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Coalition Forces Pound Libya; U.S. to Hand over Lead; Military Hazards in Libyan Mission; President Obama Facing Libya Criticism

Aired March 21, 2011 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Carol Costello at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay. We'd like to welcome viewers in the United States and around the world to our special coverage of the conflict in Libya.

COSTELLO: This morning Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli lays mostly in ruins. His whereabouts are unknown.

SESAY: The coalition says Gadhafi's troops are not adhering to the ceasefire mandated by the United Nations. In fact there are chilling reports today from the western city of Misrata. A witness there said Gadhafi's forces are carrying out a mission of, quote, "absolute destruction and carnage."

COSTELLO: And today signs that a crack may be forming in the coalition. The Arab League has voiced concern that the military action has been broader than expected and is raising concerns about civilians being put at risk.

And just in the last hour we learned that the four "New York Times" reporters have now been freed. The paper says the Libyan government released them six days after they were detained.

SESAY: OK. Well, let's get the view from Libya's capital. CNN's Nic Robertson is there in Tripoli amid the rubble of Moammar Gadhafi's compound.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What the lady is saying there is she's saying that this is the proof, this is the proof. They're holding up bits of what looked like and from what I see it -- from what I've seen before look like pieces of a cruise missile.

It's hard for us to confirm exactly what sort of weapon or missile this might be. It's also hard for us to confirm anything that we're being told about what this building was being used for.

Well, certainly the people who we're with here have just gone inside the building. This lady pulling out more bits of debris. But what she's saying is look at this. For them this is proof this building was struck by some kind of a missile. Can I have a look? Can I have a look?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

ROBERTSON: Can I have a look? Can I have a look? OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

ROBERTSON: This is still warm. And the writing on it says this equipment contains parts and assemblies sensitive to damage by electrostatic discharge, ESD, precaution when using. And over here it's hard to read. It looks like a serial number on the other side.

Let's have a look over here. Hard to know exactly what it is. Being shown something else over here. Heavy part of something. This is what people here are telling us, showing us is part of a missile system. And another part.

Let me have a look at this. This is from the outside. Certainly seen a few cruise missiles before. Certainly it has the look of a weapon of a missile about it. Again, I can't confirm exactly what it is. On this side serial numbers. Seems to have been made on the 11th -- November 29th, '06. And a serial number but impossible to know what it is.

So a lot of anger here that this building has been hit inside a compound. The Pentagon had earlier said it wasn't a target. Hearing that from the government spokesman there people very frustrated about why this is happening and apparently hitting targets that were they understood were off-limits.

Frustration, too, they say, because not long before this missile hit an hour and a half before, they had re-announced their ceasefire.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tripoli, Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: And Nic joins us now live from the Libyan capital.

Nic, since that attack on the Gadhafi compound, what's been happening there?

ROBERTSON: It's been relatively quiet in the capital at least to the best of our knowledge. We haven't had any heavy anti-aircraft gunfire or any other loud explosions. About 120 miles, about two to three hours' drive to the east of here, Misrata, we have had reports from opposition people inside the city there that there is another government offensive going on against the city.

We're not there. We're not able to go there. So we're not able to independently verify that information or find out exactly what the government forces are doing around that -- are doing about that city but it certainly is a city where the opposition, the armed opposition there has been surrounded by government forces for the last couple of weeks. It's perhaps the opposition's only stronghold here in the -- in the west of the country-- Isha.

SESAY: And Nic, since that attack on the compound, have we seen or heard from Gadhafi himself?

ROBERTSON: We haven't. You know what's very interesting is we haven't seen him on television since the air strikes began. We have had statements from him on television. Two of them. Quite bellicose, describing this as a crusade of war, trying to rally not just support in Libya but in the region, trying to rally Arab support behind his regime here.

But no, he hasn't appeared on television. And this does seem to indicate that he doesn't want to give away any clues about where he might be, where he might be hiding. And certainly the strike on his compound would seem to indicate that perhaps secrecy here right now is well-founded on his part -- Isha.

SESAY: CNN international correspondent Nic Robertson, thanks for joining us -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Allies have been bombarding Libya's air defenses. As of last night, the U.S. and British military have fired a total of 124 Tomahawk cruise missiles. In the meantime U.S. officials say they're getting ready to hand over operational control of the military mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We expect in a matter of days to be able to turn over the primary responsibility to others. We will continue to support the coalition. We'll be a member of the coalition. We'll have a military role in the coalition. But we will not have the pre-eminent role.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's get the military perspective on all of this from CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence.

