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Gadhafi's Son Speaks; John Wheeler's Mysterious Death; Pulling the Plug on the Internet; Scott Brown's Sexual Abuse; FBI Link to MLK Photographer

Aired February 20, 2011 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the second hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. It is 7:00 p.m. on the East Coast and I'm Don Lemon breaking developments this hour.

Protesters turn up the heat on the streets of Libya: reports of gunfire and Moammar Gadhafi's son addresses the Libyan people.

Also remember this former Pentagon official discovered in a landfill? There's new information surrounding his death and Susan Candiotti spoke to his widow. We'll have a live report in just a few minutes.

But first, we want to tell you about the big developments tonight in Libya. We haven't heard a word from the country's long-time ruler Moammar Gadhafi since deadly protests erupted five days ago. But his son spoke on Libyan television just a short time ago.

Sayf al-Islam Gadhafi warned the Libyan people against taking up weapons against the government. Now while he promised widespread reforms, he's also said that Libya's army will restore security at any price. And he said he accused the international media of lying by reporting that hundreds had been killed in the unrest.

And as he spoke, witnesses say angry demonstrations against Moammar Gadhafi are spreading into the capital of Tripoli from the flash point city of Benghazi.

Joining me now is Ralitsa Vassileva, she is one of our international anchors here, to tell us what this means for the United States. And we -- at the top of it, really, this is about oil for us, for the folks in the United States.

RALITSA VASSILEVA, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Well, what analysts are saying is that immediately it will not affect oil prices because Libya at this point produces about 2 percent of the world's oil. Most of it goes to Europe. However, it's the potential. We have ExxonMobil which is invested together with other companies like BP; billions already in anticipation that they can work and develop the African Continent's biggest oil reserves.

So the potential is there not just for energy but for infrastructure, for other projects. And also why it matters to the United States is instability in that region affects oil prices. And we've seen they're at the highest in a year and a half right now.

And don't forget that this unrest that we're seeing now started over rising food prices.

LEMON: Right.

VASSILEVA: That's what started all of this. And if oil prices go up, food prices go up.

LEMON: Prices will go up.

VASSILEVA: The U.S. recovery, many analysts say, the U.S. economic recovery could seriously be affected if oil prices go up. So that's why it's important.

LEMON: And it's interesting that, you know, there was revolution in Egypt first. But I think that Libya, Americans are much more familiar with Libya and Moammar Gadhafi and would have thought if there were any unrest that they may have heard about it in Libya first rather than Egypt. But it seems that Libya, according to Sayf Gadhafi, taking, you know, taking their cue from Egypt and from Tunisia and he said we're not like Egypt, we're not like Tunisia, you shouldn't be following the people on Facebook as they are because things will go much differently here than it did for those two countries.

VASSILEVA: And you know, it is a different society. It's a very tribal society. And people first identify with their family or their tribe and then as Libyans. And also dissent -- there's been zero tolerance for dissent unlike Egypt and Tunisia. There have been some opposition movements or some kind of dissent tolerated. However, in Libya it's been zero tolerance. It's been brutally suppressed any kind of dissent.

LEMON: As you watch this, and he said, I think he said -- was it 48 hours -- he said let's give it 48 hours before we make any decision about anything before we go back to the streets.

What was his appeal there? What's he trying to accomplish?

VASSILEVA: What I think was he was basically painting two alternatives for his country. He said we can either stop this madness, sit together as one nation and decide on what reforms we're going take. They were going to take place anyhow.

Or the other scenario is what he painted as colonialism. He said that United States and Europe will not allow an emirate, an Islamic emirate.

LEMON: And go back to 1936, I think he said before it was colonialism.

VASSILEVA: Yes. There will be poverty. There will be poverty. And, you know, the oil will be stolen from us. It will be controlled by outside powers. And we will have nothing.

LEMON: So it's really -- he's really going to the heart here. People in Libya know that whatever they have, whatever resources that they do have or whatever money that they do have comes from one resource, which is as they call it petrol and we call it oil. And he knows that. Yes.

VASSILEVA: And this was -- 90 percent of their export earnings come from oil. More than three quarters of the total revenue of the country comes from, again, from oil. So that is of huge importance.

