>> rose: welcome to the program. we talk this evening about the merger between us airways and american airlines. it took another significant step today by decision on the part of a judge here in new york. we talk this evening w with

douglas parker, chairman and c.e.o. of us airways, and will be the new c.e.o. of american airlines. >> i started my career at american. i loved american. i loved the culture, the heritage, the people. so in that sense, i'm an insider to amican. but i alsoleft americannd did numer other things, went through, you know, a number of restructuring type issues at northwest and americawest, and went through a merger with us airways. all those things, and went through an attempt to merge with delta that wasn't successful. but all these things prepared us to learn, to be prepared for this. and i think we executed the-- the-- the pursuit of the merger very well because of all that we had learned. >> rose: also this evening, the french officer and philosophebernard henri-levy talks aut his experiences in libya during the war and the overthrow of gaddafi and even today. >> they know that i provided concrete help to the fighters.

they know that i was on the front lines with them. they know that i went to fetch the generals. they know that. and they know that i am a jew. and these two things put together in some brains, in libya, create a real poblem. but it is their problem, not mine. >> rose: we conclude this evening with jay bilas, the college basketball analyst for espn, talking about the sweet 16, and his predictions for the games on thursday anded from. >> well, i think it's a really good field. we've got 13 teams from the traditional d.c.s. conferences, sort of traditional big shots. and we've got three double-digit seeds which is, historically, about where we wind up. there are some years where we've had-- we had one year where we had five double-digit seeds make it south skeet escape. we had other years where it was

two, one, a couple with zero but three has been the range. it has been a normal year for chaos in that regard, but florida gulf coast, who are now asking to be called fgcu.

captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: every day in the united states, two millioning. s board more than 30,000 flights. douglas parker is the chairman and c.e.o. of us airways. the company announced last month a plan to emerge with american airlines. if approved by regulators will create the nation's largest carrier. parker will take over as the chief executive of a combined company called american. mergers have been the industry solution to economic turbulence that has shaken aviation. they're worried consolidation will decrease competition and lead to higher fares. i'm very pleased to have douglas parker here at this table for the first time. welcome. >> thank you very much, charlie. happy to be here. >> rose: tell me about the

airline industry today. i mean, if you don't consolidate, you die? is that sort of where we are? >> we don't need to csolite or die. us airways is doing very well stand alone. we in record profits last year. it isn't about survival but it is about doing what's best for our customers, our employeees, and the communities we serve. there are three airlines larger than us there ar. >> rose: there are the big four right now, of which you will be the biggest? >> we will. but united and delta are larger than either american or us airways. this allows us to combine and create a third competitor to compete against those two airlines and provi gbal service fo people around the world and i think it's good for competition. >> we had brian moynihan c.e.o. of bank america, and one of the conversations with bankers is too big to fail. is there any sense in the airline industry you can be too big to fail? >> i don't know. we certainly have had a lot of failures in tharily business,

irrespective of size. we won't be the largest airline. we're marginally larger than united, marginally larga than dea. th isn talking about creati thethings we e in e baingndusry in terms of scale and size. this is creating a third competitor with two airlines larger than us and giving customers one more choose. >> rose: do you remember the famous letter to stockholders washen buffet wrote? >> i think i do. >> rose: he lost his money, i think, in us airways or didn't do well, as did julian robertson as well, tiger fund. and he basically in the letter said i remember or i've been told that it would have been better if they had shotrvil wright >> for investors. that was his view, yes. it's been a long time since airlines have been profitable and been able to make returns to investors. >> rose: why is that? >> look, it's a long history. you know, as a regulated

business through 1978, and we've gone through this very long deregulation process, and a lot of shaik out, a lot of-- old-line airlines like twa, pan am, easterns, a lot of new start-ups-- the southwests and the jetted blues of the world. a lot of, over a long term a lot of restructung had to tke plac. i inke'r the. i think we're getting there with this-- again, with this merger, we'll have three-- it will be an intensely competitive business with three global hub and spoke airlinees, but southwest flying point to point, jetblue, allegiance, spirit-- a lot of competition. but it's a much better model for the long term for investores, for customers, for communities. q. how about for employees?>> a. >> rose: even though people say there will be a bunch of jobs lost here. >> well, they're-- that's not the case. the reality is in this-- what's really niceabout this merg is wee puttng together two otolaryngologies that have very complementary networks.

