nick robertson joins us live in libya with more on his exchange with saadi gadhafi.aying in these e-mails? >> reporter: it started off i sent him e-mails asking him can you talk? i want to talk to you. and i was kind of surprised hearing that he'd been captured to get an answer back. and he said, look, i want to negotiate a ceasefire in tripoli, a city of 2 million people. he said, i don't want this to turn into somalia. i want this to be -- i don't want there to be seas of blood here in the coming days. and i want to help in these negotiations. he said he has reached out to washington, has reached out to nato. and this is -- and he want help in doing, this anderson. >> and now he's just sent you another e-mail. what does that say? >> reporter: well, there have been reports this afternoon that in tripoli he was about to be captured. rebel forces had gone into one of the big hotels in the center of the city, the corinthia, to try to hunt him down. i sent a message saying, so what happened? and his reply was, they didn't get here in time. or they didn't get there in ti

nick robertson joins us live in libya with more on his exchange with saadi gadhafi.ick, what is he saying in these e-mails? what is he saying? >> reporter: it started off i sent him e-mails asking him can you talk? i want to talk to you. and i was kind of surprised hearing that he'd been captured to get an answer back. and he said, look, i want to negotiate a ceasefire in tripoli, a city of 2 million people. he said, i don't want this to turn into somalia. i want this to be -- i don't want there to be seas of blood here in the coming days. and i want to help in these negotiations. he said he has reached out to washington, has reached out to nato. and this is -- and he want help in doing, this anderson. >> and now he's just sent you another e-mail. what does that say? >> reporter: well, there have been reports this afternoon that in tripoli he was about to be captured. rebel forces had gone into one of the big hotels in the center of the city, the corinthia, to try to hunt him down. i sent a message saying, so what happened? and his reply was, they didn't get here in

>> reporter: six months ago, i spoke to another brother, saadi gadhafi. he seemed fearful of the forces roiling his country and the rest of the region. what do you think is happening to your region? >> earthquake. >> reporter: an n rthquake? >> an earthquake. it's a fever. it's a -- it's going to spread everywhere. >> reporter: will your father leave? >> if he leaves today, today, just one hour later, local war, civil war in libya. >> reporter: when we walked through green square in the center of tripoli months ago, it didn't seem like a city about to fall. but it was on edge. loyalist troops were in a defensive ring around the capital and people were too afraid then to speak the truth. we have no planes. we have no plan. we are in peace. >> reporter: but this was the same square last night. as gadhafi's forces melted away and rebels who had fought their way into the capital celebrated their gains. alongside them, residents of the city, now openly expressing their joy. [ horns honking and guns firing ] there were many who doubted this moment and many time

if as saadi gadhafi, if the sai fiismt, the heir apparent, was really running the country, then that'stry of some direction. gadhafi himself is so mercurial, what real impact having his sons removed from the equation will mean, but we know from the very beginning the family hunkered down together. they relied on themselves, perhaps the only other insider, the head of the intelligence, sort of one of the three wanted by the international criminal car for war crimes. very small trusted group. so it seems that that group is now broken up and that gave gave will feel more isolated. will it change anything? probably not. even his family found him unpredict afc. on the one mand -- when i talked to him, he didn't have a strong idea of how to bring the country under their control. >> would the sons even know where their dad is? >> yes, you would have to believe there would be the possibility of that, but would the rebels -- the father have moved since they were picked up? quite possibly even if they told the rebels there's no guarantee that the rebels would be able to move in and find gadhafi.

and over that period i got to meet and talk with saadi gadhafi on a number of occasions. that's how i came to have his e-mail address. the response that i had, the language that he's used, to me it seems very clearly that it's him. that perhaps the spelling errors, the grammatical use of language, the sentence structure, those things are exactly the same way that he would speak. of course it could be somebody very clever mimicking him. but it was me that reached out to him on his e-mail address. >>> let's go back to the situation at the amount. because fighting has intensified there. the rebels say loyalists forces are now firing from nearby villages. and there's growing speculation they may be protecting a high-profile figure, possibly muammar gadhafi. cnn is the only network with a presence at the airport. our own aura damon is there and has the latest. >> reporter: is right now gadhafi's forces are assaulting the airport from two locations? >> two locations, that's right. he's trying to get the airport back. because he has a lot of weapons here. >> reporter: weapons li