But also what he was saying is all of this has come through what his father has done for the country and he's not going anywhere. And he's going to stand by -- the army is going to stand by him. And he's going to -- he's going fight it.

And they have just -- they're offering the dialogue. He offered to raise -- immediately to raise salaries, to address some of the economic grievances, ease some restrictions.

LEMON: He talks about that. Here's the interesting thing. Let's go beyond that. Journalists are not allowed in. Moammar al Gadhafi usually doesn't stand for opposition at all in protests like this. It's very interesting that it's happened.

And all these things that he's saying we can't confirm and many people can't confirm because he's not allowing journalists to go in and actually do the digging and the information.

VASSILEVA: And you know, Don, thinking about how dissents and zero tolerance for it and how brutally it's being suppressed, this is really quite brave of those people who are going out, those protesters. They know if they fail they're going to jail. They're going to be persecuted.

LEMON: So, do they have anything to lose now, then. Do they -- what's to lose if you've already been out there, you have already had friends who have lost their lives or who have been injured as we've been having people come on CNN, who are there risking their lives to call in to us. What else do you have to lose? At some point you say I may as well go for it.

Am I wrong? Or is the suppression so big, the foot so big that comes down on them that it can stop them?

VASSILEVA: Nobody can predict what is going happen next in the Middle East. Nobody believed that Hosni Mubarak in Egypt would fall. Nobody knows -- although most of the analysts that I've talked to and the things that I have read say that Moammar al Gadhafi can survive this because if this is just happening in Benghazi which is in the eastern part of the country where he's had a lot of trouble before and unrest, if it doesn't spread to Tripoli, to the west, then he can save his regime.

He has the military, which is loyal to him at this point. He has a lot of mercenaries, also people who are not Libyan who are serving in security forces who do not have this loyalty that the Egyptian army had toward its people to think twice before shooting at their own people. So, there are differences.

LEMON: But the number -- when you think about the number of people as in Egypt, the number of people who rose up against Hosni Mubarak, outnumbered the military, they outnumber the police and the people who, you know, were supposed to keep them down and squash them. I'm not sure that's the case in Libya, five million people and a big number of those people belong to the military and the police.

VASSILEVA: Yes, you have a good point. And again I want to go back to the specific situation in Libya where you have tribes. It's a tribal society -- tribal loyalty. So, if one tribe does not support what's happening in Benghazi and it's a significant tribe, then you don't have this unity which you had in Egypt where people are Egyptians. They feel loyal to Egypt.

LEMON: I said this before we go into the break. Is Libya on the verge of an uprising, on the verge of a revolution? We don't know.

VASSILEVA: We don't know.

LEMON: It could be that this is the beginning. We never thought we would see this in some African nations and in the Middle East.

VASSILEVA: It is just unprecedented.

LEMON: Will you stand by and help me out here because I'm going to go to someone --

VASSILEVA: Absolutely.

LEMON: -- who is in Libya now and he observed one of the protests today.

Sir, thank you for joining us. You were at a protest today and you heard what Moammar Gadhafi's son said. What do you make of his statements saying that the country will go into a state of chaos if protesters continue to keep it up?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Exactly. That's what many people have said here. They were really upset. I mean this is the kind -- the way they were speaking to us and to them and the way speaking to us, it made us really upset because he was saying that there will be a whipping and there will be civil war, and people will turn against each other and that's really made us mad.

LEMON: Why did it make you mad? You don't believe that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just like -- it's still the same way, you know, same system. Just saying like if you don't do that we're going kill you; it's just the same thing.

LEMON: Ok. So, as you watched his words did you gate chance to see his words on television. Were you listening? Are most people in Libya no matter which network they're watching, if they're watching state television or another network, are they watching this and listening to the son every word?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. Everyone. I mean most of the people are in the houses now because there's a chaos outside. So we were listening to him. LEMON: So, protesters in the streets today --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, I am outside right now. And earlier it was more quieter than now. And since he spoke I don't -- I live very close to the building where Gadhafi stays around one kilometer away. I can hear lots of screaming and protests in the streets and gun shots which it's gone mad since he stopped speaking.

