removed, attached, totally unaccustomed to regular americans. >> jonathan capehart, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thanks, melissa, good to see you. >> you can have the last word online at our blog and you can follow me tweets @mharrisperry. another shameless plug for my book titled "sister citizen," "the rachel maddow show" is up next. >> you could have called it sister citizen exclamation point and it would have been on the same shelf as rick perry's book. >> oh, well. >> sub titles are the death of these things. thank you, melissa, good to see you. thanks to you at home. this hour the situation in libya continues to unfold. things are not resolved

conclusively, although it appears that 42 years of moammar gadhafi's dictatorship may be coming to an end, as in right now, as in this evening. former cbs evening news anchor dan rather will be with us this hour, but first to richard engel who's been covering the uprising since the very beginning, and he joins us tonight from the central square in the libyan capital city of tripoli, the strongho stronghold, geographic heart for gadhafi loyalists since the beginning of the revolution, richard, what's the scene tonight? >> good evening, rachel, you can probably hear that celebrations are going on in green square. this is the square, the center of tripoli, it was the center of gadhafi's personality. i remember coming here and a group of rebels have just arrived. if you can zoom in over my shoulder, you can see this is a group of rebels, they are following that car which has the fighters inside, and the rest

are the people from the neighborhoods that have come out into the streets, out into the square, to express their support and appreciation for what the rebels have done. their cheering right now is saying the blood of the martyrs will not be forgotten. it's an amazing turn of events what's happened over the last 24 hours or so. this was the center of gadhafi's power base, now clearly in the hands of the rebels. they've already changed the name of this square. it used to be called green square, now they are calling it martyr square. now, there is still an element of danger, still something of a war zone in tripoli. that's because gadhafi's loyalists, and i say loyalists because we're not sure if gadhafi himself is there, but at least gadhafi's loyalists remain inside gadhafi's compound. now, gadhafi's compound is nothing like the white house or another presidential compound, gadhafi lived on a military base

and his forces inside that base are defending it, they are making a final stand, and they were firing rockets and mortars out of that base today and firing them into civilian areas. that's one reason why we haven't seen huge crowds here in green square or as it's called now martyr square, but they are still coming out and the people in this square, the rebels are convinced their next step has to be an assault on gadhafi's compound to finish his last hold on power in tripoli and across the country. rachel? >> thank you, richard. i talk to richard engel far too frequently when there's gunfire that near him. richard engel reporting from what used to be called green square but has been renamed martyr square by the anti-gadhafi forces that have taken over that country and that city. in terms of symbols of the gadhafi regime you'll see the

color green referenced over and over again and things called green by the gadhafi regime are among the first things to go as richard just described and as you can see here, the aforementioned green square in the capital of tripoli has been renamed martyr square you can see on google maps, the white writing there behind the label. that happened hours after they took control of the capitol. this right here, this is the flag of libya under moammar gadhafi, do not adjust your screen, it's just a green flag. so in addition to renaming green's square in tripoli, they are also replacing that all-green flag with this, the pre-gadhafi flag that you have been seeing in the news footage out of libya in this revolution. so long green square, so long green flag. this is libyan state-run television. for months they have been

broadcasting moammar gadhafi's speeches. in this instance, what you see here, yes, that is one of their news anchors brandishing a gun on television warning the rebels they will never win and they will never take control of that state-run television station. the television station is now effectively gone. this is the last thing they were showing before they went off the air, libyan version of "the view." it's a program about women's issues, then it went black. it was later replaced by this, a pro-rebel news network based in cutter, a network that was in the process of interviewing a rebel who claimed to be calling into the station from a cell phone from inside the libyan state tv building. part of what has happened in libya over the last 24 hours has been the exulting you would expect from not just ordinary libyan citizens happy for the toppling of the dictatorship in

their country but also from the fighters engaged in the uprising for five months now. >> i don't know how to express myself, but i can say to everybody who's free in the world, libya is free finally, and she's back after 42 years of kidnapping. >> do you know where gadhafi is now, do you care where he is? >> i don't care where he is. i want to know where he is, already i feel free. this is the most important thing. >> 25 years now, my last now. freedom, man, thank you. >> so the happiness you see and hear being expressed by rebel forces there and supporters of the rebels there, for all the physical changes that have taken root, the situation is not resolved yet. we keep hearing that from everybody we're in contact with. even though rebel forces have taken control of much of libya's

capital, so forces continue to put up a fight. bbc news reporter hayes experienced that firsthand today as he traveled with rebel forces into the heart of tripoli. watch what happens. >> here we are, here's a group of young men on the corner here. every time we go past, groups of young men celebrating, so far no signs of any fighting in the city, everything looks quiet. >> a rebel convoy is heading into the city, little do the young men know what fate lies ahead. up ahead, there are still signs of fighting. then suddenly we run straight into an ambush. i can see the muzzle flashes as a gun opens fire directly into the front of the convoy.