So, Chris, let's start with Secretary Gates' pledge to hand over control in just a couple of days. First, what exactly does that mean and is it realistic?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, what it means, Carol, is they are looking now to set up some sort of structure by which another entity could take control that could be NATO, although I've been told by a source that there is some trepidation from some of the Arab countries that may participate, just sort of fly under a NATO flag. Another option would be to set up a separate sort of command and control structure.

But really in one key area U.S. participation may have already peaked this morning. I was told just this morning by an official at AFRICOM that -- the commanding authority over there, that our aircraft participation has at most plateaued if not reduced somewhat. So you may have seen the highest point of U.S. involvement up until this point, Carol. But I want to go back to a little bit to what Nic was reporting. We were able to confirm with a coalition official that the coalition did hit Moammar Gadhafi's compound. He explained to me that Colonel Gadhafi himself was not a target, that he's not on a target list. And it wasn't a personal attack on Moammar Gadhafi.

He explained that there is certain command-and-control ability at that compound. In other words Moammar Gadhafi's ability to coordinate with his forces and that's what the coalition was targeting. We also got some new information just this morning.

I just confirmed with the British Ministry of Defense there is a second strike on that compound planned for last night and that mission was called off because there was a danger to civilians there.

I spoke with the British MOD and they say that British tornado jets had planned to hit the compound but they were pulled back and the mission was aborted.

COSTELLO: So just --

LAWRENCE: Carol?

COSTELLO: Just so make this clear, this was not an accident. Gadhafi's compound was targeted and it was targeted again last night but since there were civilians around, they decided not to do it?

LAWRENCE: Exactly. What the coalition official explained was that he says that Gadhafi's compound was targeted. Gadhafi the man was not targeted. In fact, he said we don't really even know where he is. We don't have very good boots on the ground, intel, to let us know his exact whereabouts. It was more the capability that occurred there.

There was a second strike planned but the British called that off because of a danger to civilians there.

COSTELLO: Chris Lawrence reporting live from the Pentagon. Many thanks.

SESAY: Well, retired Major General James "Spider" Marks, former commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, joins us now.

We're about 42 hours into the Libyan operation. And the Pentagon says it's been a success so far. Let's get his thoughts -- what are his thoughts on the hazards that could be ahead for the military.

Thank you so much for joining us, General. What is your sense as to the relative speed with which they've been able to enforce a no-fly zone there in Libya?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): We shouldn't be surprised at all that this went down very, very quickly. The air defense targets, the command-and-control targets have been identified and known for years. They are on a target list. So clearly the -- taking those out by the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles is exactly what we should expect.

So this really was only a day and a half or -- just to define it as hours, not days in order to achieve this mission. We should not be surprised at all.

SESAY: And the targeting of the Gadhafi compound as we're told because he has command-and-control capabilities in there.

MARKS: Correct.

SESAY: Is that something you were previously aware of, the intel was pointing to?

MARKS: Absolutely. The thing that's very, very perverse about Gadhafi is that he has intermingled his command-and-control apparatus, maybe even some of his air defense capabilities with his own official residences and those of the people.

I think it's important to realize that the Gadhafi regime and his people by his own demands are connected. So that when you target a military target, you're going to probably have collateral damage. And collateral damage estimates go into every consideration of targeting. And that's what's so cynical and perverse about Colonel Gadhafi, is that he would intentionally put his people at risk.

SESAY: And is that your principal concern, that there would be collateral damage, that he would move these targets into urban areas?

MARKS: I need to tell you that he probably hasn't moved them. They've probably been there all along. And of course it's a very large concern because the issue becomes, this is an Arab desire. It's a Libyan desire to eliminate Colonel Gadhafi.

The concern that United States has is that if it paints itself as a lead element in achieving that goal, it's now the United States' effort to eliminate Gadhafi and not the Libyan people. That's what needs to be emphasized. That this is a Libyan effort.

SESAY: Major General James "Spider" Marks. We appreciate your time today. Thank you.

MARKS: Sure. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: That might prove pretty tough but we'll get more into that later.