LEMON: Is that -- are we hearing -- is that gun shots we're hearing now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, it is gun shots.

LEMON: So, after his speech, more people, you believe, taking to the streets?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, I don't know now if these people are against or with. But it seems like against because I was watching -- I was watching the news and like they are in some streets and they are burning up some government place. But now, I mean I don't think they are with them. What we're hearing are gun shots and people screaming. I can't tell exactly what they are saying because it's kind of far away. I can't see that but I can hear lots of it.

LEMON: He said by any means he'll do what he has to, to defend Libya until the last man is standing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He say that, yes. What we got from that that he will do everything to protect himself and his family not Libya. His exact words we got out of this.

LEMON: Ok. Thank you, sir. Be safe. And please call us back. Did you have a question for him?

VASSILEVA: No, no, no. I just wanted to say this is very significant.

LEMON: They are saying we're going to Fionnuala in my ear so --

(CROSSTALK)

VASSILEVA: I just wanted to say how significant it is what he's describing if we're able -- if this is true and if we're able to verify it. The fact that Tripoli is seeing protests is very significant and then with Fionnuala we can talk to her about that as well because that means it's spreading.

It's spreading to, from Benghazi in the east as I was mentioning, to Tripoli in the west. And analysts say if he loses control of that part of the country as well, he is in deep trouble. His regime is in deep trouble.

LEMON: Go ahead, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, she was talking about Tripoli where in the last few days it was a small protesting and more late in the night. But today, from 9:00 Libya local time, 9:00 p.m. it got really a lot and all areas of -- in all areas of Tripoli, I was calling some friends and they were saying the same. And especially now it's very loud. There is something going on outside.

LEMON: Ok. Thank you, sir. Listen, stay safe and we're going to check back with you to find out exactly what's going on in Libya.

And we have correspondents -- CNN correspondent throughout the region. Our Fionnuala Sweeney is in Cairo, Egypt and Ralitsa Vassileva joins me here live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. We're going to have much, much more coverage on what's happening in Libya right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. We're following breaking news out of Libya: Moammar al Gadhafi's son speaking out on state television just a short time ago, really warning the Libyan people to stop the protests.

So let's go CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney now. She's monitoring the chaotic events unfolding in Libya from Cairo, Egypt which just saw its own revolution -- Fionnuala.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we should say that we believe the speech was recorded some hours ago. Indeed Sayf Gadhafi making a reference as he drove in to the recording studios in Tripoli that people were wishing the Gadhafi regime well.

Sayf Gadhafi is a man who is in his 30s. He's an architect by profession and perhaps he's the best known voice of the Gadhafi family and the Gadhafi power structure in the west, certainly in terms of the media.

He said everybody has their side of the story and when he went to speak he said we have to be honest here. We have to face facts. And then he went on to say that some mistakes have been made. But when he got into the detail the mistakes he thought were made on both sides is that in the case of the army they just hadn't been trained to show restraint when they were attacked by people he said were drug addicts, were drunks, Islamic extremists and children. He said the army had been attacked.

What he said was happening in Benghazi could not be allowed to happen in the rest of the country and he really held up the prospect of civil war.

He gave the country 48 hours to come around the negotiating table. And even then he didn't use that word, negotiation. He essentially said the country has 48 hours to sit down and talk. He announced some investments; some restructuring that would be made.

But the question is tonight will that be enough to satisfy the protesters and the people in Tripoli who as we heard from your guest on the line just before from the Libyan capital said there's gunfire and clashes this evening. LEMON: So Fionnuala, everyone we have spoken to here from Libya, even Libyans living here in America say they don't believe what Sayf said. They don't believe that they should wait for 48 hours and that there would be some sort of new government that would come in, at least a process to start.

What they are concerned about is how far Moammar al Gadhafi and those who back him will go to get those protesters off the streets and get their way. Some believe he's going to handout money to have people come over to his side and to squelch the protests. Can you talk about that?

SWEENEY: Well, I think we have to look at first of all his detail, his explanation for what happened and this address was about 40 minutes long. When you look at the numbers, for example, he said 14 people had died in Benghazi, 48 overall. Our figures and again it's difficult to corroborate because we're not there on the ground, we know that at least -- at least 209 people this afternoon local time had been killed throughout the country and the vast majority of those in Benghazi.

