Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Japan's Nuclear Worries; Battle for Libya; Unrest in Syria; Sleeping Controller Equals Safety Concerns at Major Airports; Obama Calls Congress on Libya; One in Six in U.S. is Hispanic; Anti Government Protests in Jordan; FDA Bans Some Japanese Food Imports; Gingrich Accused of Libya Flip-Flop

Aired March 25, 2011 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, watch this -- more blood spills as the violence escalates across the Middle East. I'll tell you why the next few hours will be critical. I'm Joe Johns in for Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Thousands take to the streets in Syria, speaking out against their government. Shots ring out and people are dying. Now, Syrian forces are sending an urgent warning.

The uprising spreads in Jordan, rocks, sticks, and fists all part of the chaos.

Plus, the battle for Libya, targets destroyed as the attacks continue. But, really, who's in command? We're getting the answer.

And Japan issues even more evacuations after word of a possible breach at the troubled nuclear plant -- why this could be a major setback in the race to prevent a catastrophe.

Top of the hour. I'm Joe Johns in for Brooke Baldwin.

And the situation unfolding fast out of the Middle East. Take a look at these pictures, thousands and thousands of protesters speaking out against their government, security forces reportedly opening fire on people in Syria.

Hala Gorani joins me in just a moment to talk about new video we're just getting in.

Also, in Jordan, dozens are hurt in violent clashes. We will take you live to the ground there. And, in Yemen, one ally says the situation is deteriorating rapidly in a country where al Qaeda is growing. We will get to all that in a minute.

But, first, Libya's civil war and the political fallout from President Obama's decision to intervene militarily. There are a lot of developments. Let's get right to them.

We're hearing reports that members of Moammar Gadhafi's regime are reaching out to mediators. That's even as reports reach the coalition that Gadhafi wants to arm volunteers to fight the opposition rebels. Britain says its jets attacked and destroyed Libyan tanks in the no-fly zone. Britain's Defense Ministry has just released this video taken yesterday from the planes involved in two of the airstrikes. The planes are Tornado G-4s. They destroyed four Libyan battle tanks.

And look at this, this video shot just a few hours ago east of Ajdabiya. A Reuters correspondent heard three loud explosions before thick, black smoke rose from the ground.

And President Obama calls leaders of Congress to update them on the military operation and NATO's impending takeover of the no-fly zone. Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard is picked to run NATO's day-to-day operations in Libya. NATO hasn't decided whether to extend its mission to attacking ground forces to protect civilians.

Retired Major General James "Spider" Marks is a former commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center.

Got to ask you, does it make sense for NATO to take over the no- fly zone when the coalition is supposed to protect civilians on the ground?

BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think NATO truly has command and will continue to have command.

And really, Joe, what we're talking about is, it's not an academic discussion, but it's the difference between command and control. Command is a legal term. It has to do with shaping operations and what the end state looks like. Control is technical.

How do you communicate? How do you choose targets? Which aircraft goes after each target? Which nation's aircraft are assigned or apportioned against different kinds of targets? So NATO has command of the operation. And the three-star Canadian general clearly is already within the NATO structure.

He's from allied forces south, which is in Naples. So the structure exists, the control exists, but what you have with the no- fly zone, I think, is essentially vertical separation. No-fly zone up to a certain altitude, NATO owns. But the U.S., France, and the U.K., for now, will continue to prosecute the air-to-ground support to go after targets to achieve the U.N.'s mandate, which is, let's separate these warring factions, let's get Gadhafi's forces off, let's get the rebels off, let's protect civilian lives.

So it appears to be very, very complicated. It's still within NATO's purview.

JOHNS: So how likely is it, really, that this mission is going to expand even further to include taking out, say, Libyan forces threatening the rebels? And would you call that mission creep?

MARKS: Oh, I would very much call it mission creep. And, in fact, when you look at the U.N. mandate to stop the killing of civilians, do we define rebels as civilians? Or are they recognized as an armed body of some sort? So here's a likely scenario. Let's say we have greater separation between Gadhafi's forces to the west and the rebels. What happens when the rebels continue to press the offensive and tuck themselves up to Gadhafi's forces? We now have -- we don't have separation anymore.

