>> schieffer: today on "face the nation," in libya, u.s. british and french warplanes pounded key targets overnight. and in japan, at least 20,000 are now dead or missing in the earthquake. we'll hear from our correspondents in both places, plus the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen; richard lugar, ranking republican on the senate foreign relations committee, and massachusetts congressman ed markey, a voice on the environment. it's all ahead on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspondent bob schieffer. and now, from washington, bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning again.

here is the news from overnight on these two extraordinary stories. in libya, moammar qaddafi says every person in the country will be armed, and tells his people to prepare for a long war. u.s., french, and british planes are bombing key military targets in libya after u.s. and british ships fired more than 100 missiles at anti-aircraft sites yesterday. in japan, radiation has showed up in tap water as far away as tokyo. japan says one of the reactors was so damaged, it will have to be scrapped. and as casualties mount, one miraculous story-- an 80-year- old woman and a teen-aged boy were found in the rubble and rescued nine days after the quake. we'll get to the story in japan later, but first, to libya and our correspondent mark phillips, who joins us from tripoli. well, mark, these planes carried out a heavy bombing attack. no question about that.

but it appears, at this point, that qaddafi is not backing away. >> that's right, bob. his reaction has been the usual kind of bluster and defiance. he's been on tv twice here. he's been on tv, we've heard him on tv calling in on the telephone. he hasn't given away his position by actually appearing in person for reasons of self- preservation, i suppose. but he said basically that this will unite libya. he says he's opened up the armories of the country to arm the civilians against the threat of invasion by these "crusader forces," as he calls them. but i think the real question here is just how serious a wound he has sustained this time. he's been hit before, so whether this is just another glancing blow or whether this is in any way a mortal wound on moammar qaddafi. he's a survivor.

he has survived for 40-plus years here. what will really determine the course of events now i think is what the sense of the general population to his survivability. >> schieffer: thank you, mark. the heaviest damage to qaddafi's ground forces was around benghazi and east libya, where french war planes destroyed qaddafi's advance into the city. benghazi is libya's second largest city. one of the first cities that the rebels took control of. and the cause of yesterday's attacks now remains under rebel control. and here to talk about that, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen. admiral, thank you for coming. so, has this been successful? >> well, in the first certainly 24 hours of operations, we've been able to effectively establish the no-fly zone. we've got actually french airplanes over benghazi as we speak. we'll be able to do that on 24/7 basis. we've taken out some of his ground forces near benghazi. he has not flown anything for the last couple of days.

we've taken out his air defense systems. we've hit some of his command- and-control nodes and some of his airfields, one in particular which was a very significant airfield. i don't have all the damage assessments at this point. it's going to take a little longer to do that. but so far, very, very effective. >> schieffer: so what is the objective now? >> the military mission here is actually very clearly defined. it's limited in scale and scope. and its to establish a no fly zone. it's to protect... to not allow him to continue to kill libyan civilians and protect them, as well as support the humanitarian efforts that would follow given that he stops doing that. in that regard, it's, as i said, narrow in scope. we command the operation right now, but this is a coalition. i mean, the french actually this the first airplanes in. we attacked last night with the british.

there are other countries who are providing capabilities as we speak. we expect in a few days to hand off command of this-- leading it if you will-- to a coalition that will lead it over the longer term. and then, from the united states' perspective, recede to a position of support. that doesn't mean we won't have any airplanes over the beach. we will provide unique the like, which only we can do. so that's the current plan. >> schieffer: admiral, what if this just sort of settles into a stalemate, because he's showing no signs of backing out or going anywhere. >> i don't think that's for me to answer. certainly, i recognize that's a possibility. it's hard to know exactly how this turns out. i mean, he's been incredibly isolated by the international community. he's had the arab league vote against him. actually, this resolution from the u.n. is a much stronger arms

embargo, because we can now board ships at sea, which we couldn't do before. but he's a thug, he's a cagey guy. he's a survivor. we know that. so it's difficult to know exactly how it comes out. but in the immediate future, we're very focused on protecting, providing the environment in which the libyan civilians cannot be massacred by him, and that there can be humanitarian relief, and particularly, in and around benghazi. >> schieffer: when all of this started, the secretary of defense was very wary about this, about going in and bombing a third muslim country. secretary of state clinton had her problems with it. but we're told that, when the arab league said they wanted to be a part of this, that that brought hillary clinton around. are the arab countries doing anything in this? >> in fact, there are forces, airplanes in particular, from

