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take the lead, though that is still being decide. and libyan fighters are still on the move. word from misrata east of tripoli, gadhafi's tanks unleashed absolute destruction and carnage. a witness says they are shooting people in the main street. an exclusive cnn poll finds broad american support for the allied mission. more than 80% say protecting libyans from their longtime dictator should be a somewhat or very important goal of the u.s. but 70% do not favor sending in any ground troops. i want to turn now to cnn's arwa damon in the eastern libyan city of benghazi. she joins us live on telephone. benghazi is the seat of the opposition movement, and i wonder, arwa, whether gadhafi's opponents feel their fortunes have changed? >> caller: they most certainly do, randi. to paint a picture what happened over the weekend, even though the u.n. resolution passed saturday, gadhafi's forces assaulted southern benghazi. at least 95 people were killed according to hospital officials. residents eyewitnesses were telling us they themselves saga doffy's troops on top of vehicles, mounted with automatic machine guns spraying buildings indiscriminately, firing into buildings. people in the opposition managed to drive gadhafi's forces out but everyone we talked to felt a slaughter, a massacre at their hands was effectively imminent. on sunday then we saw fighter jets bombing gadhafi's military mass outside of benghazi. damaged caused by that as far as the eye could see. we counted at least 70 vehicles. it rocked gadhafi's military regime to a grinding halt and everybody we have been talking to has a message to the international community. a message of thanks, because without that sort of intervention, they believe they would have been killed. randi? >> tell us what you're hearing from, or even about, misrata. we were getting word of tanks and night issers there from pro-government forces. >> caller: yeah. we were just where there was a demonstration. people showing in their support and solidarity and another area where we met a woman whose daughter lives in misrata. trying to get in touch. we gave her our phone to get through. she can't get through to her relatives there and the most disturbing part, she says a few days ago on al jazeera so saw one of her daughter's homes damaged. naturally, she's very frantic. we have all sorts of eyewitness reports from mistraut ta there's a massacre, slaughter going on at the hands of gadhafi's troops. people definitely wanting to see the no-fly zone extended to those areas as well, because even though they realize that benghazi is 15ir safe for now, this battle over libya is far from over. >> arwa a short time ago we heard from the pentagon saying they are not in direct contact, those who are attacking libya are not in direct contact with the rebel forces. do you get the sense, though, that the rebel forces and the opposition on the ground does understand that they have a lot of support from americans? >> caller: they do now, and they do now that the u.n. resolution passed. now that they're seeing america absolutely involved. up to that stage they did feel that the u.s. by taking so long to try to help how they could push this resolution through was in fact aligning with gadhafi forces. i had a number of libyans come up to me thanking and praising the united nations. many impressed by her attitude, statement as the united nations, and now they do have the sense that they're not in this alone, that the united states is effectively standing with them, that all of these international global leaders are by and large standing with them. randi? >> all right. arwa damon for us in ben gauzgh libya. thank you. the focus of a devastated nation in japan remains on the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant and two hot reactors in particular. to gray smoke billowed from react 3 even after 1,000 tons of water was sprayed from fire trucks and cranes to try to keep fuel rods cooled. we haven't heard of new explosions on either site. on a hopeful side, all six hooked up to power cables but only two have power. that's important, because electricity it run pumps that will keep water moving where it's needed. outside the pump, distribution of milk and produce from fukushima prefecture and on spinach from a neighboring prefecture. over the weekend samples tested positive for cesium. there is no immediate health risk, they say. officially the death toll from japan's twin natural catastrophes, earthquake and tsunami stands at 8,805. 12:6 -- 12,6r -- 12,654 missing. >> reporter: in japan's disaster, too many dead to have a proper funeral. 16-year-old hiroki is underneath this blanket. his parents and two brothers drove his body to the emergency shelter, the best farewell they could offer in the wake of the tsunami. >> don't give up hope the father tells his friends. keep living for my son. these children have already lost too of they are friends, hiroki is the third. he wasn't at school, sitting high above his neighborhood. crews pulled his body from the rubble. 16-year-old takuma played soccer with him. >> translator: i've lost my best friend. he died young. he should have lived a long life. life has been cut short all across this area, one of the hardest hit towns in the tsunami zone. search crews find the body of a middle aged woman and they can't identify but wov cover her and load her body on to a truck. they offer a fair amount of respect and marking the passing of another life. after a few seconds, crews return to the search. it is tough to cope with this scale of loss as an adult, for the young, incomprehensible. it's too early to know how many children have been impacted by this disaster, but aid organizations believe the number will be well into the thousands and that they'll feel the psychological damage for years to come. >> we have already spoken to children who are having nightmares, they're unable to sleep. frightened to sleep because they believe it's going to come back. they're frightened of being indoors because the building shook violently during the earthquake. there's a chance many of these children will have serious difficulties coming to terms of what happened to them. >> reporter: for the friends of hiroki, this impromptu funeral is some closure. a thank you from the family. his father covers his son and offers a final farewell to his friends. a few more seconds to cry, then hiroki's friends move back inside the shelter to deal with what this disaster brings next. for cnn, japan. and the people of japan, of course, need your assistance. so head to the impact your world seconds of our website to see how you can help. the u.s. military says it's ramping down its role in libya, but what does that actually mean? we'll talk about that on the other side of the break. and we want to know what you think about the u.s. involvement in libya. send your thoughts. here's how to reach us at twitter, facebook and our blog. we'll read your answers later in the show. be sure to stay tuned. i probably feel about thirty. how is it that we don't act our age? 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[ laughter ] [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. t adwiwiout food al t there you see it. a tomahawk missile launch from the early hours of "operation odyssey dawn" on saturday. we're hearing the u.s. military may be ramping down its role in libya. joining me, former nato supreme allied commander and cnn contributor general wesley clark and cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence. chris, start with you. you just got out of that pentagon briefing a short time ago. what stood out to you? >> reporter: one thing that really jumped out to me, randi, was a lot of us have been wondering, and there's been a lot of accusations about what the u.s. military role is going to be going forward. there was some accusations that there was a possibility that the u.s. military and its allies could be in a position of simply providing air support to these rebel groups as they battle gadhafi's forces. in other words, becoming sort of close air support to a group on the ground as they try to battle back and overtake parts of the country. well, we heard today from general carter ham, who's the commander in that region, pushing back on that, saying, in all actuality, they have seen some of these opposition groups with heavy armor, and armored vehicles and heavy weapons, and that if they were to move into populated areas, and to engage the libyan forces, as sort of an offensive, the general said that could become a real challenge to us and he said at that point they would no longer be covered by the protection of the no-fly zone. he also talk about the fact that the u.s. military and its allies, britain, france and the other countries, although there has been at least one strike on colonel gadhafi's compound, and we now confirmed that a second strike was called off last night, he said that colonel gadhafi is not a target and he can actually see this mission ending with gadhafi still in office. >> certainly that has a lot of people shaking their heads. all right. general clark, let's get to you. what is the next step, after hearing this pentagon briefing what is the next step for the united states? >> well, i think the next step is really diplomatic. the military has done what it was asked to do. it may or may not have destroyed all of gadhafi's air defenses. there are some reports from the reach than say that he managed to pull some of his air defenses back and we heard earlier on that admiral courtney say that some of the mobile assets are not worth worrying about at this point, but we've substantially completed the military task. it's really up to diplomacy. now, what we would hope to see is the u.n. taking a role. they have a u.n. secretary-general special representative appointed. he should be dealing with gadhafi. the u.n. secretary-general was in egypt today, and so this is a time, then, that the international criminal court jurisdiction should take over, an investigation should be conducted and ideally we'd see preparations made for democratic elections in libya. >> getting back to what chris mentioned, that gadhafi could remain in power even after all of this, president obama has said that it's time for him to go and now you have the attacks on libya. if he's still in power after all this, will that make the united states look weak? >> well, he won't be in power, i don't think, after international criminal court investigation, because i think he'll be indicted, and if there's a democratic election head, he won't be eligible to stand for those elections, but let's say that doesn't happen. yes, he'll be a wounded vengeful animal. we've been through this before with him, and we can expect real problems in terms of his sparking