Are the NATO forces going to achieve that separation? In other words, it appears to me that we have really chosen sides and that the outcome is going to be decided by this application of airpower. Yet, it is critical, but not sufficient to achieve the end state.

JOHNS: Do we really know who these rebels are and what they want? That's one question.

And there are also reports Gadhafi wants to arm volunteers, even as we're hearing members of his regime are looking to mediators. Do you think Gadhafi can be defiant and desperate at the same time, or is this all just disinformation?

MARKS: No, I think he can do -- Joe, I think you have hit on it. He certainly can be defiant and desperate. His characteristics are survivalist, narcissistic. And now he may even be, or at least he should be, labeled a criminal.

So it wouldn't surprise me at all to see that members of his regime are looking to survive as well. You know, what happens the day after tomorrow if Gadhafi's gone? What's going to happen to me? Maybe I should seek -- if I'm in his regime, maybe I should seek some outcome that's favorable to me.

So you could see some splintering going on. But I don't see it necessarily emanating directly from Gadhafi. He's far too -- he's demonstrated that that's not in his DNA.

JOHNS: Retired Major General James "Spider" Marks, thanks so much for talking to us today.

MARKS: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNS: Coming up, I will talk to a congressman who just got off a conference call with President Obama, the topic, Libya. I will ask him what the president told him.

Also, we will go to Syria, where the protests against the government are spinning out of control, more people reportedly killed, the government sending warnings to demonstrators. Hala Gorani joins me next to break it all down.

Also, word of a likely major breach at the troubled nuclear power plant in Japan. There are now growing fears radiation may be leaking and the race is on now to contain radioactive material. That's all ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JOHNS: Back to the top story, deadly anti-government protests in Syria, dozens of people reportedly killed today when security forces opened fire.

CNN international correspondent Hala Gorani is here.

Hala, most of the violence is in the south centered around Daraa.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

JOHNS: Is the home base of the hard-liners, if you will?

GORANI: Well, I wouldn't call them hard-liners. That's where the protests really started. That's where they became violent, when security forces, Syrian security forces shot directly into the crowd, took aim at some of the protesters, and many people, dozens, in fact, over the last week have died.

Joe, these are new images --

JOHNS: These unbelievable pictures.

GORANI: Yes, unbelievable, especially in a country like Syria.

Syria doesn't have a culture of public protest. It certainly does not have a culture of public and open criticism directed at the government.

JOHNS: Oppressive place, right?

GORANI: Absolutely, and much more so than Egypt, because, of course, our viewers have seen over the last few weeks, Tunisia and Egypt, those hard-line autocratic leaders forced to step down under the weight of public and street protests.

In this case, it's a very different environment, which makes these images almost more significant.

JOHNS: Which sort of brings us to this protest in the city Hama, where they really have quite a history there, and it really takes you all the way back to the oppression of this government, right?

GORANI: Yes. They do.

And this is significant as well, because the big question when the government yesterday promised reform and then you have the protesters saying, we do not believe this government anymore, the big question was after Friday prayers, were we going to see these demonstrations spread outside of Daraa? And they have.

They're small, but they're outside of that sort of epicenter of the protest movement in Syria. And Hama, as you mentioned, is very significantly historically. That's where the father of the current leader, Bashar al-Assad -- we're talking about Hafez al-Assad -- clamped down on a Muslim Brotherhood uprising by killing at the very least 10,000, and at the most 40,000, people in 1982. JOHNS: Syria is sort of unique in a lot of ways, in that it was one of the first of the countries to be defined by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism. But it has a lot of other things that make it interesting when you see this protest coming to this country. Talk a little bit about what's unique.

(CROSSTALK)

GORANI: It's unique because, regionally, no comprehensive Middle East peace can happen without Syria, nothing dealing with Iran, with Hezbollah, with Jordan to itself, with Iraq, even, can happen without Syria. It's an extremely strategically important country.

It matters to Western countries what happens in Syria and what alliances Syria forms with Iran or other countries. And it matters more, dare I say, than Libya, which is important in its own region. Syria, however, is a defining force, just as Egypt is, in the entire Middle East.