SESAY: Yes. Absolutely.

COSTELLO: We talked -- we just talked about the military goals in Libya but what about the political end of the game? If Moammar Gadhafi still leads Libya is that a defeat for the United States? Let's say.

A former assistant secretary of state offers insight next.

SESAY: Plus, while those cruise missiles were going up, so was the cost of a barrel of crude oil. And you know what that means when you fill up your gas tank. Details at the bottom of the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. Let's take a look at the countries taking part in the military action against Libya. They are Britain, France, the U.S., Italy, Denmark, Spain, Qatar, Canada and Norway.

COSTELLO: But are the U.S. political goals in line with their military partners?

Here to talk about the end game in Libya is former assistant secretary of state and currently the executive director of "Bloomberg View" James Rubin.

Thank you so much for joining us.

JAMES RUBIN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE BLOOMBERG VIEW": Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: So, Jamie, here's the thing. For weeks, President Obama and his secretary of state said Gadhafi must go. Now, the United States is part of a mission to what? Get Gadhafi to stop killing his own people? OK. Let's say we do that. Then what?

RUBIN: Well, I think there are some difficulties in linking the use of air power with the allies that you just mentioned to the goal of getting rid of Gadhafi. That is clearly not the military objective as understood by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and other military commanders in the other countries.

But the long-term policy goal is now to get rid of Gadhafi. And I think what we're going to have to do is develop a set of policies beyond just this air attack that can yield that result. And I think one way to go is, once the prevention of the massacre has occurred, and we see what the new order of battle is after these air attacks, in other words, what's left of Gadhafi's forces, because they actually weren't that huge. It was just that he had the only organized forces.

Once we see that, then we can make a decision. Do we want to arm and train the rebels? The people that the French government has recognized --

COSTELLO: But doesn't that mean boots on the ground, Jamie?

RUBIN: There may be some difficulties --

COSTELLO: Doesn't that mean boots on the ground?

RUBIN: No, it doesn't --

COSTELLO: But somebody --

RUBIN: I mean, it's a legitimate --

COSTELLO: -- has to train those people, right?

RUBIN: Well, right. Yes. But first of all, there are other countries that may not be drawing the line so starkly that we are.

But if we want to get rid of Gadhafi, we're going to have to see some force push towards Tripoli and get closer and closer to the point where either he is killed by one of his lieutenants, which is not that likely, given the high security measures he's taken, or he's defeated militarily.

That's the only way to get rid of him. Otherwise, we're in a long- term situation where Gadhafi controls Tripoli. Maybe we can keep him in his box and prevent him from causing danger, but the only way that I can see without boots on the ground to achieve the stated goal of the president and secretary of state --

COSTELLO: Before you --

RUBIN: -- is to have the rebel forces --

COSTELLO: Right. I was going to ask but this coalition, because we keep talking about it. We hear about an Arab coalition. But frankly, the only country willing to be named or to send planes is Qatar. The Arab League says it supports a no-fly zone, but suddenly it's not sure whether air strikes are right or wrong. That sure doesn't sound like Arab support.

RUBIN: Well, I think there are levels of support and there are levels of support. You're not seeing the kind of Arab involvement that we had in the first Gulf war, where there were Egyptian and Saudi, the two large countries contributing actual military forces and air forces and ground forces.

I think it is token, the Arab participation. And in terms of the political support, I suspect it's still there. Amr Moussa, who is the Secretary-General of the Arab League is running for president in Egypt and probably is concerned about his own personal future. I think until you see governments in the Arab world raise those same kind of questions, I think you can regard it as the Secretary-General of the Arab League's point of view.

So, there are not going to be a big, strong, full-fledged coalition. And that is simply what we're going to have to deal with, and the president has made clear that he doesn't want to see the United States in any sort of leading role, all of which adds up to the idea that this could go on a while.

COSTELLO: And that's what many Americans fear, frankly. Jamie Rubin, many thanks.

RUBIN: Thank you.

SESAY: Well, we're -- we're going to have much more Libya coverage just ahead but, first, new setbacks at the crippled nuclear reactor in Japan. Despite heroic efforts to spray water on the crippled reactors, smoke is now spewing from two of them, and world health officials say radiation in the food supply is much more serious than first thought.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now to the crisis in Japan. The death toll in the earthquake and tsunami has now risen to more than 8,600, and more than 13,000 are missing.

