shocking death of an Australian student jogging in Oklahoma. Should he be charged with a hate crime? And the latest on a mystery rocking Windsor Castle, after one of the queen's prize swans was found barbecued. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Jessica Yellin. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. And we begin with pictures from Syria that we want to warn you are extremely graphic and disturbing. Women and children believed to be dousing themselves with water and putting towels to their mouths after suffering an alleged chemical weapons attack that opposition leaders say killed more than a thousand people. These horrifying images are prompting bold new calls today from both the Obama administration and the United Nations for an immediate investigation to confirm that chemical agents were used. Our Frederick Pleitgen is getting rare inside access in Syria and joins us from Damascus with the latest -- Fred.</s>FREDERICK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jessica. Yes, and I haven't had very much time here on the ground yet, but I am trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened during that alleged chemical weapons attack. What I was able to do today is I was able to go to a government-run hospital. It was very interesting to see what was going on there. It was a hospital that had taken many of the casualties from that alleged attack. Have a look at what we saw.</s>PLEITGEN (voice-over): These images continue to shock the world. Syrian opposition groups say the videos are evidence the Assad regime used chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb. And many around the world are calling for tougher action. But here in the streets of government-controlled Damascus, many say they don't believe their military resorted to the use of nerve agents. "The government would never use chemical weapons," this man tells me, "because Bashar Al-Assad is part of the country. He's grown up here. They're Syrians." "I believe that if anything was hit, it was the Free Syrian Army," this man says. Those we spoke to confirmed there appeared to be a massive military operation underway early Wednesday, with war planes dropping bombs and artillery firing for hours. But staff at this hospital say the patients they treated suffered only from wounds from conventional weapons. (on camera): This is the Mezzah University hospital. They wouldn't let us film inside, but staff members told us they did receive a large number of casualties on Wednesday from the areas where attacks allegedly took place. But they also said none of these casualties had any signs of being subjected to chemicals. (voice-over): Images like these, however, indicate that some form of chemicals seem to have been used, many experts say. The U.N. secretary-general is calling on the Assad regime to allow weapons inspectors fast access to the sites.</s>EDUARDO DEL BUEY, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: A formal request is being sent by the United Nations to the government of Syria in this regard. He expects to receive a positive response without delay.</s>PLEITGEN: U.N. teams have been on the ground in Damascus for several days. But when I tried to ask the chief U.N. chemical weapons inspector, Ake Sellstrom, if his team would visit the site of Wednesday's alleged attack, he wouldn't answer. (on camera): And are you going to be able to investigate the chemical weapons claims...</s>AKE SELLSTROM, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I cannot talk to you. I'm sorry.</s>PLEITGEN (voice-over): The Assad government denies using chemical weapons, a claim many in the international community want to see verified by the U.N. teams on the ground.</s>PLEITGEN: Yes, Jessica, a lot more questions than answers. Of course, both sides blaming each other for what allegedly took place here in the suburbs of Damascus. One of the things that I, of course, always have to say, we are on the government's side here. We're in the realm of the government. So therefore, a lot of the people that we speak to, by nature, are very sympathetic to the government. We always have to keep that in mind -- Jessica.</s>YELLIN: Of course, Fred. Now, we also know that U.N. inspectors are already there on the ground. Why haven't they gone to the site to start investigating?</s>PLEITGEN: Yes, it's very difficult. You know, the site where this happened, some of those sites are less than five miles away from where the weapons inspectors are staying. But their mission here is very sensitive. They went in here with a mandate to be able to visit three places in Syria that have nothing to do with what allegedly happened here on Wednesday. They were sites that have been known for a very long time. Now the U.N., of course, the U.S., as well, is saying you need to give these weapons inspectors access to the site where this happened immediately. It's very difficult, though, here in Syria. On the one hand, the Syrian government is very distrustful of those weapons inspectors. On the other hand, simply the Syrian bureaucracy, the way that the ministries work here, makes the going here very, very difficult. So they're on a very sensitive mission, on the one hand, of course. They have this international outrage saying they need to go there as fast as possible. But they also have to be very careful in dealing with the Syrian authorities.</s>YELLIN: And, of course, here in the U.S., the White House and the U.N. calling for those investigators to get access to that site.</s>PLEITGEN: Yes.</s>YELLIN: Fred, very rare for to you have access to any of this, for you to be there. Remarkable reporting. And please stay safe and be careful. Thanks for that report. That's our Fred Pleitgen reporting from Damascus. There are calls now, as you know, for action in Syria that are not just here, but echoing around the world in the wake of all those shocking images we just brought you. Our own Tom Foreman is now taking a closer look at some of the options we in the U.S. could have -- Tom, are these options extensive or really very limited?