tonight on "nightline," no-fly boys. an exclusive first look at the secret u.s. war strategy in libya. in the sky with the general in charge and for the first time, we hear from the marines who swooped in to rescue their downed comrades. savage sex. he is the sex columnist whose raw advice has won his infamy and an ardent following. so, what is he really after? and, atomic kataways. fear of nuclear catastrophe, a city evacuates, but some are held back by destiny, or duty. we're in japan with the incredible story of what it's like to be stranded in a nuclear ghost town. >> announcer: from the global

resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," march 24th, 2011. >> good evening, i'm bill weir. there are indications there could be more huge and potentially bloody uprising in yemen and syria tomorrow, but as for the current revolution in libya, tonight brought news that the u.s. will hand over command to nato to enforce that no-fly sewn. but questions remain. what is the american role going forward. with gadhafi's air force now sm smoldering, what do we do now? martha rad dad went looking for answers with an exclusive interview for tonight's "target libya" report. >> reporter: the man asleep here, miles above the mediterranean sea, is general carter ham. he, and most of his staff, passed out upright, somewhere off the libyan coast. we're in an osprey, the marine

corps craft that's part helicopter, part airplane. it's not comfortable. but the commander of all forces deployed for operation odyssey dawn catches a nap wherever he is. ham is taking me to the u.s. battleships here on his first trip since the war began. this is the "uss kearsarge" with more than 2,000 u.s. troops on board. >> i use a very tech nick call term as i was talking to the president. he said, how are the attacks going? and i said, mr. president, the marines are hammering the [ bleep ] out of them. >> reporter: all eyes have been on ham and the men and women who serve under him here, especially with the fighting inside libya intensifying. these are the latest images from a raging battle for a place called misrata, the last major town near the libyan capital

still controlled by anti-gadhafi forces. gadhafi's forces appear to have taken control of the hospital, the sea port and the airport today. ham has had less than a week to turn the tide against gadhafi, who has vowed to show no mercy to the rebels who have risen up, demanding the end to his 40-year rule. these pictures emerged of a hospital hit by tank fire. children hit by snipers there. at ham's disposal, a powerful array of american military in the region, with nearly 200 war planes, over a dozen helicopters, hundreds of missiles and thousands of sailors and marines. this is a frustrating, complicated mission for general ham. while he told us most of gadhafi's fixed air defenses have been taken out, it remains more difficult every day to go after the gadhafi forces who are often dressing up like civilians

and attacking opposition while jets patrol above. you can't stop all the violence through air power. you can't get the snipers. you can't really tell people apart. >> i believe we are and can continue to make a difference. does it bother me that there are innocent civilian people who have been slaughtered by these people while it's been my mission to protect them? i absolutely take that to heart. >> reporter: and the fact that there is no clear end state? does it surprise you that we're just now discussing what the next phase is? >> we could have had, and obviously would have been nice to have, the longer debate about, you know, eventually, what do you want to get to, what we would like to see the international community's support in libya. but he was slaughtering his own people. you can't stand by, i don't think you can stand by, and have that debate about end state

while he's killing his own people. it b-- by that point, it may hae become a moot point. >> reporter: and nobody can say what the toll of this war will be on a united states military stretched thin across the region. tonight, 2,000 fresh forces are preparing to head for the region aboard the "uss batan," to eventual little replace these on the "kearsarge." already, an american plane has gone down in libya, prompting rescue teams aboard this am fib rouse assault ship to launch a rescue for the downed f-15 pilot. in an abc news exclusive, the two marine osprey pilots who picked up that pilot describe their mission for the first time. >> we saw his flare on the ground and we got eyes on his position and an airplane, way up overhead at about 25,000 feet was able to shine a laser down.