JOHNS: Good stuff. Thanks so much, Hala Gorani. Always good to see you.

GORANI: Thank you.

JOHNS: For more than a week now, we have heard about the problems coming out of that damaged nuclear plant in Japan. Well, word today there could be a breach at one of those reactors. Just how dangerous would that be? Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Grave new worries at the compromised nuclear plant in Japan. Workers are still frantically working to avert a meltdown, but now experts are fearing the containment vessel at the damaged number three reactor may have been cracked.

That reactor is one of six at the facility, but it's the only one that contains plutonium in addition to uranium.

To talk about the impact of a possible containment breach, let's bring in Adrian Heymer, the executive director of strategic programs for the Nuclear Energy Institute and an expert on nuclear plants.

Thanks so much for coming in.

ADRIAN HEYMER, STRATEGIC PROGRAM, NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE: It's good to be here, Joe.

JOHNS: Would a leaking reactor core be a major escalation of this disaster or do you think it's just another complication?

HEYMER: Well, at the moment, Joe, we don't really know what's the cause of that water, that they found in the turbine building.

It may have come from water that spilled over and leaked down from the 900,000 gallons or so that they've pumped up into the fuel pool, which sits on top of the building there, spilled over and drained down and found its way to the turbine building.

It may have come from the steam lines or the feed water lines. You pump water into the reactor vessel, it gets warmed up, and it comes back as steam. It might have leaked back through there, into the turbine building.

So until we got a much better idea of where it's coming from, I think it would be wrong to speculate at this time.

JOHNS: Let's talk a little bit about the plutonium.

Why does this reactor have it and the others don't? And why does plutonium pose an extra risk?

HEYMER: Well, the reactor has mixed oxide fuel, a mixture of plutonium and uranium. It's something that is being developed so that we can take some of the used fuel and then convert it into additional fuel, mix it with the uranium, so you stretch -- you use more of the fuel going forward.

As regards to does it pose any additional threat, not really. If you're talking about fuel that's melted, whether it's uranium or plutonium, it has the same isotopes, type of isotopes, and presents the same sort of threat to the environment should it come out. So there's no additional risk in that perspective.

JOHNS: Break that down for me.

Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt.

Is there more radioactivity with plutonium, say?

HEYMER: Not really. I mean, it is going to come out, if it is coming out, and at the moment it looks like the containment is working. And once they've found out where this leak might be coming from, we will have a better idea to move forward.

JOHNS: And how do they go about repairing a cracked containment vessel? Or do they just sort of give up and throw a whole bunch of cement in there?

HEYMER: I don't think they're being toward a repair, Joe. I think they're more into along the lines of sealing it up and that's where it would remain for some time, probably very similar to what they've done at Chernobyl.

JOHNS: Are there any health risks for people who are far away from the plant as a result of something like this getting into the environment?

HEYMER: Well, as we're all aware, the Japanese government and the Japanese authorities have been monitoring around, throughout Japan. They've taken the necessary measures. They've evacuated out to 12 miles. They've got voluntary evacuation from 12 to 19. So they're monitoring the situation and where there's necessary for people to take action, as regards to protection, they're doing that. So as regards does it present a threat, well, it does, but if you're actually monitoring the situation and taking protective action, there should be no additional harm to the health of the public.

JOHNS: And a lot of people are wondering how this thing seems to just go on forever. Do you have any sense how long it will take to get this under control?

HEYMER: They're making slow progress. Sometimes it's two steps forward, one step back, sometimes. But they are making progress and I think as we get through the weekend, I think you'll begin to see the conditions stabilize, or at least clarity on what is going on, where some of the leaks are coming from, what is leaking, what is broken, and then it will just evolve from there into taking up -- moving forward to restore the area around the station, probably seal up those reactors or dismantle what you can, and the rest of us will go forward, find out what happened, and incorporate lessons learned so that we can move forward.

JOHNS: A lot of people looking forward for us to get to that point in this crisis.

Thanks so much, Adrian Heymer.

HEYMER: It's a pleasure, Joe.

JOHNS: Coming up, there are still Americans worried about radiation from Japan. We'll hear from skeptics and give you the facts.

