• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is hitting the airwaves to try to convince war-weary Americans that limited strikes against Syria are needed for the United States' long-term safety, while his national security team is attempting to reassure skeptical lawmakers that the United States is not heading toward another Iraq or Afghanistan.
• Obama on Monday planned to make his case for punishing Syrian President Bashar Assad for what the United States says was his decision to turn chemical weapons against his own people -- a charge Assad denies in a new interview. Top administration officials are heading to Capitol Hill for more classified briefings. And White House national security adviser Susan Rice is scheduled for a speech at a Washington think tank timed to the public relations blitz.
• In an interview Sunday in Damascus, Assad told American journalist Charlie Rose there is no conclusive evidence about who is to blame for the chemical weapons attacks and again suggested the rebels were responsible. Rose said Assad also warned him previous U.S. military efforts in the region have proved disastrous.
• Kerry, appearing at a news conference Monday with his British counterpart, William Hague, vehemently denied Assad's assertions.
• "We know that his regime gave orders to prepare for a chemical attack. We know they deployed forces," Kerry said. He added that the United States knows "where the rockets came from and where they landed ... and it was no accident that they all came from regime -controlled territory and all landed" in opposition-held territory.
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