in the day. they are told. and they're really in control of the early church and on this piece of the fence or it's all sugar in scheme switzerland says the whole deal to let me go to egypt which. now it's an assault against libya targets marked and missiles flying but exactly how accurate are these hits parties on the ground from tripoli with the latest i also have stated that it is u.s. policy that gadhafi needs to go and to each president his own war so could libya be obama's but in the push to quote liberate the people of libya that obama forgot to consult with his own voters back here at home we're going to speak to congressman dennis kucinich in just a bit. and what's going on behind closed doors the united nations security council has called an emergency meeting to discuss the developments in libya we're going to

have a live report on what prompted this this get together in just seconds. now the international minute military intervention in libya continues to unfold western powers you appear to have tightened their grip on libyan airspace following the latest wave of airstrikes now the ongoing bombardment in the libyan capital of tripoli comes as more forces arrive to take part in operation odyssey dawn but the united states france and the u.k. remain the principal participants among these allies are to polish leader is in tripoli and she joins us now from there with the latest paula good evening to you now what are you seeing what have what have you seen as the solution situation unfolded essentially before your eyes. what about half an hour ago it was a massive explosion here in the capital city of tripoli it sounded like it was

coming from the south of the city i cannot see any smoke from where i'm standing at the moment but we are hearing reports of smoke in the southern parts we're also hearing reports of explosions around the compound of gadhafi now it's too soon to say exactly what has been hit but for the last thirty forty even fifty minutes there have been rounds of anti aircraft gunfire at the moment the situation is quiet but as you can well imagine it just about spontaneously in the skies are lit up with firing we are hearing and we did hear earlier today monday from coalition forces that they had hit one hundred and twenty four targets they are saying that this operation is a success they say that for the last two days since the coalition forces have conducted is strikes gaffney's a force has been in the skies and that they have managed to stop the advancement of his ground forces at the same time though there is still fighting in three predominant cities across the country the worst of the fighting is happening in the city of misrata which is about two hundred kilometers to the east of tripoli it is the last rebel held town in the waist of this country and some reports we're

hearing from there are quite terrifying we've been told that civilians are being brought in from other areas they're being used as human shields against these airstrikes we've been told that the gadhafi soldiers have surrounded the whole city and that they stop in supplies of electricity or fuel and of water quite a crowd of critical situation sounds like now as you just said the coalition forces are reporting the fact that they have destroyed several key assets but i have to ask i mean how accurate are these attacks are there any rumors or perhaps have you seen whether they've hit an intended targets perhaps the civilian casualties in this whole effort. well the only confirmation we've had in terms of a targeted hit here in tripoli has been gadhafi headquarters there they struck a two story building in fact it was a three story building that was hit by two missiles and we were told that this was the command and control center of his operations we were taken there earlier today and the areas completely destroyed it was

a small group of protesters they shouting abuse at the international community and echoing what he has been gadhafi that the world has no right to interfere with internal affairs but the civilian count is what people here are worried about throughout the day today and yesterday state television has been showing pictures of funerals they've put the toll of just yesterday's strikes at more than sixty seven civilians who have been killed right now they were reporting under the banner of tripoli and attack so no doubt as we see more civilians die in this conflict there will be more questions being asked on the ground exactly what the international community is doing here now hala there's a difference between asking for help and actually thing bombs rain over your head essentially what is the atmosphere like on the ground in tripoli are you afraid for your security and how are the residents reacting there. well as you can well imagine it's incredibly tense here i mean today and monday it was the first day that it was simply no one on the streets i had noticed this in previous days there

were no cars we've had almost spontaneous demonstrations since we've been here every time we go somewhere people know that we're journalists they're going to come and talk to us and tell us essentially how much they support gadhafi it's very difficult to tell how much of that is genuine support and how much of it is essentially gadhafi paying these people which is so if you some of the rumors we've been hearing now there have been thousands of supporters who have gone to his headquarters they're gone there as a sign of support they've gone also to act as human shields and have done the same thing in the airport and other key installations around the city what we do know is that they're asking questions such as we will all of this and we're hearing from rebel groups that they now can enter and wants to try and recapture some of the towns they lost with the ultimate goal of marching here on to tripoli now they are calling for international coverage international air cover while they do that and people here are saying what for just how much longer is the international community going to be involved and as they march further and further into these towns they