What he was holding up to the Libyan people, I couldn't decide which was the carrot and which was the stick because it was either sit down and talk about this or else. But there was no real devil in the details in terms of the kind of restructuring.

Yes money would be offered but really what he was saying to the Libyan people would be that this will divide them into a civil war. Investors won't come to the country. He talked about petrol, the vast oil reserves that Libya is sitting on. But he said this is not a tribal country and yet we've known from at least one tribal leader that he's urging Colonel Gadhafi to go.

I think really the next 48 hours will be very crucial but I would bear in mind that this speech we believe was record several hours ago so events may have moved on from then.

LEMON: Stand by Ralitsa and standby -- we have Ralitsa Vassileva her -- and Fionnuala. I want you both to stand by because I want you to take a listen to this. This is a pro Gadhafi rally that happened a short time ago. We're going to take a listen and then we will all discuss it.

(VIDEO CLIP)

VASSILEVA: -- the color of the Libyan flag that --

LEMON: The green.

VASSILEVA: -- the green, yes. They are holding pictures of Gadhafi. We see there, the analysts that I've talked to say that Colonel Gadhafi does have support. He does have charisma. He stood up to the west. That's really appealed to certain tribes and sectors of society. He has used the oil wealth of Libya to rule the country by patronage, by giving certain people part of the oil revenue, sharing it. However, recently there has been discontent especially in Benghazi in the east where they haven't seen that much of the oil revenues. Analysts say that the economy has been mismanaged, and some of the middle class and lower classes have been affected by this.

LEMON: And Fionnuala as you listen to it, Ralitsa saying you talked about this just a short time ago. Of course you said there would possibly or probably be the exchange of money. But Sayf Gadhafi making it plain to the people there; this is about those resources. This is about petrol. This is about oil, money and having food in your mouth. And he wants really to get to the heart of the Libyan people to get them to stop even though he does have support.

SWEENEY: Well, I think the question is, is he coming from a position of power when he says that? And certainly he's coming from a position of nominal power. I think what's interesting is that state television acknowledged yesterday for the first time that there had been clashes, that there was unrest. They showed ransacked government offices in Benghazi and they blamed it on foreign elements.

Sayf Gadhafi referred to social media, Facebook in particular. We were able to download video that had been posted, we believe and I stress we believe from people on the ground in Libya yesterday. Today it was very difficult to do so. So getting information about what's really happening there and verifying it is extremely difficult at the moment and really we're working on what we can do in terms of our resources.

In terms of whether Sayf Gadhafi is in that position of power that he is in a position to direct power and direct events over the next few days will all depend on the members of the revolutionary committee, will depend on members within the army.

It's a rather closed society. It's very different from Egypt where there was always an opposition, and this was a more open society in a way than Libya is. But I think really events will play out in the next 48 hours and we'll see just whether the protesters return to their homes. But what we're hearing is they are not very happy with what they heard and/or whether the threat to use the army to the end will be carried out by the Gadhafis.

VASSILEVA: And that's very interesting, Fionnuala, you mentioning that we really don't know how much power is behind, how much authority is behind Sayf Gadhafi's posture, his words and the promises he made because I have been reading that there's even discord within the family. He has two other brothers -- three other brothers who are in Special Forces military intelligence.

LEMON: And at one point, he mentioned his brother. He said my brother has a plan but, you know --

VASSILEVA: Yes. But they are more conservative than he is. As Fionnuala was saying that Sayf has negotiated with the west, he is pro-reform. He's more liberal in his point of view.

However, his other brothers are known to be more conservative and they have a power base in the military, which Sayf, who we heard from on TV doesn't have that kind of power base.

LEMON: Ok. Ralitsa Vassileva and Fionnuala Sweeney, stand by. Thank you both very much. We're going to continue this conversation a little bit later on and continue to follow all the developments happening in Libya.

Moammar Gadhafi's son speaking on state television just a short time ago making some promises to the Libyan people but also quite frankly offering some scare tactics to get them to stop protesting.

