Bob's Blog: Keeping our word on Syria

Words matter. When the President of the United States says he'll will do something, our friends and enemies around the world take him at his word. So put aside all the arguments about whether he should have drawn a red line about Syria using chemical weapons, the fact is he said it. So if it turns out that Congress does not give him the authorization to do it and if the United States does nothing, the country will be left in a precarious and dangerous position.

Will the President's words be recalled in Iran and North Korea when we warn them the next time not to proceed with developing nuclear weapons programs and in places like Japan, one of our strongest allies? After all we have a treaty with Japan that says if they are attacked with nuclear weapons we will respond. Will inaction against Syria cause them to question our resolve in carrying out our treaty obligations to them? How all this is viewed may be the best reason and at this point, the only real reason for Congress to give the President this authority.

Having said that, my sense is that if this vote came today, Congress would not give the President the authority to carry out a strike.

So how does the White House change that? That's where we'll start Sunday with our lead guest, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, who will give us the latest on how the Obama administration is breaking this all down. We'll also hear from Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who chairs the House Intelligence Committee and backs the president's plan.

I'll also speak with Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., an outspoken libertarian who has led the charge against intervention, as well as Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who is still undecided.

Plus we've put together one of our best panels of analysts ever: Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, David Sanger of The New York Times, David Ignatius of the Washington Post and Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute. I can't promise that we will resolve the debate on Syria, but we'll definitely air it all out. We'll also hear from two of our CBS News Correspondents who've been in Syria this week, Elizabeth Palmer will be reporting from Damascus, Syria on Sunday and Clarissa Ward spent time with some of the rebel forces just inside the Turkey-Syrian border.

It's all happening this Sunday morning on CBS. Check your local listings.