will inevitably be more civilian deaths so as we see that civilian death tally and increase in number certainly here the sense of anger and the sense of condemnation against the international community is going to grow i just want to mention also though that the mixed reports coming from the arab league are certainly being interpreted and i jested here people here seem to think that the arab world and perhaps many others in the international community are not completely behind this operation despite the fact that they came on board and we do sense that their kind of criticism will grow as these coalition strikes continue or politics like a changing situation on the ground please stay safe for us we'll look forward to more of your reports thank you so much. now whether we like it or not the united states is now engaged in yet another war within a month a muslim country in the space of one decade that's been called a just cause by our president but the details do remain murky what is this effort going to cost american taxpayers what does victory in libya actually look like now

we were obviously quick to get in but could anyone at the white house or on the hill explain exactly how and where importantly when we're going to get out when my next guest called this assault rape incest that it lacks constitutional authority because congressman dennis kucinich is a democrat representing the state of ohio welcome so much back to the program going to make it which i want to start with something that then candidate obama said back when he was running for office in two thousand and seven he said that the president does not have the power under the constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to this nation now fast forward to march twentieth when we went to this war essentially by presidential decree almost no public debates hardly any conversations with lawmakers or the people is this war legal. next constitutional authority president has no constitutional basis for the order that he did sending armed

forces into combat over tripoli so that last constitutional authority shouldn't should there not be consequences but that's well. there are consequences practically and those consequences are political whether congress wants to cause the president and submit to a process for those consequences that are unlikely but i will say this though that we are in a fourth war here fourth front just going to get a compact of sam plus iraq and afghanistan. well we did these wars and the united states does not have unlimited power here we have to be very careful about making it appear that we're looking for opportunities to strike inside muslim nations we should be trying to find a way to effect a rapprochement with the muslim community worldwide which means getting out of afghanistan out of iraq out of. away from the current and pakistan

doesn't mean ceding to terrorism it means to work with the world community on a police action to deal with terrorism you don't drop bombs which kill a lot of innocent people but the argument that these folks who support this invasion say well hey we have u.n. approval here it's a global fight ok. it's good that the u.n. is involved in security matters except for one thing when it comes to the united states we have a prior process that trumps the u.n. and that's called our constitution which requires that presidents have to get congressional approval to take our country into war if the president feels there's an imminent or actual threat to the united states he can move forward this threat is to citizens in libya that's regrettable but last i checked the libya isn't one of our states are you prepared to initiate impeachment procedures what we remember you know it's one thing to say that this actions outside the constitution and raise the question of whether or not such action is constitutional principle of france

it's another thing to begin the process which is very chaotic for a nation but in a sense we need to begin to describe the limitations on the power of the presidency to stop further abuse of power and at some point the united states is going to the congress is going to have to move to cut off funds for any action in libya which by the might of course they too late i have to ask i mean you have all of these folks from the left actually saying that this is a just cause that. we're intervening to prevent some sort of humanitarian crisis how do you respond to those arguments that this is somehow just whereas i don't know about rain saudi arabia other conflicts on the around most of our i mean you look a humanitarian war isn't an oxymoron that needs a little bit more exploring bombing. villages to save villagers we've been through that and in vietnam there's a point at which we have to realize that the process of political change as

