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New Phase In Libyan Campaign; More Than 20,000 Dead Or Missing In Japan; America's Next Move in Libya; Blockbuster Wireless Deal; Obama in Chile; Future Portable Cell Phone Towers?' "New York Times" Journalists Released by Libyan Government

Aired March 21, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Suzanne. Thank you.

A weekend of action, now comes the patrolling of a no-fly zone over Libya. That's the word from AFRICOM. The U.S. military's Africa Command describing phase two of an allied campaign to protect Libyan civilians from their own government. The action phase included a cruise missile strike on the heart of Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli. Libyan officials say no one was hurt, and the allies say Gadhafi is not being targeted. The bombed out building supposedly house add military command and control center.

After well over 100 missile launches since Saturday, an African spokesman says U.S. involvement in operation odyssey dawn, as it's called, may have peaked. The coalition has nine other members and NATO may take the lead, though that is still being decide.

And Libyan fighters are still on the move. We're getting word from Misurata, that's east of Tripoli, that Gadhafi's tanks and snipers today unleashed, quote, "Absolute destruction and carnage." A witness says they are shooting people in the main street.

An exclusive CNN poll finds broad American support for the allied mission. More than 80 percent say protecting Libyans from their longtime dictator should be a somewhat or very important goal of the U.S., but 70 percent do not favor sending in any ground troops.

I want to turn now to CNN's Arwa Damon in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. She joins us live now on telephone. Benghazi is the seat of the opposition movement, and I wonder, Arwa, whether Gadhafi's opponents feel that their fortunes have changed?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They most certainly do, Randi. Just to paint a picture for you what happened over the weekend, even though the U.N. resolution had passed on Saturday, Gadhafi's forces assaulted southern Benghazi. At least 95 people were killed, according to hospital officials. Residents eyewitnesses were telling us they themselves saw Gadhafi's troops on top of vehicles, mounted with automatic machine guns, spraying buildings indiscriminately, firing tank rounds into buildings indiscriminately.

People -- the opposition did, on Saturday, manage to drive Gadhafi's forces out, but everyone we were talking to felt as if a slaughter, a massacre at their hands was effectively imminent.

On Sunday, then we saw fighter jets bombing Gadhafi's military mass outside of Benghazi. The damage caused by that extensive (ph) stretching for as far as the eye could see. We counted at least 70 burnt vehicles. It brought Gadhafi's military regime to a grinding halt and everybody who we were talking to has one simple message to the international community, and that is a message of thanks, because without that sort of intervention, they do believe that they would have been killed -- Randi.

KAYE: And tell us what you're hearing from, or even about, Misurata, because we were getting word of tanks and snipers there from pro-government forces.

DAMON: Yes, we were just down in front of the courthouse in Benghazi where there was a demonstration, people showing their support and solidarity calling for intervention for Misurata and also for this other area called Zintan. We just met a woman whose daughter lives in Misurata. She was frantic, she was trying to get in touch with them. We gave her our faria (ph) phone to try to get through. She can't get through to her relatives there and the most disturbing part of it is that she says a few days ago on Al Jazeera so saw one of her daughter's homes damaged. And so, naturally, she's very frantic. We have all sorts of eyewitness reports from Zintan, from Misurata that there is a massacre of slaughter going on at the hands of Gadhafi's forces. People here most definitely wanting to see the no-fly zone extended to those areas as well, because even though they realize that Benghazi is safe for now, this entire battle for Libya is far from over at this stage -- Randi.

KAYE: And Arwa, just a short time ago, we heard from the Pentagon saying that they are not in direct contact -- those who are attacking Libya are not in direct contact with the rebel forces. Do you get the sense, though, that the rebel forces and the opposition on the ground does understand that they have a lot of support from Americans?

DAMON: They do now, and they do know that the U.N. resolution passed, now that they're seeing America actively involved. Up until that stage, they did feel that the U.S., by taking so long to try to help in how they could push this resolution through, was in fact the fact (ph) aligning itself with Gadhafi's forces.

Once that resolution passed, I had a number of Libyans come up to me thanking and praising the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Rice. Many of them saying that they were so impressed by her attitude, her stance (ph), her statement at the United Nations. And now they do have the sense that they're not in this alone, that the United States is effectively standing with them, that all of these international global leaders are by and large (ph) standing with them -- Randi.