international terrorism, and trying to seek revenge in the middle east, europe and against the united states. >> and does this at all feel like iraq to you in any way, general? in terms of what the expectations are to the people in libya? do they expect the united states and allies to rep rebuild libya? >> i think we're not there yet and the infrastructure right now is mostly correct. they have some oil. they have exported oil. they have large foreign currency reserves. not quite like iraq in that respect but it might be like iraq in the sense that if this stalemate, and gadhafi remains in charge and he holds on to major population centers and we're on the fringes of this using air power, it might mean a prolonged stalemate. that would be very unfortunate for the international community an obviously for the people of libya. that's why it's time for the united nations to take charge and finish the job here with deploemsy. >> our thank you to both of you. general wesley clark and chris lawrence. thank you. a huge deal in the wireless industry that could affect just about everyone way mobile phone. don't go anywhere. we'll tell you all about it coming up next. push your onstar button and you could be one of them. even if you're not an onstar customer. ♪ just push your blue button and tell the advisor you want to enter the onstar push on sweepstakes. ♪ but do it soon. no purchase necessary. see rules at onstar.com to enter without a blue onstar button. a huge deal in the wireless industry which could affect just about everyone with a mobile phone. at&t is looking to buy t-mobile from its german owners for an estimated $39 billion in cash and stocks. business correspondent stephanie elam has been following this story. she joins us now for more. great to see you. obviously a lot of people talking about this deal. still needs federal approval, but give us the basics here of the merger. >> reporter: yeah, randi. a story that has everyone talking because a lot of people have strong thoughts about what they think about it mobil service or at&t service. some good, some not so good. posted on my facebook page to let people weigh in. when you look at a story like this, this is really going to rival the way things have been done here. look at at&t. they are the number two mobile phone operator in the united states. t-mobile is the number four one compared to number one, verizon, this combined puts them ahead of verizon as far as subscribers are concerned leer. this is a big deal to verizon, keeping their eyes on it. we can tell you, 130 million subscribers if the deal goes through around crease network density. one of the complaints ar at&t they didn't reach out to rural areas as mitch and the argument here is that now because of this merger with t-mobile they'll be able to do that and reach an added 46.5 million americans. and they said they plan on spending $8 billion on infrastructure to combine these networks together, randi. >> let me ask you about this. is there a t-mobile iphone in our future? >> reporter: you know what? a lot of people asking me about that. first of all, this merger if it goes through will take about a year. even if there was, it won't happen anytime soon. yes. the t-mobile, still operating as a separate entity for now should have access to the phones that are offered by at&t, even then, though, they will probably no longer be t-mobile. just part of big old at&t. >> oh, heavy sigh. i can hear it from a lot of folks out there. a lot of people. >> reporter: a lot of people not happy about it. i keep hearing about it. >> stephanie elam, thank you. great to see you. thank you. for more business news join christine romans from "your bottom line" and don't miss "your $$$$$" with ali velshi at 1:00 p.m. eastern and sundays at 3:00. updating our top stories -- 21 minutes past the hour, smoke poured from two reactors at the crippled nuclear plant in fukushima japan prompting the evacuation of workers trying to stabilize that facility. the plant's owner says all raesh reactors are wired for electricity but officials won't turn it on until pumps to circulate the water to cool the fuel is repaired. former house speaker nancy pelosi taken to a hospital in rome, italy earlier today. she has since returned to her hotel. according to a source familiar with her condition, it's still not clear what exactly was wrong. we will bring you additional details, of course, as they come in. the u.s. marshal service says the woman charged in a deadly day care fire in texas is back in the u.s. to face charges. she was taken into custody saturday in nigeria. investigators allege jessica tata, a 22-year-old day care owner left six children alone at her houston center with a stove on while she went to a store back in february. four children die and three others were injured in the fire. jessica tata faces manslaughter and unlawful flight charges. president obama talking trade in latin america, but keeping one eye solidly on libya. our ed henry is with the president there in chile. coming up, we'll find out how the president is juggling the issues while out of the country. we'll talk with ed. pping. that must cost a fortune. it sure does. well, if it doesn't have to get there overnight, you can save a lot with priority mail flat rate envelopes. one flat rate to any state, just $4.95. that's cool and all... but it ain't my money. i seriously do not care... so, you don't care what anyone says, you want to save this company money! that's exactly what i was saying. hmmm... priority mail flat rate envelopes, just $4.95 only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. i know what works differently than many other allergy medications. omnaris. omnaris. to the nose! did you know nasal symptoms like congestion can be caused by allergic inflammation? 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[ inhales deeply ] i nipped my allergy symptoms in the bud. omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. welcome back. exclusive new numbers to share with you on the u.s. involvement in libya. the cnn opinion research corporation poll shows that 54% of americans favor the air strikes by the u.s. and coalition partners targeting moammar gadhafi's forces. 43% are opposed. president obama has promised nots to use ground troops while only 28% of people would support sending in american troops. 70% are opposed. when asked how president obama is handling the situation in libya, 50% of americans say they approve. the president is handling the situation while on a three-country latin america trip. this is the time every day when we talk to cnn senior white house correspondent ed henry. let's do that now. he's traveling with the president today, and there he is in santiago, chile. ed, i understand the president had a very important call regarding libya this morning? >> reporter: yeah, he did. he had a secure conference call with some of his national security team. secretary clinton and others, lasted about an hour according to white house aides. he's been briefed repeatedly over the last couple of days since the military campaign started saturday while he was in brazil on the first stop of this tour. the bottom line is when you look at those new polling numbers from cnn, opinion research corporation poll, it shows pretty much the public is onboard with instituting the no-fly zone. definitely against ground troops and the president said repeatedly, including on saturday, he has no plans to put combat troops in libya. another number is beneath the surface worth looking at, which is how important is it to remove moammar gadhafi from power? only 34% say it's very important to remove him from power. when we did a poll like this in 2002, 60% -- 60% -- said it was very important to remove saddam hussein from power. so less than, far less than the majority of americans are saying it's very important to remove colonel gadhafi from power, significant, because one of the big questions president obama will get today and in days ahead as well is, what is the end game? how important is it to remove ga doff fri power? remember, before this military campaign started this president made it very clear he wanted gadhafi to go. >> has there been response from the president and the white house? i know the president is certainly taking a lot of heat from both sides, actually, about how he handled the attacks on libya. critics saying he needed congress to be onboard, declaring war, should have been more in in touch with congress and communicating better with the american people throughout this process? >> reporter: well, they're pushing back hard saying when you go back to friday around noon and the white house situation room, the president brought a bunch of congressional leaders in on saturday, one of his top aides, dennis mcdonough on the phone back in washington while the president was in brazil, dialing up on secure lines and whatnot. vrs congressional readers to read them into what was happening. they believe inside the white house they did not need congress to authorize this military action because they had the u.n. security council resolution. some lawmakers in both parties, some democrats, coming forward they don't believe that and are frustrated for the president for moving forward with this. bottom line is, the focus today is going to be about the end game, i think, likely when the president next hour for the first time on this trip, the first time since the military campaign began, is going to take some of our questions. he's going to take questions from the media here, chilean press as well as the u.s. press and you can bet there's going to be one at least not more questions about libya. first time to quiz him on this and press him. white house aides tell us this morning again that the u.s. is going to take a lead role for only days, not weeks. but what if after just a few days here the u.s. starts pulling out of the air strikes and in a lead role and gadhafi is still in pow jer what if some of our allies don't want to continue instituting the no-fly zone? will the u.s. be forced to step it up and get involved in instituting that no-fly zone and what happens to ga doff ji is it going to be okay for the u.s. for a couple week, couple months from now he's still in power even after all of this military campaign? >> yeah. so many questions, and so many answers needed. ed henry, thank you. good to see you. we should remind you, the president is going to make his remarks about 2:05 eastern time. we're expecting them. we will take you there and carry those live. it can be a key economic indicator. the latest report on housing sale, next. