all i want to know before we close this twitter show, what is the next big thing? >> square. you can accept credit card payments from your phone. >> i want to buy your ipad, what do i do? >> i can swipe your card right here. it goes through and then you just sign with your finger. that's it. >> i sign, processed, done. and anyone can do snit >> anyone can do it. >> you're going to make another billion, aren't you? you sicken me, the pair of you. guys, thank you very much. [ applause ] that's all tonight. here's my colleague, anderson cooper with "ac 360." >> thank you very much. breaking news. good evening, everyone, on libya. and a possible escalation in america's military involvement. after a day of seeing libyan opposition fighters retreating, beaten back from places they

only retook days ago, tonight the obama administration says it's open to the possibility of sending them weapons. these are pictures of fighters pulling back from bin jawad after coming under heavy fire from gadhafi's forces. without more nato forces on gadhafi's forces, it is hard to see how the opposition can defeat gadhafi's army. earlier today in london, secretary of state clinton said that arming the opposition is legal under the u.n. resolution authorizing force in libya. and here's what president obama told nbc's brian williams this evening. >> i'm not ruling it out, but i'm also not ruling it in. we're still making an assessment partly about what gadhafi's forces are going to be doing. >> there's the question, though, who we would be arming. the president acknowledging there might be opposition elements that might be unfriendly with america.

secretary of state clinton, however, didn't seem so sure, saying the united states is still getting to know the people on the transnational council in benghazi and said we do not have any specific information about specific individuals. joining us now to talk about what arming the opposition would entail, former bush administration national security adviser steven hadley and retired army major general james "spider" marks. mr. hadley, what do you think, is it a good idea? >> i think he's got to consider it. the problem the president is, he has a gap between what he says he wants to do to get rid of gadhafi and what the no-fly zone authorizes him to do, which is use military force to protect civilians. he's got to close that gap and he's trying to do it by strengthening the opposition, by splitting gadhafi's military away from him. by promising to help build a new libya. i think he's also got to do it in terms of strengthening the

opposition by giving them arms so they can impose their anti-tank and anti-air zone. and really i think this is going to be decided by the libyan people. whether they see this as an opportunity to get rid of this dictator and whether they will rise up in the tens of thousands or the hundreds of thousands and try to sweep this man away. so he's got to close that gap. and i think this is one of the measures he can use to do that. >> general marks, this is not really an organized opposition force. only said to be about a thousand fighters who have some level of military training. as we know, the libyan military that was station in the the east, in benghazi, was not the cream of the crop. is arming these folks the right thing to do? >> well, anderson, i think it must be done and in essence, we've already done it through the coalition and the application of close air support to beat gadhafi's forces down a little bit. and clearly more is needed. but i think more importantly, but there's no time for it, is training is required in advance of weapons. short of being able to train

this band of rebels, weapons is a choice and as mr. hadley indicated, it's necessary for this -- for the rebels to achieve any greater success and not achieve some stalemate, which everybody has decided is unacceptable. we would all agree that a partitioned libya is not what we're looking for. >> general marks, from a military stand point, arming folks who, you know, have just been handed a weapon for the first time and giving them an rpg, is that -- is that practical? is that easy to use? >> the notion of the gang that couldn't shoot straight might be lived out. absolutely, there must be some degree of training associated with arming this force. some weapons systems they can use immediately. it's the more lethal weapons systems that would require training and i don't think there's time to do that. clearly we have a checkered past in terms of those that we've armed before and having to face those weapons systems in battle

in the future. so clearly, there are a number of decisions that need to be made. >> steven hadley, the biggest argument against arming the opposition forces is the u.s. isn't really sure who they're arming, there may be anti-american elements among them, that president obama acknowledged. i just want to show our viewers of what some of president obama and secretary of state clinton said earlier today. >> first of all, i think it's important to note that the people that we've met with have been fully vetted. so we have a clear sense of who they are. so far they're saying the right things and most of them are professionals, lawyers, doctors, people who appear to be credible. >> we do not have any specific information about specific individuals from any organization who are part of this. but of course, we're still getting to know those who are

leading the trends -- the transitional national council and that will be a process that continues. >> seems to be slightly contradictory statements from the president and the secretary of state. that is part of the problem in terms of who do you arm and where do those arms potentially end up. >> it certainly is part of the problem. you know, you never really know in these revolutionary situations who you're dealing with initially. and so you take it step by step. you get to know some people, you do the vetting. and you're careful as to who you give the weapons to. but i think the bottom line is, no-fly zones do not get you regime change on the cheap. in the end of the day, and i think general mark also confirm this, somebody has to be on the ground doing the hard work of taking the territory. if it's not going to be u.s. troops, we're going to have to deal with the libyan people to empower them to fight and win their own freedom.

>> general marks, what do you make of the fact that the opposition has already lost territory that they just retook and they were really only able to retake that because of the close air support from nato and coalition forces and the fact that libyan troops just basically cedeed the ground. they're back at ras lanuf that they had taken just yesterday. >> we shouldn't be surprised at all. in fact, there might be an argument that some of those key locations are key only to the rebels for some reason that defies my definition of military importance. they could bypass those and maybe achieve success enroute to tripoli. also, anderson, i have to smile. i've got this image of arming lawyers and doctors when truly

we need to have a definition of who are those noncommissioned officers, what are their capabilities? and we don't have a clue. >> yeah, a lot of conflicts reports. let us know what you think. we're on facebook and twitter. up next, arwa damon and nic robertson with late word on the shift in momentum of the opposition back to the gadhafi regime that's been in the last 24 hours. how opposition for thes are trying to keep a retreat from turning into a rout. later, what happened after this woman went before cameras accusing gadhafi forces of raping her? the regime says she's back home with her family. we found out otherwise. that's not all we uncovered. what her family told us about what gadhafi's henchman offered them for spinning the story their way. let's check in also with isha sesay. >> we'll have the latest on the turmoil in syria. after days of anti-government

demonstrations, today these were the scenes. tens of thousands of people pouring into the streets in support of the regime. all of this taking place on the same day the syrian government actually resigned. the details when we come back. alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud-- big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever. [ female announcer ] it's lobsterfest. when we turn lobster into irresistible creations like our new lobster-and-shrimp trio with a parmesan lobster bake, our decadent lobster lover's dream and eleven more choices. right now at red lobster.