KAYE: All right. Arwa Damon for us in Benghazi, Libya. Thank you, Arwa.

Now to Japan. In Japan right now the focus of a devastated nation remains on the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant and two hot reactors in particular.

Today, gray smoke billowed from react number three even after 1,000 tons of water was sprayed from fire trucks and cranes to try to keep spent fuel rods cool.

Later, white smoke came from reactor number two, but we haven't heard of new explosions at either site.

On the hopeful side, all six of the Dai-ichi reactors have now been hooked up to power cables but only two have power. That's important because electricity can run pumps that will keep water moving where it's needed.

Outside the plant, a ban exists on the sale or distribution of milk and produce from Fukushima prefecture and on spinach from a neighboring prefecture. Over the weekend, samples tested positive for radioactive iodine and cesium, but still experts say there is no immediate health risk.

Officially, the death toll from Japan's twin natural catastrophes, earthquake and tsunami, stands at 8,805. Twelve thousand six hundred fifty-four people are officially missing.

And if those numbers sound overwhelming, well that is an understatement. Here's CNN's Kyung Lah, and we want to warn you, you may find some of these images you're about to see disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Japan's disaster, there are too many dead to have a proper funeral. Sixteen-year-old Hiroki Sugihara is underneath this blanket. His parents and two brothers drove his body to the emergency shelter, the best farewell they could offer in the wake of the tsunami.

Don't give up hope, Hiroki's father tells his friends. Keep living for my son. These children have already lost two of they are friends, Hiroki is the third. He wasn't at school that day which sits sits high above his neighborhood. Crews pulled his body from the rubble. Sixteen-year-old Takuma Kinno (ph) played soccer with Hiroke.

TAKUMA KINNO, HIROKE'S FRIEND: I've lost my best friend, Hiroke, he says. Hiroke died young, he should've lived a long life.

LAH: Life has been cut short all across Rikuzentaka, one of the hardest hit towns in the tsunami zone. Search crews find the body of a middle-aged woman, like all the others, they can't identify her, but cover her and load her and load her body on to a truck.

They offer a single sign of respect, of farewell, on the ground, flowers and offerings of tea to mark the passing of another life. After a few seconds, crews return to the search.

It is tough to cope with this scale of loss as an adult, for the young, incomprehensible. It's too early to know how many children have been impacted by this disaster, but aid organizations believe that number will be well into the thousands and that they'll feel the psychological damage for years to come.

We have already spoken to children who are having nightmares, they're unable to sleep. They're frightened to the sea because they believe it's going to come back. They're frightened of being indoors because the building shook so violently during the earthquake. So, there's absolutely a chance that many of these children are going to have difficulties, serious difficulties, coming to terms with what happened to them.

LAH: For the friends of Hiroki Sugihara, this impromptu funeral is some closure.

A thank you from the family. His father covers his son and offers a final farewell to his friends. A few more seconds to cry, then Hiroki's friends move back inside the shelter to deal with what this disaster brings next. Kyung Lah, CNN, Rikuzentaka, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And the people of Japan, of course, need your assistance, so head to the impact your world section of Web site to see how you can help.

The U.S. military says it's ramping down its role in Libya, but what does that actually mean? We'll talk about that on the other side of the break.

And we want to know what you think about the U.S. involvement in Libya. Send us your thoughts. Here's how to reach us at Twitter, Facebook and our blog. We'll read your answers later in the show, so be sure to stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: And there you see the Tomahawk missile launch from the early hours of operation odyssey dawn on Saturday. And now, we're hearing the U.S. military may be ramping down its role in Libya.

Joining me now, our former NATO supreme allied commander and CNN contributor General Wesley Clark and CNN Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence.

Chris, let's start with you. You just got out of that Pentagon briefing just a short time ago, what stood out to you?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, one thing that really jumped out to me, Randi, was a lot of us have been wondering, and there's been a lot of accusations, about what the U.S. military role is going to be going forward. There were some accusations that there was a possibility that the U.S. military and its allies could be in a position of simply providing air support to these rebel groups as they battle Gadhafi's forces. In other words, becoming sort of close air support to a group on the ground as they try to battle back and overtake parts of the country.

Well, we heard today, from General Carter Ham who's the commander in that region, pushing back on that, saying, in all actuality, they have seen some of these opposition groups with heavy armor, and armored vehicles and heavy weapons, and that if they were to move into populated areas, and to engage the Libyan forces as sort of an offensive, the general said that could become a real challenge to us and he said, at that point they would no longer be covered by the protection of the no-fly zone.