three guys never thought, never wanted to be picked up by the rebels, saif al islam, saadi gadhafi, mohammedfi. they miscalculated, i think they miss calculated on the speed the rebels would get into the city, the amount of fight that their loyalists were going to put up to save them, and the indications were from that, based on that, would seem to be that gadhafi has perhaps made a similar miscalculation, surrounded by people that tell him, libyans love you, we'll keep you protected, don't worry, the capital is safe. he lost touch it seems with the reality on the ground of what was happening and seems to have been outmaneuvered and outflanked. the best guess, it is only a guess, perhaps he still is there in trig holed up somewhere, hoping to get away and hasn't managed it. we don't know. he might have tried to flee across country to sert to get to his ancestral home if you will, go out to the desert, hide out there. nato has been looking out for him from the skies. that wouldn't be a smart move either. i think the smart money must be right now he is still in tripoli some place, christine. >

and over that period, i got to meet and talk with saadi gadhafi on a number of occasions.how i came to have his e-mail address. the response that i had, the language that is used, to me, it seems very clearly that it's him. perhaps the spelling errors, the grammatical use of language, the sentence structure, those things are exactly the same way that he would speak. of course, it could be somebody very clever mimicking him. but it was me that reached out to him, on his e-mail address. the indications to me, i haven't seen anything that isn't him so far. >> it's fascinating, because again, we're now yet another example where we've heard from opposition forces that this guy's in custody, yet again, like these now three of gadhafi's sons, that is clearly not the case. if it ever was the case. was he a player in his father's regime? would he have the power to negotiate something? >> you know, he was -- he was the person who was perhaps within the regime more behind the release of, the woman who was raped and got into the hotel with the journalists and beaten and dragged off an

i try to ask questions about, you know, there were rumors that saadi gadhafi sending me the e-mails were going to be captured or the rebels were trying to capture him in the hotel downtown. when i asked him about that he said they arrived too late. there are questions that i asked that are just not being answered at all. what i was told is that his efforts are still on going to negotiate the cease-fire. that he wants to do it with the help of a couple of big explosions there just -- very big explosion, actually, over my shoulder. not clear what that was at all, joe, but that was quite a loud explosion. so the bottom line is, and i can hear people loading their rifles and weapons down there. rebel gunmen preparing their weapons. we'll try and find out what that big explosion was. sounded like an echo of an explosion and then another explosion itself. >> so it's an on going -- >> i don't know exactly what it was. >> ongoing situation. perhaps i should go ahead and let you go. just check out your own personal safety. and we'll be checking back in with you, nic robertson. thanks so much for

hold talks with the rebels on forming the traditional government has even sad that gadhafi appoints his third son saadi to lead these negotiations but we have to say that gadhafi is not right now in a position to negotiate he's not in a strong position at all because the radicals are progressing quite well this statement comes just a week after the assault on the libyan capital tripoli as a result their version of control in most of this city they're actually right now controlling most of the country as well the situation here in tripoli i would describe this situation as humanitarian disaster the tripoli council has said that from sixty to seventy percent of all residents of the libyan capital don't have enough water and electricity. due to technical problems they say emphasizing that it's not related to fight scenes on the streets the city indeed faces severe shortages of food and medicine as well and electricity even here in. fear hotel where we are staying and where most of the foreign journalists are staying there is no water and this is the third day water free day here in this speech it is very

for example, the capture of one of gadhafi's sons, saadi. he showed up at the rixos hotel. sterday, they told me they thought they had gadhafi cornered into a different part of the city. that turned out to be wrong. there is an element of wishful thinking and talking a good game. especially to the media. they are desperate to try to finish this off and find, capture or kill colonel gadhafi. the reality is this is a big sprawling city. to the south, it is still dicey. there are a lot of places he could hide. that is assuming he is in tripoli. he could have fled to his hometown of sert. there are lots of options for him. at the moment, we have the one source on reuters claiming the rebel source claiming they think he may be cornered into an apartment building somewhere in the vicinity of his compound, but nearby. that is all we have at the moment. >> in the meantime, dan, it sounds quiet where you are. looking at the traffic moving behind you. can you give us a sense of what is and is not taking place in downtown tripoli? >> reporter: things are normalizing here slowly, but su