breaking news tonight. president obama signaling he is considering arming the libyan opposition. new video tonight of gadhafi tank in misurata. we don't know when this video was taken, only that tanks and heavily artillery pounded the city today. people telling us they are bringing carnage to civilians. in tripoli, meantime, fear has taken over. we haven't heard from anyone in tripoli for several weeks. people are too scared to spike out, even on the phone. tonight, however, we were able to speak to one man who insists it is his duty to be a voice for tripoli. i spoke to him earlier tonight. what's the level of fear among people you talk to? >> the fear is intense. we can absolutely not do or say anything to project our anti-regime sentiment, be that walk out in the street, protest

peacefully or whether that's talk to journalists about our feelings. it's no secret that there are minders and government personnel, if you like, and if you say the wrong thing, it's going to get us in a lot of trouble. your family is harassed. your neighbors are harassed. your friends around you are harassed. >> brave man, fighting against the fear in tripoli. let's bring in nic robertson, he's in tripoli. nic, it's remarkable hearing that man in tripoli, who is the first person we've been able to speak with, who feels he can speak freely on the phone. saying they're afraid to send kids to school because those

kids might say something about what their kids are talking about and some government minder will hear the kid and pick up the parents and the neighbors. >> reporter: and we have unconfirmed reports as well of families having their children, daughters in some cases, kidnapped out on the streets, 15, 17-year-old girls kidnapped. reports of young men from their families being kidnapped when they've gone to pick up weapons that they've been offered by the government. or indeed just kidnapped on the streets and forced into volunteer forces for gadhafi's army. or gadhafi's loyalist forces. at least these reports impossible for us to confirm here for the very reasons that we can't go and talk freely to people. when i was at the gas pump the other day checking up on people's thoughts about the fact that they were lining up for gas, there were three government minders standing over my shoulder. one of them even interfering

with the gentleman i was talking to. it was clear he wasn't a huge fan of the regime, he wasn't carrying a green flag with him. but the government minder, when i asked this man a question that might -- he might have just given me something, some piece of information against the regime, there was a government official standing over my shoulder telling him some of the things to say. so it's little wonder that people don't dare come up and speak to us. there were officials around us and people were trying to tell them what to say, anderson. >> arwa damon, you're in benghazi tonight. you were with opposition fighters in bin jawad today. last night when we spoke, you talked about the opposition momentum having stopped. it now just hasn't stopped, it seems like there's been a big reversal. what happened today? >> reporter: that's right, anderson. we caught up with opposition fighters as they were coming under a heavy artillery barrage.

they told us the barrage had begun in the morning and there were snipers in bin jawad shooting at them. they say they stood their ground for as long as they could, but after seven hours we saw them forced to turn around and retreat all the way to the outskirts of ras lanuf and then outside of ras lanuf, we saw and heard explosions, dark smoke rising. artillery fire. we saw the opposition fires trying to shoot back with artillery, rocket-propelled grenades, multibarreled rocket launchers. they were intent on standing their ground, but it seems as if they're beginning to lose that area, as well. what has changed is that they have not come across just gadhafi's military at this point, but it appears as if it is regrouping and standing up against the opposition. but also up against residents in

bin jawad and other areas, people telling us that gadhafi loyalists armed by gadhafi himself, they say are also beginning to stand up and push back against the opposition. this is most certainly a change in the dynamic to the battlefield, anderson. >> arwa, i said you were in benghazi, you're not. you're in ajdabiya. if you can, how much land did they lose today between bin jawad retreating to ras lanuf? and it sounds like ras lanuf now is under fire and there may be a battle for that. how much land did they lose and did nato -- was nato not involved in trying to prevent this rout? >> reporter: they probably lost around 50, 60 kilometers from the point where they were 24 hours ago. so that's around 30, 40 miles. and no, as far as we're aware,

nato was not involved in the fighting. there were no reports of that. in fact, many of the opposition fighters asking where nato was, where those air strikeses were. they do realize without that, they are going to struggle greatly because they don't have the weapons or equipment and they don't have the military training. the issue now is the street-to-street combat and whether or not they eastern going to be up against gadhafi's military when that does take place and whether or not they're going up against armed gadhafi loyalists who are civilians as well. and in that case, what does the coalition do? is it going to launch air strikes against civilians, pro-gadhafi loyalists or what position is it going to take? there's a lot of unanswered questions. >> nic, from tripoli, how do you see this basically what sounds like a renewed offensive by gadhafi's troops, is it a coincidence that it occurred

basically after president obama's speech? what do you make of this kind of new push by them? because it's not just to bin jawad and ras lanuf, we're also hearing from folks in misurata that there has been heavy fighting today. >> reporter: i think it is a direct response to president obama's speech and to the conference in london, as well. this is gadhafi's response is to up the ante, put his troops back into the battle. if anyone was in doubt that he was going to back down when president obama said that he wouldn't broaden the mission here and put troops on the ground to force regime change, he seems to have gone on the offensive. not just misurata and the rebels in the east of the country, we get reports of zintan, as well that gadhafi is massing forces outside of there. but it does seem to conform with the impression that gadhafi is giving, that he's coming back

fighting, putting his army back in the fight and back in the path very probably now of coalition warplanes and bombing missions. this is his response, anderson. >> in tripoli, nic, do you know where gadhafi is, is saif gadhafi as visible as he once was? >> no, the family has really dropped out of the spotlight. gadhafi has been on television once. his son was on television a couple of days ago. he's the commander of the 32nd brigade here. a very powerful and feared unit within the military. so he's been on television, perhaps symbolizing of all of gadhafi's sons he's preemment now because he has the military reputation at the moment. but nobody really has an idea where they are. the last that we heard when the u.n. resolution was passed and

the bombing began was that the family was together. are they still together? we don't know. but you get the impression now that they are staying out of sight so no one attacks them directly, anderson. >> and we have not been able to confirm one way or another whether the guy who runs one of the special units, gadhafi's son, whether or not he's alive, have we? >> reporter: he was the one that appeared live -- well, live, state television, at gadhafi's compound and it did appear to be rumors only, anderson. >> good to know. nic robertson, appreciate it. arwa damon as well. on thursday, i'm going to be talking with four "new york times" journalists that were held captive by the gadhafi regime, threatened with death.

they are speaking out here on "360" thursday night. it's a harrowing experience, what they saw and herd in captivity and what gadhafi's forces did to them. she risked everything to stand up for her dignity and take a stand against the gadhafi regime. [ screaming in foreign language ] >> the libyan woman who burst into a hotel, screaming, saying she had been gang raped by members of gadhafi's regime. now that regime is claiming some of the men have filed charges against her. they say she is with her family in tripoli. correspondents drove hundreds of miles, found her real family. tonight you'll hear from her mom and from a resident in tripoli who calls her a hero. also, later, japanese -- the japan nuclear crisis. new fears about highly radioactive water and growing concerns over the way japanese officials are handling the

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new developments tonight in perhaps the single most chilling episode yet to come out of libya. this is eman al obeidy in tripoli on saturday alleging gang rape at the hands of gadhafi's troops. you can see her being silenced,

then hustled off to a car. the last anyone has seen of her. today, the regime says she's with her family. but keeping them honest, cnn drove for hours, tracked down her real family. they said she's not with them and they have no word of where she is. her mother says she would like to kill gadhafi. >> translator: no, i'm not afraid of gadhafi. if i were to see his face in front of me, i would strangle him. when we go all the way to tripoli, i will cut his head off. >> she says she got a call at 3:00 a.m. from gadhafi's compound. officials she says asking her to convince her daughter to retract her allegations in exchange they promised a new home or cash. her family refused. now with eman nowhere to be found, the government seems bent on smearing her. they called her a prostitute, said she wasmentally unstable.