He also talk about the fact that the U.S. military and its allies, Britain, France and the other countries -- although there has been at least one strike on Colonel Gadhafi's compound, and we now confirmed that a second strike was called off last night. He said that Colonel Gadhafi is not a target and he can actually see this mission ending with Gadhafi still in office.

KAYE: Yes, and that certainly has a lot of people shaking their heads.

All right. General Clark, let's get to you. What is the next step, after hearing this Pentagon briefing, what is the next step for the United States?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think the next step is really diplomatic. The military has done what it was asked to do. It may or may not have destroyed all of Gadhafi's air defenses. There are some reports from the region that say that he managed to pull some of his air defenses back and we heard early on that Admiral Courtney say that some of the mobile assets are not worth worrying about at this point.

But we've substantially completed the military task, it's really up to diplomacy. Now, what we would hope to see is the U.N. taking a role. They have a U.N. secretary-general special representative appointed. He should be dealing with Gadhafi. The U.N. secretary general was in Egypt today. And so, this is a time, then, that the international criminal court jurisdiction should take over, an investigation should be conducted, and ideally, we'd see preparations made for Democratic elections in Libya.

KAYE: But getting back to what Chris had mentioned that Gadhafi could remain in power even after all of this, President Obama has said that it's time for him to go and now you have the attacks on Libya. If he's still in power after all this, will that make the United States look weak?

CLARK: Well, he won't be in power, I don't think, after an international criminal court investigation, because I think he'll be indicted. And if there's democratic election head, he won't be eligible to stand for those elections. But let's say that doesn't happen. Yes, he'll be a wounded, vengeful animal. We've been through this before with him and we can expect real problems in terms of his sparking international terrorism and trying to seek revenge in the Middle East, Europe and against the United States.

KAYE: And does this at all feel like Iraq to you in any way, General, in terms of what the expectations are? Do the people in Libya expect the United States and the allies to help rebuild Libya? CLARK: Well, I think we're not there yet. And I think, you know, right now the infrastructure in Libya is mostly correct (ph). They have some oil. They're exporting and they have exported oil. They've got large foreign currency reserves. It's not quite like Iraq in that respect, but it might be like Iraq in the sense that if this stalemate, and Gadhafi remains in charge and he holds on to major population centers and we're on the fringes of this using air power, it might mean a prolonged stalemate. I think that would be very unfortunate for the international community, and obviously for the people of Libya. And that's why it's time for the United Nations to take charge and finish the job here with diplomacy.

KAYE: All right, our thank to both of you. General Wesley Clark and Chris Lawrence, thanks you, guys.

A huge deal in the wireless industry that could affect just about everyone with a mobile phone. Don't go anywhere. We're going to tell you all about it coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A huge deal in the wireless industry which could affect just about everyone with a mobile phone. AT&T is looking to buy T- Mobile from its German owners for an estimated $39 billion in cash and stocks. Business correspondent Stephanie Elam has been following this story. She joins us now for more.

Stephanie, great to see you. Obviously a lot of people talking about this deal. Still needs federal approval, but give us the basics here of the merger.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Randi, this is a story that kind of has everyone talking because a lot of people have very strong thoughts about what they think about either T-Mobile service or AT&T service. Some good. Some not so good. I've posted it on my FaceBook page to let people weigh in about it.

But really when you take a look at a story like this, this is really going to rival the way things have been done here. You take a look at AT&T. They are the number two mobile phone operator in the United States. T-Mobile is the number four one. Well, compared to number one, which is Verizon, this now combined will put them ahead of Verizon as far as subscribers are concerned here. So this is, obviously, a big deal and Verizon is, obviously, keeping their eyes on it.

One thing we can tell you is that they will have 130 million subscribers if the deal goes through. Also, they're going to increase their network density. One of the complaints about AT&T is that they didn't reach out into rural areas as much. And the argument here is that now because of this merger with T-Mobile they'll be able to do that and reach an added 46.5 million Americans. And they said that they plan on spending $8 billion on infrastructure to combine these networks together, Randi.

KAYE: So let me ask you about this. Is there a T-Mobile iPhone in our future?