we simply don't know how many of the young men traveling with us surviv survived. >> even with the capital city now reportedly 90% controlled by rebel forces, the 10% controlled by gadhafi loyalists means very scary stuff is going on tonight. this is a fight that does not seem to be yet over. despite reports moammar gadhafi's son was in custody, this shows him apparently still at large and apparently still defiant in a crowd of

pro-gadhafi supporters. joining me live on the phone from zawiya is washington post -- first can you describe what the situation is like in zawiya and what you've been able to see over the course of the evening? >> well, there's not much going on despite the national council arriving, that is the rebel council based in benghazi, which is about 1,000 miles to the east here. that's the first time they have come here in the vicinity of tripoli. >> in terms of the late reports that we've had, we have had reports earlier today that gadhafi's son was in rebel custody, that he had been arrested, that, in fact, a traitor had turned him over to rebel forces. we are seeing footage that appears to be him this evening. have you heard anything about the voracity of the reports and

what we're seeing tonight? >> yeah, i can confirm he's free. hi a talk with a high-level rebel commander today and he already told me earlier that saif was definitely not in the rebels' hands and he was criticizing the rebel political leaders for bringing out this news. he said if we would have had gadhafi in our hands, we would have paraded him through town and put him in libyan court instead of putting him to the international court in the hague, something within the rebel council apparently said. >> i know that you spent much of the day with rebel forces in tripoli today, what happened to the group of rebels that you were with? >> well, while i was interviewing this commander and he was giving me a line that 90% of the city was in their hands, about five minutes later

pro-gadhafi troops pulled up in front of the compound, opened fire with heavy machine guns and took the rebels by surprise. this is a rebel army, these are people who carry a machine gun in their hands and are wearing plastic flip-flops as they go to bed, so they were completely surprised by this well-targeted attack. even though nobody died, we have been caught up in the cross fire for almost two hours, and it just illustrates the situation here in tripoli. tripoli is not 90% in the hands of the rebels. i don't think there's anybody who is controlling tripoli at this point, and one thing is for sure, gadhafi's forces are fighting back and seems their efforts are increasing. >> in terms of gadhafi's forces and what you can tell about their remaining strength, do they seem to have withdrawn to hardened targets they are defending or are they mounting ambushes and setting up sniper positions and doing other things to stay on the offensive?

>> definitely. i think what they are doing is have a pre-planned certain attacks, they have melted into society, not given up their weapons, something the rebels have been hoping for but organizes the attacks, actually forming their own rebel army now against the rebels that invaded tripoli. >> one last question, we showed footage a moment ago of a reporter on state television brandishing a gun on television saying state tv would never been taken. i understand you witnessed her arrest? >> well, i witnessed her, actually, being brought -- she was brought into a compound where they brought also journalists in to see her, now, this woman, the same woman brandishing that gun was there, and we could hear her scream "i am innocent," then we heard a loud man's voice saying, accusing her basically she was a traitor, and then afterwards we were not allowed to see her, but

the rebel commander came out saying she was in good hands and sees the errors of her ways. >> just chilling. "washington post" reporter, thank you so much for your time tonight. i understand you've been very much in the cross fire, please, stay safe. wait a second... with olay challenge that. new regenerist wrinkle revolution... relaxes the look of wrinkles instantly, and the look of deep wrinkles in 14 days. ready, set, smooth... regenerist. from olay. energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas.

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when the famous basketball player charles barkley said he was misquoted in his own autobiograp autobiography, that was a funny moment, when rick perry says the same thing, it is also funny but in a different this guy could be president sort of way. announcer] anan anthis...is the netwo.

