tv Andrea Mitchell Reports MSNBC October 20, 2011 10:00am-11:00am PDT
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the wounded man is being handed to armed fighters reportedly showing that gadhafi then after he was killed. rebels say this is the body of the 69-year-old ex-dictator, now gadhafi's death may have occurred is unclear although rebels say it followed an extended fire fight. the us has not confirmed his death but we did get a candid look at hillary clinton as she was shown the reports earlier today. >> wow. >> unconfirmed. >> unconfirmed. unconfirmed. unconfirmed reports about gad hffy being captured. unconfirmed. yeah. we've had -- we've had a bunch of those before. we have had him captured a couple of times. >> that was hillary clinton, she
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was in kabul at the time. now to adrienne mong live in misrat misrata. tell us what you're seeing on the ground and in your travels today. >> reporter: well, we were actually on the road to sirte when we had to turn around when we heard reports that gadhafi had been captured and killed. basically the only thing we could be certain about since we were unable to independently verify these reports was the sense of jubilation everywhere on the road, from sirte to misrata. many, many rebel forces cheering, shooting guns, you can hear it now in the background here in misrata, lots of cars honking, a sense of overwhelming relief and it seems like this chapter of his history has come to a close. >> as you can see adrienne mong, on those travels, the jubilation of people in the streets but also a lot of murky
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circumstances under exactly how moammar gadhafi was killed. richard engel joins us frs new york. you spent so much time on the ground throughout the fighting and afterwards. what's your assessment on what we've seen on these graphic and disturbing pictures? >> murky is a good way of describing it. there were many conflicting reports that i've been told u.s. officials are sorting through right now to figure out exactly how gadhafi was killed. and by all indications gadhafi was killed and i've been told that unofficially by u.s. officials but that is the assumption that they are working on, that this is true information. they are just trying to sort out how exactly it happened. the best information we have been able to put together is that gadhafi was in an industrial area west of sirte. he was with a group of loyalists, they have been fighting hard in this district called the district number two,
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in sirte. they were attacked earlier this morning by rebel commanders, that gadhafi was injured in the gun fight which lasted 30 to 45 minutes and had a shot to his stomach. he was captured alive by the rebels and there was video images put on television a short while ago showing gadhafi alive but clearly injured. he was on the hood of a car, they had to prop him up. he seemed grog gi. according to one of the rebels in that situation, gadhafi doesn't realize he was being captured and asked one of the rebels to explain what was going on. then gadhafi died and we don't know exactly how he died. there are reports that he died of his wounds and there are other reports that he was executed. >> richard, in the long run, does it matter in terms of the way the other tribal factions react and whether or not there can be reconciliation and
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whether or not there will be revenge killings? >> at the end of the day, not really. if he was executed, that will have certainly much more of a chilling effect on other gadhafi loyalists, members of his tribe. that would be considered i guess a less honorable way of carrying out this mission, but at the end of the day, no. i think what will matter most from today is that gadhafi was on the run. he was found. he was captured alive and was killed and now libya will have mon to move on. for specific family members and to figure out what in our business happened today. it is important. >> it is important indeed. earlier today, there was also this from the u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon who weighed in on the death of moammar gadhafi as it was still then not confirmed. >> this day marks a historic transition for libya.