ELAM: You know what, that's what a lot of people have been asking me about. First of all, this merger, if it does go through, is going to take about a year. So even if there was one out there, it won't be happening anytime soon. But, yes, the T-Mobile, while it's still operating as a separate entity for now, they should have access to the phones that are offered by AT&T. Even then, though, they will probably no longer be T-Mobile. They'll just be part of big old AT&T.

KAYE: Oh, heavy sigh. I can hear it from a lot of folks out there.

ELAM: A lot of people out there not happy about this. I keep hearing about it.

KAYE: All right, Stephanie Elam, great to see you. Thank you.

ELAM: You too.

KAYE: For more business news, be sure to join Christine Romans for "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern Time. And don't miss "Your Money" with Ali Velshi Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.

Updating our top stories at 21 minutes past the hour.

Smoke poured from two reactors at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan, today, which prompted the evacuation of workers trying to stabilize that facility. The plant's owner says all reactors are now wired for electricity, but officials won't turn it on until pumps that circulate water to cool that nuclear fuel are repaired.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was taken to a hospital in Rome, Italy, earlier today, but she has since returned to her hotel. According to a source familiar with her condition, it's still not clear what exactly was wrong. We will bring you additional details, of course, as they come in.

The U.S. Marshal Service says the woman charged in a deadly day care fire in Texas is back in the U.S. to face charges. She was taken into custody Saturday in Nigeria. Investigators allege that Jessica Tata, a 22-year-old day care owner, left six children alone at her Houston center with the stove on while she went to a store back in February. Four children died and three others were injured in the fire. Jessica Tata faces manslaughter and unlawful flight charges.

President Obama talking trade in Latin America, but keeping one eye solidly on Libya. Our Ed Henry is with the president there in Chile. Coming up, we'll find out how the president is juggling the issues while out of the country. We'll talk with Ed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back.

We have some exclusive new numbers to share with you on the U.S. involvement in Libya. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows that 54 percent of Americans favor the air strikes by the U.S. and coalition partners targeting Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Forty-three percent are opposed.

President Obama has promised not to use ground troops. While only 28 percent of people would support sending in American troops, 70 percent are opposed. When asked how President Obama is handling the situation in Libya, 50 percent of Americans say they approve. The president is handling the situation while on a three-country Latin America trip.

This is the time every day when we talk to CNN's senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. So let's do that now. He's traveling with the president today. And there he is in Santiago, Chile.

Ed, I understand the president had a very important call regarding Libya this morning?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he did. He had a secure conference call with some of his national security team, Secretary Clinton and others. It lasted about an hour according to White House aides.

He's been briefed repeatedly here over the last couple of days since this military campaign started Saturday while he was in Brazil on the first stop of this tour. I think the bottom line is that when you look at those new polling numbers from CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, it shows pretty much the public is onboard with instituting the no-fly zone. Is definitely against ground troops. And the president has said repeatedly, including on Saturday, that he has no plans to put combat troops into Libya.

But I think there's another number beneath the surface that's worth looking at, which is, how important is it to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power? And only 34 percent say it's very important to remove him from power. When we did a poll like this in 2002, 60 percent -- 60 percent said it was very important to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

So, less than -- far less than the majority of Americans are saying that it's very important to remove Colonel Gadhafi from power. Significant because I think one of the big questions President Obama is going to get today and in days ahead as well is, what is the end game and how important is it to remove Gadhafi from power? Because, let's remember, before this military campaign started, this president made it very clear that he wanted Gadhafi to go.

KAYE: And has there been any response from the president and the White House? I know that the president is certainly taking a lot of heat from both sides, actually, about how he handled the attacks on Libya. Critics saying that he needed Congress to be on board and declaring war should have been -- he should have been more in touch with Congress and maybe communicating better with the American people throughout this process.

HENRY: Well, they're pushing back hard by saying that when you go back to Friday around noon in the White House Situation Room, the president brought a bunch of congressional leaders in on Saturday. One of his top aides, Dennis McDonough, was on the phone back in Washington while the president was in Brazil, dialing up on secure lines and whatnot various congressional readers to read them in to what was happening. And they believe, obviously, inside the White House, that they don't need -- they did not need Congress to authorize this military action because they had the U.N. Security Council resolution from last Thursday night.