SESAY: And new troubles at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Today, smoke could be seen billowing from both the number two and number three reactors.

COSTELLO: The US government is making potassium iodine pills available to US military families in Japan. The pills block harmful effects of radiation on the thyroid.

SESAY: And the Japanese government has banned the sale of some milk and spinach products because of high level of radiation. The World Health Operation -- Organization says the food situation in Japan is more serious than first thought.

Well, Japan has been working for days to try to stabilize the crippled nuclear reactors. Over the weekend, they sprayed tons of water to try to cool things down. Japanese officials indicated they'd been making progress and said the situation at the plant had stabilized.

Well, a CNN contributor and international security analyst Jim Walsh is joining us now from Boston. Jim, however for that good news, there have been a couple big setbacks today. We've got a number of developments. We're getting word that there has been smoke coming out of reactors two and three. What could be causing that smoke?

JIM WALSH, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, of course, it's hard to know. But we have had fires before, Isha. You'll remember that in reactor number four near the spent fuel pond, we had two fires break out.

And now we have fires in reactor three, which also has a spent fuel pond that's holding nuclear waste. But also a fire in reactor two.

It may -- and the fires could have different causes, for all we know. But it's worth keeping in mind that one of the things they've tried to do over the last couple of days is restore electricity, particularly to unit two. First, bringing in a power line, and then trying to lay down cable so that they can get those cooling pumps working.

It may very well be a function of having -- trying to get electricity going, they may have run into an electrical fire. But this is all speculation at this point. We don't know because, frankly, no one can get inside close enough to see what's actually happening.

SESAY: Indeed. And I know that efforts have been made and advances have been made in getting electricity to all six units. Where do things stand now? As you say, this could be a major setback.

WALSH: Well, we are making progress. Now, we started out with six plants that were in trouble in varying degrees. Now, reactors five and six seem to have been stabilized. They have electricity. The cooling is working. So, that's good news.

Reactor one, we haven't heard about any problems from for a while, so that sort of narrows the problem to reactors two, three and four.

Reactor two, Isha, you'll remember, had that internal explosion, and there was concern about its containment vessel. Again, we're not sure what's happening there.

And then, in reactors three and four, they've really been where the attention has been paid and the concern because of the spent fuel ponds and, of course, the other problems in reactor three.

So, they've cut the problem in half, which is great. But there's still a long way to go, here. And as they try to make progress, they are likely to encounter new problems as they try to solve the electricity issue.

SESAY: All right. Jim Walsh, joining us, there, from Boston. Jim, always appreciate your expertise. Thank you.

Well, coming up in our next hour, our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen tells us if we should be concerned about radiation in the US food supply. It's a big question many, of course, considering on this day. Carol?

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Benghazi, the heart of Libya's opposition and smothering graveyard of Gadhafi's forces. CNN's Arwa Damon is in the rebel stronghold, and she'll join us with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Missiles over Libya, nuclear troubles in Japan. Sadly, it should be an interesting session on Wall Street.

SESAY: Yes, indeed. The opening bell is about to ring, and we will, of course, keep an eye on the numbers throughout the morning. So, stay with us for that.

OK, so, with violence intensifying in those areas, the price of oil and gas are going up. More than a third of the world's oil comes out of North Africa and the Middle East.

In the US, the average for a gallon of regular gas hovered around $2.81 a year ago. Today, it's $3.57. That's up nearly seven cents from two weeks ago.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Let's check on what's new in Libya this morning. The coalition says Gadhafi's troops are not adhering to the cease-fire mandated by the United Nations.

SESAY: In fact, there are chilling reports today from the western city of Misrata. A witness there says Gadhafi's forces are carrying out a mission of quote, "absolute destruction and carnage." While Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli lies mostly in ruins, whereabouts are unknown.

COSTELLO: The allied air strikes have been both celebrated and witnessed by rebel forces in Benghazi. CNN's Arwa Damon is on the phone.

Arwa, what are rebels doing while the air strikes going on?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, the air strikes around the city appeared to have stopped. As far as we're aware, the last ones that took place happened in the early hours of the morning on Sunday, literally bringing about a grinding halt to Gadhafi's military machine.