difficult as it may be in various countries has to be done by the people within those countries now look at egypt we didn't intervene in egypt had we intervened in egypt maybe the government would not have been overthrown had we intervened in in tunisia maybe the government would not have been overthrown we let the people of those countries take control of the process and they did they did so in a centrally nonviolent manner but what's happening here is this intervention could end up strengthening khadafi sand and it could actually end up in golden ng al qaeda well not to mention the fact that we don't really know who the rebels are it's not like there's some sort of well there is that uproots there is no doubt the result is a hardline islamist government that what that's a concern we have to have and when you have military leaders saying they don't know what the end game is that should send a. note of concern through everybody in this country on how quickly we forget now you have to say this actually libya may have come as a surprise to some americans who thought that president obama would actually spend less presidency getting out of their previous wars but as it turns out we do war

has almost been a rite of passage for most of the last u.s. presidents artie's christine for south takes a look back i. regret the president yeah it states it's become an unspoken identity the job description i become president of the united states. declare war my fellow americans i follow citizens for president ronald reagan in one thousand eight hundred six the familiar attack on a familiar enemy despite our repeated warnings could not be continued his reckless policy of intimidation is relentless pursuit of terror you counted on america to be passive. you counted wrong turns out so did saddam hussein just two hours ago allied air forces began an attack on military targets in iraq in kuwait for his successor president clinton the target was slobodan milosevic today our armed forces joined our nato allies in airstrikes against serbian forces responsible for

the brutality in kosovo president george w. bush said it was weapons of mass destruction that threaten the world and invaded iraq in what was supposed to be quick and lividity campaign on my orders coalition forces to begin striking selected targets of military importance to undermine saddam hussein's ability to wage war most thought it would end there with president obama running on an anti-war platform he has spent most of his presidency trying to end the wars started by his predecessor until now the un security council passed a strong resolution that demands and to the violence against us that authorize the use of force and the timeline of recent history there have been from glaring similarities when it comes to the use of force by u.s. president none have been in response to a military attack or even threat of an attack on u.s. soil and none have ever been formally declared wars we act to protect thousands of

innocent people in kosovo from a mounting military offensive we are determined to knock out sat on hussein's nuclear bomb potential we will also destroy his chemical weapons facilities self defense is not only our right it is our duty the definition of duty often changing the results eerily parallel thank you god bless you. god. thank you very much christine r.t. . now congressman this effort in libya has been billed as a limited intervention but i have to say when you look at history as we've just seen limited interventions are almost like a gateway drug for broader conflict and if you look everywhere from the korea to somalia these these conflicts start out with a single resolution in the united nations but they continually increase and end up with more boots on the ground more forces more bogged down in wars what makes you think if anything that we would be able to get out of this libyan conflict you

could look at a war as a swamp or one step in a swamp you can suck in and there is no limited intervention one hundred tomahawk missiles not limited one hundred twenty four sites hit not limited to eighty two thousand pound bombs according to one general to be or have been dropped not limited this is a massive intervention already in the name of a no fly zone which isn't like telling people you just can't park in this space it's really a massive attack on the defense structure of a nation we're in a war and it has to be recognized as such and it was south without the approval of the united states congress so is this president missing king this country and islam is this president's thinking the united states in this long he's taken us in a direction that it's. very dangerous. and he should be taking us out of afghanistan and he's taken his deeper into

afghanistan and should have taken it out of iraq he's keeping troops there for whatever period of time he should be incurring into pakistan he has and now we're in. libya it's not what people expected that congressman we talk so often about the financial situation of this country is and right now if you listen to the republican governors of certain states where so broken fact that we have to bust unions if you look at some of the bills that the body that you're a member of that have passed home heating assistance is apparently not something that we can afford where do we find money for this war. half of discretionary spending right now goes for the pentagon three trillion dollars will be the cost of the war in iraq. we're already up to half a billion to half a trillion dollars in afghanistan the cost of this war for one week will be about. that's a half a trillion dollars in afghanistan and a half a billion dollars this war in libya will cost for one week. the money is coming