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senator john mccain of arizona has had a twitter account for a really long time. he started tweeting in january 2009. john mccain was an early adopter. right at the top of his twitter feed you can see his tweets about libya, including a link to a statement he put out. the statement congratulates all the other nato countries involved in the support mission for the rebels in libya, but as for the u.s., senators mccain and graham say we regret the success was so long in coming due to the failure of the united states to employ the full weight of our air power. one interesting thing about twitter is it can be a time machine. if you have the patience you can control down, down, down the page until you get to, say, two years ago this week when the same john mccain today criticizing president obama for not waging enough of a war on

gadhafi, even as gadhafi appears to being overthrown. two years ago this week john mccain was tweeting about his late evening with colonel gadhafi in his ranch in libya. the war does not knit neatly in politics, senator graham and mccain want to look like the most anti-gadhafi people around, but there's that footage of them cuddling up two summers ago in gadhafi's tent no less. but it's not senator mccain and graham, this is a military intervention where america did not take the lead, in which there were no americans killed, but the u.s. either did or is about to, it seems, get what it wants. the republican-led house voted to defund the war. the administration tried to get away with not calling it a war, the voices left, right, and center that denounced nato and

libya as a -- proven wrong. today gadhafi himself is still unaccounted for. the question is not only how america assesses our role in what happened but how we chose our role in what happens next. joining us now, dan rather, mr. rather, it is very good to have you here, thank you for being here. >> great to be here on a night like tonight. what an exciting and inspirational time. this is a transforming year and a transformational decade. we had the arab spring and with syria and yemen still out there, perhaps, perhaps to extend into an arab winter. the echoes of this will reverberate through history for a very, very long time to come. >> i know you have personally interviewed moammar gadhafi three times.

i'm sure it's hard to get into his head, but based on the conversations you've had, do you know what to expect from him at this point of extreme pressure in tripoli? >> the straight honest answer is no, but based on what little i know about him, he must be going through some version of on the one hand saying death before dishonor, i'll go down fighting, i'll go down in flames, i'll be a martyr, but say what you want about moammar gadhafi, a very strange and dangerous man, but he cares about his family. he's got to be worried about his family. i would think on the one hand it's fight to the finish, never give in, whatever it takes, on the other hand maybe just maybe i can get away to russia and negotiate some way that my family will be taken care of. he must be struggling with that or have been struggling with that in the last 24 hours. you said something earlier, this situation has not resolved. it's a great moment.

the regime has fallen, but the question, and i think it's a question in the viewer's mind, what now, what next? answer, we don't know and the libyans themselves don't know. >> the transitional government has been internationally recognized by the united states in mid-july, recognized by egypt yesterday upon present circumstances. do we know enough about them to know whether or not they can credibly form a government? forming a government anywhere where there's been a dictatorship is hard because it's been contingent of the will of one man. >> i don't think the people of libya -- credit cannot be given to them, but i don't think they know. it may be, unscrewing the word "may," it may be they'll need some help in making a transition, say the european union under the u.n. and with the help of the arab league and the african union could help them through the transition

period, because keep in mind, unlike egypt, unlike iraq, libya has no institutions, has no governmental infrastructure other than gadhafi. gadhafi is not gone as far as we know yet, but his regime is gone, so there's a prospect of chaos, great disorder, libya is a sparsely populated country, size of arizona but only has about six and a half million people. they are going to need some help and i'm not sure the european union working under the u.n. could help, but something like that. help from the united states, yes, will continue to be necessary. particularly humanitarian aide. in a situation like this, for example, what happens to the electricity, what happens to garbage collection and the day-to-day things that people expect to keep going. it's going to be difficult to keep going without american help and help of others. by the way, we have spent in

libya $1.1 billion over the last six months, that's military and everything. my suspicion is it costs a whole lot more than that because we've used mercenary help and contractors and that sort of thing, but that cost $1.1 billion over the last six months is what we spend in a day in iraq or affection. >> it's incredible, people depending on institutions, that is behind why the u.s. government has been stressing so much that the institutions that do exist shouldn't be torn down, that they should be protected. they are not just talking about looting, they are talking about keeping the traffic cops as they were, keeping the traffic cops on the corner. >> exactly, and as we learned in iraq, electricity is so important, and if electricity doesn't get provided, big trouble ahead. but let's be optimistic, this is a moment to be optimistic, old

song that you may remember that janis joplin used to sing, one line, freedom is just a word for nothing left to lose. up to now, rebels had nothing to lose, beginning today, they have a lot to lose, that would be their future. so much depends on this long and bound to be turbulent transition period. >> dan rather, anchor and manager of "dan rather reports." sir, it's always a real honor to have you here. thank you so much for coming. >> honor to be here. thanks so much. more ahead including the virtually unknown and shocking fact about this helicopter in the war that may or may not be ending tonight in libya. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models,