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and talk to chuck about ttd# 1-800-345-2550 rolling over that old 401k. basic. preferred. at meineke i have options on oil changes. and now i get free roadside assistance with preferred or supreme. my money. my choice. my meineke. now a look at developing stories and some of the news you might have missed today. the pentagon says the u.s. and britain had a combined total of 12 missile strikes in libya. a pentagon spokesman says it's u.s. is transitioning to what he call as patrolling role. the "new york times" reports that four of its journalists held by the libyan government since last week have been released, and crossed safely into neighbors tunisia today. there was more smoke today from two of the reactors in japan's troubled fukushima nuclear plant. they say it's finished look hooking up electrical cables and is awaiting spare parts to restore power to the cooling system. the u.s. navy aircraft "george washington" has been pulled out of yokosuka as a precaution against radiation. investors apparently think japan is turning the corner. stock market went on the rebound today with the dow jones industrial rising nearly 200 points. analysts say this is stoked by at&t's plan to buy t-mobile usa. the news about housing is not as good. the national association of realtors reports existing home sales fell 9.6%. prices dropped to their lowest levels in nine years. well, you may want to tweet a happy birthday message to twitter today. co-founder jack dorsey sent the very first twitter message on this day five years ago. a microblogging site became a phenomenon and now has 200 million users. among them, actor charlie sheen who set a record by recruiting 1 million twitter followers earlier this month in 25 hours and 17 minutes. now he is up to 3 million. sheen sent a message to his 3 million followers just yesterday offering free tickets to his new one-man stage show. now the latest about food contamination linked to radiation from japan's fukushima nuclear plant. officials are now finding elevated levels of radiation in food produced outside the evacuation area. the japanese government has banned the sale of raw milk from fukushima prefecture and spinach from a neighboring prefecture. the world health organization says short-term exposure to the contaminated food poses no immediate health risk, not even in japan. that hasn't stopped many americans, of course, from worrying. let's check in with cnn senior medical correspondent liz death cohen who's in new york this afternoon. should we be concerned about food imported from japan? >> reporter: you know what? the experts tell us we should not be concerned, and here's why. first of all, we don't east much imported food from japan. about 4% of the food we import. it's seafood, not much sushi, though and all sorts of other vegetables and processed foods. but it's really very little. even if you ate it, day after day, it still would likely not hurt you. for example, that spinach, randi, you were just showing. if you ate spinach made near this plant day after day, after a year, would you have as much radiation as is in a cat scan. is that good? no. is it going to kill you? no it's the not going to kill you. i should note the federal government here in the united states is checking things that are coming in from japan to see if they have radiation. randi? >> talk about the west coast. we know radiation from japan reached the west coast. should we be concerned about produce there? >> again, randi, no reason to be concerned. the amount of radiation that hit the west coast is so teeny, tiny. a teeny, tiny fraction of the amount of radiation that they had in japan, that even if it did get into the produce, it still would not cause problems. now, again, the u.s. government is checking it. they are doing spot checks of things like milk and water, and they will certainly let people know if it got too high, but at the moment it appears it would be very, very, low, because even the radiation that hit the u.s. was so low. >> good news, but as the days go on you wonder, how will we know if it becomes more dangerous for us? >> right. they are going to continue to do that monitoring. there are many monitoring stations set out across the united states, not because of japan, just it's always that way. and so they'll continue to monitor that and let people know if the levels are getting too high. >> all right. elizabeth cohen in new york. thanks. >> thanks. you have probably seen them driving around, cell phone towers. really big, ugly and expensive, but now there's one that fits in the palm of your hand. yes, right in the palm of your hand. it's today's "big eye" you've got to see it to believe it. it's next. don't sweat it. i just switched us to sprint, so e-mail, web...on 4g... it's all unlimited. 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(in chinese) ask me why i never want to leave my ergo. ask me why i'm glad i didn't wait 'till i was too old to enjoy this. start asking real owners. ask me how to make your first move... find out more about the tempur advanced ergo system! call the number on your screen for your free dvd and information kit. to find an authorized dealer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. in japan, setbacks and progress for workers struggling to repair that crippled nuclear plant. white smoke spewed today from two reactors in the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the smoke was coming from the number 2 and number 3 reactors. workers trying to repair the number 3 reactor were evacuated but officials say there was no sign of any explosion. an increase in radiation or any injuries. hundreds of workers spent the weekend trying to connect a high voltage transmission line to the number 2 unit in a bid to restart cooling system that could help reduce the temperature in the reacteder and spent fuel pool. workers also continued to spray tons of water on the reactor. the head of the international atomic energy agency in switzerland warns the crisis remains very serious, but pressure in reactor number 3 is down. that bit of encouragement echoed by an official at the nuclear regulatory commission who told the "new york times" that the situation in the plant appears to be "on the verge of stabilizing." also today, rescuers continue to dig through the rubble in search of survivors and bodies from the march 11th quake and tsunami. officials now say the disaster killed 8,805 people and more than 12,000 still remain missing. in libya, part of moammar gadhafi's compound is a pile of rubble today. u.s. and coalition forces bombed the site late yesterday. officials say the compound was hit, because it contained command and control facilities for gadhafi's forces. a top military officer said as a pentagon briefing today that gadhafi is not being targeted. western officials say there is no idea where the libyan leader may even be holed up and he hasn't been heard from since his weekend vow of a long, drawn-out war. and coalitions strikes continue, a senior american commander says they are generally achieving goals in libya. general ham, general of the u.s. african command says the main focus of the mission continues to be to protect libya and civilians. he says there is no communication with rebel forces and also says that gadhafi's forces are showing little will or capacity to fight and are moving south away from the main opposition city of benghazi. anti-government protests unfolding elsewhere in the region. thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the southern syrian city of d tachlt ra today after a protester killed in clashes with security forces yesterday. a state news agency says two others were till killed in demonstrations in the city on friday. 's in a bid to clamp down on the anger, army troops were dely toed there today. troops set up check it point and demanded those going into the city present protest cards. they are demanding political freedom and an end to corruption. in the last month, cell phones helped spawn revolutions in egypt and saved lives in japan. for the first time in history, smartphones outsold computers this year and now tablet computers, of course, are all the rage. those mobile devices are putting enormous strain on cell towers and it is just going to get worse. check this out. according to louis the, in the luce lucent, data used on cell devices expected to grow 30 times. in the next ten years, a growth of 500 times the current usage. so we're all about big solutions to big problems, as you know on this show. in today's "big i," imagine squeezing a cell phone to youer into a box the size of a rubik's cube? it has been done. this is big news today, of course, with at&t buying t-mobile. extremely spence expensive to own a network. here to tell us about it, cnnmoney.coming david goldman. great to see you. sounds like a pipe dream come true. please, tell us how this works. >> reporter: it's really unbelievable, because you said it. you're taking all of the components of a cell tower and putting it into a device that's just the size of a rubik's cube that fits in the palm of your hand. what it does, it allows companies like at&t and verizon and sprint to put these devices all over a city, so you can tutin a wall, on top of a lamppost, on a bus station. and instead of having these big cell towers that spread out signal in all different areas, you actually can direct these to send it up a road or down a -- another path, so that, you know, say during rush hour can you have them pointing in one direct, during rush hour going home, you can have it pointing in another direction. that way you're saving a lot of bandwidth. it's much, much more efficient to use thee kind of devices and, in fact, they say, all ka tel lucent who made the device says they can save cell phone companies 50% on their costs and that's a big, important factor for people who are smartphone and tablet users because they've seen how expensive this can get if you're using an ipad, using a smartphone. you know those data costs can be really, really expensive. that's right. >> so you're saying, then, that it could save us money. will it help with our service? with all the dropped calls if they're better targeted? >> yes. if something's much more efficient like this, you can use this to -- like a direct, to direct a band or you could use it so that you're controlling how many people can get on to a particular network at a time. and with the current technology you have, it's just spreading senate signal out. with these, you can -- you can know how many people are on the network. you can know how many people can use it at a certain time, and that way, you really control the efficiency of your network. smaller sometimes is better, yes. >> i'm fascinated about the fact as you look at the cell phone towers, they're huge. how do you get something so big into a box the size of a rubik's cube? >> reporter: yeah, well, it wasn't easy, certainly. it's actually an interesting story. one of the engineers who thought this up was working