And there's other news happening in the United States as well. There's new information about this former Pentagon official discovered in a landfill. CNN's Susan Candiotti, spoke to his widow. She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're still following breaking news in Libya, the son of Moammar Gadhafi speaking on state television just a short time ago had a few choice words for Libyan protesters saying give him time and the government time but also offering a warning there will be chaos if you continue the protests.

On to other news now; we turn to the mysterious death of a Pentagon official. John Wheeler's body turned up in a Delaware landfill on New Year's Eve. That was seven weeks ago and the case is still not solved. We don't even know how Wheeler ended up Delaware. All we know is he was disoriented in the hours leading up to his death.

And CNN's Susan Candiotti recently spoke with Wheeler's widow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been nearly two months since Jack Wheeler's body was discovered falling out of the back of a dump truck into a landfill, New Year's Eve; a horrific ending for a former Pentagon official sorely missed by friends.

DOUG THORNBLUM, RETIRED COLONEL AND FRIEND OF WHEELER: It sounds kind of trite to say it but he was true patriot.

CANDIOTTI: Wheeler's family cannot understand why police are leaving them in the dark. The Wheeler's attorney tells CNN, quote, "The family is frustrated that information hasn't been shared with them, incredibly frustrated that as of now there are no answers about what happened to Jack Wheeler."

It's not the only thing they are frustrated about. When the medical examiner announced Wheeler died from blunt force trauma during an assault, the family found out from the media not authorities. The Wheelers also are stumped over these troubling security camera videos that show him apparently disoriented and confused in a parking garage and later an office building shortly before he disappeared.

They don't know, says their lawyer, whether this was a random act or a targeted killing. At times, they think it's one or the other because there are so many unanswered questions. A former West Point roommate is stumped by his bizarre behavior.

THORNBLUM: What we saw on that video was not a normal Jack Wheeler. There was something going on, either chemical or physical with Jack that nobody had ever seen before.

CANDIOTTI: Wheeler's widow told on the line magazine "Slate" that her husband was bipolar and taking lithium. Her lawyer would only tell CNN, "We're trying to figure out whether his medical issues could help explain any of the events."

THORNBLUM: I went back and re-read it last night. There was absolutely no indication of any type of problem or anything else.

CANDIOTTI: Retired Colonel Doug Thornblum calls Wheeler brilliant, a man who loved his country.

THORNBLUM: A real American that our class was proud of. And he could go toe to toe with some of the best of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Now after the murder, Mrs. Wheeler discovered that she was the victim of identity theft. Someone charged a $3,000 airline ticket to her credit card. But the family's lawyer said Mr. Wheeler did not carry his wife's card and a link to his murder seems unlikely. But it's just another unanswered question.

Mr. Wheeler will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery in April with full military honors. The family is offering a $25,000 reward for help in solving his case -- Don.

LEMON: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much.

A quick break and more coverage on the unrest in Libya when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Congressman Scott Brown opens up about being sexually abused as a child. We'll talk to a psychologist who says he can relate. That's right after the break.

But first almost a year ago every teacher at Rhode Island Central Falls High School was fired. It was a radical move to reform one of the worst schools in the state. Just seven percent of juniors were proficient in math in 2009 and not even half the students were graduating.

CNN's education contributor Steve Perry gives us an update on the story in today's "Perry's Principles."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Before the start of the school year, all 88 teachers at Central Falls High School got their jobs back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people misperceived that all of the teachers were poor performing. And that's actually not the case. We needed the teachers to commit to the reform plan.

PERRY: And they did. The teachers union and the school district agreed to a longer school day, more after-school tutoring, eating lunch with students and tougher teacher evaluations, after getting a pay raise.

(on camera): So in this town in which the average income is $22,000 and the average teacher now is making approximately $76,000, what are the community members paying for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The highest paid teachers are making about $76,000, which quite honestly, I don't think is enough for the committed professionals that are in that school district.

PERRY: But they're not successful. You have a 93 percent fail rate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think the teachers are responsible. I think the failure of the district to have a math curriculum that gives kids what they need, the failure of the district to get kids to attend school on a regular basis.