Plus, an air traffic controller falls asleep at the tower, but two planes landed safely anyway. How often does something like this happen? Coming up, what every passenger needs to hear about the safety in the skies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: A story that got a lot of us talking this week, the air traffic controller who nodded off during his overnight shift at Reagan National Airport. Two jets trying to land at the airport couldn't make contact with the tower, had to reach out to regional air traffic controllers. Both planes landed safely and today, the FAA ordered a nationwide review of the air traffic control system.

William Voss is an aviation safety expert who spent 23 years with the FAA focusing on air traffic management and control. He's qualified as an FAA control tower operator.

Mr. Voss, before we start talking about this, I just want you to listen to this air traffic control recording that was posted on the website, LiveATC.net.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRACON CONTROLLER: American 1900, so, you're aware the tower is apparently not manned. We've made a few phone calls. Nobody's answering. So two airplanes went in the past 10-15 minutes, so you can expect to go in as an uncontrolled airport.

PILOT: Is there a reason it's not manned?

TRACON CONTROLLER: Well, I'm going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out. I've heard of this happening before.

PILOT: That's the first time I've heard it.

TRACON CONTROLLER: Yes. Fortunately, it's not very often. But, yes, it happened about a year ago. I'm not sure that's what happened now, but anyway, there's nobody in the tower.

PILOT: That's interesting.

TRACON CONTROLLER: It is.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JOHNS: The tower is apparently not manned and it's happened before.

Mr. Voss, what's your reaction to that?

WILLIAM VOSS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION: Well, it's the type of thing that can occur. It has occurred in past years, where someone simply locked themselves out of the tower inadvertently. But we -- from what we hear, that's not what happened in this case.

JOHNS: How do you lock yourself out of the tower? Aren't you supposed to be there at all times? Isn't that just by its very nature a dangerous circumstance?

VOSS: One of the problems you have is you're trying to cover these airports that have extremely low operations, like at Reagan National, between midnight and 6:00 a.m. There's a total of five aircraft scheduled to move.

And so what happens is, you simply try to take a break and go to the bathroom and get yourself locked out of the tower inadvertently. It's not a very elegant thing to have happen, but it has happened in the past.

This case, though, we are talking about someone who has said they have nodded off.

JOHNS: Just to be clear, though, the way you get locked out of a tower is because there's got to be a lot of security so unwanted people don't get in there. Is that what we're talking about?

VOSS: That's right. So you can walk out without your key card and find yourself in an embarrassing situation.

JOHNS: So this air traffic controller has been suspended at the tower and I guess they're going to have, from now on at National, at least two controllers on the overnight shift.

The question, though, is whether there's a bigger problem and it's not just Reagan National we're talking about.

VOSS: Sure. The bigger question, and it goes across air traffic control to the cockpit and other professions, even, is dealing with fatigue in a safety-related business. It's a serious matter. It's something the FAA has started work on before this with air traffic control and it's important because even if the person had nodded off, apparently he was fatigued to the point where he probably wouldn't have been functioning very well.

JOHNS: Sure. The other thing to about Washington national, that's kind of critical air space, is it not? Because members of Congress fly in and out of there, the pentagon, the White House, the capitol, all inside the national airport air space. Not the kind of place you want something like this to happen.

VOSS: Yes, absolutely. Right now it's monitored from a regional facility, which is one reason the tower staffing is so sparse. Clearly, you need to have a lot of sharp eyes on that air space.

JOHNS: All right, great.

Thanks so much, Mr. Voss, and we'll keep in touch with you, because this is an interesting story.

VOSS: Certainly is, thank you.

JOHNS: Back to the unfolding situation in Japan, there's word of a possible breach at that nuclear plant, meaning radiation could be leaking.

And as more Japanese evacuate, do Americans have anything to worry about? What about our food? The facts and the fiction coming up next.

Also, I'm going to talk to a congressman who was just on that conference call with President Obama talking about the operation in Libya.

Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Joining me now on the phone, a congressman who was just on that conference call with President Obama on the situation in Libya, Democrat Adam Smith of Washington State.

Thanks for coming on, Congressman.