>> reporter: they could hear his voice over the radio. how did he describe the situation? >> he was understandably a little frazzled. >> so, they were communicating with him. there were a few times his wingman was saying, hey, drink some water, take it easy. >> reporter: the osprey descended. >> as soon as we set up, he started bolting for the airplane. so, i think he said that, you know, he was in our dust cloud by the time we landed. he was running at the airplane like this. >> reporter: he was on board seconds later. >> it was awesome when we got him. >> reporter: how did that feel when you were taking off? was awesome. we landed, and i was like, that's probably the coolest thing i've done. >> reporter: everyone knows that story had a happy ending. but this war seems a long way from being over, or the ending even defined. i'm martha raddatz for "nightline." >> and our thanks to martha for that. when we come back, he says occasional cheating on your

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>> what can a gay man teach a straight woman about enjoying sex? well, if dan savage is any indication, a lot, really. he is a columnist who has made a career about talking about the torque and high drag ickes of copulation with a level of detail you'd expect from a mechanic. and this has brought plenty of surprising fans and predictable enemies. here is yunji de nies for our series "modern sex in america." ♪ >> i wanted to write an advice column, eww, straight people are icky. >> reporter: meet dan avage, the sex advice columnist. he gets thousands of queries every week. >> i go and speak at colleges and girls who never had or gachl will tell me about the column

where i walked somebody else with that problem through how to become or gaz mick and that column did it for them. it's staggering to think i'm a gay man and i give college girls orga orgasms. >> reporter: he is not always nice. why are you so harsh with them? >> well, when you go to your friends for advice, the first thing they do is make fun of you. for half an hour they will do that, and then they give you advice. >> reporter: he shares this letter with a man struggling with an overbearing long distance girlfriend. >> wh what did you tell him? >> reporter: break up with her. harsh. >> it's a dtmf. >> reporter: what is that? >> dump the [ bleep ] [ bleep ] already. >> reporter: what's the hardest

question that you get? >> you get letters from people that are unlucky in love all their lives and they want to be told that, or they have been told over and over again, there's someone out there for everyone. and i will say to them, that is a lie. there's not. >> reporter: there has to be, though. otherwise -- >> there's somebody out there for rent for everyobody. >> reporter: but you don't believe in soul mates or someone out there who is your ideal -- >> the one? oh, my god. that's something that has to be -- the one. yeah, i get letters every day from people who haven't found the one yet or are with somebody who is totally terrific but they're not sure she's the one. because there's these -- there is no one. there's a .64 and maybe if you're lucky, a.67 that you round up to one. >> reporter: you've been married for so long. isn't terry the one? >> he's the one i settled on. he's the one i picked. he's the one who picked me. he makes me happier than not. i pay him the compliment of

pretending he's the one. we both know that there is no one. >> just all the pictures they can get. >> reporter: terry miller is savage's partner of 16 years, co-parent of their teenage son, whom they adopted at birth. and co-creator of the it gets better project. a youtube channel with messages of hope -- >> it got better. >> reporter: from gay teens. >> i am an out and proud gay man. >> reporter: it all began with a video, shot in this seattle neighborhood bar. >> i was bullied a lot, beat up, thrown against walls and lockers and windows. >> i called terry from jfk, said, i want to make a video. i want to say, it gets better. i want to talk about our joy and encourage other gay and lesbian adults to do the same and give these kids hope for their futures. >> we thought we would get maybe a few, a couple hundred videos at the most. >> reporter: they got 10,000

from celebrities -- >> it does get better. >> you're not alone. i see you. >> people are here for you. people who care and understand. >> reporter: hopoliticians -- >> first of all, hang in there. >> reporter: even president obama. >> the president looked into the camera, said, there's nothing wrong with you. >> you are not alone. you didn't do anything wrong. >> reporter: so, is there anyone you haven't seen a video from that you'd like to? >> the pope. >> we have zero videos from any republican politicians. >> reporter: savage doesn't hide his politics. he famously went after rick santorum after the former senator compared homosexuality to bestiality. savage responded by calling on his fan base to redefine the word santorum online. >> it's disgusting. you google his name, you're in for a shock. >> reporter: have you had a chance to talk to him personally? >> no. >> reporter: do you have any interest in engaming with him? >> i'd like him to come to