There are obviously some lawmakers in both parties, not just Republicans but some Democrats, coming forward saying they don't believe that. They're very frustrated with the president for moving forward with this. But I think the bottom line is, the focus today is going to be about the end game I think very likely when the president next hour, for the first time on this trip, the first time since the military campaign began, is going to take some of our questions. He's going to take questions from the media here. The Chilean press, as well as the U.S. press. And you can bet there's going to be at least one, if not more questions about Libya.

First time to quiz him on this and really press him because White House aides are telling us this morning again that the U.S. is going to take a lead role for only days, not weeks. But what if after just a few days here the U.S. starts pulling out of the air strikes and a lead role and Gadhafi is still in power? And what if some of our allies don't want to continue instituting the no-fly zone? Will the U.S. be forced to step it up and get involved in instituting that no- fly zone and what happens to Gadhafi? Is it going to be OK for the U.S. if a couple of week, couple of months from now he's still in power even after all of this military campaign?

KAYE: Yes, so many questions and so many answers needed.

Ed Henry, thank you. Good to see you.

HENRY: Good to see you.

KAYE: And we should remind you that the president is going to make his remarks about 2:05 Eastern Time we're expecting them and we will, of course, take you there and carry those live.

Well, it can be a key economic indicator. We'll have the latest report on housing sale, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: And now a look at developing stories, plus some of the news you may have missed today. The Pentagon says the U.S. and Britain had a combined total of 12 tomahawk missile strikes in Libya overnight. That's down significantly from Saturday's total of more than 110. A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. is transitioning to what he calls a patrolling role.

The "New York Times" reports that four of its journalists held by the Libyan government since last week have been released and crossed safely into neighboring Tunisia today. There was more smoke today from two of the reactors in Japan's troubled Fukushima nuclear plant. The company that owns the plant says it's finished hooking up electrical cables there. Now it's waiting for spare parts so it can restore power to the cooling system. The U.S. Navy aircraft George Washington has been pulled out of Yokosuka as a precaution against radiation.

Investors apparently think Japan is turning the corner. The Stock market went on the rebound today with the Dow Jones Industrial average rising nearly 200 points. Analysts say the rally is also being stoked by AT&T's plan to buy T-Mobile USA. The news about housing is not as good. The National Association of Realtors reports existing home sales fell 9.6 percent last month. Prices dropped to their lowest levels in nine years.

Well, you may want to tweet a happy birthday message to Twitter today. Co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the very first twitter message on this day five years ago. The micro-blogging site became a phenomenon and now has 200 million users. Among them, actor Charlie Sheen who set a record by recruiting one million Twitter followers earlier this month in 25 hours and 17 minutes. Now he is up to three million. Sheen sent a message to his three millionth followers just yesterday offering free tickets to his new one-man stage show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Now the latest about food contamination linked to radiation from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. Officials are now finding elevated levels of radiation in food produced outside the evacuation area. The Japanese government has banned the sale of raw milk from Fukushima prefecture and spinach from a neighboring prefecture. The World Health Organization says short-term exposure to the contaminated food poses no immediate health risk, not even in Japan.

That hasn't stopped many Americans, of course, from worrying. So let's check in with CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's in New York this afternoon.

Elizabeth, should we be concerned about food imported from Japan?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what? The experts tell us we should not be concerned. And here's why.

First of all, we don't east much imported food from Japan. It makes up about four percent of the food that we import. It's seafood, not much sushi, though, and all sorts of other vegetables and processed foods. But it's really very little.

But even if you ate it, day after day, it still would likely not hurt you. For example, that spinach, Randi, that you were just showing, if you ate spinach made near this plant day after day, after a year, would you have as much radiation as is in a CAT scan. Is that good? No. Is it going to kill you? No, it's the not going to kill you. I should also note that federal -- the federal government here in the United States is checking things that are coming in from Japan to see if they have radiation -- Randi.

KAYE: And let's talk about the west coast. We know that radiation from Japan reached the west coast.

So, should we be concerned about produce there?

COHEN: Again, Randi, no reason to be concerned. The amount of radiation that has hit the west coast is so teeny, tiny. A teeny, tiny fraction of the amount of radiation that they had in Japan, that even if it did get into the produce, it still would not cause problems.

Now, again, the U.S. government is checking it. They're doing some spot checks of things like milk and water, and they will certainly let people know if it got too high. But at the moment it appears to be that it would be very, very, low, because even the amounts of radiation that hit the west coast have been so low.