We were out of the sight of those strikes some 20 miles, 30 kilometers outside of Benghazi. We saw debris littered for as far as the eye could see. Military vehicles, we counted 70 of them destroyed, ranging from armored personnel carriers to tanks that had their turrets blown off. Many residents of Benghazi heading out there to survey damage for themselves.

Most of the people we spoke to firmly believing that were it not for those air strikes Gadhafi's military would have launched yet another attack on Benghazi and eventually he would have taken the city and carried out a massacre.

As far as we can tell right now based on our sources, the front line does appear to once again have shifted back to the city of Ajdabiya. Opposition forces trying to move forward, trying to regain ground that they once had that they then lost to Gadhafi's forces, saying that they are going to continue in their mission, as they call it, to liberate Libya and install a Democratic government, Carol.

COSTELLO: So Arwa, just to -- I know you talked about these military vehicles that have been destroyed. So where have Gadhafi's troops gone? Have they completely retreated? Are they in hiding and ready -- are poised to attack again?

DAMON: As far as we can tell, Carol, they retreated to the city of Ajdabiya, that they managed to fully gain control of a few days ago. Forces and eyewitnesses were telling us that they had taken over a military base there and it does seem as if they're going to try to hold on to this very strategic city.

The opposition what we're seeing is trying to advance on Ajdabiya, but this time they're proceeding very slowly. When we saw them in the beginning they were just barreling through these various cities and towns. They took control over them fairly easily but they did not have a military strategy. And then we saw them lose this very precious terrain.

Now we're seeing them advancing militarily, seeming to be much more aware of their situation, seeming to have gained the experience of the battles over the last few weeks so they're advancing very slowly on Ajdabiya. As far as we can tell their location is still a few kilometers, a few miles outside of that city. Everyone anticipating that the battle for Ajdabiya will be taking place shortly though, Carol.

COSTELLO: Arwa Damon, reporting live from Benghazi. Many thanks.

Moammar Gadhafi has a reputation of being unpredictable, even bizarre.

SESAY: He's not only blasted (ph) world powers, but what will he do next? That is a big question we'll explore just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Moammar Gadhafi has directed attacks against his own people in Libya's current crackdown. He was the man behind the bombing of Pan Am 103. So now that a coalition launched attacks on his nation, how far will he go in response?

COSTELLO: It's a frightening question, isn't it? Kristin Wood, you were there at the CIA. You poured over plenty of intel about Gadhafi. You have an idea of what he is capable of. And, first of all, I should welcome you.

Thank you for being here with us.

KRISTIN WOOD, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Thank you so much. It's great to be here.

COSTELLO: We understand Moammar Gadhafi has a stash of mustard gas. How worried should we be about that?

WOOD: Well, I think it's really impossible to -- it would be a mistake to underestimate Gadhafi at this point. He's certainly looking at the end of his regime one way or another. He's shown, as you pointed out, a willingness to use terrorism as a tool of his state foreign policy in the past.

So I think his willingness and his desire to attack the coalition nations would be very high level right now. The question is, what does he already have in place to be able to do so?

COSTELLO: And how would he do that? I mean, there's nobody on the ground, no coalition forces on the ground in Libya. Might Moammar Gadhafi use these chemical weapons against the rebels?

WOOD: I think the question really is less so about the chemical weapons but what does he already have in place abroad? If you look at his list of friends right now, it's a pretty small list and it's clear his end game is in sight. So, really the most likely individuals to work with him at this point are regime loyalists.

They already have to be in place abroad to do so. And certainly with all of the security measures we have in place internationally, there would have been some intelligence or some indication that that -- some kind of chemical weapon had traveled. So his willingness to use it against his own people, I would not underestimate that. But he has got a lot of work to do just to save his own regime as we can tell from the fact we don't know where he is today. COSTELLO: So if he is planning terrorist attacks overseas in some country using bombs, let's say, that's something that's very difficult to stop, isn't it?

WOOD: It is something that's very difficult to stop. And the international community has been dedicated to stopping terrorism worldwide, whether it comes from Libya or any other actor.

I know that security officials are at a heightened state of alert given all the things going on, not only in Libya but in Middle East in general. So -- security officials are definitely paying attention and doing everything they can to avert these kinds of attacks.

These regime loyalists who really are the most likely actors at this point would have to be willing to go down with him, understanding what he's done against his own people.