You listened to what the president had to say. What was your take away from that conversation? Any headlines?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON (via telephone): Well, I think he made a very compelling case. I mean, he made it clear what our mission was in Libya and the fact that actually, we've been quite successful in the last four or five days, and it was a very, you know, focused mission. Gadhafi was threatening his people. He was re-taking towns and systemically slaughtering thousands of civilians. We, along with the international community, were in a position to stop that, through the use of force in the short-term over the course of the last four or five days, we were able to block his advances and save thousands of lives.

Now, it's very unpredictable where we're going in the future. But in the short-term we had a humanitarian crisis that we could stop, so we made the decision to stop and have effectively done so. We've at least put a stalemate in place.

Whereas before Gadhafi was rolling across the country, as I said, systemically slaughtering civilians. So stopping that was something that was in our interest and that the international community supports. It's very clear what the goal was.

JOHNS: Excuse me for interrupting.

Was there any sense in this conversation with the president, obviously, there are a lot of people involved, as to when the president plans to address the nation on the issue of this intervention in Libya?

SMITH: Well, he already has addressed the nation. He's said in a number of different interviews, even when he was doing his Latin America trip, he did interviews with CNN amongst others --

JOHNS: Well, what I'm asking though, is typically when the president says he's going to use military action, he addresses the nation often from the oval office or in some form or fashion to tell them his reasons why his aims, his goals, and his exit strategy. Did he say he was going to do that?

SMITH: No, that did not come up in this context. But again, he has made it clear, and I think in talking to us, he was attempting to further spread that message what the goals were.

And the goals were very, very limited. We are not trying to go and get involved in a war with Libya and force militarily a change of leadership. We were simply trying to stop humanitarian crisis.

JOHNS: Excuse me, sir, right there is another question.

Did you get a sense from the president -- did he say anything about his desire to see Gadhafi leave the country or otherwise out of power? Did he talk at all about that?

SMITH: Yes. Yes, absolutely. And that's something that I think should be more clear to people. Clearly, the president said several weeks ago now, I think, that Gadhafi could leave power. But there's a good deal of difference from saying we're militarily going to remove someone from power.

I think it's a perfectly consistent position to say Gadhafi should step down, but then recognize that enforcing that militarily has higher costs than benefits. That's why the focus of this military campaign was so limited to protecting the civilian population.

So I think he did make that clear. And going forward, we're going to keep putting up international pressure on Gadhafi to try to force him out, hopefully in as peaceful way as possible. But that's going to be difficult and I think we all recognize that.

JOHNS: The president has been criticized by some Republicans and, in fact, some Democrats, people who actually say he did not consult with Congress to the proper degree.

Was he challenged on this call with members of Congress? Did you or anyone else ask him whether he ought to have come and asked for, say, a vote of congress before employing U.S. troops in Libya or employing U.S. military service --

SMITH: Let's be clear on one thing. In the weeks leading up to this, there was severe criticism from many, mostly on the Republican side, that we were letting a humanitarian crisis in Libya go unchecked when we could do something about it.

So the president stepped in and took the action that many people were saying needed to be done and that's never going to be easy. I mean, stopping this type of military aggression against a civilian population is going to involve military action. It's not going to be easy.

But it's what everyone was calling for two or three weeks ago. And to now step up and criticize him for doing it is a bit inconsistent. As far as consultation with Congress, it's very clear where the power is at that the president is not required to get authorization from Congress before taking an action like this.

He is required to consult and inform us, as he does this, and if it lasts past 60 days, then a vote is required. But the president is very clearly within the constitution and within the law and he has certainly, you know, begun in the last five or six days to reach out to Congress and meet those requirements.

JOHNS: And so you're going to be hearing some more from the administration next week as everybody gets back in town and starts talking.

Thank you so much, Congressman Adam Smith for giving us a readout on that call with the president of The United States and members of Congress.

Switching gears now, here's an interesting detail in the 2010 census. Hispanics can account for more than half of this country's growth in the last 10 years. Let's bring in CNN's John Zarrella.