dinner and meet my family. >> reporter: once upon a time, not that long ago, americans turned to the proper likes of ann landers and abigail van buren for advice. a lot of things savage says might make ann landers blush. >> i got this one -- >> reporter: but savage is very much inspired by the icon. he writes his column from her old desk, with her typewriter nearby. >> you know, everyone thinks i'm sort of a crazy sex radical. everything i'm talking about ishgs want to see happen because i want to prevent divorce. i want people to be able to stick together for the long haul. i want relationships to last. >> reporter: i'm yunji de nies for "nightline" in seattle. >> dan savage's new book "it gets better" is on sale now. thanks to yunji de nies. and up next, left behind. we have the exclusive first look at life inside japan's exclusion

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it is like something out of steven king. an entire population suddenly shut off from the rest of the world, trapped by an invisible barrier, unable to escape an airborne toxic threat. but it is not fist. a and tonight, we are inside japan's exclusive zone. here's dave wright. >> reporter: two weeks ago, this was prime farmland. now, it's a poisoned landscape. so toxic, the few who venture in, dressed like they've just landed on the room. two weeks ago, 70,000 people lived here. then 300. now 50 or so. the town is rapidly dying. killed off by the nuclear plant 15 miles away. the street lights set the pace

for the city that was, directing traffic that doesn't exist anymore. but it isn't empty. some residents stayed behind, unable or unwilling to leave. "our car only had room for five," she explains. "but there are seven of us. so i packed my kids in with my husband. they left and i stayed here." the mayor says the day the reactor blew, the government urged him to down play the disaster so has to not incite a panic. "we officially told the people that the news about the explosion was a mistake. you can stay in your homes, you're safe." it's a lie he's been atoning for since. he says the government has now left the town to fend for itself. and amazingly, the town government functions better than ever. hardship is a powerful motivator. local firemen go door to door, checking on the elderly. this old man's daughter wants him to leave. that's her on the phone. "don't worry," he tells her.

"your mom's getting plenty of sleep and we still have some sake left." townspeople organized a shelter at the local junior high school for those whose homes were destroyed by the earthquake or the tsunami. no one's willing to drive supplies into such a toxic area. at the local hospital, medicine is running out. there's no way to refill the oxygen tanks for the patients who need them. they're running low on gas for the generators. "i blame the nuclear plant for all of this," the doctor says. all this food from tokyo was organized by the town. since relief trucks won't come to them, they have to go out and bring it back, even though that means exposing themselves to more radiation. officially these people are supposed to stay indoors with the windows shut. coming outside for a rare delivery of fresh produce is the closest thing here to a social occasion. the people who fled the area have things a little better.

first and fore most, they're away from the radiation. most of them live in shelters like this one, set up in a sports arena just south of tokyo. volunteers bring them food and other supplies. even organize ways for them to bathe. to take a bath? you bring people to your own house so they can have a chance to bathe? >> in my own house. >> reporter: but home is now a cardboard box in the corridor. 2200 people live in this sports arena. among them, this man. he shows us that home now is not even a cardboard box. just an open space on the floor behind someone else's. until two weeks ago, his town with the only home he knew. and what do you do there? what is your job? >> he worked at the nuclear plant. >> reporter: really? in fact, he was a radiation

monitor. he's lost his home and his job and he won't get either back any time soon. many more people want to leave the town. so, the local government organized buses to take them out. some of these people weren't ready to go when they had the chance. others feel it's simply too late for them to start over. when the buses finally arrive, it's as though they're just off for a sightseeing trip. but it's possible they'll never come back. if they do, it may not be until these boys are all grown up. in japanese, the name fukushima literally means good fortune island. cruel irony for a place that's so cursed. i'm david wright for "nightline" in tokyo. >> disaster with no end in sight. thanks to david wright for that. and thank you for watching abc news. we hope you check in with "good morning america." they're working while you're resting. they'll have the very latest on the middle east.