let's bring in robert bear, a former cia officers and national contributor, fran townsend.ay, i've been wondering about your thoughts as you watch -- as you heard the news today, in drips and drabs and now you see these very bloody videos of this man that ruled so long, what were your thoughts? >> well, you know, it's very interesting, anderson. i for forget this person mentioned for "the wall street journal" tomorrow, that on the one hand it's a moment of exhilaration and anti-cli mat particular that when you find out that this figure that we thought about and was actually cowards. that moammar gadhafi came out of this rat hole and his request was, don't shoot, don't shoot. and this is a replay, exactly, of what suddam hussein did several years ago. it's a familiar story that the death spot is fraud until the bitter end. >> and also, fouad, they live with such grand dor in the interviews that they give and history shows time after time, they end up, you know, their bodies bloated with a bullet in his head. >> that's the life that moammar gadhafi chose. there was a saying w

dan rivers is in tripoli, joining us, fran townsend, bob bear. here's what we know about the dictator's demise. we now know why pro-gadhafi forces fought so hard to keep control of gadhafi's home town of sirte. he might have been hiding there since the capital of tripoli fell two months ago. revolutionary fighters closed in on sirte this morning, reportedly unaware that the colonel was there. gadhafi boarded a convoy and attempted to flee. his convoy was disabled as it sped out of sirte. nato officials say they were unaware that they were firing on the former leader. gadhafi and a handful of bodyguards survived and took refuge in this drainage pipe underneath the road. they were surrounded by revolutionary fighters and they wrote the place of the rat on the outside. someone said, my master is here, he was reportedly to see gadhafi. he told the bbc the colonel simply looked up at him and said, don't shoot. this cell phone video taken shortly before his death shows gadhafi injured, but captured alive by fighters who screamed god is great. he was we

we have tom fuentes and also fran townsend. tom, i just want to begin with you here as we hear about these two men charged, one of whom is in the united states, the other still at large, charged with this attempted assassination or thwarted assassination attempt of the saudi ambassador. you hear that this involves the mexican government, obviously iran, as you reference the s.e.a.l. team 6 of the iranian revolutionary guard, you hear all of these pieces of this tremendously complicated puzzle. what's your reaction? >> well, my reaction is that it would have been sanctioned at the highest levels of the iranian government to commit these acts and that it would not be the first time that they have conducted international acts of terrorism. as i mentioned earlier, they conducted two major bombings in argentina in the early '90s and the investigation in that case led all the way to the top of the iranian government. and interpol issued red notices three years ago in connection with the members involved in that case. in that case the

nicholas burns still with us, fran townsend and hala gorani. i want to bring you into the conversation. former nato ambassador, former undersecretary of state, listen to the current secretary of state, hillary clinton, who was careful saying very little but making clear the united states now will look to retaliate. >> we will be consulting with our friends and partners around the world about how we can send a very strong message that this kind of action, which violates international norms, must be ended and other areas where we can cooperate more closely in order to send a strong message to iran. >> she took no questions, that was the bulk of the statement. the united states has been frustrated in the past over iran's nuclear program, over other rogue actions by iran. what can the united states and what can others do now? >> well, john, you're got two things happening today. an intaken yus political crisis between iran and saudi arabia and the united states and iran. i think the administration will do a number of things. first, we're hearing th

joining us, former homeland security adviser fran townsend, professor. nicholas burns, a research fellow with the new america foundation. fran, i want to talk you first someone who has met the man, the world will not miss him. but what is missing now that he will not be brought to justice? tell us more about who he was. >> you know i think, john, many people have said, i mean this was not a rational man to have a negotiation with. it was a very difficult conversation to have with him. and he had a very definite view of the world that was at times completely uninformed by the actual facts and reality. look, this is a man who so closely held power that it causes a vacuum, ntc will have to rise to that occasion. but there will be tribal differences, those pro-gadhafi loyalists who will melt into the population and you hope they don't come back but you can't be certain. we did see insurgency that formed in iraq after saddam was captured. and then, of course, there's the libyan islamic fighting group an affiliate of the al qaeda organization and you worry that