John, what are these numbers telling us about Hispanic growth?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, you know, in the last ten years, the numbers went from 30 million Hispanics to 50 million Hispanics. So now Hispanics make up more than 16 percent of the country. Now, what's interesting there is that they're buying power is going up, the education level, the experts are telling us, is going up. And of course, the political influence is going up as well. One of the things that they are telling us, the Census Bureau folks is that the Hispanic population overall is also a younger population. Joe --

JOHNS: A younger population, you mean very young, you mean children or young adults?

ZARRELLA: Children, young adults, all across the board. An overall younger population than, say, you know, white Americans.

JOHNS: Gotcha. And we're also learning more about the African- American population. What's going on with them? I've heard, actually -- go ahead.

ZARRELLA: I was going to say, 57 percent now live in the south, which is the largest number in some 40 or 50 years. And if you look at the numbers that have left the north, 17 percent of those who have moved south left New York State.

JOHNS: Is that right? So a lot of people going back to the south, I guess, presumably where at least the weather's warmer and there's a better life.

ZARRELLA: Absolutely -- well, absolutely. Well, I'll say that.

JOHNS: Coming from the south, right, exactly. I'm in Atlanta today, too, was I'm a northern boy. All right, thanks so much, John Zarrella.

ZARRELLA: Sure.

JOHNS: We do appreciate it.

I'm just getting some breaking developments out of Capitol Hill. More on what the president told members of Congress in that telephone call today about the operation in Libya. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: I have some pictures I want to show you from Jordan. This is the capital city of Amman. Protesters who want reform there clashed with government supporters and police. More than 100 people injured.

It's also important to remember Jordan is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Let's now bring in CNN producer Jomana Karadsheh who joins us on the phone from Amman.

Jomana, one Jordanian official says things have gotten out of hand. How is the government responding to it?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, Joe, we just heard in the past hour from the Jordanian government, who are now saying that the situation at this main Amman Square where the protests were taking place and the clashes erupted, that it is under control now.

I left that square a few hours ago as the clashes got pretty violent there with police and pro-government supporters clashing with the anti-government supporters who decided that they were going to camp out at this square last night, and they said it was going to be an open-ended sit-in until their demands are met.

Now it seems that the protesters have been dispersed, but there's a lot of anger amongst anti-government protesters and we are seeing that all across social media. And we're hearing from the government, you know, describing today's events as very sad and unfortunate and blaming both sides, all parties involved, in these clashes for what happened.

We can also report that one person is dead. It is not really clear how he died. We're hearing from the government that he died as a result of a heart attack during the clashes. But there are also reports from anti-government protesters saying that he was beaten up, but it's very hard to clarify the reason of his death. Joe --

JOHNS: Now, Jomana, can you sort of go back for us and give us some sense as to what it was that triggered all of these events?

KARADSHEH: Well, over the past three months, towards the end of December here, we started seeing more and more protests, people taking to the streets. And the core issue was the economic situation in Jordan. A hike in prices, increase in fuel and food, basic food prices.

And slowly, Joe, as we saw the protests across the region, these popular uprisings, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, this gave momentum to these protests here in Jordan that for the large part have been very peaceful, up until today. The list of demands of these protesters -- the ones that we saw today were mainly youth groups. They called themselves "The March 24th Youth."

They are members of Islamist groups, members of leftist groups, and some independent, young Jordanians. But the list of demands, Joe, did get bolder and bolder as they saw these uprisings in other countries. It includes -- main demand is that they want to curb the absolute powers that the monarch of Jordan, Abdullah ii has, they want an elected government, and basically more democracy in the country.

JOHNS: The government says it's under control now. Do you have any sense of what's coming next? Is there anything planned for tomorrow, if you know?

KARADSHEH: Well, that is what we're keeping an eye on, Joe, for sure. Saturday is also an official holiday. It's the weekend still here in Jordan. We're hearing reports that the anti-government protesters are trying to regroup and they're trying to organize other protests.

That is something we are definitely keeping an eye on, s especially on sites like Facebook and Twitter that have been used to mobilize these opposition groups and the youth movement. We'll definitely keep you posted on that.

JOHNS: Jomana Karadsheh in Jordan, thank you for that reporting.

I want to bring in Brianna Keilar now. She's on the phone with some breaking news about that phone call between the president and members of Congress.

