so benghazi but also we've headed out to the east.where we don't go for security reasons into the war zone. >> have they told you what type of government they want post-benghazi. >> democratic where they have a say in their lives which they didn't have for the last 42 years. >> a few more questions, and then we'll stop. >> sir, how do you and the other diplomatic missions with the tnc? do you coordinate your efforts. do you talk with them on a daily basis and would you recommend to the administration, to the united states administration, to epion up the embassy as soon as possible in washington so you can have better coordination? >> well, we talk to them on a daily basis. >> are you coordinated with other missions and so on? >> we talk to the other missions as well. >> as priorities. >> yeah, yeah. of course, in the contact group there's other nations and those other nations are represented in benghazi. and we do work among ourselves and how do we work with the tnc with the goals that everybody talked about in the contact meeting. so

speaking to us from benghazi. the director for media relations i believe is his title for the transitional national council, the revolutionary, the opposition movement in libya. these rebels who seem to have captured so many neighborhoods in tripoli, the capital of libya. their big prize that they've been fighting for months for, with the help of nato air strikes there and we're hearing reports of celebrations in the main square in tripoli. this, of course, the main square where moammar gadhafi himself was addressing supporters. parts of tripoli where moammar gadhafi was brandishing his green book. this is a man who's ruled libya for 42 years. this very well could be the last few hours of his reign in libya. we're going to take a short break. had we come back, a lot more on our breaking news story. we'll be right back. no, it's just for new people. hey ! chocolate, vanilla or strawberry ? chocolate ! chocolate it is ! yeah, but i'm new, too. umm... he's new... er... than you. even kids know it's wrong to treat new

i think they will deliver. >> jane, a law student speaking to us from benghazi. thank you. >> on the bbc live from singapore and london, still to come, the caribbean council -- now u.s. authorities from north carolina to new york prepare for the worst from irene. what makes the apple -- we assess the future of the world's tallest company. let's go back to the situation in libya. this doctor has been working with a number of hospitals in tripoli. he's been telling me about his experiences. >> i have been to three or four of the hospitals around tripoli and some of the suburban areas as well, and most of these hospitals were the private hospitals, which have been opened up for all civilians, and opened up the hospitals to receive casualties and to give medical treatment for anyone that needs it. they are quite stretched at the moment. they are relying very heavily on volunteer doctors. there is a shortage of staff. particularly of nursing staff and also scrub nurses and other health care and allied health care professionals. so i also went to the main hospital very

pick up tracks of what we used to see in benghazi in the u.s. and parts of the country before kind of a symbol of the fight against the regime here now everywhere so we can definitely say that. before they smallman place part of the country is actually in the rebels' hands meanwhile reminders of the recent battle is everywhere we've seen many burned and tanks burned cars there on the road there are many many checkpoints on the road to tripoli like we've seen at least twenty of them with a gunman welcoming everybody with celebratory shooting but actually we've also got a feeling that the rebels are the only people left in libya because they're the cities we've been driving through loot abandoned empty like ghost cities we've been many many cars loaded with personal belongings and we've seen lines along lines at the border from the part of libya towards tunisia so people are fleeing this country and that's clear because it's not safe here still and politically it's quite unclear what's going to happen next so as you can see situation on the ground

the council plans to transfer its base from the northeastern city of benghazi and set up a provisional government in tripoli. a senior member of the council mom mud ja bril has stressed the need to rebuild libya. the council will meet with the u.s. and european and arab nations in qatar on wednesday and ask them for financial assistance. it will also ask for cooperation in rebuilding the country from other nations at a conference to be held in turkey on thursday. >>> the u.s. government has announced plans to release up to $1.5 billion in frozen libyan assets t transitional national council within days. >> we want to give this money back to the tnc for its use, first and foremost, to meet humanitarian needs and to help it establish a secure, stable government and to move on to the next step in its own roadmap. >> the announcement came after u.s. president barack obama spoke by telephone with french president nicolas sarkozy. they agreed to work with the international community to support a peaceful transition to democracy in libya. >>> let's turn now to nhk world in benghazi where the

you've spent a while in benghazi looking very carefully at the rebel leadership. on the whole, have they been credible? have they overclaimed from time to time? >> well, sure from time to time they have over -- there have been claims in the past that moammar gadhafi had fled to tripoli, that he had gone to some other sort of country, claimed that then proved not to be true. there have also been some claims about progress made on the battlefield in the past. something you feel they were not as well-informed as you think they might have been being the leadership here. one of the things to keep in mind, the leadership -- he's still very weak. you're talking about factions, various different groups of fighters from different groups, some of which have different interests as well. so it's not clear how well the leadership of the transitional national council is actually informed about the things that happen in tripoli, how good the lines of communication are. so certainly, it is something where there's been issues in the past. by and large, of course, this is still the