in his wood shop and came up with something about this size and said, i know it can't be smaller than this, but it has to be this small. they said, no, no. that's impossible. no way to get this done. a couple months later they actually did it. twhae did was they took all of the guts out of the cell tower and most of those guts are power sources. and it's really, really inefficient the way modern cell towers work, because it takes the energy and sends it up the cell tower, but you lose 50% of energy by the time it gets up there. what they did, took all of those power sources and put it into a control -- in a remote control center that's somewhere in the middle of the country, say, and all of this takes it just a power source and ath ethernet connection to work, and it has 2g, 3g and 4g radio all in one device. >> very cool. >> they really sort of went to the -- the extreme of what physics can take you to, and they did a really, really pretty interesting job of this. >> it certainly looks pretty cool. i know we'll get a chance to see it at some point in the future, david. thank you. and for even more information on this light radio as it's called, head to ali's blog, cnn.com/ali. after a week of drama and buzzer-beaters, college basketball sweet 16 starts thursday. which teams will advance? matt weinert, studio host joins us with predictions that may surprise even the biggest sports fan. coldwell banker. we never stop moving. the morning after the big move starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now... and maybe up to 4 in a day. or, choose aleve and 2 pills for a day free of pain. smart move. ♪ smart move. [ man ] ♪ trouble ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪ [ announcer ] when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. take the scary out of life. ten minutes before the hour. updating our top stories. more anti-government unrest sweeting yemen. thousands are are demanding the president resign. they passed out flowers to troops. in an amazing show of support, top generals and ambassadors switched to the side of the demonstrators. one general ordered his troops not to fire on the protestors. haitians voted in a final runoff election for a new president. problems with ballots led to people being given an extra hour to cast their votes for one of the two final candidates. and egyptian voters have overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments, voting took place saturday, 45 million egyptians eligible to vote, the move paves the way for parliamentary elections in june. okay, so we will not get very far from libya or japan. as new information comes in we'll bring it to you. but we did want to take a few minutes to chat about something millions of americans talk about around this time of year, march madness. let's bring in matt winer for a deeper look at the tournament. matt, we're down to the sweet 16. a lot of brackets blown out of the water. >> i know they're floating around here. they may hide them in the desks but you have brackets everywhere here. >> and some of them not looking too good. break down some of the story lines for us. >> as always, an interesting mix of sort of brand names, kentucky and kansas, north carolina, duke. those are all sort of mt. rushmore programs for college basketball. then you have teams that you wouldn't think belonged there from the get-go. four double-dijed seed teams in the 16. 1 to 16, theoretically the single digit teams are the best teams in the tournament. you end up with teams like vcu, richmond, four of those double-digit seed teams in the sweet 16. vcu a fall story. aloft people felt like the rams, virginia common beth r wealth, did not belong in the tournament, the selection committee chose them as the last teams in. they had to play in what's called the first four games, four to get into the bracket of 64, they won that game, they've now won two more game soz they're the only sweet 16 team that's won three games so far to it get there. they've got a 33-year-old head coach, second youngest inn entorchment. >> who's your pick to win it it all? >> i said kansas before the tournament began, i think kansas is the favorite right now as well. they've got a realfavorable dra because they've got nothing but upset teams, underdogs, ahead of them in that tournament, the jayhawks are great inside. they have the twins, morris twins, both 6'10", very skilled, great inside. they've got guards who with play outside and they have a favorable draw. >> what about the brackets, we had the larger bracket system this year. did fans like that or not? >> first of all, i've been sequestered inside a tv studio for the better part of five days. i haven't interacted with real folks in the last few days. >> we're glad you're here. >> me, too. but my sense is they've like it because you've got a couple of extra games for teams like vcu to prove their worth and get in the tournament in the first place. secondly, with the new tv deal, sort of pump pg ourselves here, allows viewers to watch every second of every single game throughout the tournament. that wasn't the case before. >> good stuff. >> we think so. >> i'm glad you came if. now a much better understanding. >> glad i could help. >> good to see you. a well-coordinated coalition, the u.s. taking a lead role with missiles. so how accurate are those tomahawks? we'll take a look, next. the united states military has played a leading role in these oftening days of the cease-fire enforcement in libya using cruise missiles and stealth bombers to pound targets critical to moammar gadhafi's government. joining me is alex frazier, alec,ed u.s. is making good use of the cruise missiles. how accurate are these? >> i think we saw last night, how accurate they are, a building in the middle of the compound for gadhafi, two tomahawk missiles came through the roof. it wasn't a targeting of the compound but a specific building within the compound. both missiles came through the top. if i were a gadhafi command and control person somewhere across the country and i saw that this happened, i wouldn't sleep in a building at all tonight. >> i think it was a message. >> it's a message that the missiles are accurate. >> what about civilian casualties? the u.s. and coalition forces are doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties, they say. are these happening because the weapons are so targeted? >> i think so. there are two things so talk about. civilian casualties, we should first talk about there were no pilot casualties at the same time. you know, last time when we went through this, it was a one airplane got shot down. there a there's -- the tomahawks are very ak raxt i think people see that across libya. they know that the coalition is being very careful. >> and this seems to many people that it came together very quickly. how have these coalition forces been on a job like this before? how were they able to pull this off together so quickly/. >> there's a term pour the roman armies way back when exorcise, so the term exorcise is something they do over and over again not just with themselves but the coalitions. 0 so air operations, combined operations with ships are things done frequently. so when something like this goes on, it takes a commander in charge, not a committee and it's ready to go. >> very quickly, the ship is really the command center out there. >> the "uss mt. whitney" is a ship designed for normandy style invasion. it has the best command and control, bar none, across the globe. >> that's where it's all happening. central command. alec, good to see you. appreciate your insight. >> good to be here. in a few moments we expect could hear from president obama for the first time since u.s. forces started protecting libyan residents by force. we'll bring you his comments live from chile. earlier today, a top u.s. kmapder said the multinational campaign dthat launched saturda is generally achieving its goal. but it was not to get rid of gadhafi. he could have wondered when his compound was bombed. the building supposedly housed a command and control center and libyan officials say no one was hurt in the strike. at this point, u.s. is aiming to take a smaller role in what's being called operation odyssey dawn. the coalition has nine other members and nato may take the lead, though that is a delicate issue and far from resolved. in the meantime, libyan fighters have not gone away. we've heard from misrata, east of tripoli, that gadhafi's tanks and snipers have unleashed, quote, absolute destruction and carnage. a spokesman says they're shooting people in the street. a poll shows support for the mission x,. 70% do not favor sending in ground troops. i want to turn to cnn's nic robertson, who is in the libyan capital and who saw the bombed-out compound for himself. nic, tell us about that and tell us what you're hearing there at this hour. >> reporter: well, it's been relatively quiet throughout the day here. in fact, different from yesterday. we haven't heard any of the sort of heavy anti-aircraft gun barrages going off. we haven't heard any missiles falling. the compound we were taken to was several square miles, a palace compound used by moammar gadhafi. it has multiple layers of security to get in. one of the layers you go through the carriers where the soldiers who guard the property live. then you sort of get into the middle of the compound area, which is a large open field area. we were taken to one building there that had been hit by two missiles. it appeared as if it had gone through the roof. one we were told exploded only when it got to the base of the building. four-story building, heavy concrete, strong rebar construction. the center of the building damaged. what was interesting, the rooms are sort of on either side of the central part that was damaged, which was probably an area perhaps 20, 25 yards long where the roof had come down. those rooms relatively untouched. debris strewn around them but by no means destroyed like the center of the building. that's where libyan officials took us to just a couple of hours after we heard explosions and saw smoke in the compound, randi. >> did gadhafi do you think expect it to come to this? does the government appear the least bit intimidated by what's happening in the last couple of days? >> reporter: well, they would say no. they would point to all their supporters, and we've seen perhaps maybe several hundred to a thousand come out around that palace compound. they would point to that and say no. but when you listen to what they actually tell you -- there was a government spokesman at the site of that missile strike last night. he said the pentagon briefer had said that there would be no strikes in this compound area. that was his point. that was one of the reasons they brought us there, to say, look, there have been strikes. obviously now