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among the most memorable and frankly sort of perplexing news reports out of these past five month ins libya were reports by richard engel as the rebels as essentially the gang that couldn't shoot straight. >> we have light weapons, he has tanks, complained one man. another rebel showed me he isn't actually armed at all. >> it's a toy gun. this is amazing, he just handed me his gun. i didn't realize until he put it in his hands, it's made of plastic, it's a toy. on the frontline, we saw some of the rebels try and fire a mortar

without securing it so it went off in the wrong direction. i couldn't believe it, we saw them aim a rocket at gadhafi's forces, but instead it was pointed the wrong way and went in the opposite direction towards a civilian city and they fired a rocket in the wrong direction. >> but it's those forces, kids with the plastic gun, guy with a rocket in the wrong direction that seem to be on the precipice of prevailing. what happens next in tripoli and around the country is not at all clear, but how we got here is a combination of civilians fighting it out inch by inch on the ground and 20,000 nato air troops, troops not on the ground, tomahawk missiles, constant surveillance, and armed drones, but in no way was this an american-led war, it's been a multi-lateral support mission

for a libyan ground war, one in which the sole nato causality was an unmanned helicopter shot down in libya. unmanned as in no pilot. joining us now, steve clemmons, you can find him writing at the note and the atlantic magazine. thank you for joining us tonight. >> sure thing, rachel. >> you were skeptical from the beginning about whether or not outside countries getting involved militarily in libya would produce a positive outcome. you worried the western footprint is too large and this needs to be the libyan people who take control of their own destiny, now is this a libyan outcome, how do you feel about this? >> two things, one, i think president obama, you know, watched your show and he created an intervention that despite the

various kinds of presence we had, he nonetheless kept this from a deeper, broader ownership of the outcome. i think to build on the theme of tonight's show, he had a tipping point strategy to help tilt the odds towards the rebels, given what they were facing, but this thing could have still gone very badly, i think if you listen to president obama's remarks tonight, he ended them exactly with where we were talking before, this had to remain a libyan story, their control, and we had to be supportive but on the periphery of things. i think that's the right tone. >> i'm cognizant this is not over, we had a live report the rebels claim they hold 90% of the city should be viewed with skepticism, there are a lot of pro-gadhafi forces still left and fighting inside tripoli. if this does continue to tip, if this does not turn into a long, protracted battle in tripoli, what do you expect next from

this new transitional would be post-gadhafi government. >> i think one of the key things and the real change in the status quo was the troops in the villages and mountains to the west came down and basically closed off gadhafi's western flank, and i think that put tripoli in a vice, and so i think whatever may happened and it could continue to be quite bloody and we may not get the straight information we'd like to get, that nonetheless we're seeing the real end of the gadhafi regime, and that means benghazi and the benghazi crowd have to find the new heros of the revolution that helped out else where and not only create tribal balance and inclusion but deal with the pockets of resistance that came together to bring down the regime. when dan rather was speaking earlier on the show about water and infrastructure and waste collection, the government in benghazi has done a very good

job of creating a model where people in their provisional councils have functional responsibilities looking at exactly those issues and they've been simulating over the last couple of months what success or government under the gadhafi regime would look like. it's impressive to see what they have put in place. >> steve clemmons, his blog is "the washington note." steve, thank you so much tonight. i was looking forward to talk about this with you, i appreciate it. joining us now, john cole, professor, nice to see you, thanks for being with us tonight. >> thanks for having me on, rachel. >> do you think that the involvement of nato in this makes this a complicated outcome when this finally ends, or is this in a relatively uncomplicated way really the libyan's own uprising? >> well, the involvement of nato

was controversial, and there were some groups like the muslim party in tunisia that said we're with the rebels, but we can't support an effort where nato is involved, but there, i think, minority voices, i think most people in the region in egypt and tunisia were very happy to see someone rescue the revolutionaries from being bombed to death, and i think that the way that this ended with the uprising in the capital, you know, puts a libyan stamp on the whole thing pretty firmly. >> i don't know if things are happening in the region like dominoes, if that metaphor is appropriate, if they are, this particular domino took five months to fall. do you think this has wider repercussions in the region, tunisia, egypt, libya, is syria -- is syria more worried

tonight than they were yesterday? >> oh, absolutely. the government in syria is absolutely petrified by what happened in libya and has been attempting to down play it. look, you know, we've had three long-serving dictators fall this year. the rulers in the region are on notice that their people can rise up against them and get rid of them, and the leaders are scrambling to find a response. in syria they've started rolling tanks against the demonstrators. in morrocco and jordan, baby steps towards constitutional monarchy, but the region is being shaken up by the revolts. >> one thing that's gone relatively unremarked upon is how involved the arab nations of cutter and the united arab