q. not overlapping butcomplemen? >> yes. we fly 900 routes in two airline, only 12 where we compete against each other. we need all the airplanes. we need all the people. we plan to continue service to all the communities we serb today. that's not just -- >> rose: nobody is going to lose their job? >> other than management. we going to have redundant management. that's okay-- it's not okay, we don't like that, but we'll make sure the management people, who are a little more mobile in rms of pilotsnd flit attdans, the alityo move to other jobs are, taken care of. we'll have management reductions in staff. >> rose: you're not talking 5,000 people. >> goodness, no. 1,000 maybe. but as it relates to pilots and flight attendants, we're so certain of this, we've agreed to no furlough protection. contractual agreements that we're not going to furlough employees. we need all the employees. we need all the airplanes. and wer happy about that. furthermore, as it relates to our employeees, because there is so much value created here we

can provide not just a more sece futu becausef a strongeairle but we're using some of the sinner gee to give them higher compennization, which is why we have the full support of all the employees on both sides of this merger. >> rose: all unions supporting? >> yes. pilots, flight attendants on both sides union support and contractual commitment. >> rose: there is this question always when you have this kind of merger-- and you have two c.e.o.s. tom horton is a friend of yourself i assume. >> he is. >> rose: you're friendly rivals. you're competitors but friend. >> we both started at american airnes centers and you're bo otes o b crandall. how do you decide who will be the c.e.o.? >> there is only room for one. you're correct. >> rose: right. >> as tom would tell you if he was here, this isn't about either of us. this is about what's best-- what was best for the airline, getting the two airlines together. and getting this merger done, and through that process we had to come to agreement on which one of us was going to run -- >> rose: was there any

consideration that american should go through bankruptcy first? >> finish-- get out of bankruptcy d tn comerger afterwards? tre ctain was talk about that. >> rose: what was the advantage or not advantage? >> in the case of-- us airways' perspective was there was a lot we could do while we were in, while the company was in. what you wouldn't want to do is have the company emerge and say there are things we could have fixed in bankruptciy and didn't fixture. 's perspective was we'd like to get out, get this clean and control our own disiny and see what the future might hold before we decide to do that. in our case, look, our persctive, us airws, we're hereow. no telling what the future holds in our business. we should complete this transaction while everything is lined up. we had employee alignment, and both airlines were ready to go. >> rose: some people, and i'm one of them-- i'm from north

carolina. >> i know that. >> rose: we worry about service, that regional airports are not going to benefit greatly from all the consolidation that you're mainly interested in chine and brazil and emerging markets where all the traffic is. >> that's not tre. theub andspoke model, us airways has an enormous charlotte, north carolina, hub, serves the southeast, marketthrough charlotte and philadelphia. this merger just creates a stronger hub and spoke airline. it services the small communities such as ashville, north carolina, just gets improved because the flight we have that exist today will still be there but able to connect to marketall around the world that we can't provide as us airways stdalone buus aiaysill >> rse: at happens to frequent flyers? >> they're better off. anyone who has miles in the advantage program -- >> rose: american's program. >> yes, advantage.

if you're a dividend miles member you'll move to the advantage program. and that program now allows you to fly to more places and earn and burn miles accordingly. >> rose: do i hear you saying when you look ahead, there are challenges but you feel pretty good about the future of the airline business, number one, that fares because of consolidation, and you're more in charge ofpricin not gng to be a big issue? >> i don't know if i use all those exact words, but in cop accept the, yeah. i think -- >> rose: the fares are not going to go up-- >> i know the merger is not going to do anything that will affect fares. fares will do what fares do. but as it relates to mergers, nothing in our models have us increasing-- creating revenues by increasing fares. it's all about getting more customers on to the airline because we can connect more people. >> rose: what's your strategy for gting more stoms on the plane? >> well -- >> rose: what do we want?