we know more about the situation, we've heard more from the pentagon. that was their point. but the other thing he said that was very telling was, this is just done to intimidate and scare the people here. so i think that gives you an idea that the government believes that really these are scare tactics and it must be having some sort of effect because we haven't seen moammar gadhafi on television since the strikes began. >> any idea where he is? >> reporter: no idea whatsoever. he's certainly not making himself known. you know, in the sort of run-up to this situation, we've seen him coming on state television many, many times, driving even in a golf cart one day around a sort of conference complex. he has gone underground. it appears that he really wants to keep his location a secret, randi. >> nic, stand by. stay with us for a few moments. we're waiting for president obama to speak. we want to bring in wolf blitzer joining us from washington. wolf, what do you expect we'll hear from the president today, and what do we need to hear? >> i'll be surprised if the president repeats bluntly what he said so many times over the past couple of weeks, that gadhafi must go. even though that's the u.s. long-term goal for gadhafi to go, the u.n. security council resolution, resolution 1973 stops way short of that. it calls for the protection of civilians, for a no-fly zone. it doesn't call for regime change. so they're very sensitive about their public statements, making it clear that this is the immediate goal, to protect libyan civilians and to get this no-fly zmoen place. i don't think he's going to want tuk about what he said before, namely, that gadhafi in the end has to go, even though i do know that is the long-term u.s. objective. it is regime change. they don't think there could can be a peaceful, stable libya as long as gadhafi remains in power. the question is, how do you get rid of him? one thing nic is talking about, the air strikes, including in the compound in tripoli, i suspect, more than just suspicion, that one of the objectives was not simply to go after command and control facility, it did have some command and control capabilities, but also to rattle gadhafi, to rattle his sons, and, more importantly, though, to rattle the senior military leadership around gadhafi to try to wean them away, to convince them it's over, throw down your guns, move away, save yourselves. because the u.s., the british, the french, the other coalition partners are coming. and that's one of the clear objectives in all of this, to scare these senior iraqi military officers, some of the other tribal leaders who have supported gadhafi and convinced them that the cavalry is on the way and they're going to lose from their own narrow perspective. they better see the handwriting on the wall now as opposed to waiting -- they'll either be arrested and sent to some sort of tribunal or killed in the process. to save themselves, put down your guns. i think that's one of the u.s. mission objectives. >> what happens, wolf, after the president has said that gadhafi must step down, he must go, after the air attacks and after the attacks on the ground troops there, even, what will happen if gadhafi is still in power at the end of all of this? how will this be viewed? >> it will be seen as a huge setback, not only for the opposition, for the rebels first and foremost, but it will be seen as a setback for the u.s., for britain and france. remember, the obama administration, they were much more reluctant warriors than the french were, president sarkozy, the british, the prime minister, david cameron. they were taking the lead in calling for the u.s. security council authorize iedzing a no-fly zone. the obama administration was reluctant, especially the pentagon brasses and the defense secretary robert gates. they explained how difficult and complicated it would be. but in the face of what was seen as the potential slaughter of a lot of iraqi civilians in benghazi, the second largest city in libya, about 800,000 people. in the face of what they feared would be a slaughter of a lot of these people, the obama administraadd mi administration reluctantly jumed on board. we've seen what's happened over the past three days, 120-plus toex ahawk cruise missiles flown in. a lot of destruction of the air defense capabilities of libya, of their air force. and it's continuing. so we'll see what happens next. but if gadhafi, when all is said and done, randi, if he stays in power, it will be not only a huge embarrassment but it will be seen as a setback. >> i just want to bring our viewers up-to-date as wer waiting for president obama to make remarks on the situation in libya from chile. wolf, what about the fact that there was no formal speech by the president to announce these air attacks? what do you make of that? >> he did make a sort of informal statement when he was in brazil. you know, a lot of the critics in congress, some democrat, some republican, are sayingtion y is a war and he needed to invoke the war powers resolution, needed to do more consultation. he did invite on friday before leaving for brazil the leaders of the house and senate, the respective chairs of the armed services committee, the intelligence committee, foreign relations committee, democrats and republicans, to the white house situation room. those members who weren't in washington, they were put into a secure conference. and they could get a briefing from the president and the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs, about this operation. so the white house will argue there has been constant communication with the congressional leadership, the national security council senior staff has been calling john boehner, the speaker ever the house, briefing them, briefing other leaders. they'll argue there has been this briefing, but a lot of the critics on the hill, even those who support this operation are saying there wasn't enough consultation. certainly there was no formal vote in the house and senate authorizing it, as there was before the former president george w. bush went ahead with the war in iraq. it was exactly, i should say, eight years ago to the day the war in iraq started 2003 and this war, effectively, in libya, one off the ironies that the wars started in iraq and libya on exactly the same day eight years apart. >> what about the handoff? the united states says it will be in charge of this mission for days, not weeks. how do you see the handoff breaking down? who will take over? >> it's not changing. it's not going to be days. it will be weeks because the u.s. has those unique capabilities to lead in a mission like this. everything i'm hearing, it's not going to be as quick as the president would have liked. it's probably not going to happen. it will take a lot longer to let either some british general or french admiral or someone like that formally take charge. but i think it's fair to say, given the fact that the united states has the capabilities to lead in this kind of an operation, even if technically someone else is seen as the leadership, it will still be largely a u.s.-led operation. think of those 128 tomahawk cruise missiles that began the operation, let's say. of those, all but two were u.s., maybe two were british. 126 were u.s., two were british. those are the rough numbers. it gives you an appreciation of who's really taking the lead in this kientd of an operation. now, let's be precise. british war planes, french war planes, they are involved. but u.s. f-15s and f-16s, jump jets, marine corps piloted, they're much more involved in this operation. it'ses a significant international coalition, but when all is said and done, it's a u.s.-led coalition. >> wolf bliter, stay right there. we want to continue this conversation. we are waiting for president obama to speak from chile so we are going to take a quick break. in the meantime, we want to know what you think about the u.s. involvement in libya. send us your thoughts. here's how to reach us, at twitter, facebook and our blog. we'll read some of your comments in just a few minutes so stay tuned. that you need to do for your heart health. for me, it means an aspirin regimen. before you begin an aspirin regimen. speak to your doctor. professional driver on a closed course. ♪ do not attempt at home. always wear your seat belt. ♪ and please drive responsibly. [ male announcer ] it's the most fun you can legally have. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers on the c-class. how about a coastal soup and grilled shrimp salad combination at red lobster? or maybe skewers of tender, wood-grilled shrimp. or your choice of shrimp paired with wood-grilled chicken. all served with unlimited, freshly-baked cheddar bay biscuits. seafood lunches starting at just $6.99 that fit into your budget and your lunch hour. only at red lobster. of. >> welcome back. glad you're staying with us. we are waiting for president obama to make some remarks in chile. he is expected to address the air strikes on libya. that should happen any moment. but in the meantime we want to continue our conversation with wolf blitzer, who is in washington, and nic robertson who is in libya, in the capital city of tripoli. wolf, what are your thoughts in terms of the military communication? because there was a briefing today by the pentagon that said that the military, the u.s. military coalition forces, haven't been communicating with rebel forces on the ground there. so how do you think they know who they'redeal iing with? >> it's called clen destin or covert operations. they're very precise. they say no boots on the ground meaning no formal military american boots on the ground. you've got to believe there are american civilians on the ground and they're talking to the opposition forces in benghazi, the second largest city in libya. that's where the opposition is headquart headquartered. whether they're cia or other intelligence operatives, whether they're contractors, whether they're private diplomats, private american intermediaries, if you will, i'm sure there's close coordination, there's close communication. people are talking. people are -- american citizens who l close to the u.s. government are very well aware of what these opposition forces are up to in benghazi. so even if there aren't formal u.s. military troops on the ground helping the opposition, there is a dialogue, there is an ability to communicate with these opposition leaders. >> and, nic, if you can, tell us how the rebel forces and the opposition forces are feeling these days about this no-fly zone and about american involvement. >> reporter: well, they've been waiting and wanting the no-fly zone and now it's arrived, and that's making them feel safer or slightly safer in benghazi at least. they're still concerned about elements still in the city or perhaps in villages