bush fran townsend. and the author of the book "the black banners, the inside story of 9/11 and the war against al qaeda." also with us tonight cnn contributor, tom fuentes, and bob behr. fran, what your sources telling you that's new? >> bob mueller of the fbi said it was like a hollywood plot. as we've gotten additional details, it's really not only that, but an incredible example of the sophistication and success of the law enforcement agencies here. we know that arbabsiar, the defendant here, flew into mexico and was denied entry. it turns out we've learned tonight from senior counterterrorism official hess was denied entry into mexico by design with the cooperation of the mexican government. he then flew to new york. you might ask yourself why didn't they fly to texas? that's where his family was living. he didn't go to texas because federal officials here in the united states understood that under texas law he may not have been able to be held to do an intelligence interview, so he was flown to new

our own fran townsend has details and what her sources are saying about the chemical weapons he wanted to use on america, the country he was born in and the country that educated him and early this morning the country that hunted him down. around 3:00 a.m. eastern time, the u.s. launches a joint operation with the yemenis, a car believed to be carrying al awlaki is targeted. a u.s. drone fires its missile and one of america's top terror targets is dead. >> the death of awlaki is a major blow to al qaeda's most active operational affiliate. >> anwar al awlaki was a long way from the home when the missile found him in yemen. born in new mexico and educated in the u.s., he radicalized and became a leader in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. implicated in many plots to kill americans, he was a top terror recruiter, awlaki's presence was felt in the ft. hood massacre. the alleged shooter, major nidal hasan is believed to have exchanged e-mails with awlaki before the rampage that left 13 people dead. awlaki is also linked to other terror plots, including the would-be underwear bomber's alle

i want to bring in fran townsend. >> it's a huge deal. the iranians is clearly sanctioned at a very high level. it includes the head of quds force, the individual they identify as the head of this particular operation. wolf, you don't get that without having had some electronic surveillance as well as the informants identified in the complaint. that's why i think, i suspect based on my own experience you have something like mike rogers saying he's very confident that this was sanctioned at the highest levels. that really does suggest a whole new low in the relationship between the iranians and the saudis. look, the saudis understood this because for the longest time they didn't post an ambassador in iraq after there was a government there because they were afraid the iranians would come into iraq and assassinate their ambassador were. you have the hage coming up, the king of saudi arabia is referred to as the custodian of the two holy mosque. will they use pilgrims as cover to get quds force in there to start unrest. this is a real sign o

body is turned over to the family and they're permitted to give him an appropriate burial. >> fran townsendry much, fran. >>> expectant moms listen up. a new study that says you better watch out for what you're eating and drinking. expect that. but scientists say that the chemical bpa could do a great deal of harm to your unborn child. [ male announcer ] attention medicare beneficiaries. the annual enrollment period to switch your current medicare coverage is earlier this year. it begins october 15th and ends december 7th; so now is the best time to review your options. here's a plan that could give you the benefits and stability you're looking for, an aarp medicarecomplete plan insured through unitedhealthcare. what makes it complete? this plan combines medicare parts a and b which is your hospital and doctor coverage, with part d prescription drug coverage, and more, all in one simple plan starting at a zero dollar monthly premium beyond what you pay for medicare part b. this plan offers you benefits like an annual physical, preventive screenings and immunizations for a $0 copay. you'll a

bush fran townsend and fbi supervisor agent.ht, cnn contributor, tom fuentes and bob baer. what are your sources telling you. >> he said it is like a hollywood plot and as we got additional details it is not only that but an incredible example of the sophistication and success of the fbi and law enforcement agents here. we know manssor arbabsiar flew in to mexico and was denied entry. it turns out we learned from senior counterterrorism officials he was denied by design. you would think he then flew to new york. you may ask yourself why didn't he fly to texas? that's where he and his family were living. because federal officials in the united states understood that under texas law he may not have been able to be held to do an intelligence interview. he was flown to new york. unbeknownst to the defendant, on the flight were federal agents. they took him in to custody and to a secret facility where he was held from september 29th until today. that's 12 days, john. each of those days he was interviewed by federal agents. each of th

our own fran townsend has details and what her sources are saying about the chemical weapons he wanted to use on america, the country he was born in and the country that educated him and early this morning the country that hunted him down. around 3:00 a.m. eastern time, the u.s. launches a joint operation with the yemenis, a car believed to be carrying al awlaki is targeted. that's on the outskirts of a town east of the capital. a u.s. drone fires its missile and one of america's top terror targets is dead. >> the death of awlaki is a major blow to al qaeda's most active operational affiliate. >> anwar al awlaki was a long way from the home when the missile found him in yemen. born in new mexico and educated in the u.s., he radicalized and became a leader in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. implicated in many plots to kill americans, he was a top terror recruiter, awlaki's presence was felt in >> reporter: the alleged shooter, major nidal hasan is believed to have exchanged e-mails with awlaki before the rampage that left 13 people dead. awlaki is also linked to other terror plots, i