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now is the time for all libyans to come together. libyans can only realize the promise of the future through national unity and reconciliation. >> richard engel, we've seen the international community as we know the president is speaking out. at least the u.n. and the nato forces are going to be at least declaring victory and our thanks to richard engel for all of your reporting. we know we'll be hearing from you throughout the day as we hear from the white house and from world leaders about the apparent death of moammar gadhafi after 42 years in power and then ousted as a result of the arab spring. richard, this has been remarkable. >> it certainly has. i don't think it's quite over. gadhafi's death will be the start of a new period for the rebels. they will have to stop being rebels, i've been saying this all morning. the berets have to go away, they have to get new pickup trucks
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and not keep mounting the anti-aircraft guns on top of them. fighting phase has to go beyond libya. they've captured gadhafi and taken the city of sirte, the last holdout city and they need to use this to move on, otherwise there is a danger that the fighting will just continue. buttimistic about libya. they managed to do this. they have friends. they have experts, libyans living who can help a lot. i think they have some hope. >> thank you so much, richard eng engel. thanks for everything. the vice president joe biden responding today to the apparent death of moammar gadhafi in libya. >> nato got it right. nato got it right. and guess what, libya, gadhafi, one way or another is gone, whether he's alive or dead, he's gone. the people of libya have gotten
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rid of a dictator of four years who i personally knew. this is one tough not so nice guy. and guess what, they got a chance now. but what happened? in this case, america spent $2 billion total and didn't lose a single life. >> joe biden in plymouth, new hampshire, we're joined by richard haass. what is the way forward? is this a victory for nato? >> this is not a victory because it is the end of one chapter. we'll only judge it a victory if several years from now looking back libya is a functional state and they have a degree of freedom and degree of economic opportunity. it's too soon to take out the champagne or anything else. as richard engel's report now the hard part starts. he's quite optimistic, i'm probably not there. the real question is whether the guys with the guns put down the
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guns and whether the various factions in the opposition, which essentially agreed on one thing, which is they are against gadhafi, whether they can now agree on something positive, the kind of libya they want to bring about. that will be the big test. >> you were one the skeptics last march. arguing that it wasn't necessarily a role for the u.s., that he with had to worry about the most gadhafi era and didn't know who would be taking over in this tribal area. you have a certain amount of caution, understandable caution and skepticism. >> i'm still not sure this was worth it. knowing what we -- even knowing what we know now. we'll see what comes of it. so yes, but that said, even though i did not favor this intervention and i'm still skeptical. it is in our interest to do everything possible to increase the odds this turns out right and that means getting american advisers there to not help something on the security side but the economics and political side.
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libya starts really from zero. there's not really a functional political system or economy. they will need all sorts of help in standing up a country. yes they have talented people in the deas pra that will return home but this is where the united states can help with people on ground who can eventually advise and provide training, all of the basics of a modern society needs to be created there. >> at this stage, do you think that -- how big a footprint should we have? worrying given the fact there's little support in the country and not among the candidates for any kind of elaborate foreign aid or military footprint or even civilian footprint there. >> the libyans ultimately don't need money. they have enormous sums of money in banks and they have the oil wealth in the ground. it's not a financial issue. i don't believe the country would oppose our sending
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advisers or contractors or anything like that to help them with political and economic and security tasks. historically we've only opposed having footprints as you put it andrea, if it was open ended and we were losing american lives. i don't see any of that necessarily the case. so i wouldn't assume that we couldn't have a number of people there. again, we're not talking about thousands. we're probably talking about hundreds at most. maybe even just dozens in some cases and that's the sort of thing that i believe can and should happen. >> and finally, does this valid date the obama's administration policy now they've managed to kill osama bin laden and bring down gadhafi with a nato coalition and moving forward, what should be the next focus? >> it doesn't validate things, we'll have to see how it turns out. the focus should be on dog what we can do to increase the odds to consolidate the progress in
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libya. you have to continue the effort against terrorism. i think we're seeing it. what you're going to see is not future iraqs or afghanistans, we're not going to see 100,000 americans going to occupy countries but we are going to see special forces and intelligence operatives and drones and that's the sort of effort we're going to have to now do you in the most difficult place as you know will be pakistan. whether we can see that this country that houses the dangerous terrorists and fastest growing nuclear arsenal, whether we can move from a partnership to something that goes less off the rails. that is a perfect segue because we go next live to pakistan where hillary clinton is. she arrived from afghanistan as news of gadhafi's death is circling the globe.