>> well, there are a lot of things our customers want. and we try and provide all that -- >> rose: one is price. >> one is price. very important is schedule, particularly to business passengers. "i want veps of schedule." the merger allows us to do that in a way neither of us can do today and compete with two airlines that are doing it better than we are with bigger schedules. schedules are extremely important. being able it fly places people want to fly when they want to fl thisew aline willbe ae to do that betr. passengers want operationals reliability. customers want operational reliability. get me where you said you would get me on time with my bags. the industry is doing better on all those factors in the past years. we're focusing much more on improving the relong island. the in-flight product, we all know, our customers have told us they'd like to see more amenities returned to the airlines than they've seen in the past. >> rose: always a price factor is the price of oil. what have you factored in as and

awhatprice in yur ecomic ssumions >>wellwe-- for forecasting purposes we look at what the forward curve says which for the most part says it stays about where it is today, goes up a little bit. but for any sort of capital investment, before we decide to ipvest a lot of capital, we stress that. they could go much higher. we have seen that in the past. >> rose: i think that means factor in the worst that could happen. >> exactly. we learned that back in 2008. that fuel prices can always go much higher than even you possibly imagined. they went to $148 a barrel or some sch nuer in 2008, and it had an enormous impact on our industry. we all learned from that. i think that's a big part of what's helped our industry get well is the understanding that things can get so much worse than you can possibly imagine there's been less capital-- it's a lot harder for someone to decide let's go start a new airline, for example, because this is such a hard business to do well in, it's hard for people to invest new capital in.

>> rose: it is, indeed, hard. another thing people will argue about consolidation, is price wars generally are started by those people, by the small guy, at ty'rerying to start the price war because they need the customers more, and with less smaller guys in the competition, it's less likely to have the kind of price influence that you've had in the past. >> yeah, well, there's-- there's no reduction in smaller guys going on here. you know, southwest is-- is as large an airline as any of us now, and touting the fact they're the largest airline in the united states as far as passengers. southwest is no longer a small guy, as you say. beside swifte have jetblue, allegiance, spirit, a number of others out there doing just that, and nothing is stopping someone from starting one tomorrow other than the fact we're already so competitive, it's really hard to make a return on your investment. there are a lot of used airplanes out there. there are available employees.

you can fly wherever you want. there's no barrier to entry here. it's just that it's a really tough business. >> rose: by some metric, american will now be the largest airline in the world. what's that metric? >> i think pretty much every metric. >> rose: it is every one. >>iacy, certainly -- >> rose: so you are the c.e.o.-to-be of the biggest airline in the world. >> yes. you can add that to the list of worries. and, again, while we will be the largest, it's just marginally larger than both united or delta. so it's about the same size but on any metric you look at we'll be slightly larger. we're prepared for it. it's not about me. we have a team that is excited and ready to do this. we have teams at both thairlz we're going to put together to create the best team in the industry, and we know hw to do this. i'm excited about it. >> rose: i can tell by talking to you, you're excited about it. but there are also things that are not necessarily within your responsibility but because you are there, i want to ask you

about them. number one, there's this whole business about operating smartphones and operating tablets and operating ipads the on the plane. what do you know about that? >> i'm happy to say that th-- if indeed the f.a.a. comes to the conclusion there is not a safety issue, we would love to see-- it makes our passengers happy. makes our fligh attendants happr. our flight attendan don li walking through the cabin and telling everyone they have to turn off their devices but they're required to by the f.a.a. we think it would be a much better product if we didn't have to, but safety comes first. >> rose: how hard is it to have wifly on every plane that flies? >> well, it's -- >> rose: is it a cost item? >> it's somewhat of a cost item, but we're finding the cost is worth incurring because customers-- that is a product the customers are beginning-- some customers. >> rose: i choose ples bed onifi. >> tnk you. you finished my sentence. you and i both.

not a lot of our customers-- but it doesn't take many-- saying i'm not going to take this flight unless it has wifi on it. once that happens you'll see int in place. >> rose: why is it taking so long? >> you have to put the equipment on the airplane and get it to work. we're moving as fast as we can. >> rose: how many airplanes does us airways have? >> about 350. >> rose: how long for every plane to have wifi. >> we'll have every of it on every airplane that will remain in the feet-- we are retirin some of the old airlines -- all of the airplanes in our fleet will be wifi capable by the end of this year. it takes some time to get the equipment on board. my experience of late has been it's much more likely to find a wifi capable airplane than not, certainly on us airways. >> rose: they just told me, because i hear it over my ear, that the judge here in manhattan has approved the merger. >> excellent news, thank you very much. not unexpected news, but it's great news.