that means that benghazi and the benghazi crowd have to find the new heroes of the revolution that helped out elsewhere. and to not only create tribal balance and inclusion but to deal with the very many pockets of resistance that came together to bring down this regime. that's going to be a complicated affair. when dan rather was speaking earlier 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. they've been simulating over the last couple of months what a successor government to the gadhafi regime might look like. that doesn't mean it's going to be easy but it's been impressive to see that they have put in place. >> steve clemons, and at "atlantic magazine," thank you for joining us. muslim ing us is juan coal, world" and blogs. professor cole, nice to see you. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> i know you have been in egypt and around the region this summer. do you think the involvem

so a long way to go, wolf. >> we've been seeing celebratory crowds in benghazi all day. they think this is over. they think it is a new libya that has emerged. we've got our reporters on the scene in tripoli, sara seidner's there. matthew chance is there. we're going to go back to them. nic, stand by because even though the reports now that saif al islam and said gadhafi have been arrested and could be handed over to the international criminal court for war crimes trials in the haig. moammar gadhafi's whereabouts unclear right now. we're investigating. we'll update our viewers on that and all the breaking news when our special coverage here on cnn continues. we used to bet who could get closest to the edge. took some crazy risks as a kid. but i was still over the edge with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more, and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol...stop. 80% of p

just yesterday speaking of the city of benghazi, a city of roughly 700,000 people, he threatened andpitty." 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 d

you've been advising rebels in benghazi. what do you think their strategy is? >> the strategy is to pacify the country and take over tripoli and remove gaddafi's sources from there. it's not going to be as easy. and my advice was not to move too far, but they wouldn't listen, and they move too far and find themselves now in hot water. take more lives, u. >> when you say they moved too quickly, what do you mean? >> well, you know, first of all, in misrata, they're still trying to overcome and they're feeding them with support and weapons and so forth. they locked themselves into tripoli now, and so -- the situation -- they control half of tripoli. they control the eastern half. they don't control the western half. in order to control the western half, they it's going to cost lives. it will take many lives. they ultimately will win because it takes far more lives than they anticipated. >> what do you make of our news that we've been reporting that gaddafi's son is free and at liberty in tripoli? >> i think first of all that he was under control and that he's like

wall to wall. >> after that initial threat about benghazi, gadhafi made it clear throughout this yearymen as they rebebled against his regime. >>>translator: come out of your homes. they don't represent anything. they were given ordered. these are cockroaches. al qaeda, al qaeda, yes. >> put on the libyan channel you son of gods, you cowards you crusaders. put on the libyan channels you traitors. you servants of the crusaders. this is rejected. where are you going to hell fire. you traitors, you dirty people who made filthy. you go to mosques and make coals you senseless dogs. you go to mosque and unpurify them. you filthy peo

in benghazi. the al awakir tribe, its members have held senior positions in gadhafi's regime. >> colonel gadhafi's tribe is here, too, the khadafa. many of its members are in the elite military units. you trust your own tribe. now, libya's largest tribe is the warfalla tribe with more than a million members, one-sixth of libya's population and always a stronghold of gadhafi supporters but was also among the first members to go across to the other side to join the anti-gadhafi forces. >> also important, the magariha tribe. why? they had key positions in the military. some ask why were the rebels able to get so easily into tripoli and the answer may be there. they had a key defedex. major jalil sent out messages basically saying the gadhafi regime was finished and it's thought that within the magariha tribe, a lot said they won't defend gadhafi. we're looking to the pragmatic side and we're switching sides. >> they run many of the oil refineries that run along the coast and that tribe threatened to

that when the libyan opposition had managed to drive those government tanks out of out of out of benghazi with their own power without military force i'm not convinced that they could have done it again i'm not sure but my point is if we start with that day we're hemmed in if we're looking back and we are now i think we need to look back three weeks earlier the first day there was a government assault on unarmed protesters. the first day when it they were still unarmed that was the moment for the u.s. to quote intervene by saying you know what the colonel gadhafi we have allowed you since two thousand and two to be on our good side no more no more arms no more contracts no more military support you're going to back out of this terrorism since i was on the hearing this will stop exactly as they should have in the others what does it is or that's what i think point would do if we're looking however an on going to school johnny just banks in the conflict it looks in the conflict i mean what we're saying is sort of yourselves you know you own your own problems and we know that one solid is on