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secretary of state hillary clinton said that gadhafi's death is clearly a game changer. she sat down with our own mike viqueira just two days after meeting with libya's transitional government in tripoli. >> we cannot confirm it yet. we have obviously great interest in knowing whether it is accurate or not because it would be a real turning point for libya if true. if he is removed from the
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picture, i think there's a big sigh of relief. the job is still daunting. but they won't be quite as worried that they have to be constantly looking over their shoulder at him. now, there still may be remnants of gadhafi loyalists and they'll have to contend with them. but i think removing him as an organizing figure as a resistance is a very positive step. >> nbc's mike viqueira joins us from islamabad, pakistan. this is a very interesting moment because she was in tripoli, the highest ranking official. you said when you were there the other day that the security was enormous. tchs a pretty dangerous point for her to be going there. >> reporter: well, the security was enormous and the question is who was the security supplied by and that was part of the issue there. of course the secretary of state arrived on a u.s. air force c-17 transport from malta and met by
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fighters known to be a group known tore instrumental -- from tripoli that led to what we're seeing today. and then the various militias were taking care of security or assisting with security. the only reason we point that out is because it was really brought home the point and illustrated the point that the situation there is unsettled and that's something hillary clinton herself and those traveling with her, the point they came back to again and again trying to convince the chairman of the transitional national council there and the prime minister with whom she had a conference, the disjointed, un-unified operating as freelancers in different parts of the country, even within citiy ies like trip, one militia might control one area around the airport and another around downtown encouraged them to get back
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together. that is the struggle they will be facing. there are issues on the forefront, 15,000 wounded in the fight to he have overthrow gadhafi as the battle has unfolded. some assets have been unfrozen by the international community, they are asking for help in that regard. a whole host of issues, conferences coming out, international conferences and they are trying to turn the corner. another point made during the trip, the death of gadhafi and the fall of sirte essentially will start a very ambitious clock, the leader of the transitional national council, the prime minister said he will not stand for election. they have set the election a mere eight months from now when sirte is secured and the country is liberated fully. >> you talked to her about the haconi network, she's taking a hard line about the need for pakistan to step up and do more to control the network who has
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been attacking afghan forces and u.s. forces on the other side of the border. >> reporter: and that's right. and secretary state clinton appeared with president karzai in a press conference on the grounds of the palace in kabul and really started -- or painted a tough line against the pakistani and harboring that haqkani network in the safe havens just across the border initially that is sensitive and strong feelings on the part of c karzai and meetings with top pakistani officials and petraeus and joint chiefs of staff. >> mike viqueira, thanks very much. first of all, she is taking a harder line on the haqqani network, not quite as hard as
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mullen took but that's clearly what she is signaling in trying to develop a better relationship because right now the relationship with pakistan in a total mess. >> she's not only signaling a harder line. i think what you're seeing unfold is a reorientation of the american relationship with pakistan. when you and i covered president bush, he would talk about them as a major nonnato ally, you haven't heard that phrase in a long time and my guess is you won't. you are seeing this administration now move to a policy that is one that cooperate with pakistan on those things where you think you've got neutral interests and tell the pakistanis that the u.s. will will act unilaterally when they need to. that's what you're seeing them begin to set up about the haqqani network. >> in libya, is this a complete game changer?
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does this make it possible for the new transitional government to hold their elections and moved forward and try to reconcile? >> it is the end of the first and biggest chapter. and we're now today seeing end of 40 years of rule by gadhafi. but as we've learned in egypt, it's one thing to have the unifying effect of getting rid of a leader and it's another thing to then try to figure out what's going to go replace them. libya is not a natural country. it's a tribal place. there are a lot of different century fugal forces and what you've seen in secretary clinton's visit is an effort to bring those together. we've learned we don't have a lot of control over that. the other thing this does do is, it sort of ratifies president obama's effort to make libya the un-iraq, where u.s. did not put troops on the ground but does not own what happens from this point forward.
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you heard richard haass say they have plenty of money, they have oil. it's difficult when you have a leader who has gone about dismantling every institution that had every threat of cropping up. >> and ruled by terror domesticically as well as being the terrorist externally. >> and ended by terror as well. >> thank you very much. >> up next, the politics of foreign policy. you're watching breaking news on the death of moammar gadhafi on "andrea mitchell reports."
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with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. learn more at lipitorforyou.com. you know what else is early? medicare open enrollment. now through december 7th. can i stick with my old medicare plan? sure! or find a new plan with better coverage, less cost, or both. medicare plans give you free cancer screenings and wellness visits and 50% off on brand-name prescriptions when you're in the doughnut hole. it's part of the healthcare law. so it's time to look, compare... and choose the right plan for you. learn more at 1-800-medicare or medicare.gov. president obama will be making a statement at 2:00 in the rose garden following the reports that moammar gadhafi is indeed dead after 42 years in rule. mitt romney responded to news of gadhafi's death. >> it's about time, gadhafi
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killed his own people and murdered americans and others and the tragedy in lockerbie, the world is a better place with him gone. >> the chief political columnist from politico. we have a statement from rick perry who said the death of moammar gadhafi is good news for the people of libya and it should help them move closer to elections and a real democracy. the united states should work closely with libya so a stable and peaceful nation emerges. what about about what they say during the debate, when republicans are saying we shouldn't spend a dime and libya does have oil money and won't need the construction that iraq needed. we're talking about republican leaders who want to get out of the united nations rick perry said and this was a u.n.-nato operation. >> i didn't hear much praise for president obama in either of the republican statements.