that's what should happen. that-- wh that mes is amric inankrtcy need approval from the bankruptcy court judge of the merger, and there was limited opposition, so it sounds as though the judge heard all the opposition-- and the judge did the right thing, yes. >> rose: you expected it but you didn't know it until i told you. >> no, you're the first one to tell me. i appreciate it. >> rose: i want to come back seriously, is the airline sector a huge part of our economy? >> it's enormous. something on the order of one out of eight jobs is related somehow to the u.s. commercial aviation business.aúit's just--w importa it is to -- >> rose: one in eight jobs? >> yeah. it's an incredibly important part of the u.s. economy, one we don't think we get enough appreciation for in terms of the way we're-- in the way we're taxed, for example. we're taxed at some 20% of the ticket you buy in general gets to federal taxes and fees. that's about the same-- that's

higher than you see on cigarettes, or liquor. so we feel as-- we're taxed much like a vice. >> rose: that they don't want you to use. >> precisely. >> rose: we don't want you to do it because-- and, therefore, we're going to tax you higher. one smoke, two drink, three fly. >> that's what it feels like sometimes. i don't think that's the policy but certainly the taxation, those are the facts about taxation. that hurts our ability to compete. and it hurts our ability to provide the best service we can, so we're working on letting that be known and trying very hard as an industry to work to reduce our tax burden. >> rose: so you've got this merger that's going to take place. over the next five years, how do you exct amecan airlines to chang >> well, i think-- and our goal will be over the next five years to go build what is the best airline in the world. >> rose: defined by? >> defined by the one customers want to fly. defined by the one where employees want to work. that's what i mean by.

and that's a goal-- we have the platform now. we have an airline that will be the largest in the world, but size certainly isn't everything. we need to create-- we created an environment for our employees that is respectful of them and thatives them the tls they need do their jobs, and lets them do their jobs and gives them the ability to know they can build a career there for as long as they want, and the company is there are for them. we need to put a product out there for our customers that is as good or better than the competition on the routes we serve. and one that we-- again, we feel, and the people can look to and say, you know, while the best in the world may be subjective, that we're always going to be in the sentence. and we're not there now. we have a lot of work to do. but we can get the foundation in place to do that. >> re: what timeline r al this? >> we need department of justice approval, of course. we expect to get that -- >> rose: it's an antitrust question. >> it is. we expect to get that some time in the third quarter.

we don't think there is any issues whatsoever. >> rose: this happened in other airlines. >> yes. we expect approval but we need to go through the process and make sure we answer all the questions and we respect that. that will happen we believe some time in the third quarter so once it's closed we're off and rung. >> rose: you said something-- or quoted as saying something i frequently quote myself, winston churchill famously said when going to10 downing, everying i've deputy in my life-- he said in '41-- has prepared me for this moment. you said something similar, everything you have done in terms of your professional life have prepared you to take command of this new american airlines. >> i feel that way. i started my career at american. i loved american. i loved the culture, the her tap, the people. in that sense i'm an insider to american. but i also left american and did a number of other things, went through a number of restructuring type issues at northwest and america west, and went thugh merger th airways, all those things and went through an attempt to merge

with delta that wasn't successful. but all these things prepared us to learn to be prepared for this. and i think we executed the pursuit of the merger very well, because of all that we had learned. >> rose: douglas parker, thank you for coming. >> appreciate it. nice to see you. >> rose: bernard henri-levy is here, a 47 author and philosopher and myfriend. he has en a championofthe libyan ref exclusion noted for that. his movie depicted that struggle. today he wrote in the "dailybeast" that he might be unwelcome in libya. he has been a vocal supporter of the french intervention in mali and supports action in syria. i am pleased to have him back at this table. welcome. >> great to see you. >> rose: thips the overflow of gaddafi, how has libya

progressed? >> in the good sense, libyas probably the only of the three countries who have revolutions who is in the process of democracy. the radical islamists were beaten in libya. they took power in egypt. they took power in tunisia. they were electorally beaten last july in tripoli. the prime minister today in libya, is a close friend of mine, a muslim, but enlightened, democrat, friend of the west, and he visited the -- >> rose: you made a film which has not been released in america yet, which chronicled you and your appeal to president sarkozy to get involved, and he did. it's called "the oath of it,

abrook, "and we'll see part of that now. i'll take a look at this. this is where your friend, mustapha, yes? your friend. xplains whythe inteention changed the libyan perception of the west. here it is. >> what happened in libya, is west, the christian, jewish, western society, civilization stood by the people against a tyrant, against a regime. al qaeda builds its logic on saying the west is supporting tyrants and oppressors against the people. this is why let's fight the west. now what happened in libya is the opposite. >> i call him in a recent article in the "daily beast" the prince of the shababs.