there is a lot of jubilation here in benghazi at this point in time. there's people who are driving through the streets, of course, waving the rebel flag and a lot of them of course firing in the air as well. we will join those celebrations in a couple of minutes and head over to the main square here of benghazi, where as you said, this uprising essentially began when the people here rose up against the gadhafi military, there was a big battle at a military base outside of benghazi where the people managed to take the military base and equip themselves for the first time with some substantial weapons. as michael said before, there were people here also who were fighting, going to the front lines without weapons at the very beginning. so this town has been through a lot in the past couple months. you can certainly see a lot of that weight seemingly falling off at this point in time. >> want to interrupt very quickly, if we can just take a moment to listen to some of the sound that is coming from the video from al-jazeera. [ speaking in a foreign languag

pure celebration. >> brown: jon jensen of global post in benghazi. much. >> my pleasure. >> suarez: still to come on the newshour: the prosecution of sexual assault cases; and the science behind medical marijuana. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: wall street shot back up today, amid speculation that the federal reserve might try a new stimulus program after all. the dow jones industrial average gained 322 points to close at 11,176, a gain of 3%. the nasdaq rose 100 points, more than 4%, to close at 2,446. hurricane irene built up steam over warm tropical waters today, as it took aim at the u.s. east coast. the storm swept past the turks and caicos islands, with the southeastern bahamas next in line. it could strike the outer banks of north carolina on saturday, then head north to the chesapeake bay and beyond. irene is the first hurricane in three years to seriously threaten the u.s. the obama administration has laid out plans to scrap hundreds of federal regulations. white house officials said today the cuts shou

what kind of planning is going on in benghazi for what next? because i'm sure you've seen those pictures outof tripoli, it was sheer chaos on the streets with people grabbing guns and ammo out of the gadhafi some pound. who is take i who is taking charge? what are the plans? >> reporter: nomal alnominally e people in charge here. they want to reorganize a large chunk of the operation going on in benghazi and move it over to the libyan capital of tripoli as fast as possible. you mentioned the situation there on the ground where there are still gun battles going on inside that city. they say at this point in time it simply isn't safe enough. the way the agenda is supposed to work out, the first thing they want to do is quiet the streets of tripoli which means defeating the last gadhafi loyalist. then they want to put in place a protection plan for the city and disarm a lot of the militias inside that city, and then they want to move it and get the political transition going. now, it's not clear whether or not the transitional national council act

i've seen some people who i used to know when i was reporting on the benghazi side. they are starting to come here. but it doesn't seem like they've set up any kind of transitional government on the ground or certain lit not one that is being listened to if it even exists. >> briefly, richard, i know you've got to go, there is a report that the rebels have taken control of a key military base. are you aware of that? what would be the significance if that is correct? >> reporter: yes, i've heard about that. again the question is takeover, how much of a battle there is unclear. there are still some pocket where is the rebels are fighting around the gadhafi compound. it seems that some to have loyalists left that compound and moved into former military bases. but again, it's very hard to know how much of this fighting is real and how much of this is friendly fire. when earlier this morning in gadhafi's own compound as the rebels were searching themselves other rebels started to fire in rockets and mortars on top of them. i don't think anyone was killed in that particula

this video is from a cnn reporter in benghazi.rikes turned things around for the rebels just when the defeat seemed uncertain. >> they have been under gadhafi's rule for over four decades. now they have a chance for a new beginning. >> national security advisers updated president obama today on the progress of libyan rebels. he is at martha's vineyard for a few days away from the white house, and he said gadhafi needs to relinquish power once and for all. moammar gadhafi now slipped out of sight, but the pentagon has no reason to believe he left the country. sunday, gadhafi remained bitterly defined. >> translator: this destruction, get out and lead, lead the people to paradise. get out, get out of the mosques. get out -- get out of the mosques and lead the people. >> gadhafi was heard on libyan state television which actually went dark today. rebels say they are now in control of the station. >> a popular libyan tv news anchor who angrily flashed a gun on the air has been arrested. she said i kill or die today. they suffered her