that are still loyal to gadhafi. there's sort of a fear of sort of a force behind them or certainly a counterinsurgency that could be launched against them. so there are concerns about that. and they certainly recognize that if there were international boots on the ground then that could count very much against them, not only in a broader arab opinion around the region but also with libyans, that this could be used by moammar gadhafi to say, look, this is an international force that the opposition has invited in, and he'll try to rally more people in the country to his side. because, although the military fight here is perhaps slowing down, the dimensions of the sort of political fallout are very big and very complex. and even if some fighting does continue, the sort of resolution as a security council resolution called for, the resolution in political terms is still a long, long way off. so international boots on the ground would be counter productive for the opposition there, randi. >> and, wolf, do you believe that the united states has a very clear mission in libya, as you see it? >> well, the u.n. security council mission is very clear, to protect the civilians, to enforce a no-fly zone. i will say this, as far as communications with the rebels are concerned, remember about a week or so ago the president announced there would be a u.s. diplomat assigned to deal with the opposition in benghazi. and when secretary of state hillary clinton was in paris last week, she did meet formally with a representative of the opposition. i was in paris covering that trip with her. there's also no doubt, for example, that the french government is formally recognized the libyan opposition as the legitimate government of libya. there's a much stronger dialogue going on there. there's no shortage of people who are aware of what's going on. they're getting ready, by the way, for their opening statements, randi. i suspect the president -- the two leaders will be coming out fairly soon. >> i think we'll hear from them in less than a minute. so how do you see this ending, wolf? if we get interrupted here by the president, we'll come back to you right after he speaks. >> yeah. we'll probably have the opening statements from the chilen leader and then the president of the united states, then open it up to a few questions. i think it's still very much up in the air how this is all going to end. obviously the united states, the britdish, the french and other coalition partners -- and they're still hoping that there actually will be some real contribution from some of the arab league countries, qatar indicating -- there they are right there. i suppose we should listen in, randi. >> let's do that, wolf. we'll talk on the other side of these remarks. [ speaking in spanish ] >> translator: first we will hear his excellency. good afternoon, everyone. firstly, i would like to cordially welcome a friend of chile and a person, a friend like president obama. i think that your visit, president, is very important and has enormous significance to chile. it's the first time in more than 20 years that a president of the united states visits our country. of course we've had several multi lateral summits of leaders and this visit coincides with the celebration of 50 years of the alliance that was announced by president kennedy at the beginning of the '60s. we have had, president obama, a very open, frank and fruitful conversation, and we have been able to subscribe to many agreements of a different nature, but they do have something in common. they all contribute to a better life and better quality of life for our peoples, like trade promotion and perfect the free trade agreement that we have with the united states, cooperation in the field of education and english teaching, as it's viewed to make of chile a bilingual country. efficient use of energy and clean air energies in particular. renewable energies where chile has enormous potential and also collaboration in research, technology and training of our engineers and technicians in nuclear energy. but i want to be very clear and adamant. chile is not going to build nor is it planning to build any nuclear power plants during our government, during our administration. the idea of this agreement is that we've made, understand much better nuclear technologies to be able to train our engineers and technicians so that in the future we may make more informed decisions, more intelligent decisions protecting the life of our population, the environment and nature and also that will allow us to ensure that the operation of our two experimental nuclear power plant be fully, fully safe. also, we have signed agreements to collaborate in natural disasters, in early warning mechanisms and effective aid and rescue of several populations. we have much to learn from situations like fema in the united states. another agreement is something addressing the only renewable resource in modern times, science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, that we need to strengthen in our country so as to reach the development stage that we are seeking. and then, finally, agreements to better protect our nature, our environment. i want to tell you, president obama, that when you announced your visit to chile, brazil and el salvador on the occasion of the state of the union address, you said you were coming to forge new partnerships for the progress of the americas. and you said that throughout all the world you were committed to those countries that assume their responsibilities. frankly, i think that chile has assumed and will continue to assume its responsibility with our fate, with our country and to the extent possible with the rest of the world. and as we have been able to evidence in our conversations, not only today but also in your country and in asia, we have discovered that our two nations have a road of collaboration that can be built on rock and not on sand because we coincide in that which is keen, the values, the principles, the visions. that facilitates the vote and with that we can convincingly embrace this new alliance, this new partnership between the united states of america and the rest of the american countries. we are all americans, an alliance that should be much deeper and forward-looking than the alliance for progress. and this partnership, this alliance, is one of our times, of our 21st century of the society of information and technology. president obama, chile has set itself an ambitious goal, by the end of this decade to defeat poverty and to build a society of opportunities and assurance for all of its sons and daughters. and also to achieve strong alliance among equals with the same rights, obligations of latin america and the united states, and this is going to be very powerful, very useful in many fields, promotion of world peace, perfection in it democracy, rule of law and defense of human rights. but also economic integration where chile aspires to accelerate, perfect and deepen our treaty agreement with the united states, also we would like to raise our voice to ask for countries like colombia and panama also to have free trade agreements with your country and may join in these transpacific partnership initiatives. it is going to be a free trade area in both sides of the pacific ocean. and where we will find the largest free trade market in the world. also, we are concerned about the delays and tensions around. i know the united states will make efforts for this to move forward. and then, on the other hand, i would like to raise to you a much closer collaboration of science and technology and innovation undertaking because in modern times free trade has to be not only of goods but of ideas. not only of services but of knowledge. not only of investments but also of technology. and also, mr. president, we are committed in the struggle against poverty and excessive inequalities in our country and our continent. we want to keep on collaborating with the u.s. as to contribute to other latin american countries just like we can learn from them, they can learn from success stories in our country. and in combating the evils of modern society, fight against drug trafficking, terrorism, global warming, and the proliferation of massive destruction weapons and nuclear weapons. i was talking with president obama in so far as avoiding this nuclear menace, but it's not only that a few countries in the world will have nuclear weapons and others not, but to have a world without weapons of mass destruction. this is the common goal we share with president obama and with all of the men and women of good will of all the world. president obama, i have read with great attention your words in al qaeda, egypt, for the arab world where you proposed a new beginning in the relations between the united states and the islam world. and also your words in ghana where you raised a new commitment, new promise with the sub-saharan african world and today that the winds of freedom, of democracy, of participation and protection of human rights are stronger than ever, even in those countries that had not existed for many years. this is a great opportunity to have a new alliance between the united states and the latin american countries. that is why i would like to tell you that latin america is more prepared than ever today so as to leave poverty and underdevelopment behind that have been with us for 200 years of independent life and undertake the adventure of the future of democracy, of freedom, of development of equality of opportunities that we may have a continent, as we have dreamt it always, from alaska, from the pacific to the atlantic ocean, that we'll become a land of freedom, of opportunities, of progress, but also a land of fairness and camaraderie as dreamt by the founding fathers of that great nation like the united states, like jefferson, a great patriot like lincoln, but also like those from our continent. and the question is a very straightforward one, a very simple one. it's our challenge, our mission, our mission of the bi-sential. if it's not us, then whom? if not now, then when? president obama, we listen with great attention, with great interest, the message you will deliver in a few hours from the cultural center to latin america and to the whole world. thank you very much. >> we thank the words of the president of the republic of chile. now we will hear the president of the united states, his excellency, mr. barack obama. >> thank you very much, president pinera. first of all, to the people of chile, i'm so grateful for not only the generous words but also the outstanding hospitality being shown to me as well as my family. i want to begin today by noting that president pinera and i discussed in urgent events unfolding around the world. together with our partners, the united states is taking military