</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're somewhat limited. I guess they're extensive in terms of how big they would be, ultimately. But you're absolutely right, Jessica. The pressure, not just around the world, but up here on Capitol Hill and at the White House, is really stepping up in the wake of this video. Let's look at the possibilities out here, as we bring in a map of Syria. First of all, there's a question of going on the offense. Could the U.S. flat out go in there with big time military intervention, with helicopters and planes and bombs and simply join the fight to make this thing come to a conclusion? That is not likely simply because we all know, ever since Afghanistan and Iraq, the public sentiment for that kind of intervention seems to be quite low. Some people would like to see it. Many would not. So what about the idea of going on the defense? What about taking weapons and saying, we're simply going to put some weapons in here and give them to the rebel forces so they can fight back more effectively? This is all complicated by the fact that big countries like Russia don't want to see any of that happen. But complicating this further is the activity of terrorist groups like al Qaeda and groups like Hezbollah in here. And if you part -- put weapons into this country, as we've seen many times in the past, there's no guarantee that they stay in the hands of the people you want to put them into. So that's very, very difficult in terms of the defensive approach. And then we come to what is probably the -- sort of the neither offensive nor defensive, but a little bit of both, the idea of a no fly zone, which has worked in some areas. That would really limit the abilities of the Assad government to strike back against these other forces there. You could talk about small, limited no-fly zones in strategic areas or a big one over the whole country. But those really are the options right now, Jessica. And -- and, as always, they're complicated by the fact that we don't know which one of them would even work under these circumstances.</s>YELLIN: It's all so complicated in Syria. Thanks so much. Tom Foreman, our own explainer-in-chief. Thanks, Tom. For more on this, let's bring in "Time" international editor, Bobby Ghosh. Bobby, first of all, let's take a look at your magazine cover. It's on our screen. And it's called "Founding Father." We should point out that "Time" is the corporate cousin of CNN. We see Martin Luther King there. But we want to talk a little bit about the topic you're so expert in, the Middle East. And today, we saw a striking new tone from our brand new U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power, talking about Syria. Let's look at what she posted on Twitter. This is a quote. She report -- "Reports devastating. Hundreds dead in streets, including kids, killed by chemical weapons. U.N. must get there fast. And if true, perps must face justice." Now, Bobby, we all know Power is a fierce human rights advocate. The Obama administration right now, look, critics, and even supporters, say they've been pretty tepid on Syria. Do you see her Tweet as sort of an effort to prod the White House into action, even the placement of her at the U.N. as a sign they might take more action in Syria?</s>BOBBY GHOSH, "TIME" INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: -- or sort of a...</s>YELLIN: I'm sorry. We're...</s>GHOSH: -- a natural disaster.</s>YELLIN: I'm sorry. We have been having audio problems. But, Bobby, can you tell us that again? We were having some technical difficulties. Do you see her...</s>GHOSH: Yes, of course. I think, you know, she is well-known as somebody who advocates the international community's responsibility to protect -- the responsibility to intervene in cases like this. But her Tweet was very carefully weighted. She used words like "reports." She looked -- she used words like "if true." And she says things like "The perps must be punished." So there's enough wiggle room there. Are the reports accurate? We don't yet know. Who are the perps? We don't yet know. Was it the government forces or was it some rogue elements in the army or was it some of -- some people from the rebellion itself that were responsible? We don't know. And is the U.N. -- asking for U.N. inspectors to go there is very easy. But the deal that the U.N. made when they sent these inspectors was, as Frank said earlier, to go to very specific places and to check if chemical weapons were used. Those inspectors are not even allowed to speculate about who might have used those weapons. So the U.N. has gone in with both hands tied behind its back here. And for Ban Ki-moon and others to say, well, this is terrible and something must be done, well, the deal they made prevents them from doing anything.</s>YELLIN: OK. We'll see. I think there's a little more urgency in her tone than we've seen from the White House. But we'll wait and see what evolves. Let's shift gears a little bit to Egypt, because we saw that Hosni Mubarak, the former leader of Egypt, was today ordered released from prison into house arrest, while the president, who was duly elected by the people after the Arab Spring, Mohamed Morsy, is now detained. So does this rule out hope for democracy in Egypt?</s>GHOSH: Well, it certainly is another blow to those hopes. And there have been several over the past couple of months. The idea that Mubarak is out, in house arrest, but much more free than Mohamed Morsy is -- certainly gives people pause. And those who believe, as some people in this country do, that the military is a force for democracy, will certainly -- if they have their hearts -- their hand to their hearts -- be reassessing that position. It's important to remember that Mubarak was a military man himself. He took over in, effectively, what was a military takeover of Egypt 30 years ago. And so we are seeing a full cycle now being completed. The fear is that the hopes for democracy that were raised two years ago with the Arab Spring are suffering sort of a -- are now dimmed very much. And it will take very little to end those hopes.</s>YELLIN: Well, wrapping it all together, Bobby, I'd say there's a lot of instability right now in the Middle East. We'll be watching it with you for many, many months, and maybe years to come. Thanks for your time. When we come back, just one day after being sentenced in the largest classified leak in U.S. history, Bradley Manning drops a dramatic new bombshell, revealing he now wants to be a woman. Plus, the queen's goose is cooked. Well, actually, it's one of her swans. We'll explain just ahead.