today, libyan state tv claimed it is eman. shortly after her abduction from the hotel. we've been unable to confirm who is on the tape. libyan tv's record as a reliable source speaks for itself. in this tape, the woman is asked to make a statement to police. then they ask her to tell her story on libyan state tv and she refuses. >> translator: i want the world to know that the scandals that are taking place in libya and the shame brought to us. >> translator: what shame are you talking about? if you had gone to the police from the beginning, it would have been better than al jazeera. >> one of the voices asking, are you afraid the rape kit will come back negative. it goes back to a female anchor on television who says, with a mocking tone, and that's eman

for you. and then the anchor goes on to say even a whore has a sense of patriotism when it comes to her homeland. a spokesman for gadhafi's government says the soldiers she accused of raping her are suing her for slander. i just want to remind you all about -- remind everyone about what happened to this woman on saturday. take a look. saturday morning, eman al obeidy risked her life by storming into a tripoli hotel to tell journalists her story of government brutality. they say we're all libyans, she screams, but look what gadhafi brigades did to me. plain clothes government officials immediately intervene. this man tries to grab her and

shut her up. journalists jump in to try and help her. her face bruised, she says she's from benghazi and abducted at a government checkpoint, bound, beaten and raped by 15 members of gadhafi's militia. she shows journalist blood on her inner thigh and rope burns on her hands and feet. "my honor was violated" she cries out. here officials, including some who previously appeared to be hotel staff, try to separate her from the journalists, dragging her away. one hotel staffer shouts "traitor" as she draws a knife. this man here appears to be going for a weapon. gadhafi's men kick and punch journalists, wrestling some of them to the ground, breaking their cameras for their footage. as she continues to cry out her

story, watch as this woman throws a dark bag over her head to silence her. a little while later she surfaces as government officials drag her out of the hotel. "if you don't see me tomorrow, then that's it," she screams. >> where are you taking her to? >> journalists try to come to her aid one last time. but she's shoved into a car and taken away. earlier tonight i spoke on the phone to a man in tripoli. we heard from him earlier, talking about the fear people have of speaking out against the regime. he told me many people are rallying around her and they consider her a hero. listen to what he said. >> this lady is a hero. i'm not exaggerate and i'm confident i speak for the rest of the city, this lady encapsulated the spirit of this

revolution, this uprising. this whole idea that you have to -- you have to overcome fear and insist, almost demand that your voice is heard. and at whatever cost. she caught the imagination and the affirmations of a lot of people. she's talked about all over the city and she's instigated many a debate. there are many fears over her story. my family included. and what they're doing, it's disgusting and it's adding to the anger and adding to the support that other people have for her. >> one man's view from tripoli. back with us, nic robertson and in benghazi tonight, reza. you traveled all that way to meet with her mom. how is her family holding up? >> reporter: they're holding up. we expected them to be worried.

they are. what we didn't expect is this outrage we saw, and some of the comments they were making were bitter and pointed. the fact she said she wants to see gadhafi killed. she wants his head delivered to the town. these are extreme statements, statements that were a couple of months ago unthinkable. now you have a libyan woman going on camera, openly making these statements. it shows how angry they are and how people, at least on this side of libya, territory firmly in the hands of the opposition, are no longer afraid of making these kinds of comments against colonel gadhafi. >> reza, in several cities we have seen support of eman and she has been betrothed to somebody in her family's tribe.

what was the significance of that? >> i think that was a defiant message on the part of the family. there's been all sorts of allegations coming from regime officials that eman is leading a lifestyle that's not in keeping with islam. these attempts, these clearly attempts as discrediting her without any proof. last night, the family held an engagement ceremony, saying her honor is in tact. a defiant message to the regime. >> a remarkable statement in a very conservative culture. nic, this new video of what is purported to be eman al obeidy, first broadcast on libyan state tv yesterday, we know her family is saying they don't know about her whereabouts right now, but the government is claiming that she's free. have they said where she allegedly is? >> reporter: no, they haven't. the only indications were she had been released to her

sister's custody, that she had been living with her sister in tripoli and there's some indications she may be under house arrest with her sister, that she has no communications now, possibly part of that house arrest. but it's impossible for people to get to her house because there are security people outside. that's what we're hearing. this video that surfaced on state television, when she was being held at the police headquarters late saturday, early sunday, there were reports on state television that a state television reporter had interviewed her, she didn't want to go on camera. but this reporter from state television said that we have taken secret video and we will be showing it to you later. because eman al obeidy refused to speak to the state television reporter because she wanted to be released. as a lawyer, she knew her legal rights. we were in that police head quarters a couple weeks ago and we saw in one room alone, there were ten secret camera there is this one meeting room alone. so that's possibly how the video

that we're seeing on state television of eman al obeidy got out, not because she wanted to give any interviews at all. >> i want to play another clip of your interview with her mom claiming she got a call from the government basically trying to bribe her to get her daughter to rescind the rape charges. >> translator: they said, tell your daughter whatever she wants, she'll have, money, house, security. but she'll have to change her story. >> and obviously they said they would not tell their daughter to change her story. were they aware of the slander charge when you spoke to them? >> reporter: no, when we spoke to them they weren't aware of the slander charge. i don't think as far as this family is concerned it matters. any statement coming from the regime they say they don't believe it, they're calling them lies. the claim by officials that eman al obeidy is free, they're saying if she's free, let

television cameras videotape her, let reporters talk to her. that obviously hasn't happened. >> nic, earlier in our conversation with that man, he compared this to the spark that the young fruit seller in tunisia who emulated himself and was the spark for the uprising in tunisia, he felt there was great significance to what she had done and what had happened to her. >> reporter: i think the significance is that people can identify with eman al obeidy as somebody, a voice, a brave person trying to speak out against the regime and everything the world witnessed and the way the government tried to close it down is simpotomatic of the bigger picture here. the government tries to sort of

control the narrative here that we see, that we tell with journalists and reporters here. this was somebody breaking through with a clink of light, if you will, of what happens here. and that's the significance. people have recognized this. this is what's been hidden from everyone and they see it and recognize it in eman al obeidy. and the stresses and strains and brutality that she has been through, that her family is going through, this is what everyone fears happens here in so many private lives. now we see it, anderson. >> and we saw a woman being dragged off in front of our eyes. we'll continue to follow up on this, because we cannot forget this person who i think represent so many. nic robertson, thank you. reza sayah, thank you, as well. coming up, the nuclear crisis appears to be going from bad to worse as workers struggle

to keep radioactive water out of the ocean. new questions about the people in charge. are government officials and tepco, the private company which runs this plant, are tepco officials telling the truth, the whole truth right now? we're keeping them honest, next. isha sesay also following other stories tonight. isha? news that some will find shocking. after battering and drowning a trainer a little more than a year ago at sea world, the killer whale is returning to public performances wednesday. when we come back, i'll tell you how the company is justifying the move. that story and much more just ahead. ♪

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more breaking news. new and troubling developments to bring the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant under control. new reports tonight that seawater near the plant contains radioactive iodine at more than 3,300 times the legal limit. the government today also calling the situation and i quote, unpredictable. officials saying the effort to bring the plant under control is now at "maximum alert." fresh worries over contaminated water with some of that runoff making it too risky for workers to continue their efforts to stabilize the plant. all of this comes as the company at the center of the mess, tepco, comes under fire from the japanese government for wildly inaccurate radiation readings. and where is the man who is supposed to be leading the fight to head off a nuclear meltdown?

this man, tepco's ceo, is not even -- "the washington post" is reporting it's been more than two weeks since he made a public appearance. the company said he suffered a "small illness from overwork" and he's back on the job now. we are hearing now from some of the people from inside the fukushima daiichi plant, some of the workers. here's what one had to say according to e-mails. "the quake is a natural disaster, but tepco should be blamed for contamination caused by the radioactive materials released." another worker said "i feel anger across the nation pointing to tepco. i suspect executives feel it well enough." tom, what do we know? >> we know that the workers inside the plant, they're sure doing their jobs. these guys are getting like a stack of crackers in the morning, one meal at night, work