action to enforce u.n. security council resolution 1973 and protect the libyan people. across the region, we believe that the legitimate aspirations of people must be met and that violence against civilians is not the answer. and across the pacific, both chile and the united states is supporting the japanese people as they recover from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami and address the situation in their damaged nuclear facility. these events remind us that, in our interconnected world, the security and prosperity of nations and peoples are intertwined as never before. and no region is more closely linked than the united states and latin america. and here in the americas one of our closest and strongest partners is chile. chile is one of the great success stories of this region. it's built a robust democracy. it's been one of the most open and fastest growing economies in the world. the spirit and resilience of the chilean people, especially after last year's earthquake, have inspired people across the globe. and in my speech this afternoon i look forward to paying tribute to chile's progress and the lessons it offers as america forges a new era of partnership across the americas. i was proud to welcome president p pinera to washington last year to our nuclear security summit. mr. president, i want to commend you on your decisive leadership in these first few months of office and first year of office. a time that's been obviously very difficult and has tested the people of chile. i want to thank you for the focus and energy that you've brought to the partnership between our two countries, which we have strengthened today. we're moving ahead with efforts to expand trade and investment, as the president mentioned, under our existing trade agreement, trade between the united states and chile has more than doubled, creating new jobs and opportunities in both our countries. but i believe and president p pinera believes there is always more we can do to expand our economic cooperation. so today we recommitted ourselves to fully implement our free trade agreement to protect intellectual property. we agreed to build on the progress we're making toward a transpacific partnership so we can seize the full potential of trade in the asia-pacific, especially for our small and medium businesses. and it's my hope that, along with our other partners, we can reach an agreement on the ttp, by the end of the year, a model for the 21st century. we're expanding the clean energy partnerships, key to creating green jobs and addressing climate change, which is evident in the glacier melt in this region. as a member of the energy and climate partnership that i propose, chile is already sharing its expertise with solasolar with the region. i want to commend president pinera for agreeing to host a new center to address glacier melt in the andes. in addition, collaborations will continue in our companies in areas like energy reefficiency and renewable technologies. our governments have agreed to share our experience in dealing with natural disaster,s, an area where chile has enormous xer tease and which is critical to recovery and economic reconstruction. the president and i discussed our shared commitment to standing educational exchanges among our students who can learn from each other and bring our countries even closer together. and in my speech today i'll announce an ambitious new initiative to increase student exchanges between the united states and latin america, including chile. even as we deepen cooperation between our two countries, i want to take this opportunity to commend chile for the leadership role it's increasingly playing across the americas. chile is a vital contributor to the united nations' mission in haiti where we agree that yesterday's election is an opportunity to accelerate recovery and reconstruction efforts, and the chilean passed legislation to combat the scourge of human trafficking. under president pinera's leadership, chile is taking a new step today. mr. president, i want to thank you for offering to share camile le's security expertise to central america expertise as they fight drug gangs. i'm pleased we'll be working together to promote development in the americas. at the same time, chile is assuming more of a leadership role beyond the americas. as part of last year's nuclear security summit, chile took the bold step of giving up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. chile is the fifrts latin american nation to join a new international effort to strengthen civil society group that's are under threat. and as a member of the u.n. human rights council, chile joins with us in standing up for human rights abuses in iran and libya. in short, mr. president, today we've proven again that when the united states and chile work together in the spirit of mutual interest and respect, it's not only good for the peoples of our nations, i believe it'ses good for the region and it's good for the world. and i'm confident that the partnership will only grow stronger in the years to come, and i'm very much grateful for the wonderful hospitality that you're showing me and my delegation. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> thank you. >> translator: now we will proceed to the questions from the media. we remind you that only three questions will be allowed and they have been decided on. one from chile, one from international, and there is a question here. on behalf of the association of journ journalists. president pinera, president obama, good afternoon. president obama, you have emphasized and highlighted the economic management of chile, the leadership in the region. those were your words and even the successful transitioning to democracy and the difficult years of the '90s. however, in chile, president obama, there are some open wounds of the dictatorship in the past. in that sense, political leaders, leaders of the world, of human rights, even mps, the son of the murdered minister have said that many of those wounds have to deal with the united states. i ask you, justice is investigating cases of -- the death of president eduardo. in that new speech that you will announce, do you include that the u.s. is willing to collaborate with those judicial investigations, even that the united states is willing to ask for forgiveness for what it did in those very difficult years in the '70s in chile? >> well, on the specific question of how we can work with the chilean government, any requests that are made by chile to obtain more information about the past is something that we will certainly consider and we would like to cooperate. i think it's very important for all of us to know our history. and obviously the history of relations between the united states and latin america have, at times, been extremely rocky and at times been difficult. i think it's important, though, for us, even as we understand our history and gain clarity about our history, that we're not trapped by our history. and the fact of the matter is, over the last two decades we've seen extraordinary progress here in chile, and that has not been impeded by the united states but in fact has been fully supported by the united states. so i can't speak to all of the policies of the past. i can speak certainly of the policies of the present and the future. as president of the united states, what i know is that our firm commitment to democracy, our firm commitment to eradicating poverty, our full commitment to broad-based and socially exclusive development, our full support of the robust, open markets that have developed here in chile and the work that president pinera and his predecessor have done in order to transform the economic situation here, those are all things that the united states strongly supports. and so, again, it's important for us to learn from our hist y history, to understand our history but not be trapped by it because we've got a lot of challenges now and even more importantly we have challenges in the future that we have to attend to. >> thank you, mr. president. sir, how to you square your position that colonel gadhafi has got to go against the limited objective of this campaign which does not demand his removal? if colonel gadhafi is killing his own people, is it permissible to let him stay in power? and, if i may add, do you have any regrets, sir, about undertaking this mission while you're on foreign soil? and do you have the support of the arab people in this yet? >> okay. first of all, i think i'm going to embarrass jim by letting everyone know that jim's mother is chilean and so this is a little bit of a homecoming. you were born in chile, am i right? >> yes, sir. it's a delight to be here. >> fantastic. i thought everybody should know that. and also i think that for all the chilean press, you don't need to take jim's example by asking three questions, pretending it's one. >> one subject. >> first of all, i think it's very easy to square our military actions and our stated policies. our military action is in support of an international mandate from the security council that specifically focuses on the humanitarian threat posed by colonel gadhafi to his people. not only was he carrying out murders of civilians, but he threatened more, said very specifically, we will show no mercy to people who lived in benghazi. and in the face of that the international community rallied and said, we have to stop any potential atrocities inside of lib libya, and provided a broad mandate to accomplish that specific task. as part of that international coalition, i authorized the united states military to work with our international partners to fulfill that mandate. now, i also have stated that it is u.s. policy that gadhafi needs to go. and we've got a wide range of tools in addition to our military efforts to support that policy. we were very rapid in initiating unilateral sanctions and helping mobilize international sanctions against the gadhafi regime. we froze assets that gadhafi might have used to further empower himself and purchase weapons or hire mercenaries that might be directed against the libyan people. so there are a whole range of policies that we are putting in place that have created one of the most powerful international consensuses around the isolation of mr. gadhafi. and we will continue to pursue those. but when it comes to our military action, we are doing so in support of u.n. security resolution 1973, that specifically talks about humanitarian efforts, and we are going to make sure that we stick to that mandate. i think it's also important, since we're on the topic, that i have consistently emphasized that because we're working with international partners, after the initial thrust that has disabled gadhafi's air defenses, limits his ability to threaten large population centers like benghazi, that