PERRY: You have one high school in town. What do you hope is going to happen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're offering p.m. school for those students who prefer to come at a different time in a smaller setting. We've reached out to students who had previously dropped out and are trying to pull them back in. We have outside evaluators evaluating teacher performance and are working to help those who are basic in their skills or on satisfactory to say, this is your opportunity and you must improve. And if not, we're back to where we were.

PERRY (voice-over): Steve Perry, Central Falls, Rhode Island.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi may be losing the support of his military after nearly a week of deadly protests. Eyewitnesses say Libya's second largest city of Benghazi is now in the hands of protesters and their military allies. CNN cannot confirm those reports. There are also reports of gunfire and buildings burning in the capital of Tripoli. But other witnesses say that city is calm.

Moammar Gadhafi's son spoke on Libyan state television just a short time ago and he warned of civil war if Libya's people don't rally around his father. It's becoming the playbook for suppressing protests in the Middle East. Shutting down the internet, Egypt did it. Now Libya is doing it off and on over the past few days.

Our tech whiz Katie Linendoll has been following this. So Katie, what have you got for us here? This is sort of unprecedented in how they are trying to do this, shut it down.

KATIE LINENDOLL, EMMY-WINNING TECH REPORTER: It's completely unprecedented in the history of the web what we've been seeing for the past few months. And what the Libyan government is doing is really taking a cue from Egypt. In the past few days, they have already shut the internet down, not once but twice and our international speculation is really to keep it on during the day for business but then to shut it down at night in order to keep order. But really it's just creating more chaos.

And it's so interesting. We're seeing this government 2.0 to have the power to completely shut down the web but at the same time we're also seeing a revolution 2.0. Cyber activists, let me tell will always find a way to work around.

LEMON: And we've seen it here.

LINENDOLL: Right.

LEMON: We've seen tech experts really smart people finding ways around the shutdown of telephones, of the internet and getting ways to speak. Especially if there's social media.

LINENDOLL: Especially through social media like Facebook. And also, what's so interesting is now, you can actually use a land line to tweet out a message, which is unprecedented. But also we learned from Egypt, that ham radios, fax machines, dial up, even the primitive ways will still give you access. As sure as somebody can breathe, they will find ways to organize freedom.

LEMON: What I find interesting is so easy. All you have to do is go on to my social media page and you can see just put in Libya, the word, and it will show how it's trending. So it's really amazing. We've been saying this for a while now. But it's amazing especially sitting here as a journalist to have information coming in this way when the government won't allow journalists into the country, people as you say are finding ways around it. When people want their voices heard, they are going to do whatever they can to have it done.

LINENDOLL: And we talked about this with Egypt too. I think what's so powerful is you can shut down the web. But we're going to have those work around and the information in the pictures at some point are going to surface and they will shed light.

At some point, though, will you be able to shut the internet down? I mean, will it become one of those things where it's like satellite and then it shoots right out in space and you won't be able to do it?

LINENDOLL: Well, it's a really polarizing topic. You know, we often talk about, could this happen in the United States? Are we taking cues from Egypt, from Libya. It's very powerful. It's going to be a topic that's going to be debated for months now, to come.

LEMON: All right. Thank you. Our tech whiz, Katie Linendoll, always good to see you. Thank you. Good to have you here in person.

LINENDOLL: Thank you.

LEMON: All right. More coverage on Libya's unrest and Congressman Scott Brown opens up about being sexually abused as a child by a camp counselor. We'll talk to a psychologist who has been through a similar trauma. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Since he won the U.S. Senate seat for Massachusetts last year, Scott Brown's life has never been more public. Now he's revealing something deeply private in this new book out tomorrow, it's called "Against All Odds." At the age of 10, he was sexually abused. And on this week's "60 minutes" Brown talked about what happened to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you never reported about it.

SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: No, my mom will read about it for the first time. My wife. I haven't told anybody. That's what happens when you're a victim. You're embarrassed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: A couple of days ago he spoke to Washington reporters about why he revealed his pain after so many years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: It's just one part of my life, it's not the whole part. Yes, hold on one second. And I'm hoping people read it and they can gain strength from a lot what's in it because that's not the entire focus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To share that part of a personal part of your life.

BROWN: Part of who I am . I wanted to be honest. I wanted to be honest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why now?