where you're borrowing it or we're cutting domestic priorities we're telling people they can't have jobs programs like they get water they can you know you cannot have health care for everyone in america but we get war you have education for all of which you get water you can't save people's homes but you can have war so i think we have to start changing our priorities maybe we should focus on jobs and housing and education and health care and retirement security and come home and start taking care of things here at home instead of telling people around the world that we have the solution to their problems we will bring democracy to them and we will protect them as they strive for democracy i don't i think that's beyond our capability frankly and what is within our reach is taking care of things that are at home and maybe we should start to focus and i don't understand with all due respect i mean you've been saying similar kind of message for quite some time from iraq to afghanistan to today do you have any sense that you are not alone placed on

the hills but i don't think a lone voice but i'm probably more vocal voice because you know i come from cleveland ohio a community that's been wrecked by a double dip recession and we've seen industries lost and people are just struggling to survive and we look at these wars and staying just a useless adventure on the part of a nation that's losing its way and we have to call america home and start taking care of things we can't be. roaming the world looking for a threat against us it's about time we start to come home. well because the remains to be seen when the united states might get a little tired of being the world's policeman i want to switch gears a little bit to talk about the case of probably manning the army private who is right now being held in quantico in virginia i know that you've spoken out about this issue there were some protests this weekend where folks have tried to call attention to the alleged torture conditions or just very unpleasant conditions that he's been held in and our teams kill import took a look let's take a watch. in

photos he's a smiling twenty three year old army private. but for two hundred and ninety nine days bradley manning has been behind bars accused of passing top secret cables war logs and videos to whistle blowing web site we could be. here in quantico hundreds of activists and veterans have gathered outside of the military base where bradley manning is being held in solitary confinement twenty three hours a day they say he's being tortured to call for his immediate release although president obama says otherwise i have actually asked the pentagon whether or not. the procedures that have been taken in terms of for his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards they assure me that they are state department spokesman p.j. crowley called manning's treatment quote ridiculous counterproductive and stupid

and was forced to resign. well meaning spotter denounced the pentagon for stripping his son of his clothing and forcing him to stand at attention naked i mean it's shocking enough that i would. come on you know our silence as a family and say you know now then this you know you crossed the line this is wrong protesters here denounced obama and say guantanamo bay has been brought to virginia they say the president can do better than simply trusted manning's jailers i've been seeing brother in confinement and i can tell you probably it's not to me well if i could see you really having a father at all that you're going to be fine whistleblower daniel ellsberg responsible for leaking the vietnam war logs known as the pentagon papers called manning i fear for his. courage for other people and the more that other people realize. the description is richer bond together says the world traitor.

truth. appreciated by everybody that we recall having done the right before being arrested with thirty five others for refusing to move from the entrance to quantico. rolled over but not everyone in the space town thought bradley had done the right thing knowing. that this man who these people are protesting for were my husband's life and friends' lives in danger it's just so frustrating and denied that he was being tortured the worst torture they could do is to give him stale bread but it's not he's not being tortured even as amnesty international and other human rights groups say his conditions are quote degrading and bring back memories of. the pentagon has not set a trial date for manning who faces twenty two charges including aiding anomie which

could carry the death penalty activists here and around the world so they won't back down until he's free killing ford artsy trying for genius now congressman it's obviously a very serious situation here so i'll have to try to see bradley manning putting in multiple requests. given the run around you've even said that you're prepared to potentially on this program take legal action against the secretary of defense over manning's treatment what is the latest and we heard from the department of defense and they told me that they would agree to permitting me to see bradley manning they also said that it would be up to bradley manning and his attorney to make the decision we were in touch with mr manning an attorney today he was meeting with bradley manning today we're told and we should have an answer very soon and no word yet on his condition for that he's been catatonic and i don't know i mean i that's one of the you know in hearing all these reports i thought was really important to see for myself and so we're waiting word hopefully we'll find out today that i will

be able to visit with them and i hope you'll come back on this program and tell us how that goes and what's the latest with him now i do want to switch gears one more time we all remember the terrible photos that came out of the hog out scandal years ago unfortunately it looks like there are new photographs out about the kill team the so-called kill team in afghanistan u.s. soldiers who are currently on trial accused of egregious acts against attack on civilians there spiegel the german newspaper has published some of these photos we have them here they're a little bit blocked out and frankly quite graphic and image what does this do for america's image abroad and what does this say to you that this these kinds of acts can be perpetrated by well allowing that there's people on trial. while in their rights but the kind of pictures that your speaker has published and i read that there spiegel story. and it once again points out that we're losing our way here in the. military actions now most of the people who