he is the map in charge of all the civilians fighting against gaddafi, learning how to use weapon and so on. and now at the moment when we are speaking, he is disarming the militias. he is a very great man. i must say, he's muslim, not completely moderate. he's closed to muslims brothers. that is what makes interesting what he just said. for the first time, you have muslim brother-- who discovered that the west was not an opt logical enemy, a natural enemy. for the first time, such a man discovered that there was not a fatality of the west being against an arab people. for the first time he discovered that there was a natural bridge between men and women of good

faith, of good will, and of peace. this is a revolution. as he says, since ages, the west was perceived as the friend of dictators. for the first time, the west was perceived as the friend of the people. and that is a great achievement of mrs. clinton, mr. sarkozy, mr. cameron, and those who helped them to achieve what they did. >> rose: so after you helped them in getting sarkozy involved and what turned out in libya as it did, what has been your relationship with libya, other than making this film, which has not been seen in libya. why is that? >> i don't know. this is a real-- this is a real question, question which i raise in the "daily beast" of this morning.

the prime minister, one of the heroes of it of oft of tabrook. even extreme islamists, some of them protected me on the front lines. but i suppose, i'm sure, that there is in libya today as everywhere in the muslim world, war, not between the west and the rest. but between islam and islam, between moderate islam and extremist islam. and i believe that for the extremists, i might be one of the little state of the

conflict. it is possible that there are some people in tripoli and who do not want to see, to watch a movie where it is proved what he said-- that the westerner, the french and the jew, gave so much of himself, so much of his energy to help these people to liberate from a dictatorship. maybe they don't want to hear that because it puts a mess in the region of the world. people don't like-- stupid people don't like their vision of the world to be disturbed. they like to be right for eternity. and this film, "the oath o of ofs itt arook" this film shows that the al qaeda logic, west

against arabs, is a stupid logic that we can act in another way. we can act with -- >> rose: all right, this controversy, which you have just spoken to came to my attention several days ago where there was a story, prominent jew-- you-- banned from libya he help make. one of the outspoken advocates who rid libya of the great loon is band from libya because he is a jew. it goes on to suggest that there was an invitation for you and former president sarkozy to come to libya. and upper disinvited? what happened? there was an invitation extended to nicholas sarkozy and myself, not only because of the beginning of the war but because

of all that was done during the period. i could not attend. this is a fact. i could not attend because i had the program. but it seems that there are, in tripoli, to call him the mayor of tripoli, who would not have liked me to come in libya. so i am not banned in libya, not at all. the prime minister, again, is my-- the prime minister is a man whom you see on the board of my movie. i hope you will see it, on my right side and the cross of loren, which is the emblem of the free french during the war against fascism. he is close to me. we just prayed on the graves of the french soldiers dead in libya in 1942-1943. he is my friend. he is a friend of france. he is a friend of the west.

i'm not banned. but, but, i am probably, yes, banned by a minority of morons, extremists -- >> rose: let me just understand, could you having to libya with president sarkozy. >> of course, of course. >> rose: why did you not? >> this is life. i had this day a program and i had said to president sarkozy a few days before that, unfortunately, i could not join him. because i could not join him had because of my scheduled because of my program. >> rose: this is the "daily beast" and i'm trying to understand this. how have i become an undesire annual in libya? this is the daily beast you write for. so why does he suddenly feel unwanted in the country he loves? all because of his religion. this is the "daily beast." >> i am not unwelcome. last time i went-- the "daily

beast" okay. a few months ago i was back in libya, and i was the only one authorized to film. and so i am not unwelcome at all. but there are some militias, those who probably killed christopher stevens, who believe that their best friends deserve to be their enemies. you have in libya some people who do not stand the idea of one christopher stevens-- being their friend. they want a world in black and white. they want a world where between christian and jews one side, and muslim on the other. it is a dramatic war. i don't believe that. i believe in peace, and in-- as

stevens did. >> rse: thiss marc 27 the "daily beast" today. "at first you're shocked. you run across a story on the french online newspaper with the headline, the jew will not accompany sarkozy to tripoli, request then it goes on to say-- you speak in your wowrdz-- you tell yourself it is not possible, that you're vague bad treme because no one has referred to you with or without the square quotes as a jew. i say the article say crock, and the title is worthy only of a modern version of-- the editor apologizes. the headline is changed to b.h.l. will not accompany sarkozy to tripoli because he is jewish but the reporting was checked out and the source remains unchange. the one in which you were the

jew and remained online for hours provoked no reaction, no protests, no sign of surprise or indignation from any quarter. >> this, alas,as nothing to do with libya. it is a story between france and france. between this web site-- they dared, they dared to title like this. they dared to call me "the jew "as nobody did about me nor any jewish french in 60 years. it's a french newspaper, web site, who dared to do that. and this is a shame it has nothing to do with libya. it has to do with france. and the fat that in france during this day, nobody protested, nobody said, "you can't call bernard henri-levy