Brianna, thanks for coming in with us. We just talked to a member of Congress about that call. Have you picked up anything new?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, we actually just got a statement from a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, Joe, that says that the speaker appreciated the update today, but still believes much more needs to be done by the administration to provide clarity, particularly to the American people on the military objective in Libya. America's role and how it is consistent with U.S. policy goals.

Bottom line here, the Speaker of the House, Joe, is not satisfied. As you know, he sent a letter on Wednesday to President Obama with more than a dozen questions that he said -- or obviously felt were outstanding and hadn't been answered by the administration. We haven't heard from President Obama on Libya since then, but we did hear yesterday in the press briefing Press Secretary Jay Carney said that a lot of those questions have been answered.

Obviously, today, Speaker John Boehner doesn't feel that this call, which we know Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on as well. We know that he feels that wasn't satisfying enough. It didn't satisfy those questions. And we've been hearing from Democrats and Republicans who have either said Congress should have been consult ordinary certainly briefed better.

Joe, you know they are away this week, having a district work period. They're going to be back next week and all members, all of them, Senate and the House, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be briefed by Secretary of State Clinton as well as the Secretary of Defense Gates as well as the Joint Chiefs of staff and the DNI as well, Joe.

JOHNS: Expecting to hear a lot more on this when Congress returns. Thanks so much for that, Brianna. You'll be coming back with political pop shortly.

But first, back to Japan. Despite assurances that trace amounts of radiation reaching the U.S. from Japan are not harmful, many people remain skeptical, especially if it's not form of food grown in Japan.

The U.S. took steps to block food and milk imports from Japan's radiation zone, but a lot of people are worried about everything grown there.

Let's bring in our friend, Ted Rowlands in Los Angeles. Ted, you headed to the market. Did you find any concerns or outright fear about products from Japan?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I wouldn't say outright fear, Joe, but definitely a lot of concern. There are a lot of Japanese markets here in Los Angeles and around the country, actually, that import food products from Japan.

So people hear the news of what's happening in Japan with the nuclear disaster and they're concerned. Take a listen to a couple people we talked to who had just left a Japanese market here in L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HONG TRAN, SHOPPER: We're staying away from raw sushi for a few month, just in case.

MEI LEE, SHOPPER: I really care about the food, actually. If from the Japan, I want to make sure. For example, the fish, I'm not going to buy any fish. Probably now is OK, but -- probably two three months later, I'm not going to buy any fish from Japan.

ROWLANDS: These noodles are made in Tokyo and there are two concerns right now going on at this Japanese market in Los Angeles.

One is the customers are worried they're not going to be able to get their hands on products like that made in Japan. So they're coming in and buying a lot of them.

The other concerns revolve around radiation fears, obviously -- fresh fish, vegetables, et cetera. About 30 percent of the fish at this market comes from Japan, and folks here at the store say a lot of customers are concerned about radiation.

GENE IKEDA, NIJIYA MARKET: A good amount of people come in and ask questions about, regarding products that have radiation in them, things like that. But all of our products do come through the FDA. They are inspected very -- very highly. So anything that we get is safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLANDS: Joe, bottom line, people just don't buy it when experts say everything is safe. They want to know for themselves, so they keep asking these questions, but these Japanese markets are still in business and people are still come. They're just, as you might imagine, concerned. Who wouldn't be?

JOHNS: Absolutely, great. Thanks so much, Ted Rowlands. We'll be getting back to you.

A gunman opens fire at a school cafeteria and we're learning now who's accused of pulling the trigger. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Let's go now to South Asia. Residents of Myanmar are still reeling from a powerful earthquake. At least 75 people were killed. More than 100 injured in the 6.8 magnitude quake. Tremors were felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand.

A shooting this morning in Indiana. Police say a former student shot and wounded another teenager at West Middle School in Martinsville. According to WISH-TV, the victim is in stable condition after being shot in the stomach twice. The alleged shooter is in custody and police have recovered a handgun from the scene.

Now, let's take a look at what's ahead in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf Blitzer, are you there?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I am.

JOHNS: All right. I hear you have General Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa command on the show today.