qatar, who are moving into position as we speak in the theater. there are other countries who have committed, although i'd rather have them publicly announce that commitment. and i think it was a significant point when the arab league in particular voted against this guy. this is a colleague of his for a long period of time. so that message is indeed loud and clear. and we've had a significant number of other coalition countries who have come together to provide capability, even now. most of them are actually, many of them from europe as we speak. and i think this will continue to build. >> schieffer: we know, or at least we think, that qaddafi has given up his nuclear capabilities, but we keep hearing that he has stores of mustard gas. number one, is that so? and number two, what if he tries to use it? >> he does have stores of that.

a significant quantity. we've had our eyes on that for a significant period of time, literally the last two or three weeks. >> schieffer: we think we know where it is. >> yes, we do. there's no indication that he is moving towards using that. but certainly, that's something we're watching very carefully. >> schieffer: what if he should use it? >> again, you get into the kind of, you know, speculation of what might happen. it's something that certainly he could do a lot of damage with. it would require action to prevent that, should he move in that direction. but i honestly haven't seen him move in that direction. we think we have a very good handle on right now. >> schieffer: admiral, what's the endgame here? how long does this go on? how long can we keep this up? where does this go? >> well, i think from a military

perspective, the mission is very clear. and it's limited in scope. i can't say exactly how long it's going to... that the military part of this will be in effect. and i think it's for others to determine where this goes long term. i mean, there have been lots of options which have been discussed. but i think it's very uncertain on how this ends. what we're focused on now, though, is a guy who has killed his own civilians ruthlessly in the past, being in a position where that stops. we're focused on supporting the libyan people from a humanitarian standpoint. i think it's important to point out that the libyan people asked for help here. this wasn't something that the united states ginned up. this was something that an awful lot of countries, including the people most affected, have asked for help. that's really where the focus is right now. >> schieffer: admiral, thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you, bob. >> schieffer: we turn now to senator richard lugar, who is the top republican on the

foreign relations committee in the senate. senator, thank you for joining us. he were very, very dubious about this in the beginning. how do you feel about it this morning? >> my feelings are that we are not declaring war at this point. we are a part, as the admiral has said, of a coalition. we've already fired 110 missiles, tomahawks, at libya and had some aircraft support. but my point this week publicly has been that if we're going to war with libya, we ought to have a declaration of war by the congress. specifically, before we go to war, there always ought to be a plan for what is going to proceed. that is for us, at least, as well as for others and what the outcome is, what we anticipate is going to occur. that's especially important in this case because the mission right now is based, as the admiral said, on trying to relieve the civilians in libya from a tyrant.

from trying to make sure that the cruelties and the murder and what have you doesn't continue. but how do you do that? now, the president has been very clear-- no american boots on the ground. no ground troops. no american aircraft over libya. so we don't have exposure of our people. he emphasizes a matter of days, not weeks, in this mission. but we really have not discovered who it is in libya that we are trying to support. obviously, the people that are against qaddafi, but who? in eastern libya, for example, a huge number of people went off to help the iraqis against the united states in a war that still is winding down in that sphere. and specifically, if we don't really concentrate on this now, we then take a look at, in the same news clips, with bahrain where a government is shooting people. they are resisting the government.

furthermore, saudi arabia has sent 2,000 troops into bahrain to support that government. we have the fifth fleet there. if that was not enough, yemen is shooting people. the government is shooting citizens. and yet, we are very indebted to that government for looking for al qaeda, who have come over from afghanistan or elsewhere. furthermore, even syria today is shooting people in one part of the country as they try to suppress difficulties there. the tunisian-egyptian thing set off a situation in which people who are resisting their governments have decided to go after them. now, in libya, because qaddafi appears to be especially cruel and out of sorts, why, the world, including the arab league, has commended this. >> schieffer: what you're saying is we're running the risk here of getting involved in all of these countries, that the people in all these countries may be calling on us? can we handle that? >> well, that is the question we ought to determine.

now, these preliminary polls are the american people do not want to try to handle all of this. it's a strange time in which almost all of our congressional days are spent talking about budget, deficits, outrageous problems. yet at the same time, all of this passes, which is a very expensive operation, even in a limited way-- always is-- and we're talking about many countries in which our interests are involved. now, we had better get this straight from the beginning. or there is going to be a situation in which war lingers on, country after country, situation after situation, all of them on a humane basis, saving people. all maybe with the arab league in or out of it. but at the same time-- in this case, china and russia and germany and india and brazil-- all standing aside and saying they're not very confident even about the libyan situation. >> schieffer: so, you're still just as wary right now. >> yes, i am. >> schieffer: as you were at the beginning of this? >> yes.