KAYE: Yes, that's what I was going to ask you because this is certainly good news, but as the days go on you wonder, well, how will we know if it becomes more dangerous for us?

COHEN: Right. They are going to continue to do that monitoring. There are many monitoring stations set out across the United States, not because of Japan, but just it's always that way. And so they'll continue to monitor that and let people know if the levels are getting too high.

KAYE: All right. Elizabeth Cohen in New York for us.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

KAYE: You've probably seen them as you've been driving around, cell phone towers. They're really big, ugly and very expensive. But now there's one that fits in the palm of your hand. Yes, right in the palm of your hand. It's today's Big I and you've got to see it to believe it. It's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In Japan, setbacks and some progress for workers struggling to repair that crippled nuclear plant. White smoke spewed today from two reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The smoke was coming from the number two and number three reactors. Workers trying to repair the number three reactor were evacuated but officials say there was no sign of any explosion, an increase in radiation or any injuries.

Hundreds of workers spent the weekend trying to connect a high voltage transmission line to the number two unit in a bid to restart a cooling system that could help reduce the temperature in the reactor and spent fuel pool. Workers also continued to spray tons of water on the reactor. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Switzerland warns that the crisis remains very serious, but pressure in reactor number three is down.

That bit of encouragement was echoed by an official at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission who told the "New York Times" that the situation in the plant appears to be, quote, "On the verge of stabilizing."

Also today, rescuers continue to dig through the rubble in search of survivors and bodies from the March 11th quake and tsunami. Officials now say the disaster killed 8,805 people and more than 12,000 do still remain missing.

In Libya, part of Moammar Gadhafi's compound is a pile of rubble today. U.S. and coalition forces bombed the site late yesterday. Officials say the compound was hit because it contained command and control facilities for Gadhafi's forces. A top military officer said as a Pentagon briefing today that Gadhafi is not being targeted. Western officials say they have no idea where the Libyan leader may even be holed up and he hasn't been heard from since his weekend vow of a long, drawn-out war.

And coalitions strikes against Gadhafi's forces continue, a senior American commander says the allies are generally achieving their goals in Libya. General Cater Ham, Commander of the U.S. Africa Command says the main focus of the mission continues to be to protect Libyan civilizans. He says there is no communication with rebel forces. He also says that Gadhafi's forces are showing little will or capacity to fight and they are moving south, away from the main opposition city of Benghazi.

Anti-government protests are unfolding elsewhere in the region. Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the southern Syrian city of Daraa today after the funeral for a protester killed in clashes with security forces yesterday. The state news agency says two others were till killed in demonstrations in the city on Friday.

In a bid to clamp down on the anger, army troops were deployed to Daraa today. Troops set up check it point and demanded that people going into the city present identity cards. Protesters are demanding political freedom and an end to corruption.

In the last month, cell phones have helped spawn revolutions in Egypt, and saved lives in Japan. Well, for the first time in history, Smartphones outsold computers this year. And now tablet computers, of course, are all the rage. Those mobile devices are putting enormous strain on cell towers and it is just going to get worse.

Check this out. According to Alcatel-Lucent, in the next couple of years, data used on mobile devices is expected to grow 30 times. And in the next 10 years, we're looking at a growth of 500 times the current usage.

So we're all about big solutions to big problems, as you know on this show. In today's Big I, imagine squeezing a cell phone tower into a box the size of a Rubik's cube? It has been done. This is big news today, of course, with At&T buying T-Mobile. It's Extremely expensive to own a network nowadays. And here to tell us all about is CNNMoney.com's David Goldman.

David, great to see you. It sounds like a pipe dream come true. Please, tell us how this works.

DAVID GOLDMAN, STAFF WRITER, CNNMONEY.COM: It's really unbelievable, because you said it, you're taking all of the components of a cell tower and you're putting it into a device that's just the size of a Rubik's cube. It fits in the palm of your hand.

And what it does, it allows companies like AT&T and Verizon and Sprint to put these devices all over a city. So you can put a wall, on top of a lamppost, on a bus station. And instead of having these big cell towers that spread out signal in all different areas, you actually can direct these to send it up a road or down another path, so that, you know, say during rush hour can you have them pointing in one direction, during rush hour going home, you can have it pointing in another direction. And that way you're saving a lot of bandwidth.