COSTELLO: Kristin Wood, many thinks for joining us today.

WOOD: Thank you.

SESAY: Well, growing turbulence in the Middle East. Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, all have protesters in their streets. Our very own Zain Verjee joins us from London in two minutes to detail what's going on in each of those hot spots.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Three top generals in Yemen are getting behind the anti- government protests. Let's check on that. Plus, some other Arab nations are facing anti-government protesters.

SESAY: Our Zain Verjee joins us from London, with the latest on that and much more.

Zain, what are you seeing?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, guys.

Let's start with Yemen. There have been major defections. There are three top military commanders that have gone to the other side. They're now throwing all their behind opposition forces. And, in fact, you know what they're doing? They're sending their army units to protect protesters. All in all we're looking at today at about at least 13 officials that have resigned and are now in support of the opposition.

Even ambassadors in places like Dubai and Qatar have resigned. Dozens of protesters have been out on the street. Many have been shot by live fire, by security forces. President Saleh is under so much pressure now and increasingly isolated.

Now guys, when you look at this video, you've got to remember that Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world so all these people that you're seeing on the streets tend to be young, unemployed and angry and they are demanding more freedoms. Let's go to Bahrain now. The headline today is that the king of Bahrain has come out and said that they have foiled a plot to destabilize Bahrain. He said this plot was 20 years in the making. He didn't name the country. But everybody suspects Iran. They've accused Iran for a long time of meddling in affairs of Bahrain.

Human rights watchers also come out and said that the government needs to stop arresting doctors as well as human rights activists. As you know there are protestors out on the streets still in Bahrain demanding Saleh get out.

Let's turn to Syria. The -- the -- another country that -- where there have been protests going on over the past few days.

The main thing going on there right now is the city in the south part of Syria called, Dara. Troops have been deployed there. The main road into the city has been blocked. Internet, electricity, communications have all been cut out. It's down. People are also demanding more freedoms and political reform.

SESAY: Zain, Syria, a country known for being repressive, a repressive regime. What's our sense as to how serious these protests are that are taking place there and how many of a threat they are to the regime?

VERJEE: You know, so many people would have said that a country like Syria and Bashar Al-Assad (ph) has a real grip on power and what happened in you know, countries like Egypt or Tunisia isn't going to happen there but it's surprising everyone what we're seeing across the Arab world.

So I think in many countries that we've seen -- we've seen authoritarian regimes and dictatorships, people are holding their breath because they're looking around and seeing that there is really something about people power and that they can really do it. It's a -- it's a regime that has a tight control on security forces but so did Libya, so did Egypt, so did Tunisia. So the jury is out.

SESAY: It certainly is. Our Zain Verjee joining us there from London. Zain, thank you.

COSTELLO: U.S. President Obama taking heat from his own party for the international intervention in Libya. One Democratic Congressman says it's a bad decision. He'll tell us why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: President Obama is facing scrutiny and criticism from within his own party for his decision to take action in Libya. Democratic U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts says flatly, it's a bad decision.

Congressman Lynch joins us now live from Boston. Thank you for joining us Congressman.

REP. STEPHEN LYNCH (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you, Carol it's good to be with you.

COSTELLO: So Moammar Gadhafi was bombing hospitals, killing his own people. Why was this a bad decision to get involved in Libya?

LYNCH: First, it's a civil war, no doubt, we don't know that much about the rebels but for the United States to commit its sons and daughters in -- in military action especially while we have two wars going on already, normally it would require some direct and eminent threat against the United States. And that's just not -- not in evidence right now.

If we're going to use risk or -- or threat to -- to civilian populations, then we have the Ivory Coast, the Congo, Bahrain, a lot of countries that you've talked about earlier. The Sudan, Yemen, perhaps. If -- if the threat to civilian populations is going to be our new litmus test for military intervention, then, we're going to be very active around the globe, I'm afraid.

COSTELLO: Well, the United States has been active in this kind of role in -- in our history. And -- and when you look at the polls most Americans were in favor of -- of the United States taking some action against Moammar Gadhafi because what he was doing was so very wrong.