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two days ago we had a debate where mitt romney said, why should we do foreign aid, let the chinese do it. well, libya is an exact example of why we need foreign aid. we want libya's new government to be our friend, not the friend of the chinese. we want people all over the world who need aid to look to the united states for friendship and not to our sometimes opponents and this was a political victory. obviously the greatest victory was for the people of libya but it was a political victory for barack obama. >> what about those who said the president was leading from behind by not taking the foremost role in nato and letting the british and french? >> the leading from behind phrase was never used by the administration, but look what leading from behind got us. it got us zero deaths. there were no u.s. forces committed except in the air. there were cia on the ground.
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it cost us a lot of money, the high estimate is $2 billion, the low estimate is a couple of million dollars. but -- >> starts adding up to real money. >> tofor a nation 13 trillion i debt yeah, it stated the one goal that president obama made in his speech was to prevent a g genocide in libya. we did it to save those people who gadhafi had threatened to kill. that establishes a principle throughout the middle east that nato and the u.s. has established this humanitarian right to protect people no matter what country they happen to be in. >> roger simon, a real turning point here. thank you very much for joining us today. >> on a busy news day and our
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breaking coverage continues next with dick durbin you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade and check my investment portfolio, research stocks, and set conditional orders. wait, why are you taking... oh, i see. hey max, would it kill you to throw a guy a warning bark? [ dog barks ] you know i wanted a bird. [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed.
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that's why i recommend crest pro-health clinical gum protection. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. crest pro-health clinical gum protection. the reported death of moammar gadhafi is the latest shockwave in the still unfolding ar ar spring. what does this mean for other dictators? our washington bureau chief joins us now. so much to deal with with libya's gadhafi. does it make a huge difference that gadhafi is dead and what about the way he died? because the circumstances were quote, murky at best. >> it obviously makes a huge difference militarily, it brings some sort of closure to the suffering of libyans who really
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suffered random criminality over the last 42 years. libya now is not about the past. it's about the future. and i think the main problem that not just libya but other countries throughout north africa and the middle east have suffered from over the last few decades is lack of rule of law. the way in which the closure seems to have been brought to this, if gadhafi was executed because we've seen that video of him captured. he was still alive. if it turns out that he was actually executed after he was captured still alive, then that doesn't say a lot of good things about the future of rule of law in libya. >> and the u.s. has been throughout pointing to the fact that this nato coalition included arab partners, but they didn't really play a leading role in the bombing missions. they were quite a minor piece of this. can we correctly say this had
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arab support? >> well it certainly had -- >> saudi support given the conflicts in the past. >> it certainly had the support of the arab league and it had the support of quat ar and united arab em rats. there may have been undeclared support from other arab governments who would have been extremely happy to see gadhafi go. it certainly had the support of large segments of arab populations, not just in libya but elsewhere in the arab world, although some arabs do feel skittish about the fact that it took the help of nato for the libyan rebels to be able to topple the gadhafi regime. >> will this give impetus to syria and other countries, will they take heart in this or is there another signal being sent? >> it depends on which way you look at it.
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we heard from libyans celebrating today, calls of support to people in syria and yemen. there's no doubt about that, that a lot of syrians will look as what happened in libya and take heart from it. as i said, another way of looking at it, if this turns out to be execution in libya, somebody like bashir assad can say, if this is what's going to happen to me, over my dead body, i'm not going to give up any time soon. >> that could be the message so saleh who reappears and refuses to step down. >> absolutely. what's interesting is tyranny does not learn from other examples, gadhafi saw what happened in tunisia and saw what happened in egypt and didn't learn from it. it looks like others could be looking at what happened to gadhafi today and still not learn from it. i think the determination in
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places like syria and yemen, the popular determination to bring their situation to a positive outcome from their point of view is still strong. so although other dictators may take heart from what happened to gadhafi and say to their own supporters we're not going to give up, in the end i think they are on the wrong side of history. >> thank you very much from al jazeera. the real work of rebuilding libya begins. earlier i spoke with senator dick durbin of the foreign relations committee, majority whip and asked him about what comes next for libya. >> well, i can tell you there will be few tears shed for this bloody ruthless dictator on his back are the deaths of all of those innocent people in pan-am 103 and the two american servicemen killed due to his act