12-hour long days, sleeping on these mats on the floor. and the fight goes on. look, one of the concerns for officials is that there has been some kind of partial meltdown in reactors one, two and three. the reason they think that is we've been watching this from the beginning, the spraying of water. this is how they had to try to cool down those cores because all of the pump systems were ruined. guess what? just what you would think. now there is water filling up basically everything you can fill up here, because the water has just built up as they've cooled and cooled and cooled, and the water is contaminated. that's what these workers are having to work around while they try to continue to keep this under control, anderson. >> first of all, it boggles my mind that they're being fed crackers and one meal a day. this is one of the most important jobs that's occurring

right now in the world. i'm not quite clear on whether they're being fed small rations. >> i'm not either. it looks like they're doing this incredible difficult work in these circumstances. >> what's going to happen with all that contaminated water if it can't be -- what happens to it? >> if it can't be contained? so far some of it hasn't been. one of the big concerns here has been reactor number two. that's where they most think they've had a breach in the containment vessel. they think that because contaminated water made it out of here and pooled in these areas but showed up in this tunnel over here near one of the turbine buildings and this is only about 60 yards from the open ocean. how much contamination is in this water? they say this is a dangerously high level. if you stood here for a couple of minutes, you would get as much contamination from

radiation as you would from about 300 years from living your life on land. that's the big concern here, anderson, with all this water. right now they're trying to standpoint, but this remains a very serious concern because there's a lot of water and radiation in this area still. >> do we know where radiation levels stand at this point? >> we know as you said a moment ago that the reports from the beginning have been all over the map. we do know that there have been some traces of plutonium, radioactive iodine and cesium found on the grounds and out in the water out here. what we're officially hearing is that it's not enough to be a real threat to people, but that's the concern, anderson, as people have raised questions about the transparency of information and the quality of the information. that's why so many scientists have been saying look, whatever they're saying about this, we have to at least arch an eyebrow and say how much can we trust

it? especially if this effort has to keep going on and on and right now it does. >> we're joined now by a former senior operator of several nuclear plants, michael freelander. and chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta reporting tonight for us, as well. sanjay, there are reports that low levels of radiation have been detected in 13 states here in america. earlier when this thing first began, there was talk about it's going to hit some of the western states. it's now at 13 states. is this cause for concern at this point? >> well, i don't think it's cause for concern and i can tell you a couple things. one, it's likely more states will trigger these low levels of radiation higher than normal. but certainly low in terms of potential consequences on human health. so i think we're likely to see the number of states increase. we also know from looking at previous accidents, such as chernobyl, that you do get this

radioactivity, you get the sort of plume, and it will circumnavigate the globe. that's what happened with the radioactive particles from chernobyl. as a result, you will get radioactive increases, radioactivity increases in many places around the world. if you measure that back from 1986, what we hear from scientists who measured at the time was the total amount of radiation was about 1/10th of a chest, ray. so i think we're likely to see a number of states get worse but a low level of radiation. >> michael, as you see what's been going on, what gives you the greatest concern? >> i think precisely what your previous contributor mentioned, the -- if you stand back and look at the force for the trees, i worry that the accident management that's going on, that they're not being able to stay one or two steps ahead of the

evolution. we should have known that there was going to be millions of gallons of contaminated water that needed to be addressed at some point in time. and the ability to handle that should have been something that got put in motion days ago, if not weeks ago. i mean, the fact of the matter is, these tanks are filling up, we continue to inject water. normal operations would have had them using their gaseous rad waste systems. if they don't deal with this, we are out of the apocalyptic scenarios. that's clearly no longer the issue. the prospect of potentially spilling massive quantities of highly contaminated water really, really worries me. >> what would you normally do with contaminated water? >> normally, anderson, we have systems where you process it through a sort of demineralizers

and charcoal filters. you take the gaseous waste that's gone off and you process it, as well to allow it to decay. we take the solids, they get packaged up and sent off to rad waste facilities around the world. but all of those systems have been damaged over the last two weeks. again, it shouldn't be any big surprise and they should have been putting in place things to deal with that. >> sanjay, when we were there, there was frankly -- what, about a week or two weeks ago, you know, there was a lot of concern about the workers, not just the safety but the conditions they were working in. now the japanese government today apologized for the conditions that the plant workers are facing. as i said to tom, it's incredible to me that plant workers have so little food and water and can't even shower. that makes the job all that much harder. >> i can't believe it either. we've been talking about how important a defense they are

between what is happening in these reactors and everyone else in that immediate area. you know, it's also worth pointing out that many of those workers lost family members, as well. so they're dealing with that from an emotional stand point. it's also worth pointing out there doesn't appear to be enough protective gear. michael freelander and i were talking about this last week, but some of the workers didn't have boots that were high enough and radioactive water seeped into their -- over their boots, which is unbelievable to me. so how are they choosing who's getting the best protective gear? i don't know how from an emotional impact those decisions are getting made inside. as we said all along, anderson, they know the deal here. in so many situations you have people who are helping after a natural disaster, and while the work is very tiresome and emotionally devastated, they themselves are not personally at risk. these workers are and they know how much risk they're at because of the radiation levels they're being exposed to. no matter the protective gear

with some of these types of radiation, there's nothing you can do. some of these alpha particles will penetrate through anything. >> michael, what do you make of the condition these workers are operating under? now to learn that they don't have many supplies, what does it say about the management of this plant by this company, tepco? >> that is precisely my concern. you know, you say that there's a disaster 24, 48, 72 hours into it, conditions are tough and we do whatever it takes to get the job done. but we're almost three weeks into this now. in my view, there's absolutely no excuse. and people need to realize that these workers are the lifeblood of this recovery effort. and it's a global issue, not just an issue for the japanese people. in my estimation, the global communication needs to stand up and support these guys. >> get them some boots.

what am i missing here, michael? >> look, the u.s. military are experts in logistics and they have literally tons of supplies, certainly sitting down at the bases in southern japan. i think that simply a phone call from the authorities managing this event near the plant, asking them for some meals ready to eat packages that they can put up on site, some radiological protective equipment. certainly our people have the necessary equipment and supplies. i think it would be nothing more than a request from the norths for some logistical support and i'm 100% certain that the u.s. military would be there in a flash. >> i don't want to belabor this, but if the japanese government or the company officials haven't even requested mres for their workers, god only knows what else they failed to request. i just find this mind boggling.

dr. sanjay gupta, appreciate you being on. michael freelander, as well. still ahead, in syria, the government has resigned. we'll see what impact that really has. details ahead. new details about the state of a killer whale who killed its trainer. sea word now says they're going to let this whale perform again tomorrow. we'll be right back. ladies, you are all covergirls.