BROWN: Well, as you know, after the election people wanted to know my life story and they came to me asking to write a book, and so we did it. The timing is what it is. Whether it's now or two years from now or it's irrelevant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Good for you, Scott Brown. Good for you.

All right. To get deeper inside about sex abuse among men, psychologist David Lisak joins me here. He is the founding member of the group oneinsix.org. Dr. Lisak, thanks for joining us here. We had a chance to meet by telephone and as you know I was sexually abused as a child and so I know how hard it is to talk about it. When he said this is something so deeply personal it's often very liberating even to talk about these sort of violations and secrets. Is that why you believe - I know you don't know him why he's revealing this in this book.

DR. DAVID LISAK, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I can't speculate about his motivations why now, but all of us who have gone through this kind of experience almost all of us have harbored it a secret for years, sometimes decades, and it is a tremendously liberating experience to finally be able to speak out loud about it.

LEMON: And boys even harbor it more because I've had friends say you know, I've known you to 30 years and you've never talked about it. Well that's part of it. You don't want to talk about it, correct? You were - how long did it take you to talk about it?

LISAK: About 30 years.

LEMON: About 30 years. So it's often boys - why do boys keep at it secret longer than girls do?

LISAK: Well, there are so many ways in which sexual abuse is uniquely damaging and stigmatizing for boys. It violates everything about masculinity. Boys are learning about what it is to be a male, to grow up into masculinity. And that means being strong, being tough, being fearless. And sexual abuse violates all of that. You're helpless, you're vulnerable. Somebody has power over you. And to come to terms with that and to find your own sense of masculinity in that is very, very difficult.

LEMON: For to it happen you don't have to be homosexual or gay for it to happen. The stigma that we place in this country on homosexuality it also adds, that's a barrier for boys to talk about it and to reveal it.

LISAK: Yes. When a boy is sexually abused by a male it almost invariably leads to all kinds of questions and confusion about sexuality. But that's what it is it's just confusion. And that's one of the reasons that when it is kept a secret, when that boy is struggling with that confusion all by himself, it can take decades to resolve that.

LEMON: And one doesn't lead to the other. People think if you were sexually abused then, therefore, you are gay.

LISAK: No, it has absolutely nothing to do with being gay. It is - sexual abuse confuses that child and it terrifies the child. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation.

LEMON: Let's talk about a new public service announcement from the oneinsixgroup.org, the group which you're affiliated with. Let's take a look at it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: This is Harrison Ford. If you or someone you care about needs help please visit oneinsix.org.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Harrison Ford. A major powerful superstar as they call it, an actor, felt compelled to do this. That speaks to the importance.

LISAK: It does. It speaks frankly to his integrity to have the integrity and the courage to speak out publicly about this in support of an organization that's trying to support men.

LEMON: It's important. So, it's important for victims to know that they have resources and that they have people that they can talk about this with who think that they may be abused by a relative or a friend or what have you. What should they do?

LISAK: Well, there are a lot of resources now. One of the things that's changed over the last 10 years, 15 years is there are web sites, oneinsix.org, malesurvivor.org. There are organizations out there with resources to help people and also to help family members or partners and spouses of men to get help and to get information.

LEMON: OK. We often think it's only men, only males, but it's also, it can be females abusing males, males abusing females it's not just two men, right?

LISAK: Exactly.

LEMON: Or boy-child.

LISAK: And in fact, we know that about 30 percent of boys who are sexually abused are actually sexually abused by female perpetrators.

LEMON: Yes. David Lisak, thank you so much. You're very brave and I appreciate your organization and your organization reaching out to me after the scary moments that I don't know what came over me.

LISAK: Thank you very much.

LEMON: Thank you so much. Best of luck to you.

All right. We want to go now to some breaking news that we've been telling you about, what's happening in Libya. We have a protester who is on the phone now. Sir, what's going on in Libya right now?