BLITZER: He's a very smart guy. He's the four-star general. He's the head of this entire U.S. military operation in Libya right now. Although he's in the process of handing over responsibility to a NATO command, as you know. He's joining us from Stuttgart.

I've met General Ham back in Moso in Iraq back in 2005 when I was in northern Iraq and I've seen him over the years. This is the guy who's responsible, but he's got a tough mission, because the president of the United States says the U.S. policy is that Gadhafi must go.

But that's not the strategy, that's not the policy that General Ham and the U.S. military have been given. They have a much more restricted policy, namely to protect civilians and create this no-fly zone. So there seems to be a contradiction and we're going to go in depth with General Ham on what he can do, what he can't do, can he arm the rebels, can he not arm the rebels.

Can he even talk to the rebels? Can he have a military liaison officer in Benghazi dealing with the rebels? And what about Gadhafi, if they have actionable intelligence, if they know where he is, can they capture him, can they kill him? These are tough questions. How will he define when he can declare mission accomplished in Libya?

No simple answers. We have lots of questions. General Ham will be joining us in "THE SITUATION ROOM." He's the U.S. military commander in charge of this operation. I think our viewers will be interested.

JOHNS: Wolf Blitzer, thanks so much for that. Looking forward to that on "THE SITUATION ROOM" coming up now just minutes away.

Possible presidential contenders are weighing in on whether the Obama administration is doing the right thing in Libya, and that includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Did he do a flip-flop on the issue? We'll play the sound so you can decide for yourself. Brianna Keilar is standing by with political pop, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Well, you know the president has been facing big criticism from Republicans when it comes to Libya, but it looks like one of his biggest critics so far, Newt Gingrich, is accused of flip- flopping on his stance on Libya.

Brianna Keilar is here from Capitol Hill. Let's walk through this, Brianna. So he was for a no-fly zone before he was against it?

KEILAR: That is what a lot of liberal folks are saying, Joe. I just want to give you the timeline here. March 3rd, President Obama says that Gadhafi must go. And then on March 7th, Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker, seen as someone who is a probable presidential candidate for 2012 against President Obama says this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would you do about Libya?

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Exercise a no-fly zone this evening, communicate to the Libyan military that Gadhafi was gone. This is a moment to get rid of him. Do it. Get it over with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So "exercise a no no-fly zone." And then this is what a lot of people on the left are pointing to as the flip-flop. Listen to what he said on the "Today" show on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: I would not have intervened. I think there are a lot of other ways to affect Gadhafi. I think there are a lot of other allies in the region we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And Joe, for that, he's catching a lot of flak.

JOHNS: So, what does he say about this? How do you reconcile these seemingly completely different and contradictory positions?

KEILAR: Well, it's a little confusing. He's gone to Facebook and what he has said, trying to explain this, is that President Obama boxed himself in to a corner by saying on March 3rd that Gadhafi had to go, and after that, he had no choice but to do a no-fly zone.

Because he'd made that statement, there was no choice but to do a no-fly zone. Had he not made that statement, Gingrich said, there would have been more options aside from getting U.S. forces involved.

But he also said that now that U.S. forces are committed, there is no choice except to see this through. Now, he also made some comments on camera today. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: Then on March 3rd, the president goes out and says, Gadhafi must go. Well, you know, this is not some opinion by somebody on a talk show. This is the president of the United States.

Now we're told, well, the real goal is not to get Gadhafi out, the real goal is a humanitarian, no-fly zone. We're going to somehow stop the bloodshed. This is all nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So now as Gingrich is being accused of flip-flopping, it appears, Joe, that he's accusing President Obama of flip-flopping, of saying that Gadhafi must go and now the administration is saying, the whole point of this U.N. resolution and this no-fly zone is not regime change, but to protect Libyan civilians.

JOHNS: You know, it's not real good to be called a flip-flopper, especially if you're thinking about running for president?

KEILAR: No. And we've seen this before, haven't we? I know that rings a bell for you, 2004, John Kerry, you know, you could argue that that was just deadly for him when Republicans targeted him, saying that he was for the war and then he was against the war.

JOHNS: Thanks so much, Brianna Keilar.

Now it's time to go to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf --