and his ability to hang on? >> reporter: gadhafi is hanging on. and he seems to have been given a breath of life by the distraction of the killing of osama bin laden. there hasn't been as much attention focused on gadhafi. the nato air campaign is continuing. but there is not the same sort of world focus on this right now and that, believe it or not, has given him quite a bit of an edge as world leaders and their parliaments aren't pressuring nato to do more. >> and, richard, syria, talk about things that have continued without a whole lot of world pressure. they can talk about economic sanctions this he can issue statements as hillary clinton did on saturday, a written statement, but assad is getting away with it getting away with murder, some would say. >> reporter: he absolutely is getting away with murder, with mass arrests, with a crackdown. somebody has decided, many countries included, to give him a pass. this crackdown has taken -- has been going on for two months