It's much, much more efficient to use these kind of devices. And, in fact, they say, Alcatel-Lucent who made this device says that they can save cell phone companies about 50 percent on their costs, and that's a big, important factor for people who are Smartphone and tablet users because they've seen how expensive this can get if you're using an iPad, if you're using a Smartphone. You know that those data costs can be really, really expensive. That's right.

KAYE: So you're saying, then, that it could save us money. Will it help with our service then? With all those dropped calls if they're better targeted?

GOLDMAN: Yes. If something's much more efficient like this, you can use this to -- like a directed band (ph) or you could use it so that you're controlling how many people can get on to a particular network at a time. And with the current antennae technology you have, it's just spreading signal out. But with these, you can -- you can know how many people are on the network. You can know how many people can use it at a certain time. And that way, you really control the efficiency of your network. Smaller sometimes is better, yes.

KAYE: I'm just fascinated about the fact as you look at the cell phone towers, I mean, they're huge. How do you get something so big into a box the size of a Rubik's cube?

GOLDMAN: Yes, well, it wasn't easy, certainly. It's actually an interesting story. One of the engineers who thought this up was working in his woodshop and came up with something about this size and said, I know it can't be any smaller than this, but it has to be this small. And they said, no, no, no, no. That's impossible. No way to get this done.

And then just a couple months later, they actually did it. And what did was they took all of the guts out of the cell tower, and most of those guts are power sources. And it's really, really inefficient the way modern cell towers work, because it takes the energy and sends it up the cell tower. But you lose 50 percent of energy by the time it gets up there.

What they did was they took all of those power sources and put it into a control -- in a remote control center that's somewhere in the middle of the country, say. And all of this takes it just a power source and an ethernet connection to work, and it has 2G, 3G and 4G radio all in one device --

KAYE: Very cool.

GOLDMAN: So, they really sort of went to the -- the extreme of what physics can take you to, and they did a really, really pretty interesting job of this.

KAYE: It certainly -- it certainly looks pretty cool. I know we'll get a chance to see it at some point in the future, David. Thank you.

And for even more information on this light radio, as it's called, you can head to ali's blog, CNN.com/ali.

Well, after a week of drama and buzzer-beaters, college basketball Sweet 16 starts Thursday. Which teams will advance? Matt Winer, studio host for NBA TV, joins us next with analysis and predictions that may surprise even the biggest sports fan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Ten minutes before the hour. Updating our top stories.

More anti-government unrest sweeping Yemen today. Thousands of demonstrators remain in the streets, demanding that the president resign. They passed out flowers to troops. In an amazing show of support, top generals and ambassadors with some tribes switched to the side of the demonstrators. One general says he's ordered his troops not to fire on the protestors.

Haitians are one step closer to having a new president. They voted in a final runoff election for a yesterday. Problems with ballots led to people being given an extra hour to cast their votes for one of the two remaining candidates. Final results are not expected until mid-April.

And Egyptian voters have overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments. Voting took place Saturday. An estimated 45 million Egyptians eligible to vote. The move paves the way for parliamentary elections in June.

OK, so we will not get very far from Libya or Japan. As new information comes in, of course, we'll bring it all to you. But we did want to take a few minutes to chat about something millions of Americans talk about around this time of year, March Madness.

So, let's bring in Turner Sports studio host Matt Winer for a deeper look at the tournament. Matt, we're down to the Sweet 16. A lot of brackets blown out of the water. MATT WINER, TURNER SPORTS STUDIO HOST: I know they're floating around here. They may hide them in the desks, but you have brackets everywhere here, I guarantee you.

KAYE: Yes. And some of them not looking too good. So, break down some of the biggest story lines for us.

WINER: Well, as always, it's an interesting mix of sort of brand names. You've got the Kentucky and Kansas, North Carolina, Duke. Those are all sort of Mt. Rushmore programs for college basketball. And then you have teams that you wouldn't think belonged there from the get-go. There are four double-digit seed teams in that Sweet 16. You know how they do that seeding, 1 to 16. Theoretically, those single-digit teams are the best teams in the tournament.

And then you wind up with teams that seemingly have no business being there anyway, like VCU, Richmond. Four of those double-digit seed teams in the Sweet 16. VCU is a phenomenal story. A lot of folks felt like the Rams, Virginia Commonwealth, did not belong in the tournament in the first place. The selection committee chose them as one of the very last teams in. They had to play in what's called the first four games, which is four to get into the bracket of 64. They won that game, they've now won two more game, so they're the only Sweet 16 team that's won three games so far to get there.