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let's get an update on some of the other stories we're following. isha sesay has the "360" news and business bulletin. new turmoil in syria. syrian state tv reports the government has resigned in the wake of violence. the u.n. says it's killed dozens of people since last week. the president, who is not

stepping down, plans to address the nation tomorrow. meanwhile in damascus, tens of nows of people participated in a pro-government rally today. in iraq, at least 56 people died in an attack on a government building in tikrit according to officials. armed militants seized a building and took hostages, many of whom were killed because security forces took back control. among those killed in the attack were a freelance journalist who worked for a number of news organizations, including cnn. u.s. education department is fining virginia tech $55,000 for waiting too long to alert students a shooter was on campus. the school says it will appeal. in texas, john carmichael's parents have filed a $20 million lawsuit on the one-year anniversary of their son's

suicide. they allege officials ignored the bullying that drove the 13-year-old to kill himself. home prices fell 3% in january, the sixth straight monthly decline. meantime, sales of existing homes dropped nearly 10% in february, while new home sales hit a record low. around anderson, remember this whale, the orca that killed a trainer during a performance? he's scheduled to begin performing tomorrow in orlando. the whale killed its trainer more than a year ago. and the company saying it's important for the orca's health. >> hmmmm. >> yeah, many worried it will attack again. >> isha, appreciate it. a lot more at the top of the hour. president obama not ruling out arming the opposition in libya. details ahead. [ slap! ]

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good evening, everyone. on libya, and a possible escalation in america's military involvement. after a day of seeing libyan opposition fighters retreating, beaten back from places they only retook days ago, tonight the obama administration says it's open to the possibility of sending them weapons. these are pictures of fighters pulling back from bin jawad after coming under heavy fire from gadhafi's forces.

without either more they nato attacks on gadhafi's forces, it is hard to see how the opposition can defeat gadhafi's army. earlier today in london, secretary of state clinton said that arming the opposition is legal under the u.n. resolution authorizing force in libya. and here's what president obama told nbc's brian williams this evening. >> i'm not ruling it out, but i'm also not ruling it in. we're still making an assessment partly about what gadhafi's forces are going to be doing. >> there's the question, though, of exactly who we would be arming if the president chose to do that. the president acknowledging there might be opposition elements that might be unfriendly with america. but saying the people the u.s. has met with has been fully vetted and has a full sense of who they are. secretary of state clinton, however, didn't seem so sure, saying the united states is still getting to know the people on the transnational council in benghazi and said we do not have any specific information about specific individuals. joining us now to talk about what arming the opposition would

entail, former bush administration national security adviser steven hadley and retired army major general james "spider" marks. mr. hadley, what do you think, is it a good idea? >> i think he's got to consider it. the problem the president has, he has a gap between what he says he wants to do to get rid of gadhafi and what the no-fly zone zone authorizes him to do, which is use military force to protect civilians. he's got to close that gap and he's trying to do it by strengthening the opposition, by splitting gadhafi's military away from him. by promising to help build a new libya. i think he's also got to do it in terms of strengthening the opposition by giving them arms so they can impose their anti-tank and anti-air zone. and really i think this is going to be decided by the libyan people. whether they see this as an opportunity to get rid of this dictator and whether they will rise up in the tens of thousands or the hundreds of thousands and

try to sweep this man away. so he's got to close that gap. and i think this is one of the measures he can use to do that. >> general marks, this is not really an organized opposition force. only said to be about a thousand fighters who have some level of military training. as we know, the libyan military that was stationed in the east, in benghazi, was not the cream of the crop. is arming these folks the right thing to do? >> well, anderson, i think it must be done and in essence, we've already done it through the coalition and the application of close air support to beat gadhafi's forces down a little bit. and clearly more is needed. but i think more importantly, but there's no time for it, is training is required in advance of weapons. short of being able to train this band of rebels, weapons is a choice and as mr. hadley indicated, it's necessary for this -- for the rebels to achieve any greater success and not achieve some stalemate, which everybody has decided is unacceptable.

we would all agree that a partitioned libya is not what we're looking for. >> general marks, from a military standpoint, arming folks who, you know, have just been handed a weapon for the first time and giving them an rpg, is that -- is that practical? is that easy to use? >> the notion of the gang that couldn't shoot straight might be lived out. absolutely, there must be some degree of training associated with arming this force. however, some weapon systems clearly they can get a handle on and they can use immediately. it's the more lethal weapon systems that would require training and i don't think there's time to do that. clearly we have a checkered past in terms of those that we've armed before and having to face those weapons systems in battle in the future. so clearly, there are a number of decisions that need to be made. >> steven hadley, the biggest argument against arming the opposition forces is the u.s. isn't really sure who they're arming, there may be anti-american elements among

them, which president obama acknowledged, though he said that the vast majority of the folks they have met with are lawyers and doctors and people who have the right interest at heart. i just want to show our viewers of what some of president obama and secretary of state clinton said earlier today. >> first of all, i think it's important to note that the people that we've met with have been fully vetted. so we have a clear sense of who they are. so far they're saying the right things and most of them are professionals, lawyers, doctors, people who appear to be credible. >> we do not have any specific information about specific individuals from any organization who are part of this. but of course, we're still getting to know those who are leading the trends -- the transitional national council and that will be a process that continues. >> seems to be slightly contradictory statements from the president and the secretary of state. that is part of the problem in terms of who do you arm and where do those arms potentially

end up. >> it certainly is part of the problem. you know, you never really know in these revolutionary situations who you're dealing with initially. and so you take it step by step. you get to know some people, you do the vetting. and you're careful as to who you give the weapons to. but i think the bottom line is, no-fly zones do not get you regime change on the cheap. in the end of the day, and i think general marks will confirm this, somebody has to be on the ground doing the hard work of taking the territory. if it's not going to be u.s. troops, and nobody really wants that, then we're going to have to deal with the libyan people and try to empower them to fight and win their own freedom. giving them weapons has to be part of that. >> general marks, what do you make of the fact that the opposition has already lost territory that they just retook and they were really only able to retake that because of the close air support from nato and coalition forces and the fact that libyan troops just

basically ceded the ground. now they've already today been beaten back. we're going to talk to our correspondents on the ground there. but they're back at ras lanuf, which they had moved through quickly just yesterday. >> clearly the use of the air power from the coalition is the deciding factor for the rebels. we shouldn't be surprised at all. in fact, there might be an argument that some of those key locations are key only to the rebels for some reason that defies my definition of military importance. they could bypass those and maybe achieve success en route to tripoli. also, anderson, i have to smile. i've got this image of arming lawyers and doctors when truly we need to have a definition of who are those noncommissioned officers, who are the guys that are really going to be doing the fighting, what are their capabilities? and we don't have a clue. >> yeah, a lot of conflicting reports. let us know what you think. we're on facebook and twitter.

i'll try to be tweeting tonight. up next, arwa damon and nic robertson with late word on the shift in momentum of the opposition back to the gadhafi regime. we've seen that in the last 24 hours. how opposition forces are trying to keep a retreat from turning into a rout. later, what happened after this woman went before cameras accusing gadhafi forces of raping her? the regime says she's back home with her family. we found out otherwise. that's not all we uncovered. what her family told us about what gadhafi's henchman offered them for spinning the story their way. keeping the regime honest tonight. in the dictionary. nowhere in the definition did i see words like... "metering," "overage," or "throttling"... which is code for slowing you down. only sprint gives you true unlimited calling, texting... surfing, tv, and navigation on all phones. why limit yourself? [ male announcer ] sprint. the only national carrier to give you true unlimited.