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of terrorism. i think what we need to focus on is the future of libya, not its bloody past. now they have an opportunity to govern and rule their country with new values and new standards. i think the united states and particularly the nato alliance can take pride in the fact that they have given to the people of libya a chance to rule their own future. >> there are murky circumstances to say the least about the situation of his death, the circumstances of his death. can we be sure there won't be revenge? how do we protect the libyans from tribal warfare as the days go forward. >> i'm sure the future of libya will not be easy. there are many different factions, no clear leader. they need to go through the painful process that many countries go through to reach self-governance. it will mean dedication, i hope to basic values we share so there will be tolerance of people of different tribal backgrounds or religious backgrounds so they will try to come together. the good news is, this is not a
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basket case of a country. their oil resources are such that they could have a prosperous and good future without the rule of gadhafi. >> let me ask you about the economic issues right now because joe biden is being roundly criticized by republicans for having suggested that the failure to pass the jobs bill that could lead to rape and murder that there has been more crime because of police and other security officials laid off. is that the kind of language that we should expect from the vice president? >> let me tell you what the vice president said and make the record clear. when we have fewer cops on the beat, we have more crime on the street. that's a fact and the numbers back it up. we have an amendment for the senate to vote on today that's part of president obama's jobs package to make sure we save the jobs of thousands of teachers and firefighters and cops by imposing a tax on million narz, i think it's far better for america to have safe every
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streets and homes to be protected and the crime rate that the vice president referred to is a matter of fact. >> you're meeting with ben bernanke giving him advice or seeking advice, what can you tell him about the work of the super committee and whether there's going to be a way to avoid drastic sequestration after november 23rd? >> ben bernanke will be speaking to the democratic caucus lunch about the situation in europe where five or six nations are facing serious economic problems that are rippling through europe and into america. we want to put this in perspective. bernanke was right in front seat and watched whad we went through just a few years ago when we were forced to come up with a bailout of the biggest banks and wall street banks and financial institutions in america. we're anxious to here his analysis. the super committee, they are still at work and have about two weeks before they need to
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present a preliminary draft to the congressional budget office. met with them week, the gang of six. we gave them our advice. i don't know if they'll take it or go in our direction, but i hope they get in job done. it's a momentous responsibility and it would really help if we come to a bipartisan agreement. >> briefly put, your advice is? >> the advice we gave them, we think they should go big. the charge is to cut 1.2, $1.5 trillion over the next ten years. our group gang of six reached over $4 trillion in deficit reduction. i think that would have a positive impact on future economic growth. we've got to phase it so we focus on creating jobs now and getting through the recession then make meaningful cuts in spending and raise revenue bringing everything to the table. that's what the gang of six did and that was our recommendation to them. >> senator durbin, thanks for joining us.
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and now a white house official is telling nbc news chuck todd in his remarks coming up at the top of the hour, president obama will likely cite the official that libyan officials have announced gadhafi's death. the same official says the white house as received similar reports and have confidence in the reporting. up next, behind the scenes on gadhafi's terror record right here on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. o0 ♪ like so many great pioneers before me, guided only by a dream. i'm embarking on a journey of epic proportion. i will travel, from sea to shining sea, through amber waves of grain,
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is the u.s.'s role with the transitional government in place. former state department official joel ruben and michael singh will join me live. all of that and more ahead on "news nation." what does moammar gadhafi's apparent death mean for the united states in the ongoing war on terror? michael lighter, the director of the u.s. counter terror center and joins me now. michael, first of all, the importance of way this happened, the nato operation and what may have been an execution. >> in the long run exactly how he was killed won't make a lot of difference in the future of libya. the way the u.s. was involved and partnered with other nations, i think that sets an important standard for the way in which we can help these countries and people of these countries get rid of leaders like moammar gadhafi but not make it all a u.s. battle. >> a tougher question has been
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for u.s. officials, if libya, why not syria? >> that is one of the places where obviously the president and the white house will have to keep its eye on. syria poses a different set of challenges and president assad may learn from what happened to gadhafi. he may go down swinging even harder. syria is still going to play out for quite some time. of this undoubtedly makes assad feel less secure. but it doesn't demand the involvement in the same way so far that libya did. >> there have been so many lessons from the arab spring, we've seen in egypt where things have not gone well and there are deep concerns. what about libya and its ability to create a nation out of these tribes? >> i think gadhafi's death was a necessary step to get to the next stage. >> but not enough. >> not sufficient to bring peace and governance there. gadhafi did over 42 years destroy virtually every civil institution that existed in