"the jew." it's a bad sign about the state of affairs in my country, in france of today. but it is not libya. it is france. >> rose: you say you haven't heard for a while now from mustapha, leader of the fighters with whom you sharedue filmed the desire to dispel the awful specter of the war of civilizations, or-- you haven't heard from them why? >> because i-- i don't know. i have-- i am reduced to hypotheses. >> rose: i had pogd sees, yes. >> hypotheses. the man you just quoted, is close to the most extreme islamist in libya. i met him during the war. we had a very harsh, strong, but

man-to-man conversation, one night of conversation. what it means to be a jew. what it means to be a muslim, and we had a discussion, a frank work as we should always have. we disagree on everything, but we had this conversation. the fact is that since a few months, i have no news. so i suppose that there is today in the atmosphere of this new libya, which is where you have a dividing line, between the democrats on one side, the and those who wish to replace the dictatorship, another flag of islam. you have a strong conflict. you have a war, a civil, ideological war. >> rose: within islam. >> within islam. the real clash of civilization--

it is within islam. >> rose: but let me stay with this because this is important and you wrote this today and i assume out of concern and can passion. could it be the report in the newspaper contain a grain of truth, you say? could there be within tripoli government officials irresponsible enough to have said the visit of a jew might in today's if climate cause unrest? the idea overwhelms you, fills you with sadness andanger and telling yourself this is the way things go in the world between the two swrrnlings a war about which youave s often oken and you always refer to you writing yourself. like so many others to have become part of the stakes, far from bringing consolation, such ruminations just compound your sadness. at best you feel strength in your resolve to carry on, both in home and in libya, alongside your true libyan friends. have you become an issue? >> an issue-- there are many, more important issues --

>> rose: i'm talking about-- >> but i suppose, yes -- >> rose: a is it not about your religion? it's about what? >> these people know that the role i played, they know that i provided concrete help to the fighters. they know that i was on the front lines with them. they know that i went to fetch the generals, to bring them to sarkozy. they know that. and they know that i am a jew. and these two things put together in some brains as well as create a real problem. but it is their problem, not mine. me, i am happy of what i did. i am proud of what i did. and i did not do it in the hope of retribution, in the hope of being grateful. i don't care. my personal ethics, as a

french, as a westerner, and as a jew, is that you have to do what you have to do, just because you have to do. not because you hope to-- people to say thank you to you. i just did what i had to do. now, happens, happens. >> rose: so where do you put what you did in libya in the scheme of-- in the-- in the decades of your own life? because you have wanted to wade in on the side of causes you believed in and have impacted for-- afghanistan one example, the balkans being another example. it worked in libya. where do you put the libyan experience in all that you have done with your life? >> first of all, what i-- what i did with others and my movie is testimony of that, proves what a

bunch of men can do if they want, if they have energy, if they have good will, they can do a lot. the first thing. number two, since i am teenager, i dream for the democrat countries really being generous, really spreading democracy in an intelligent way. this is what in my country we call the right to-- for the first time, thanks to sarkozy. thanks to sarkozy, and thanks to obama and clinton, it worked. it failed in bosnia. 200,000 dead. it failed in afghanistan. masoud who anears my movie died two days before september 11. >> rose: at the beginning of your movie. >> yes. in libya it worked. for me what happened in libya is a lifetime achievement, a personal achievement. so the mayor of tripoli may

believe that this put a mess in his vision of the world. his vision. it is his -- >> rose: do you believe it's simply the mayor of tripoli and no one else? >> of course. he's not the mayor of tripoli for nothing. in spite that he's not elected, by the way. but of course there are others. what i can tell you is when i go to tripoli i feel at home. i feel with my brothers. >> rose: do they tell you, you cannot come here. we think you shouldn't come here, because of security reasons. >> of course not. you have some people in libya who don't stand the idea of a jew having taken such a part in their liberation. again, it puts the thursday of their way of thinking. >> rose: this is from your film, one more clip, roll tape.