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breaking news tonight. president obama signaling he is considering arming the libyan opposition. here's why. new video tonight of gadhafi tanks in misurata. we don't know when this video was taken, only that tanks and heavy artillery pounded the city today. people telling us they are bringing carnage to civilians. in tripoli, meantime, fear has taken over. we haven't heard from anyone in tripoli for several weeks. people are too scared to speak out, even on the phone. tonight, however, we were able to speak to one man who insists it is his duty to be a voice for tripoli. i spoke to him earlier tonight.

what's the level of fear among people you talk to? >> the fear is intense. we can absolutely not do or say anything to project our anti-regime sentiment, be that walk out in the street, protest peacefully or whether that's talk to journalists about our feelings. it's no secret that there are minders and government personnel, if you like, at schools. and if the kids say the wrong thing, and we know how honest they are. if they say my parents have been saying this, my parents have been going out and doing this, doing that, it's going to get us in a lot of trouble. your family is harassed. your neighbors are harassed. your friends around you are harassed. there are a number of reasons why kids aren't going to school,

one of which is for fear that they may say the wrong thing. >> brave man, fighting against the fear in tripoli. let's bring in nic robertson, he's in tripoli. we're trying to make contact with arwa damon who is in benghazi. she'll join us shortly. nic, it's remarkable hearing that man in tripoli, who is the first person we've been able to speak with, who feels he can speak freely on the phone. saying they're afraid to send kids to school because those kids might say something about what their kids are talking about and some government minder or spy there might hear the kid and therefore go and pick up the parents and the neighbors. >> reporter: and we have unconfirmed reports as well as families having their children, daughters in some cases, kidnapped out on the streets, 15, 17-year-old girls kidnapped. reports of young men from their families being kidnapped when they've gone to pick up weapons that they've been offered by the government. or indeed just kidnapped on the streets and forced into volunteer forces for gadhafi's

army. or gadhafi's loyalist forces. at least these reports impossible for us to confirm here for the very reasons that we can't go and talk freely to people. when i was at the gas pump the other day checking up on people's thoughts about the fact that they were lining up for gas, there were three government minders standing over my shoulder. one of them even interfering with the gentleman i was talking to. it was clear he wasn't a huge fan of the regime, he wasn't carrying a green flag with him. didn't have any of these sort of green flags tied in his car. but the government minder, when i asked this man a question that might -- he might have just given me something, some piece of information against the regime, there was a government official standing over my shoulder telling him some of the things to say. so it's little wonder that people don't dare come up and speak to us. there were officials around us and people were trying to tell them what to say, anderson. >> arwa damon, you're in benghazi tonight. you were with opposition

fighters in bin jawad today. last night when we spoke, you talked about the opposition momentum having stopped. it now just hasn't stopped, it seems like there's been a big reversal. what happened today? >> reporter: that's right, anderson. we caught up with opposition fighters just outside of bin jawad as they were coming under a heavy artillery barrage. they told us the barrage had begun in the morning and there were snipers in bin jawad shooting at them. some of them describing a street-to-street battle. they say they stood their ground for as long as they could, but after seven hours we saw them forced to turn around and retreat all the way to the outskirts of that critical joil oil town of ras lanuf and then outside of ras lanuf, we saw and heard explosions, dark smoke rising. artillery fire.

we saw the opposition firing trying to shoot back with artillery, rocket-propelled grenades, multibarreled rocket launchers. they were intent on standing their ground, but it seems as if they're beginning to lose that area, as well. what has changed is that they have not come across just gadhafi's military at this point, but it appears as if it is regrouping and standing up against the opposition. but also up against residents in bin jawad and other areas, people telling us that gadhafi loyalists armed by gadhafi himself, they say are also beginning to stand up and push back against the opposition. this is most certainly a change in the dynamic to the battlefield, anderson. >> arwa, i said you were in benghazi, you're not. you're further west. you're in ajdabiya. this is the town the opposition was able to take over because of close air support. if you can, how much land did they lose today between bin jawad retreating to ras lanuf? and it sounds like ras lanuf now is under fire and there may be a battle for that based on what

you saw. how much land did they lose and did nato -- was nato not involved in trying to prevent this rout? >> reporter: they probably lost around 50, 60 kilometers from the point where they were 24 hours ago. so that's around 30, 40 miles. and no, as far as we're aware, nato was not involved in the fighting. there were no reports of that. in fact, many of the opposition fighters asking where nato was, where those air strikes were. they do realize without that, they are going to struggle greatly because they don't have the weapons or equipment and they don't have the military training. the issue now is the street-to-street combat and whether or not they're going to be up against gadhafi's military when that does take place and whether or not they're going up against armed gadhafi loyalists who are civilians as well. and in that case, what does the coalition do? is it going to launch air strikes against civilians,

pro-gadhafi loyalists or what position is it going to take? there's a lot of unanswered questions, anderson. meanwhile, we are seeing the opposition being forced to treat even further back. >> nic, from tripoli, how do you see this basically what sounds like a renewed offensive by gadhafi's troops, is it a coincidence that it occurred basically after president obama's speech? what do you make of this kind of new push by them? because it's not just to bin jawad and ras lanuf, we're also hearing from folks in misurata that there has been heavy fighting today. >> reporter: i think it is a direct response to president obama's speech and to the conference in london, as well. this is gadhafi's response is to up the ante, put his troops back into the battle. if anyone was in doubt that he was going to back down when president obama said that he wouldn't broaden the mission here and put troops on the

ground to force regime change, he seems to have gone on the offensive. not just misurata and the rebels in the east of the country, we get reports of zintan, as well that gadhafi is massing forces outside of there. there's no way for us to independently confirm that report. but it does seem to conform with the impression that gadhafi is giving, that he's coming back fighting, putting his army back in the fight and back in the path very probably now of coalition warplanes and bombing missions. this is his response, anderson. >> in tripoli, nic, do you know where gadhafi is, where members of his family is, is saif gadhafi as visible as he once was? >> reporter: no, the family has really dropped out of the spotlight. gadhafi has been on television once. his son was on television a couple of days ago. he's the commander of the 32nd brigade here.

a very powerful and feared unit within the military. so he's been on television, perhaps symbolizing of all of gadhafi's sons he's preeminent now because he has the military reputation at the moment. but no, the family has pretty much gone to ground. nobody really has an idea where they are. the last that we heard when the u.n. resolution was passed and the bombing began was that the family was together. are they still together? we don't know. but you get the impression now that they are staying out of sight so no one attacks them directly, anderson. >> and we have not been able to confirm one way or another whether kugin, the guy who runs one of the special units, gadhafi's son, whether or not he's alive, have we? >> reporter: he was the one that appeared live -- well, live, state television, at gadhafi's compound and it did appear to be

rumors only, anderson. they did appear to be rumors only that had been running around for a couple of weeks, anderson. >> good to know. nic robertson, appreciate it. be careful. arwa damon as well. thanks. coming up toojts, she risked everything to stand up for her dignity and take a stand against the gadhafi regime. her name is eman al obeidy, the libyan woman who burst into a hotel screaming, saying she had been gang raped by members of gadhafi's regime. now that regime is claiming that some of the men have filed charges against her accusing her of slander. tonight, keeping the regime honest, they say she's with her family in tripoli. our correspondent drove hundreds of miles, found her real family. tonight you'll hear from her mom and a resident in tripoli who calls eman a hi row. later, the japan nuclear crisis. new fears about highly radioactive water and growing concerns over the way japanese