suzanne. >> want to bring in our national security contributor fran townsend for some perspective.k in may of 2010 she visited high ranking libyan officials at the invitation of the libyan government. fran, this is interesting. i want to put this into perspective here, under president bush when i covered president bush and you were there serving, he was a friend of the united states. he was an ally. he had renounced weapons of mass destruction after september 11th. he said he was going after al qaeda asked the libyan people to donate blood for the victims after the september 11th attacks. now he's dead. he's an enemy of this country and many others, what does this mean? >> suzanne, i think i'd go back further than you did, he was responsible for pan am 103, he was on the terror list. a good deal of hard policy work had been done to get him over to the point you described when he handed over his wmd program. there were concerns about gadhafi after that. going there we were concerned about his relationship with the king of saudi arabia which was very tense. there had been allegations

let's bring in our national security contributor, fran townsend, the former bush homeland security adviserthat the evidence may turn out to be less damming to the highest elements of the iranian government than were currently suspecting right now. what are you hearing, fran? >> when i speak to law enforcement sources, they say, they've got the direct links into the quds force and you know, bank transfers and the trail of the money is going to be kind of hard to deny for them, but they don't yet have the direct link. the issue really comes down to those of us what have been looking at this issue for the last few decades will tell you the quds force doesn't act independent of the supreme leader. they wouldn't undertake an operation of this magnitude, it's hard to imagine, without having their political leadership approved this. is it possible? anything is, but the focus of the investigation now is on the what is the connection into the political leadership? >> when you heard last night that the the state department was issues yet another worldwide terror alert, warning american citizens to b

. >> fran townsend is a member of the external advisory board for the department of homeland securityfi in libya in 2007. fran, i'm just going to get right to it, all these various reports of this operation. we've seen the cell phone video now, give us the inside look, the background, if you will. how involved do you think the cia was with this working with nato, working with rebels. how do you think this call came together to where they were able to locate moammar gadhafi in a convoy and know that they had a target. >> remember president obama going back a little ways had said we were providing our special capabilities. we have to assume that's across the board whether it's human intelligence or signals intelligence and overhead way that we collect precisely this kind of targeting data. also the admiral the four star supreme alied commander of nato, you've got it. it was a nato led operation there was tremendous american leadership and support in terms of putting together the targeting information that allowed the successful operation. >> securitywise, what are you thinking about? wh

fran townsend, thank you for joining us. >>> president obama will now create several smaller job billsery republican senator voted against the bill along with a few democrats. the final vote was 50-49. shy of the 60 votes that are needed to pass. >>> in new york, the occupy wall street movement is taking its protest uptown. hundreding marching to the manhattan doorsteps of millionaires rupert murdoch and oil tie cohn david koch and bank chairman milstein and john paulsen and shouting hey you, millionaires, pay your fair share. >> president obama gets re-elected he'll look for a new chief of staff. bill daley plans to return to chicago. >>> still to come this morning, herman cain in the hot seat. his radical tax plan ridiculed by rivals during last night's republican presidential debate in new hampshire. we'll take it apart again this morning. >>> and a full-scale riot at a prison in oklahoma. guards forced to use tear gas to bring rioting inmates to their knees. [ woman on radio, indistinct ] ♪ bum-bum ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum ♪ - ♪ ai, ai, ai - ♪ bum-bum - ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum - ♪ [

i was wondering if you share fran townsend's reaction.us for the reasons that everyone has been saying for the last half hour. we haven't seen the final evidence whether it's the body of moammar gadhafi, if he's dead, as some tv television reports from the region are suggesting, or whether he has been captured like others are saying. but this has the feel now like the real thing in terms of what's happening on the streets, what the reporters are hearing. the multiplicity of tv and radio and news reporting. and i think we in the west, certainly, should try to imagine how big an issue, a development this is for the people of libya who lived under this face, this individual, this person's shadow for their whole lives. knowing that he had the ability by the whims of he and his family to change everybody's future, to kill people, to torture people, to free people. that kind of all powerful dictator doesn't exist in too many places in the world. gadhafi was one of them and i think that's why when this news is confirmed, if it is confirmed in so