this is not benghazi.his is a country that's historically been divided between the western part, dominated by tripoli, and the eastern part in benghazi an the danger is, the older visions re-emerge and they need to speak as one voice. they need to collaborate with the international community. not so much i think in terms of what models the west helps create. they've got ideas themselves about writing a constitution and electoral process. it's reconstructing the country. 30% unemployment before this rebellion started and they have enormous economic problems to face now. >> we're in what you called the "what if everything goes wrong" phase of libya. but before we fully embrace our inner fear what could happen, this was a huge accomplishment. >> i think it was. george will and edmund burke are both right. it matters what happens next. i think what we've seen is significant already. and with a lot of difficulties ahead, but the fact that yet another long-serving arab dictator has been toppled, this is now four

and also that there was already thousands that have been killed by ability and government in benghazi we have yet to see the mass graves we have yet to see the footage we have yet to see the evidence of this most recently that was of course the claims in the international media that somehow those civilians that the massacre that took place in hand wasn't quite on the scale that the libyan people and government was paying and i went to myself i went to the burial i saw. evidence of. massacre of children and other civilians so it's quite understandable that few journalists here may be receiving receiving the pleas of the libyan government to just do their job essentially and report what is happening on the ground here because thus far they have been they have proven incapable of doing so they are largely responsible for the crisis in this country. a little later we'll bring you more about the troubles in the region as our team needs one participant of egypt's revolution he says the fight with democratic reforms seems simply to have given birth to another military regime and you can walk

aid shipping food medicines and other humanitarian items to both tripoli and benghazi. as we discuss events in this region we can't avoid touching upon its key problem i mean the palestinian issue new generations of israelis and palestinians have a mature it was the middle east peace process was one issue but we still haven't seen any feasible progress and negotiations would you say this is a deadlock or is there a way to get the peace process on track and what would it require. because like you said the palestinian issue is a key issue for the entire region i believe that regardless of the out of spring and the developments in particular countries in the region the palestinian issue will remain for the entire arab world and for the region in general i also think that it will remain pivotal for our israeli partners as well i spent five years as an ambassador to israel myself i am personally acquainted with quite a few top ranking officials within the israeli government on the palestinian national authority as well as the palestinian liberation organization and the numer

for our place in the boys from benghazi really are those some high profile folks from different america and it's certainly a long time to want to get our physics minister of the shadow if it is and i'm afraid we would also ask ourselves if my experience in iraq and afghanistan with billions of dollars went missing should really really send in cash and this is what we're talking about large wads of cash to benghazi without think there exactly who's going to account for it how it's going to be spent going to recede there are rivalries between those who want to be against gadhafi and those who turn against recently but also between those in the west who actually cross into tripoli who feel they've done the fighting and deserve the almost mother was winning and who a bit suspicious of the people from benghazi who got a lot of diplomatic recognition early on don't necessarily have much of a reputation for tough fighting into even now after all they've hardly been able to dance very hard westwood's despite. the regime so i think there's a lot of trouble waiting to happen and people who say it

. >> reporter: just last month, ahmed shebani complained he'd have to e-mail someone in benghazi to call in nato planes, which then arrived too late. >> it gets difficult to seek and destroy when they're just moving in twos, hiding under trees, camouflaged. >> reporter: in the advance on tripoli, the problem seems to have been solved by removing the middle man, using u.s. drones to provide real-time intelligence, and even using covert nato special forces to call in air strikes. and there were 68 nato attacks on targets in tripoli alone over the weekend. the u.n. mandate was to protect civilians, but nato's mission creep in libya became obvious, even in the early stages of the conflict, when some of britain's special forces were captured near benghazi. and the longer the conflict dragged on, the greater the involvement of the western powers became. nato says its commitment to protect civilians will continue through the war's end, and possibly into the uncertainty of whatever follows. mark phillips, cbs news, london. >> pelley: what follows is at the top of the president's agenda. wyatt an

that have been killed by ability and government in benghazi we have yet to see the mass graves we have yet to see the footage we have yet to see the evidence of this most recently there was of course the claims in the international media that somehow the civilian that's the massacre that took place in and wasn't quite on the scale that the libyan people and government was trained and i went down myself i went to the burial i saw the evidence of the massacre of children and other civilians so it's quite understandable that a few journalists here may be receiving receiving the pleas of the libyan government to just do their job essentially and report what is happening underground to because they have to they have proven incapable of doing so they are largely responsible for the crisis in this country and there's more in the violence elsewhere in the region just ahead as well to use money financial reports on the latest from syria. the syrian army. the iraqi border. officials are saying operation is now the city has been freed from groups as you can see here welcoming the soldiers as the