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new developments tonight in perhaps the single most chilling episode yet to come out of libya. this is eman al obeidy in tripoli on saturday alleging gang rape at the hands of gadhafi's troops. you can see her being silenced, a bag put over her head, then a short time later hustled off to a car, the last anyone has seen of her. actually, that looks like a coat put over her head. today, the regime says she's with her family. but keeping them honest, cnn

drove for hours, tracked down her real family. they said she's not with them and they have no word of where she is. her mother says she would like to kill gadhafi. >> translator: no, i'm not afraid of gadhafi. if i were to see his face in front of me, i would strangle him. when we go all the way to tripoli, i will cut his head off and bring it here. >> eman's mother also said that right after the incident, she got a call at 3:00 a.m. from gadhafi's compound. officials she says asking her to convince her daughter to retract her allegations in exchange they promised a new home or cash. her family refused. now with eman nowhere to be found, the government seems bent on smearing her. in past days, they called her a prostitute. said she was mentally unstable. today, libyan state tv claimed it is eman. shortly after her abduction from the hotel. we've been unable to confirm when, where it was taken or who

is on the tape. libyan tv's record as a reliable source speaks for itself. in this tape, the woman is asked repeatedly to see an official doctor and to make a statement to police. then they ask her to tell her story on libyan state tv and she refuses. >> translator: i want the world to know that the scandals that are taking place in libya and the shame brought to us. >> translator: what shame are you talking about? if from the beginning you had gone to the police, it would have been better than going to al jazeera. >> the harang continues with more calls to see the doctor. one of the voices asking, are you afraid the rape kit will come back negative? then she asks don't you care about the people killed in the allied air strikes? what do i have to do with the air strikes, she says? it goes back to a female anchor on television who says, with a mocking tone, and that's eman for you. and then the anchor goes on to say even a whore has a sense of patriotism when it comes to her homeland. a spokesman for gadhafi's

government says the soldiers she accused of raping her are suing her for slander. so that's where we are right now. before talking to nick nic and reza sayah who drove all that way to talk to her mom, i just want to remind you all about -- remind everyone about what happened to this woman on saturday. take a look. saturday morning, eman al obeidy risked her life by storming into a tripoli hotel to tell journalists her story of government brutality. they say we're all libyans, she screams, but look what gadhafi brigades did to me. plain clothes government officials immediately intervene. this man tries to grab her and shut her up. journalists jump in to try and help her. her face bruised, she says she's from benghazi and abducted at a government checkpoint, bound, beaten and raped by 15 members

of gadhafi's militia. she shows journalist blood on her inner thigh and rope burns on her hands and feet. "my honor was violated" she cries out. here officials, including some who previously appeared to be hotel staff, try to separate her from the journalists, dragging her away. one hotel staffer shouts "traitor" as he draws a knife. this man here appears to be going for a weapon. gadhafi's men kick and punch journalists, wrestling some of them to the ground, breaking their cameras for their footage. as she continues to cry out her story, watch as this woman throws a dark bag over her head to silence her. a little while later she surfaces as government officials drag her out of the hotel. "if you don't see me tomorrow,

then that's it," she screams. >> where are you taking her to? >> journalists try to come to her aid one last time. but she's shoved into a car and taken away. earlier tonight i spoke on the phone to a man in tripoli. we heard from him earlier, talking about the fear people have of speaking out against the regime. something eman al obeidy did in an unprecedented way. he told me many people are stalking about her and rallies around her and they consider her a hero. listen to what he said. >> this lady is a hero. i'm not exaggerate and i'm confident i speak for the rest of the city, this lady has really encapsulated the spirit of this revolution, this uprising. this whole idea that you have to -- you have to overcome fear and insist, almost demand that your voice is heard. and at whatever cost.

she caught the imagination and the affirmations of a lot of people. she's talked about all over the city and she's instigated many a debate. there are many fears over her story. my family included. and what they're doing on state tv is deplorable. it's absolutely disgusting and it's just adding to the anger and just adding to the support that other people have for her. for her. >> one man's view from tripoli. back with us, nic robertson and in benghazi tonight, reza sayah. reza, you traveled all that way to meet with her mom. how is her family holding up? >> reporter: they're holding up. we expected them to be worried. they are. what we didn't expect is this type of outrage that we saw. some of the comments they were making were incredibly bitter and pointed. the fact she said she wants to see gadhafi killed.

she wants his head delivered to the town. these are extreme statements, statements that were a couple of months ago unthinkable. now you have a libyan woman going on camera, openly making these statements. it shows how angry they are and it also shows how people on this side of libya, at least on the eastern side, territory firmly in the hands of the opposition are no longer afraid of making these kinds of comments against colonel gadhafi. >> reza, in several cities we have seen support of eman and we even saw video last night of what was said to be a wedding that he has been betrothed to somebody in her family's tribe. what was the significance of that? >> reporter: i think that was a defiant message on the part of the family. there's been all sorts of allegations coming from regime officials that eman is leading a lifestyle that's not in keeping

with islam. these attempts, these clearly attempts as discrediting her without any proof. last night, the family held an engagement ceremony, saying her honor is in tact. again, a defiant message to the regime as they try to discredit her. >> a remarkable statement in a very conservative culture. nic, this new video of what is purported to be eman al obeidy, first broadcast on libyan state tv yesterday, we know her family is saying they don't know about her whereabouts right now, but the government is claiming that she's free. have they said where she allegedly is? >> reporter: no, they haven't. the only indications were she had been released to her sister's custody, that she had been living with her sister in tripoli and there's some indications she may be under house arrest with her sister, that she has no communications now, possibly part of that house arrest.

but it's impossible for people to get to her house because there are security people outside. that's what we're hearing. this video that surfaced on state television, when she was being held at the police headquarters late saturday, early sunday, there were reports on state television that a state television reporter had interviewed her, she didn't want to go on camera. but this reporter from state television said that we have taken secret video and we will be showing it to you later. because eman al obeidy refused to speak to the state television reporter because she wanted to be released. as a lawyer, she knew her legal rights. we were in that police headquarters a couple weeks ago and we saw in one room alone, there were ten secret camera in this one meeting room alone. so that's possibly how the video that we're seeing on state television of eman al obeidy got out, not because she wanted to give any interviews at all. >> thank you very much for.

coming up, the it laest from japan. the nuclear crisis seems to be going from bad to worse as workers struggle to cool reactors at the plant and keep radioactive water out of the ocean. new questions about the people in charge. are government officials and tepco, the private company which runs this plant, are tepco officials telling the truth, the whole truth right now? we're keeping them honest, next. [ male announcer ] nature valley

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more breaking news. new and troubling developments in the struggle to fwring fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant under control. new reports tonight that seawater near the plant contains radioactive iodine at more than 3,300 times the legal limit. the government today also

calling the situation and i quote, unpredictable. officials saying the effort to bring the plant under control is now at "maximum alert." fresh worries over contaminated water leaking with containment vessels with some of that run off making it too risky for workers to continue their efforts to stabilize the plant. all of this comes as the company at the center of the mess, tepco, comes under fire from the japanese government for wildly inaccurate radiation readings. and officials are calling it unacceptable. and where is the man who is supposed to be leading the fight to head off a nuclear meltdown? lately almost seems to know exactly where he is. this man, tepco's ceo, is not even -- is not even many of the people who work directly for him, "the washington post" is reporting it's been more than two weeks since he last made a public appearance. the company said he suffered a "small illness from overwork" and he's back on the job now. we are hearing now from some of the people from inside the fukushima daiichi plant, some of the workers.