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libya. so the transitional government has an enormous challenge to bring different tribes together and bring really diverse population together, get its economic bag back in order and try to bring rule of law to a country that really hasn't known any law other than gadhafi's law for 42 years. >> how big a player was he in the terror world? pan-am was the obvious example, ronald reagan's counter attack against tripoli in 1986, as an external factor elsewhere in the world? >> he really had several different roles over time, pan-am 103, tragedy killing americans and others. then over time he did shift and i think his giving up of his weapons of mass destruction programs, during president bush's administration and slowly but surely he did become an important partner fighting al qaeda to some extent, partnering
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with the u.s. and other western nations. one of the challenges the new government will have is to ensure that al qaeda ideologues and motivated forces can't get a foothold either in northern libya or to the south. that will be a challenge and something this white house will have to focus on. >> do we have a pretty good handle on where the weapons are? >> i think there are two weapons we have to worry about. first, the surface to air missiles, i think we have some sense of where those are but they are easily portable and moved across the region. that's something that will require a lot of regional work by governments and the west. second, the remaining precursors and bits of chemical weapons, i don't think they pose an enormous challenge but they are pieces of gear and equipment we want to make sure that the transitional government secures now that gadhafi is gone. >> michael leiter, thank you so much. >> good to be here. >> an important day indeed. president obama will make a
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statement just minutes from now at 2:00 eastern. stay with us for live coverage with the president in the rose garden. the next 24, this is andrea mitchell reports only on ns nbc. the employee of the month isss... the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? i'm not a line item on a budget. and i'm definitely not a pushover. but i am a voter. so washington... before you even think about cutting my medicare and social security benefits... here's a number you should remember. 50 million. we are 50 million seniors who earned our benefits...
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>> which political story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours. managing editor post politics.com joins us. we will see it in the next few minute when is the president comes in as schedule and makes a statement saying that diplomatic sources -- he will say that libyan sources have told the u.s. that muammar gadhafi has been killed. they are being cautious because of the circumstances of his apparent death. >> very cautious because remember when she was deposed we heard all sorts of reports out
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of libya that wound up to be unfounded or partially true. it seems given that the breath of the reporting and sourcing on this, he is indeed passed away, but care is the first order when it comes to foreign policy with someone as controversial and as well-known internationally as muammar gadhafi. president obama and his administration have rightly taken the cautious course. we expect him to confirm what we believe to be true that gadhafi is in fact dead. just in a few minutes now. >> back with trajectory of history, richard nixon was president when muammar gadhafi supposed the king in 1969 and kicked out american and other western and oil gas interests. quickly became an enemy. jimmy carter and he was a mad dog of the mideast.
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attacking and the bombing that killed two service members. this has been a tragic history most notably pan am 103. >> for me, 12 years old being the real exclamation point for the lockerbie bombing. not just for people in libya, but for people across america, a relieved day. i don't want to say a happy day, but relieved. i know you have been talking about this, but a complex political situation in libya as well. don't assume that with gadhafi's death everything resolves itself in libya. >> we heard cautionary comments on this program. richard haas has been write being this. a lot remains to be seen. that's the reason for the white house caution. waiting until almost 2:00. the news did break around 7:15
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eastern time today. we heard throughout the government that we had to wait to see what they heard from the ground. >> i just reiterate and you know this world of foreign policy far better than i do. in these matters, unlike in politics, caution is always warranted. the fact that president obama is going to come to the rose garden and say that gadhafi is not going to change the fact that he passed away. they want to dot all their is and cross all their ts. that's a right approach to take in a matter like this with someone who is as notorious as muammar gadhafi was. >> letting the libyans take the lead. we will see you tomorrow and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports" for today. follow us online and on twitter. tamron hall has a look at what's next on "news nation." you have a big hour.
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>> absolutely. it has been a big day. next on news nation, any minute now, president obama will deliver a statement on the reported death of muammar gadhafi. the top of the hour. celebrations are under way in libya. i will talk with time magazine and peter king who was a republican who voted to approve the mission in libya. "news nation" is minutes away. ♪ [ jim ] i need to push out a software upgrade. build a new app for the sales team in beijing.
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>> i'm tamron hall and the "news nation" is following breaking news. president obama is about to make a statement regarding the death of libyan leader muammar gadhafi and he is expected to say libya has confidence in the report that the white house has received. since libya's prime minister announced the killing, the u.s. has not confirmed the informs. we have new video to show you of what unfolded in
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