>> to a man if i had not gone, maybe the war would have taken a little more time. fiwent from one city to another one, it was to provide, to help the weapon given by france to-- to implement the plan which was designed, the libyan general, to confront. it was to take the chief mediators are out, bring them to the west.

that's why. i did not do tourism -- >> rose: you put that in your fi fo a reason. >> yes. because i am-- i am an honest intellectual. i did not want in the film to show that the situation all pink and all enlightened. this exists, i know that. christopher stevens was not killed just by bad chance. of course it means something. and this guy, it means something, too. you cannot go out 42 years of dictatorship in a broken nation, in a stateless situation without having such morons believing that somebody who is a jew, what does he say, linked to-- going from one city to another. this is a part of libya, but a

little part. i recall you, i remind you-- won the elections last june. it did not ppen in egypt. and in tunisia, moderate islam is in power today in tripoli. >> rose: when will you go back to libya? >> when i will go back? >> rose: uh-huh. >> at least when my movie will be released. i hope it will arrive soon. and it will be released in america. there will be an english version. i hope this one will go to libya. this can be one reason. i might go to see my friend -- >> rose: the prime minister. who came to see when you he came to france. >> i came to see him at the hotel the very night of his arrival. we-- this is what these people who write that i'm banned from syria must understand. we are brothers of a fight.

>> rose: banned from libya. >> banned from libya, yes. we are brothers of companion of fight. we went on all the hot places of the country during the war together. we did the 30 hours of travel together. and so i will come when i wish. . >> rose: thank you for coming here. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: good to see you. n.c.a.a. march madness is down to the sweet 16 after weeks of upset and intrigue. three of the top seeds remain, louisville, indiana, and kansas and one historic cinderella making the run. florida gulf coast is the first 15th seed to advance this far. they will face an intrastate powerhouse in the florida gators friday night. joining me from charlotte, alan

blinde jay bilas. i am pleased to have him back on this program. welcome. >> thank you, charlie. great to be with you again. >> rose: size it up. how do you see the sweet 16? >> well, i think it's a really good field. we've got 13 teams from the traditional b.c.s. conferences, sort of trational big shots. and we have three double-digit seeds which is historically about where we wind up. there are some years-- we had one year where we had five double-digit seeds make it to the sweet 16. we've had other years where it's two, one, a couple of years zero, but three is anyone the range. it's been a normal year for chaos in that regard. but florida gulf coast-- who now are asking to be called f.g.c.u.-- they've been the story of the been delicious the way they played. they are having so much fun.

they play a wide-open style and winning games against georgetown, and they've had parades and their coach say guy they met years ago at florida state when he was an assistant. and it turns out he's a multi-millionaire. made a bunch of money on wall street, and it's really a great story. . >> rose: how good are they? >> i think they're very good. i think those that are saying there's parity across college public and this is kind of a normal thing, i don't agree with that. i differ with that. i think they have played extraordinarily well, but this is still a team throughout the course of a season lost 10 games and they got blown out at d.c.u.. they got blown out at duke. but they are on a hot streak and playing extraordinarily well. and they've got players that were recruited at major division 1 programs and transferred from major division 1 programs so they're not afraid.

their coach believes in them. and they believe in themselves. and i think the amount of fun they're having has made it that much more fun to watch this great run. >> rose: they've kind of got that "nothing to lose" fun. >> they do. they play that way but tim, they're saying, "wait a minute. we've grot just as much at stake as everybody else. we're trying to win the national championship, too, and we wrong," that sort of thing. it's kind of a combination of playing with house money and a chip on your shoulder but at the same time doing it with a smile on your face and playing in a free and easy style while at the same time being disciplined in their approach. it's really been fun. >> rose: hois bes who is the best player in the game today among the sweet 16? >> that's a great question. i don't know that there's an answer to that. i tend to think if i had to pick one guy, i would pick tray burke of michigan. he is a sophomore point guard. he does everything. he controls the game. i was really stunned-- i was not