>> schieffer: senator, thank you so much for bringing this up to us. i want to go finally, before we turn to story on japan, i want to go to our national security correspondent david martin out at the pentagon. catch us up here, david. have we missed anything here, and how do you see this coming to an end? >> you know, that's the famous question that david petraeus asked at the beginning of the war in iraq. by sheer coincidence, this operation started on the 8th anniversary of the start of the iraq war. that started off with shock and awe, and turned into a mess. this one has started off gangbusters with cruise missile strikes and b-2 bombers flying all the way from the united states. but that does not guarantee that this is going to end well. you were talking about the arab league with admiral mullen. the arab league is providing critical political support. already today, the arab league is saying, this is not the kind of military operation they signed up for when they called

for a no-fly zone. >> schieffer: okay, david. thanks to you too for helping us put this in some perspective. when we come back, the story on japan which still goes on. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] right now he's not thinking about his future. he can't say social security... much less tell you what it means. he doesn't know that his parents are counting on the money they pay in. or that the hard earned benefits his grandparents receive... are secure. right now he's not thinking about his future. but we are. aarp has been working to preserve social security for more than 50 years. join us in a conversation to strengthen it for years to come.

>> schieffer: now to the other story. the story that will not go away. the story in japan. cbs's "60 minutes" correspondent scott pelley is in our tokyo bureau this morning. scott, bring us up to date on the latest. >> the death count, it was announced today here in japan, has been confirmed so far at 8,000 with something on the order of 15,000 missing. so the country is preparing itself at this point for a total death count from the tsunami of about 20,000 people. >> schieffer: scott, what's the latest on those reactors? >> well, it's still a fight out there, bob. there has not been a new release

of radioactive steam in the last day or so. but the four reactors are still overheating. one american official working here told us that the japanese have done a great job of getting water cannons in there. they put 2,700 tons of water on one of the reactors in the last 24 hours, but that is still not keeping it quite cool enough. and the pressure has been building in that reactor. that's going to be a fight for quite some time. >> schieffer: you were up there about 20 miles from one of the reactors. what was it like up there, scott? >> it's a little bit of a ghost town feeling up there, bob. as you get closer and closer to the reactors, the streets become more and more empty. a lot of shops are closed. you don't see very many people around. the japanese have imposed a exclusion zone of about 12 miles around the reactor. but the japanese people seem to have decided that they want to be even further away. so the closer you get to that part of the country, the fewer

people that you see on the streets. >> schieffer: scott pelley. thank you so much, scott. and scott will have a very extensive piece tonight on "60 minutes". you won't want to miss that. late word, by the way, that two of the six reactors are now under control. we're going to turn now to congressman ed markey, one of the leading voices on energy in congress. i must say, congressman, to think that this story would be the second story we'd be dealing with this morning just underlines how big both these stories are. >> it's historic, obviously, what's happening in libya, but it's also historic what is happening in japan. because, obviously, there's a tragedy. we care for the people over there. but at the same time, it is calling into question the viability of nuclear power in the united states. >> schieffer: and you have called for a moratorium. why? >> well, i've called for a moratorium on the siting of new nuclear power plants on

earthquake-prone areas of our country. and that is because we should just be humble in the face of mother nature. we should understand that it's very difficult for us to guarantee that a catastrophic meltdown cannot happen in our country. and we should ensure that we act cautiously, given the japanese meltdown and given their kind of technological equivalency with the united states in terms of our ability and their ability to deal with what mother nature might present to either of our countries as a challenge. >> schieffer: the overwhelming impact of both of these stories has kind of caused us to not pay much attention to what's been going on up on capitol hill, where they've been dealing with budgets and such. what's been happening up there? >> up there, unbelievably, the nuclear industry was able just three weeks ago to convince the republican house of representatives to zero out the loan guarantee money for wind