LYNCH: Well, Americans are always in favor of new wars. But if you ask them right now about the earlier coalition effort in -- in Iraq and in Afghanistan, I think there's, you know, considerable opposition to that now. And this coalition, I think, is -- is a rather fragile and perhaps fickle one. Right now, even though France has major economic interests in Libya and wanted to take the lead, they've got about 800 soldiers in -- in Afghanistan which was supposed to be a coalition effort after the U.S. attacks on -- on 9/11.

So, I'm rather skeptical about the -- the -- the statement early on that the U.S. was only going to be in a supportive role. We talked with -- we had a caucus yesterday with the Democratic caucus and our military leaders of -- as of late yesterday afternoon said that the United States was in the lead role.

We hope to hand off to the French and the British at some point.

(CROSS TALK)

COSTELLO: Well, that's -- that's what -- that's what Secretary Gates is saying, that we'll only be involved for a couple days and then, we'll take a back seat once again. And you know, you -- you talk about Americans liking war. I -- I don't think that's necessarily true.

And -- and -- and the other question I have, I mean, our military personnel they're involved right now. So shouldn't our lawmakers throw their support behind the President regardless of how they feel?

LYNCH: No, no, absolutely not. That would advocate Congress' responsibility, right? If -- if -- if under the war powers resolution, unless there's some imminent threat. The President does have the ability, under an immediate threat, in an urgent situation to use Article 2 to use some temporary military action in the face of that threat.

But here, there's no threat. We've had weeks, we've had weeks to be able to go to Congress, have the representatives of the people debate this issue, find out what are the expectations of the Libyan people, the -- the Libyan rebels, if you will. We're not sure who they are, we're not sure what they stand for, we're not sure if they are prodemocracy or Islamic. But find out what their expectations are.

Are we saying that we're going to be involved in just this -- just this no-fly zone which is now -- now a -- a bit more than that already and -- and we're not going to help them rebuild their country and establish a new government with rule of law and -- and you know, because I think that's what the expectations of -- of the Libyan people will be. And that's what a lot of people in the Middle East would expect us to do.

(CROSS TALK)

COSTELLO: Right.

LYNCH: And I'm just curious --

COSTELLO: And -- and Congressman --

LYNCH: -- whether or not we've --

COSTELLO: I -- I -- I hear what you're saying. And even many Republicans agree with you and other Democrats agree with you. And we're going to be talking a lot about this throughout the day here on CNN. Congressman Lynch, thank you for joining us today.

LYNCH: Thank you, Carol. Thank you.

SESAY: Well, we are following lots of developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with Nic Robertson in Tripoli -- Nic.

ROBERTSON: Coming up at the top of the hour more of my visit at Moammar Gadhafi's compound and the missile hit by -- the building hit by a missile strike.

LAWRENCE: I'm Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon. Has the U.S. Military's involvement in Libya already peaked? If not, what is it going to take to pull back? I'll have that story, top of the hour.

ANNA COREN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Smoke is billowing from two reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. We'll have full details live from Tokyo, coming up in the next hour.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in New York. Radiation in Japan has hit the West Coast of the United States. What does this mean for our agriculture? I'll have that at the top of the hour.

SESAY: Many thanks to everyone. Also ahead, with Moammar Gadhafi's military capability are in the cross hairs of coalition forces there appears to be no coalition about what to think of the Obama administration's game plan.

COSTELLO: One corner saying it's about building support; the other says it's just policy. CNN's David Gergen will join us in the next hour with his analysis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Looking ahead to stories making news later today. President Obama is heading to Chile this morning after a weekend stop in Brazil. The President will hold a bilateral meeting with Chili's president, Pinera, then give a speech scheduled for 3:30 Eastern time from Santiago.

SESAY: A major tribute tonight for George H.W. Bush. The 41st president is being honored for his lifetime of public service at a Kennedy Center gala in Washington. President's Clinton, Carter and son George W. Bush will all be in attendance.

COSTELLO: In California jury selection will begin this morning in the trial for Barry Bonds. Baseball's all-time home run leader is charged with lying to a grand jury three years ago when he denied knowingly taking performance enhancing drugs.

From Asia to Africa, two huge stories unfolding rivet the world.

SESAY: Ominous new developments in Japan, smoke rolls from two damaged nuclear reactors. And experts scramble to prevent a new leak of radiation.

COSTELLO: And in Libya the Allied air strike pound away at Moammar Gadhafi's military. The offensive really hits home, when it reduces much of his compound to rubble.