They've got a 33-year-old head coach, second youngest coach in the entire tournament. He's becoming a star, and VCU is just a fun team to watch.

KAYE: So, Who's your pick to win it all?

WINER: Well, I said Kansas before the tournament began, and I think Kansas is the favorite right now as well. They've got a real favorable draw, theoretically again, if you look at that bracket. Because they've got nothing but upset teams, underdogs, ahead of them in that tournament.

The Jayhawks are great inside. They have these twins, Marcus and Markieff Morris. They're both 6'10, very skilled, great inside. They've got guards who can play outside as well, and they have a favorable draw right now.

KAYE: And what about the brackets? I know we had the larger bracket system this year. Did fans like that or not?

WINER: First of all, I've been sequestered inside a TV studio for the better part of five days.

KAYE: So, you don't know. You haven't talked to anybody!

WINER: I've not interacted so much with real folks in the last few days.

KAYE: We're glad you're here.

WINER: I am, too! But my sense is they've like it because you've got a couple of extra games away for teams like VCU to sort of prove their worth and get in the tournament at large in the first place. Secondly, with the new TV deal -- and we're sort of pumping ourselves here -- but the new TV deal allows viewers to watch every second of every single game throughout the tournament. That wasn't the case before.

KAYE: That's good stuff.

WINER: We think so.

KAYE: I'm glad you came in now. Now I have a much better understanding.

WINER: I'm glad I could help. Anytime.

KAYE: I'll brief you on Gadhafi, you brief me on Marquette (ph).

WINER: That sounds like a fair deal!

KAYE: All right. Good to see you. Thanks, Matt.

A well-coordinated coalition. The U.S. taking a lead role with missiles. So, how accurate are those tomahawks? We'll take a look, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The United States military has played a leading role in these opening days of the cease-fire enforcement in Libya using cruise missiles and even stealth bombers to pound targets critical to Moammar Gadhafi's government.

Joining me now is former Navy captain Alec Fraser. He's now president of Turner Properties. Alec, the U.S. is making good use of the cruise missiles. How accurate are these?

CAPT. ALEC FRASER, U.S. NAVY (RET.): Well, I think we saw last night how accurate they are. A building in the middle of the compound for Gadhafi; two tomahawk missiles came through the roof. It wasn't a targeting of the compound. It was targeting a specific building within the compound. Both missiles came through the top. If I were a Gadhafi command and control person somewhere across the country and I saw that this happened, I wouldn't sleep in a building at all tonight.

KAYE: I think it was a message.

FRASER: It's a message that the missiles are accurate.

KAYE: What about civilian casualties? The U.S. and coalition forces said they are doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties. Is that helping because these weapons are so targeted?

FRASER: I would think so. There are two things to make here. One is the fact that we talk about civilian casualties. We ought to first be talking about there were no pirate -- pilot casualties at the same time. You know, last time when we went through this, it was a -- one airplane got shot down. There a monument to that about 100 yards from the building, a fist with a model airplane.

(CROSSTALK)

FRASER: Right. So, that didn't happen this time. And because of that, the tomahawks were accurate. And I think people see that across Libya. And they know that the coalition is being very careful.

KAYE: And this seems to many people that it came together very quickly. How have these coalition forces been on a job like this before? How were they able to pull this off together so quickly?

FRASER: There's a term for the Roman armies way back when. They're called exorcists, which is exorcise. And so, the term exorcise is something the military does over and over again not just with themselves but with all of the coalitions partners at the same time. So air operations, combined operations with ships are the type of things that are done frequently. So when something like this goes of, it takes one commander, one person in charge, not a committee. But it's ready to go.

KAYE: And just very quickly, in 20 seconds or less, the ship is really the command center out there.

FRASER: The USS Mt. Whitney is a ship designed for Normandy- style invasion. It has been upgraded to the point where it has the best command and control, bar none, across the globe.

KAYE: That's where it's all happening. All right. Central command. Alec, good to see you. Appreciate your insight.

FRASER: Thank you. Good to be here.

KAYE: In a few moments, we expect could hear from President Obama for the first time since U.S. forces started protecting Libyan residents by force. The president is visiting Chile and is due to speak with reporters in just about five minutes or so. We'll bring you his comments live.