. >> sara, we know two of gadhafi's sons have been arrested, saif al-islam and saadi. you know where moammar gadhafi might be now? >> reporter: no, but one of the main rumors going around now -- and we heard people celebrating in zawiyah because they believed moammar gadhafi himself was arrested. there was quite a bit of firing in the air, cheering. we heard children and women cheering and chanting "free libya, free libya," but that died down because everyone said, oh, that might be a rumor. his son was arrested. so far nobody has heard from moammar gadhafi in the last hour or so. we are wondering where he is and so are the rebels. >> rumors are flying around about gadhafi that he's escaped to algeria, africa, that he's hiding out in tripoli. we are standing by to get accurate information. sara, hold on for a moment. general wesley clark is joining us now. general clark, nato obviously very much involved in this operation. the nato air power. but ground forces as well training the rebels. what can you tell us about what nato troops have done on the ground as opposed to

hold talks with the rubbles on forming the transitional government has even sad that gadhafi appoints his third son saadi to lead these negotiations but we have to say that kentucky is not right now in a position to negotiate he's not in a strong position at all because the rattles are progressing quite well this statement comes just a week after their brilliant assault on the libyan capital tripoli as a result they are virtually controlling most of this city they are actually right now controlling most of the country as well as i could off it is not at all in a position to negotiate or to to offer something to the gravels and that's clear and this is what the rabble. have been sane these days meanwhile. claiming that they are preparing for what they call the final battle an assault on khadafi is last stronghold his home. which is six hundred kilometers east of the capital tripoli they are now just waiting for nato to clear the path towards and as far as we can understand these operations on the city of sirte is just a matter of time right now if only and the reason. there is a chance that it will not be

the commander says he told gadhafi's son al saadi if he surrendered he would not be harmed.adi order ed soldiers to fire on protesters. >>> the federal government is trying to block a multi-billion dollar merger between two of the nation's cell phone customers claiming it will hurt customers. at&t, the second largest carrier, wants to buy t-mobile usa for $39 billion. during a news conference today, the justice department said the move would violate antitrust laws. >> we feel the combination of at&t and t-mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the united states, facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products. >> cnbc's sue herera joins us live now. thanks for your time. what response have we heard from at&t and t-mobile? >> well, basically at&t is vowing to fight this. they say that they met with department of justice officials several times because they were worried about antitrust issues and got no indication at the time from those officials that there would be a problem. also. if at&t walks away from this deal, they will pay a $3 b

saadi. but where is moammar gadhafi? will he be taken alive? sara sidner on the phone. night as fallen, 9:00 p.m. where you are. tell me where specifically you are and what you're hearing on the streets as far as the whereabouts of colonel gadhafi. >> we left tripoli moments ago. came out to the outskirts of the city where a lot of the rebels often retreat in the evening time. some of them actually even go home. what we were hearing in city center today were definitely loud gunshots back and forth. definitely they were engaging in a fight in the city center or around the city center. we were told by rebel forces that there were snipers in the area around the square and some on top some of the buildings in parts of the city. there was definitely, a battle that we heard. we were unable to get close to it. we were at a checkpoint and told us it was too dangerous to go. they had it partly under control. you hear that a lot of times. but they are also saying that they do have 80% of the city under control. that there are people who are hiding in some of these urban areas. ob

i mean, the son of moammar gadhafi -- i under saadi is under your control, saif al islam is under yourmuhammad escapes after he's arrested by the forces? >> muhammad is the less aggressive. >> so they let him escape? >> among his brothers and mr. al jalil, he's the first son from a different woman, not from the same woman or some wife now gadhafi has, and then they want to show the world that this is the tnc how they are dealing with the gadhafi sons. >> so they don't let him go? >> they don't let him go. he had been hijacked by maybe gadhafi's forces. >> well, i don't know what that means, he's been hijacked by gadhafi's forces, but what does that say to you that the rest of the guy, the son of gadhafi and now he's free. >> well, it certainly sounds from the ambassador's interview, wolf, that they made a decision. there was a conscious decision to permit him without a fight to leave the control of the rebels, and this really goes to is there a cohesive command-and-control structure? are these decisions made by a central political authority within the tnc, and it's not at all clear. an

saadi, the soccer player, he, too, now in custody. today, we saw a stream of rebels flowing out of tririli. energized by their success and empowered by vast stores of weapons they looted from gadhafi's military. why do you need this? "to erase gadhafi's forces," he says. these soldiers tell us they will be back at the various battle fronts in tripoli and around tripoli later tonight. they also say while they can smell victory, they're not prepared to declare it yet. diane. >> thank you, jeffrey. fast moving tonight. >>> and now we want to bring in dr. richard haass from the council on foreign relations. so it's going to be messy in the short term. >> inevitably. >> and does that necessarily mean that the u.s. is in increased danger at this moment? >> the real question is not short-term messiness. that's inevitable. the opposition hadadne thing in common, they wanted to get rid of gadhafi. now that they essentially accomplished that, they'll begin to fall apart. different agendas, ambitions inevitably will come into play. will it be a bunch of radical islamists? could it become a failed state where terrorists take over? or maybe it will be something like a liberal democracy if the id