Sir, are you there? Libya, are you there? OK. We can't hear him. We'll get our technical difficulties fixed and we'll be back right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. He took the pictures, pictures that really shaped a decade about the civil rights movement, civil rights activists say he helped to turn the tide against segregation in the 1960s but as he was snapping photos new evidence shows he was also informing the FBI about the inner workings of Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders. Just minutes from now at 8:00 Eastern, CNN's Soledad O'Brien and her documentary, "Pictures Don't Lie" explore Ernest Withers, his double life. He was a hero or was he a traitor? A question I asked her earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ernest Withers is not a name I think a lot of people know and then yet when you see his artwork you say, oh, that guy because, of course, he took some of the most iconic photos of the civil rights movement, the picture that said "I am a man" showing the Memphis sanitation workers on strike or even some of the photos of Emmett Till and covering that trial. So that's the kind of work he did.

You know, it was back in the fall when news broke that Ernest Withers had been an informant for the FBI that I think everybody was stunned. It really made no sense and how could you justify in your head, you know, here's a guy who clearly was a photojournalist helping to get the most important images about the movement out at the same time being paid to inform for the FBI. We found that contradiction really interesting and confusing and we wanted to explore it more in our documentary, "Pictures Don't Lie."

LEMON: And I've heard people say, you know, if that is indeed, the case, it is the ultimate betrayal. I hate to ask you your opinion but from the evidence and during this documentary, do you think he was a hero or does it look like he was a traitor?

O'BRIEN: I think like most people he was a complicated human being who was in a position possibly because of pressure from the FBI, we talked to a journalist Earl Caldwell who says the FBI came to him and he described it as someone putting their foot on your neck saying, "listen, if you don't cooperate, here's what's going to happen. We're going to tell everybody you're cooperating so when you go to interview the Black Panthers they'll kill you. Because we're going to make it clear that, you know, you're working for us."

LEMON: There was a lot of pressure?

O'BRIEN: There was clearly a lot of pressure. I mean a lot of people we interviewed told us that but the question also became so then, you know, then why was there pressure in his question? I don't know that it's clear. Was it the money? He had a large family and in an industry that didn't compensate him particularly well, you know, so I think - and the time, you know, the FBI agent who now is a sheriff in Georgia who we spoke to said, you know, the ghetto informant program -

LEMON: Right.

O'BRIEN: - of which Withers would be one was sort of like neighborhood watch, he said. Neighborhood watch.

LEMON: Huh. O'BRIEN: Right. And, you know, some people gasp at that but different he said from Quinntell Pro where there was a sort of a definite attempt to overthrow the movement. So I'm not sure we'll ever really know the motivation but most experts have said that the evidence is clear that there was, you know, evidence that he was in fact informing for the FBI.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And it's coming up in just minutes right here on CNN, the documentary "Pictures Don't Lie" about Ernest Withers. Soledad O'Brien's special report on the civil rights photographer and possible FBI informant starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN, just about five minutes.

All right. We're going to have more on our breaking news coverage of Libya, the unrest and the protests after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's check your top stories on CNN. The son of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi is warning of civil war if Libya's people don't stop a popular uprising that is spreading across the North African country. He said the army will restore security at any price and he blamed criminals, drunks and foreigners for the unrest.

Eyewitnesses say Libya's second largest city of Benghazi is now in the hands of protesters and their military allies. CNN cannot confirm that. There are also reports of gunfire and buildings burning in the capital of Tripoli but other witnesses say that calm - that city is at calm again. They're not allowing journalists in the country which is why we can't confirm much of that information.

Our friend of Jean and Scott Adam confirms that they are two of the four Americans kidnapped by Somali pirates. The pirates hijacked the Adams' yacht Friday in the Indian Ocean. The friend says the "S.V. Quest" was traveling with a dozen other yachts in what's called the "Blue Water Rally." A navy rear admiral says the U.S. is "prepared to intervene if necessary."

Here in the United States, bad weather couldn't stop the protests over Wisconsin's proposed budget. A winter storm only drove demonstrators inside the capitol building. The bill would strip public workers of many of their collective bargaining rights and make them pay for benefits.

Republican governor Scott Walker says the state has no choice because it is financially in the red. Democrats in Wisconsin in the Senate fled the state to stall a vote.

We're going to have more of our special coverage of the unrest in Libya tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. 10:00 p.m. Eastern, more of our special coverage.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World headquarters in Atlanta. CNN Presents "Pictures Don't Lie" is next.