emirates were in this intervention. how important was it strategically and also the political impact here? >> yes, well with regard to image, it was important this intervention in libya not be seen as solely a western one, i think it wasn't. it should be remembered that turkey is a nato member, and it's a major muslim country of over 70 million, and did play an important role in libya. likewise, as you say in the arab league, the most active members with regard to the intervention were cutter and the united arab emirates, it supplied weaponry, flew missions, supplied aide, very important. >> juan cole, author of "engaging the muslim world" he blogs at juancole.com. your post today about the ten myths about the libya world is required reading for everyone.

appreciate it. if you have any doubt why there has been quite a bit of jubilation in libya, we have a good reminder on tape of why libya's dictator was a really famously dastardly one. [ female announcer ] it's time to raise the bar

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texas governor rick perry launched his presidential campaign in south carolina just over a week ago on a saturday, so this is rick perry, republican presidential candidate, day one. the next day, mr. perry, being a presidential candidate, of course, went to iowa. this is rick perry, presidential candidate day two. he's answering a question about social security here. >> let the whole, the whole issue of -- have you read my book, "fed up"? get a copy of it, read it. it is, because i talk about the entitlement programs in there.

>> have you read my book, "fed up"? he released the book in november, nine months ago. the book was meant to introduce him on the national political stage. it was one of the first big hints he might be running for president this year, and if you do want to know about what rick perry thinks about entitlements, "fed up" will give you an earful, an eyeful. "certain programs massively altered the relationship between americans and their government, tossing aside principles, by far the best example of this is social security." social security, rick perry, is saying, "fed up" is not just un-american, but violently un-american, and it's not just social security. that same month governor perry told "newsweek," i don't think our founding fathers were

thinking about a federally-operated program of pensions, nor a federally-operated program of health care. what they clearly said was those were issues the state needs to address, not the federal government. i stand very clear on that. very clear. social security and medicare are unconstitutional in rick perry's america, but in the rest of america, social security and medicare are what you might call very popular, the kind of government programs people are willing to stand out on a street in new hampshire for so they can yell at you, rick perry, better keep your hands off of them. they called rick perry a threat to america. one of them challenged him about that stand and he reportedly took a giant bite out of a pop-over and said he couldn't answer because he had a big mouthful. now governor rick perry is trying another approach. his campaign is starting to

disavowing things he said in his book, "fed up." things he wrote in this book in november. he said these things, he wrote them down, they are in print. but he didn't mean them. a rick perry spokesman telling "the wall street journal" that although the book seems to dog him on the campaign trail, we should get over it. the book is supposed to be "a look back, not a path forward." it's a review and critique of federal excesses, not in any way a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto. somebody needs to tell rick perry that. >> have you read my book, "fed up," get a copy of it, read it. >> former rnc chairman joins us next. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer?

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let the whole issue -- have you read my book, "fed up"? get a copy of it, read it. it is, because i talk about the entitlement programs in there. >> so rick perry the person says you can find his positions in here on entitlement programs, his campaign today, though, saying nothing in here about entitlement programs should be taken as what he believes anymore. the book is, after all, a full nine months old.

joining us now, michael steele, former chairman of the republican party, now an msnbc contributor, do you think i teed you up here? >> teed it up nicely. good to be back with you, rachel. >> nice to see you. rick perry says we should read his book for answers about entitlements, his campaign telling "the wall street journal" what's in here has nothing to do with his real position. >> right, rock in a sticky place. >> is this how we should expect him to operate or is it a screw up? >> i wouldn't say it's a screw up, almost forgetting the book was out there, because nine months ago in politics is a long time, not making excuses, but once you lock and load you go and then realize oh, i did say that, yeah. i wrote that. >> he hasn't forgotten it's in there. >> he brings it up, and i think that he, definitely used to what he's written, he's not going to say i didn't believe what i

wrote at the time. i think what they are trying to do is sort of finesse the answer in a way that doesn't come off as if he's anti these programs, which is the wonderful hype from the left about what the republicans think and feel about -- >> if you say it's unconstitutional, unless you are proposing america become a different country that doesn't have the constitution, you are proposing to get rid of it. >> i remember reading the passage, i think he referred to the question of its constitutionality. >> yeah, yeah, no. >> not buying that one either? >> no, i'm sorry. let me ask you bottom line what you think rick perry's chances are of the. >> i think his chances are good, i think, though, there's a whole lot of trail to be covered on this campaign, we're hearing telltale signs others are getting in this thing, palin, so there's still movement here, i