surprised michigan beat d.c.u., even though i picked them to advance-- i was surprised with the ease with which michigan did it and aarge part because of burke. he's so dynamic. he's a little like chris paul. h >> rose: we'd all like to be like chris pawcialg wouldn't we? >> especially in the bank account, yeah. . >> rose: let me talk about the match-ups. on thursday, marquette versus miami. pick them. >> i think miami is the better team. marquette, this is their third straight sweet 16. some people look at them as over-achieving. they don't shoot it as well as miami does, and miami's got better size, and they think they've got a phenomenal point guard in shane larkin who comes off a ball screen so well and they have guys who can stretch the floor ow and i think they're a better and bigger rebounding team. >> rose: i think this is the third year ohio state has done

so well. >> it is. it's their third straight sweet 16. they have a phenomenal basketball coach. it's a great program. ohio state is probably the tougher defensive team, and they're better offensively by the numbers. arizona is every bit as talented, if not more so. arizona's got some young talent up front, a lot of size, but they're freshmen. and they have a player i think is phenomenal in solomon hill. he's a match-up nightmare. he's just a tremendous player. and then they have mark lions who transferred in from xavier, played for shawn miller, the arizona coach at xavier, and transferred in. he will be the first player in history to play in the sweet 16 two years in a row for different teams. but he's a clutch player. if he doesn't turna over against aaron craft who is probably going tguard him, but i think ohio state is the better team. >> rose: syracuse versus indiana. i assume you go with indiana. >> i do, but i give syracuse a

real chance because of the style that they play. and syracuse is considered the underdog there this one. they're so good defensively. i think indianaa is going to have to rebound the ball very well and they'll have to shoot it well. otherwise syracuse can get the tempo they want. >> rose: president obama says indiana is going to go all the way. y know th. >and the president is never wrong, so that's good. >> rose: wichita state? that's going to be atfun game because la salle has got incredibly dynamic and quick guards. ramon gal we and ty garland are philly kids and coming back home to play. and they've another philly kid, tyreek duren. hthey're very quickin theback

court. they're not quite as good up front. they don't rebound the ball quite as well as other teams in the field. and wichita state, charlie, is a really tough-minded team. agreeing marshall coached at winthrop and a longtime assistant to john cress, and he's got them-- they call it "play angry." they've got really versatile guys up front. they have a guard malcolm armstead, a lefty, the heart and soul of their team and a great barometer for them. even though the guards are incredibly namic for la salle, and la salle has played extraordinarily well, i think wichita state's toughness will get them through. >> rose: then oregon versus louisville. >> i have louisville simply because oregon as good as they are-- dana altman say fabulous coach that came from crayton-- i think their turnover issues-- and it doesn't make them a bad team now. they're a very good team. but any time you have a tendency to turn it over, louisville will exploit that. >> rose: you said michigan

versus kansas? >> that's a great match-up because kansas has not plad ts best basketball. i don't think this is the best passing team. they turned it over themselves. they've got a great freshman, ben mclemore, and most of the older players have been there before. but michigan is playing really well, and they shoot it really well, and they have a freshman, mitch mcgary, who was recruited by everybody, and he is a man in there and he is starting to really play well. i think-- i actually think michigan is going to win this game. >> rose: florida gulf coast versus florida. >> florida gulf coast has been the most fun to watch. sherwood brown is it an outstanding player who is si 6'4", has dread locks can do it all. he's a fun player to watch, plays with abandon. and a point guard, brent poemer,

who played in high school in winter park. and he plays with abandon, too. this is a really fun team to watch. i think it's going to end against flora, but you know what, charlie? i thought it was going to end against georgetown. i picked them to win against sanding a state. but i didn't think they were going to beat georgetown. i don't think they'll beat florida but they can. it will be fun to watch them try. they'll do it with a smile on their face and win or lose they'll shake hands and handle it in a great manner. >> rose: then michigan state versus duke. >> when the bracket came out, i picked michigan state to won, simply because ryan kelly has not been playing his best. the firstwo gamesback, he had 36 points, and i think 20-something-- i can't remember exactly when-- 20-something in the second game back and since then he hasn't scored more than 8. he has scored 8 point three times and i think he had a point

or two against crayton. he has not been playing his best. because of the rebounding match-up i favor by a hair michigan state to advance but duke has been really good in indianapolis. that has been kind of a second home for them. they won the national championship there in 2010. they won it in 1991. coach k is pretty good at this. >> rose: thank you for joining us. jay bilas. >> any time, charlie. thank you for having me. captioning sponsored by rose communications captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org