and solar and geothermal, and to put it in $18 billion in taxpayer guaranteed loan guarantees for the nuclear industry. that's ancient history already, because it's pretty clear that the nuclear industry as an electrical-generating part of our mix for the future is now going to meet its maker in the marketplace. it won't be protestors. it will be wall street investors that are going to be raising real questions about its viability going forward. >> schieffer: let me go back to the situation in japan. are you confident that we know what's happening there? are we to believe the reports coming out of the japanese government? >> i think the transparency has been increasing. i think that there is increasing cooperation between the department of energy and the nuclear regulatory commission in our country, and what is going on in japan. you can never have 100% confidence, especially where there is an electric utility

involved because they're always trying to look at their own long-term financial well-being. we saw that in the united states at three mile island. but i think right now, there is a level of cooperation that is helping to reduce the likelihood gat the problem is going to get worse. >> schieffer: do we know what the radiation levels are in the food, for example? >> i've called upon the federal drug administration to begin monitoring of food coming in from japan and for fish that is caught in pacific waters near japan, because we should now have some knowledge about what is happening. obviously, in spinach and in milk, some miles away from that plant, they're now picking up radiation in those food products. so we should act with some caution here as well. >> schieffer: do you see any danger to the united states in the atmosphere from what's happened here? >> at this point, there's no reason to panic, without question. i think right now we're still at safe levels.

but in the future, i think it does make the case for the implementation of my 2002 law, which requires the... to have potassium iodide given to people from the 10 to 20 mile radius around nuclear power plants in order to protect from thyroid cancer being contracted in children. right now, that has not happened. the bush administration did not implement my law. what we're seeing in japan with radiation levels going out 20 miles and beyond, that we should act with some caution in the future and ensure that the potassium iodide is made available. >> schieffer: congressman, thank you for bringing your insight to us this morning. and i'll be back with some final thoughts. >> thank you. across the country when the economy tumbled, jpmorgan chase set up new offices to work one-on-one with homeowners. since 2009, we've helped over 250,000 americans

keep their homes. and we're reaching out to small businesses too, lending them more than $10 billion last year. we're also giving businesses the opportunity to ask for a second review if they feel their loan should have been approved. this is how recoveries happen. everyone doing their part. this is the way forward.

[ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro.

>> schieffer: finally i was in atlanta monday to see georgia tech honor one of its finest. georgia's former senator and long-time chairman of the senate armed services committee democrat sam nunn. when he retired in 1997, hundreds of pieces of legislation bore his name, everything from major reorganizations of the military to the program he created with republican senator richard lugar to help the russians dismantle their outmoded nuclear missiles and convert their deadly payloads into fuel for america's nuclear power plants. nunn has been called a renaissance man, but to me, he was also a retro senator, a politician from another era when the senate was a place of giants, and the greatest of them found ways to rise above partisanship and work with those in the other party to actually accomplish things. today's politicians savor their

partisan victories, but here is just one result of nunn's approach. because of the nun-lugar program to dismantle russian nuclear missiles, today, one out of ten light bulbs in this country is powered by reprocessed nuclear fuel that once set atop enemy missiles aimed at us. now, that is a legacy. i'll never forget nunn's parting words when he left washington. "i never accomplished anything," he said, "without the help of someone from the other party." ah, those were the days. back in a minute. it's not what you think. look. there was a time when a company like that would envy us. little outfit. it's almost quaint. all these years we had something they could never have. something only the biggest operations could ever afford. it was our strategic advantage. now they have it. what exactly is "it" that they have? logistics.

a level playing field. it's not fair. is a powerful force. set it in motion... and it goes out into the world like fuel for the economy. one opportunity leading to another... and another. we all have a hand in it. because opportunity can start anywhere, and go everywhere. let's keep it moving. ♪ let's keep it moving. [scraping] [piano keys banging] [scraping] [horns honking] with deposits in your engine, it can feel like something's holding your car back. let me guess, 16. [laughing] yeeah. that's why there's castrol gtx... with our most powerful deposit fighting ingredient ever. castrol gtx exceeds

the toughest new industry standard. don't let deposits hold your car back. get castrol gtx. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. >> schieffer: thanks for watching "face the nation." we'll see you right here next week. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ,,,,,,,,