there's going to be a transition taking place in which we have a range of coalition partners, the europeans, members of the arab league, who will then be participating in establishing a no-fly zone there. so there's going to be a transition taking place in which we are one of the partners among many who are going to ensure that that no-fly zone is in force and that the humanitarian protection that needs to be provided continues to be in place. with respect to initiating this action while i was abroad, keep in mind that we are working on very short time frames and we had done all the work and it was just a matter of seeing how gadhafi would react to the warning that i issued on friday. he, despite words to the contrary, was continuing to act aggressively towards his civilians. after consultation with our allies, we decided to move forward, and it was a matter of me directing secretary of defense gates and admiral mullen that the plan that had been developed in great detail extensively prior to my departure was put into place. jim, i've forgotten if there were any other elements of that question. but i've tried to be as thorough as possible. >> arab support, sir. >> well, look, the arab league specifically called for a no-fly zone before we went to the un e uniteed nations and i think that was an important element in this overall campaign. >> but will they be part of the mission? >> absolutely. we are in consultations as we speak. as i said, there are different phases to the campaign. the initial campaign, we took a larger role because we've got some unique capabilities. our ability to take out, for example, gadhafi's air defense systems, are much more significant than some of our other partners. what that does then is create the space, shape the environment in which a no-fly zone can be effective. it was also important that we g got in there quickly so that whatever advances were being made on benghazi could be halted and we could send a clear message to gadhafi that he needed to start pulling his troops back. now, keep in mind we've only been in this process for two days now, and so we are continuing to evaluate the situation on the ground. i know the pentagon and our defense department will be briefing you extensively as this proceeds. but the core principle that has to be upheld here is that when the entire international community, almost unanimously, says that there is a potential humanitarian crisis about to take place, that a leader who has lost his legitimacy decides to turn his military on his own people, that we can't simply stand by with empty words, that we have to take some sort of action. i think it's also important to note that the way that the u.s. took leadership and managed this process ensures international legitimacy and ensures that our partners, members of the international coalition, are bearing the burden of following through on the mission as well. because, as you know, in the past there have been times when the united states acted unilaterally or did not have full international support, and as a consequence typically it was the united states military that ended p up bearing the entire burden. now, the last point i'll make on this, i could not be prouder with the manner in which the u.s. military has performed over the last several days. it's a testament to the men and women in uniform who, when they're given a mission, they execute and do an outstanding job. but, obviously our military is already very stretched and carries large burdens all around the world. and whenever possible, for us to be able to get international cooperation, not just in terms of words but also in terms of planes and pilots and resources, that's something that we should actively seek and embrace because it relieves the burden on our military and it relieves the burden on u.s. taxpayers to actual fill what is an international mission and not simply a u.s. mission. >> thank you, sir. >> translator: mr. president, can i ask you -- i will ask you in english. i'd like you to answer to the response that the president gave regarding the wounds that still linger in this country and the needs that some of the people in this country want for an apology from the united states perhaps and certainly for assistance in any investigations that are still ongoing here. thank you. >> translator: 40 years ago, we had a long and profound conversation with president obama. we didn't have much time to cover all of the issues of the future so we didn't go so back into the past. but i can tell you that chile, our government and this president believes, firmly believes, in the self-determination of peoples and firmly believes in the rule of law and respect for human rights. for that reason, when we had evidence that in the case of president -- there could have been a homicide, our government issued a complaint as party to it and it's collaborating to investigate those responsible for the death of the former president. and once the judiciary ascertains those responsibilities, they will have to assume the penalties and punishment, according to our rule of law. in the case of the president, we don't have the same basis, but if we had them, we would act exactly in the same way and/or the same presumptions. and i would like to say, finally, that today the subject of democracy, of human rights, has no borders, does not recognize any border, and that is progress of the 21st century civilization. and that is why chile supports the initiative of the united nations to its security council, nato, and the arab league, to do all that is possible to end carnage, killing of civilians in libya. and i think that is a responsibility of the international community because, as i said a while ago, human rights do not and should not respect borders. the responsibility is for all of us, in each and every place in the world, whatever the circumstances to violate human rights. and in my view, a person that has bombarded his own people does not deserve to keep on being the ruler of that people. the last question of this conference will now take place. >> not to take advantage and make up -- >> are you a lawyer or a journalist? >> well, we try to be precise. so on libya, when you say that you will be transferring command, when are you thinking of transferring command, and would nato be the preferred partner to take over? and the second part of the question is, you have said that you want an alliance among equals with the peoples of the americas. what deliverables are you going to go for after this trip to chile? [ speaking spanish ] >> well, with respect to libya, obviously the situation is evolving on the ground. and how quickly this transfer takes place will be determined by the recommendations of our commanding officers, that the mission has been completed, the first phase of the mission has been completed. as i said, our initial focus is taking outs libyan air defenses so that a no-fly zone can operate effectively and aircraft and pilots of the coalition are not threatened when they're maintaining the no-fly zone. the second aspect of this is making sure that the humanitarian aspects of the mission can be met. but let me emphasize that we anticipate this transition to take place in a matter of days and not a matter of weeks. and so i would expect that over the next several days we'll have more information and the pentagon will be fully briefing the american people as well as the press on that issue. nato will be involved in a coordinating function because of the extraordinary capacity of that alliance, but i will leave it to admiral mullen and those who are directly involved in the operation to describe to you how exactly that transfer might take place. with respect to this new part r partnersh partnership, i don't want to give you all my best lines from my speech. otherwise, no one will come. but the thing that i'm most excited about is the fact that, in a country like chile, it's not just a matter of what we can give to chile, it's also a matter of what chile can offer us. chile has done some very interesting work around clean energy so we set up a clean energy partnership. we think we're doing terrific work on alternative energy sources, but there may be initiatives that are taking place here in chile that might be transferrable to the united states. on education, obviously we have a long history of public education and our universities i think are second to none, but we want to make sure that in this increasingly integrated world american students aren't just looking inwards but also looking outwards. so the idea of us setting up a broad-based exchange program with the americas i think makes an enormous difference. security cooperation. the plague of narco traffickers in the region is something that we're all too familiar with. obviously we have the example of colombia that has made great strides in bringing security to a country that had been ravaged by drug wars. what lessons can we take and then apply them to smaller countries in central america, for example, that are going through some of the same struggles? for chile, the united states, colombia, other countries to work in concert to help to train effective security operations in central america to deal with narco traffickers is a kind of collaboration that would not be as effective if the united states were operating on its own. so i think across the spectrum of issues that we care about deeply and that chile cares about deeply, what will characterize this new partnership is the fact that it's a two-way street. you know, this is not just a situation where a highly developed country is helping a poor and impoverished country. this is a situation where an up-and-coming regional power that has a strong voice in international affairs is now collaborating with us to hopefully help greater peace and prosperity for the region and the world. >> translator: no doubt that as far as integration of the americas we are lagging behind, and the best way to illustrate this is to compare what has happened in america with what happened in europe. last century, the europeans had two world wars with a toll of more than 70 million casualties. but at some point they had the wisdom, the courage, to abandon the rationale and to embrace treaty with the leadership and vision with such renowned statesm statesmen. they began to build what today we know of as european union, and in america we are much behind that. in america, 20 years ago president bush's father raised the idea of a pre-trade area from alaska to ireland, generating a lot of enthusiasm in the region, but it never came true. never materialized. and so the time is right now because latin america has been too long the continent of hope or the future, but a continent cannot be a promise forever. so we are of age now and we need to

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