serve in our country are don't do these things but we shouldn't be there and the option is everything and this is a person remember well this is a look at these images are riveting just as we remember it very kind of a way of imprinting abu ghraib images these images what we have been printed and to be seen in the muslim world and they will be the cause of much consternation and even more anger than already exists towards america now or are we want to believe that our countries always has the right motives but when you see pictures such as are being published now. people who do not believe america has a right motives in their country occupying it are going to find all of their worst . suspicions confirmed congressman did you ever expect us to be in that situation

another conflict in libya continuing on the rest this president was elected on the promise to close guantanamo and these wars are you surprised at where we are now i am i have to tell you know what i when i first came to congress which was then one thousand nine hundred six i was elected and i keep i came to congress so i could. help create jobs and help people get an education and have good health care and protection and security and and all that all that's been going on over the third since nine eleven is we're talking about wars we started lose our way after nine eleven it was a serious attack on america but the way in which that was handled and interpreted set the stage for a global war on terror which has been a disaster and we have to protect our country to be sure there are people don't like america i understand that but the manner in which we deal with it has been actually counterproductive and i think. it's really time for america to come back home refocus and try to make our peace with the world and defend united states

while rebuilding things here at home well hopefully those words will be heard by the president and others in congress thank you so much congressman kucinich thank you again for being here now days after the united nations passed a resolution greenlighting airstrikes and military attacks against moammar gadhafi libyan officials are requesting an emergency meeting with the united nations security council and members are meeting behind closed doors right now to discuss their request and our chief marina partyer is just blocks away from where the united nations is meeting its from reno thank you so much for being here so what do we know about this what prompted this closed door meeting on the security council members. heather lucy book prompted this closed door meeting among security council members is a letter that the council did receive from the libyan foreign minister and that letter as you mentioned is requesting the libyan foreign minister really be in officials are requesting an emergency security council meeting they want to meet

with the members essentially that green lighted this no fly zone over libya and the subsequent bombings and strikes that have been taking place since that resolution was adopted according to a letter that was written by the libyan foreign minister he is accusing the u.s. and france of hope of causing military aggression are spearheading military aggression against his country libyan officials say that france and the u.s. have been bombing several civilian sites several innocent people are getting killed since this this so-called bombing campaign what he says began the libyan of libyan foreign minister says in essence the resolution that was adopted last week of the security council is a violation of international law and now the security council is meeting behind

closed doors to see how they will answer this request that has been made by libyan officials whether or not those curity council members will meet with them and what will be done because we see that as these airstrikes continue and are escalating the international community is becoming even more concerned there in this and. i do want to know as you go about this because i mean of course it's no surprise that libyan officials are up in arms about this it's their country after all but is there any sense that there's more division among world leaders who originally were either for this or in a perhaps of spain's now that we've seen the airstrikes actually take place in libya. lucy we do know that the arab league made a statement over the weekend saying that what is happening in libya differs from the a.t.m. of imposing a no fly zone over libya maybe because these airstrikes were happening are happening were happening so quick to quickly. air strikes and

arab league also said that per the protect protecting civilians does not mean shelling more civilians many asking if if the ends justify the means we also heard . the russian prime minister vladimir putin say that this is something of a medieval crusades the airstrikes that have been taking place by the coalition forces u.s. and western allies we've also heard members of china come out and say this is been way too aggressive that the airstrikes that have been taking place by u.s. and western allies have made the conflict and the escalation of violence even more dangerous for the libyan civilians so right now we know that there there was a division this division may have become deeper the division we should remind our viewers because five of the fifteen security council members actually abstained from from voting for this no fly zone over libya and now even more countries all.