here's what one had to say according to e-mails obtained by "the wall street journal." "the quake is a natural disaster, but tepco should be blamed for contamination caused by the radioactive materials released from the nuclear plants." another worker said "i feel anger across the nation pointing to tepco. i suspect tepco executives feel it well enough." we'll bet they do. tom foreman has the latest on the fight inside the plant. tom, what do we know? >> we know that the workers inside the plant, they're sure doing their jobs. these guys are getting like a stack of crackers in the morning, one meal at night, work 12-hour long days, sleeping on these mats on the floor. they're supposed to protect them from any kind of contamination here. and the fight goes on. look, one of the concerns for officials is that there has been some kind of partial meltdown in reactors one, two and three. the reason they think that is we've been watching this from the beginning, the spraying of water. this is how they had to try to cool down those cores because

all of the pump systems were ruined. they didn't have electricity. so they sprayed water and sprayed water and sprayed water. guess what? just what you would think. now there is water filling up basically everything you can fill up here, because the water has just built up as they've cooled and cooled and cooled, and the water is contaminated. that's what these workers are having to work around while they try to continue to keep this under control, anderson. >> first of all, it boggles my mind that they're being fed crackers and one meal a day. this is one of the most important jobs that's occurring right now in the world. i'm not quite clear on why they're being fed small rations. >> i'm not either. it looks like they're doing this incredible difficult work in in terrible circumstances and it sort of defies explanation as to why they're not getting tremendous support and they don't seem to be. >> what's going to happen with all that contaminated water if it can't be -- what happens to it? >> if it can't be contained?

well, the simple truth is that so far some of it hasn't been. one of the big concerns here has been reactor number two. that's where they most think they've had a breach in the containment vessel. the reason they think that is because contaminated water not only made it out of here and pooled in all these areas but showed up in this tunnel over here near one of the turbine buildings. and this is only about 60 yards from the open ocean. how much contamination is in this water? look at it this way. they say this is a dangerously high level. if you stood here for a couple of minutes, you would get as much contamination from radiation as you would from about 300 years from living your life on land. that's the big concern here, anderson, with all this water. right now they're putting in sandbags and barriers and trying to stop it, but this remains a very serious concern because there's a lot of water and radiation in this area still. >> do we know where radiation levels stand at this point? >> we know as you said a moment ago that the reports from the beginning have been all over the

map. we do know that there have been some traces of plutonium, radioactive iodine and cesium found on the grounds and out in the water out here. what we're officially hearing is that it's not enough to be a real threat to people, but that's the concern, anderson, as people have raised questions day after day, week after week about how the company is handling this, about the transparency of information and the quality of the information. that's why so many scientists have been saying look, whatever they're saying about this, we have to at least arch an eyebrow and say how much can we trust it? especially if this effort has to keep going on and on and right now it does. >> tom, appreciate the update. we're joined now by a former senior operator of several nuclear plants, michael freelander. he worked for 13 years as a senior operator. and chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta reporting tonight for us, as well. sanjay, there are reports that low levels of radiation have been detected in the air or

water in 13 states here in america. earlier when this thing first began, there was talk about it's going to hit some of the western states. it's now at 13 states. how much cause, i mean, is this cause for concern at this point? >> well, i don't think it's cause for concern and i can tell you a couple things. one, it's likely more states will trigger these low levels of radiation higher than normal. but certainly low in terms of potential consequences on human health. so i think we're likely to see the number of states increase. we also know from looking at previous accidents, such as chernobyl, that you do get this radioactivity, you get the sort of plume as people have been referring to it, and it will circumnavigate the globe. that's what happened with the radioactive particles from chernobyl. as a result, you will get radioactive increases, radioactivity increases in many places around the world. if you measure that back from 1986, what we hear from scientists who measured at the time was the total amount of

radiation increased was about 1/10th of a chest x-ray. so i think we're likely to see a number of states get worse but a low level of radiation. >> michael, as you see what's been going on, what gives you the greatest concern? >> i think precisely what your previous contributor mentioned, the -- if you stand back and look at the forest for the trees, i worry that the accident management that's going on, that they're not being able to stay one or two steps ahead of the evolution. we should have known that there was going to be millions of gallons of contaminated water that needed to be addressed at some point in time. and the ability to handle that should have been something that got put in motion days ago, if not weeks ago. i mean, the fact of the matter is, these tanks are filling up, we continue to inject water. normal operations would have had them using their gaseous rad

waste systems. we know that the gaseous waste system was destroyed in the explosions. if they don't deal with this, we are out of the apocalyptic scenarios of core melting and things like that. that's clearly no longer the issue. the prospect of potentially spilling massive quantities of highly contaminated water really, really worries me. >> what would you normally do with contaminated water? >> normally, anderson, we have systems where you process it through a sort of demineralizers and charcoal filters. you take the gaseous waste that's gone off and you process it as well to allow it to decay. we take the solids, they get packaged up and sent off to rad waste facilities around the globe. but all of those systems have been damaged over the last two weeks. again, it shouldn't be any big surprise to them and they should have been putting in place steps

to deal with that. >> appreciate you being on. michael freelander, as well. always good to have your expertise. still ahead, a pro basketball franchise fits into one city's future. it's about being active and it's about putting the right fuel in your body. it's that simple. and here's the good news -- it's never too late to start. quaker oatmeal is proven to help lower cholesterol. it's a staple in my diet. in fact, it's the only cereal i eat. it powers you up and it makes you feel great. are you eating quaker for breakfast? ♪

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tonight, in building up america, conventional wisdom says people will follow jobs, even if it means moving to another state. but will jobs follow people to where they want to live? the mayor of oklahoma city is betting on that. here's tom foreman. >> reporter: every time the thunder takes the floor, the home crowd cheers not just for

the team but also for the remarkable transformation it represents. >> i love what i've seen. it's been great. >> reporter: for almost two decades through targeted use of a voter approved one cent sales tax, oklahoma city has been rebuilding itself, with a new ballpark, new attractions, refurbished enter statement centers, museums, schools and more. >> we're creating a city where your kid and grand kid is going to want to live. the past paradigm is people have went to where the jobs were. >> reporter: the acquisition of the thunder three years ago was a milestone in the process of making this a prime place to live. and a coup for this town that is one of the smallest to host an nba team. it was made possible in large part because that same tax money was used to build an arena with no loans to hang over the profit making potential of the new

franchise. >> there's no debt on the building. it's paid for. >> reporter: that's unusual. >> extremely unusual. >> reporter: coach scott brooks called it team work. >> it's important we get behind each other's endeavors. >> reporter: so today, oklahoma city enjoys one of the lowest unemployment rates of any city in the country. sales tax revenues have soared and this town is charging back from the recession. tom foreman, cnn, oklahoma city. >> building up america. we'll be right back. we're with you when you're saving for your dreams.

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time for our "beat 360" winners. our daily challenge to viewers by coming up with a better caption for the photo. tonight's photo, prince charles aboard a ship in portugal. staf