think largely the campaign is set, i think as we saw this past weekend with mr. huntsman who did the big smackdown on the team that he's running with. >> which democrats are very excited about. yes, somebody's finally telling the truth about the republicans. >> that was like in the obama/clinton race, our side was happy with what was going back and resonate with a number of the republicans? >> it does resonate with a significant number of republican voters. that's going to be the real test for him at that debate in california at the reagan library with those gentlemen and ms. bachmann on the stage and doesn't pull a pawlenty when confronted with the very people he's talking about, my bad, time out. >> i have to say it to your face? >> really? you're here. i don't think that's going to be the case though. i think he's made a conscious decision to really draw very bright line and sounded as if he

was a republican fed up with the party pulling its evil elf in t direction where the american people are not now. you're talking about a very conservative base that goes to the polls in a number of states. they have open primary states that can make a big difference. if huntsman survives the first four states and gets into florida, whole different ball game. >> he could self-finance. >> absolutely. >> we got some news tonight that george pataki who you mentioned is going to be, i know, america is now scooting to the edge of their chairs, polk county gp picnic. he'll be attending on saturday. a local republican saying there may be a major announcement there. you think the republican america is waiting for george pataki? >> yeah, it could. could be. could be. i don't know. we've been waiting for a whole lot of folks, parentally. >> but, george -- >> let's stop the waiting.

whoever is in is in. do your thing, run, make your argument to the american people for goodness sake and stop this dog and pony nonsense about getting in the race. it's september for goodness sakes. >> polk county, iowa, i should say. >> oh, iowa, that is even more telling. >> yes, of course. what would george pataki be doing in iowa at this point? the idea that george pataki cultivated this aura of moderation and unheadline worthiness. i mean really he's more tim pawlenty than tim pawlenty. >> he's a solid guy with a number of issues that are important to the party. he ran the state well. everybody has the oranges you can pull out from time to time that don't smell or look right. the reality is by and large, he's done well. the question is how does the base take him and how will he be perceived entering this race now? is a palin still out there? who knows? don't know. what kind of traction can he get

on the heals of repairing? that will be an immediate comparison and on the heels of a huntsman? >> he would love it to be compared with perry. >> i know. >> he's the sweet spot between john huntsman and tim pawlenty. >> you took the words out of my moub mouth. >> michael stieele, this was no a pro republican discussion. you handled it. you parodied very well. >> i was offensive, don't forget. >> really? >> all right. at this crucial point in libya's history, guess which american would say something like all those rebels are going to be richer than the people in this country because they're going to take all the oil? yes, "the ed show show will get to the bottom of this. and we look at the gadhafi in his own threatening bizarre

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our decisions have been driven by gadhafi's refusal to respect the rights of his people and the potential for mass murder of innocent civilians. just yesterday speaking of the city of benghazi, a city of roughly 700,000 people, he threatened and i quote, "we will have no mercy and no pitty." no mercy on his own citizens. today i authorize the arms forces of the united states to begin a limited military action in libya in support of an international effort to protect libyan civilians. question not stand idly by when

a tyrant tells his people there rb no mercy. >> to protect libyan civilians. that was the stated rational of the last five months of the u.s. participating in military decisions in libya. it was specifically to protect libyan civilians from what gadhafi said would be an imminent massacre. the u.s. and nato started bombing libya because of gadhafi specifically promising a bloodbath in benghazi. >> translator: prepare yourselves for tonight. the traitors, there will be no mercy, no compassion. we'll tumble walls on top of you. >> after that initial threat about benghazi, he made it clear throughout this year just what he thought of his fellow country men as they rebelled against his regime. >> translator: come out of your

homes. just attack them in their dens. these gangs, they don't represent anything. they were given orders. >> it's al qaeda, al qaeda, al qaeda, not my people. al qaeda, yes. >> translator: put on the libyan channel you son of dogs, you cowards, you crusaders. put on the libyan channel. you traitors. >> translator: how can the armed people allow traitors and rats to open the way for colonialism in the city? this is rejected. where are you going? to hell fire? what did you leave you traitors? you dirty people who make mus beings filthy. you go into mosques and make calls. you are sons of dogs. you go into mosques and unpurify them you filthy