we expected in a matter of days to be able to turn over the primary responsibility to others. we will continue to support the coalition, we ll be a member of the coalition. we will have a military role in the coalition, but we will not have the preeminent role. and despite the heavy military action in libya, president obama went ahead with a planned trip to brazil. in a speech there, he mentioned what was going on in the middle east. but for our two nations, for the united states and brazil, two nations that have struggled to perfect our own democracies, the united states and brazil know that the future of the arab world will be determined by its people. and yesterday on cnn s state of the union, joe liberman blasted the president for waiting too long to act. gadhafi had so much of an advantage in terms of logistics, commanding control weapons that time helped him every day while
administration was days not weeks, or weeks not months. and admiral mike mullen on the sunday talk shows. he said one outcome could be that gadhafi stays. would it be a successful mission in your mind if gadhafi ends up staying in power? well, i think it depends on the circumstances. if gadhafi is boxed in inside tripoli, if the bulk of the country is in the hands of the rebels. if his air force is grounded, if his capabilities to operate are fully eliminated, i don t think it s the end of the world to have gadhafi in power. but that s a hard-nose realist view. i think the world will regard something as gone wrong if after extensive involvement of the united states, of europe, of the arab league, of american and british and french military power, if gadhafi s able to broadcast his defiance to the world. and that s one of the tough spots we re in. you know, one of the things
and what they did on friday. even without me being around, they still went up. even without you. the dow up 83 points, 11,859. you left some good market karma behind you. you never know. oil up this morning, so we ll watch that often has a negative effect. overseas has been rallying today. so a lot of times how that goes, that s what happens. stephanie elam, thanks. 29 minutes after the hour. time for your top stories. coalition forces striking libya over the weekend. uses cruise missiles and bombing runs to cripple moammar gadhafi s air defenses and severely damage a building in his compound. the u.s. said gadhafi was not targeted but his compound was. the uprising in syria is escalating. thousands of people demonstrated in the streets over the weekend in the wake of friday s attack against protesters by government security forces. five people died in that clash. that s going to be one to watch very closely.
work there and supporters of moammar gadhafi and those who protect the compound there so there was no indication for us that he was there at that time. the fact that he hasn t been seen on television since the air strikes began is a strong indication he wants to keep his location a secret. whenever he speaks on television now, there s just a still photograph put up as an indication that it is him who is speaking. he really appears very much to have gone under ground and now with a strike on his compound perhaps with good reason. what s the word from the opposition in the benghazi stronghold? they managed to make some more regain some territory if i m not mistaken. what s the word from the opposition now? reporter: well, the popular word appears to be that they want to take back some of the ground that they lost to gadhafi s forces over the past couple of weeks.
all of them in position to launch these cruise missiles. but defense chief robert gates says it will not be long until the u.s. military goes from a lead role to a support role. we expect it in a matter of days to be able to turn over the primary responsibility to others. we will continue to support the coalition. we ll be a member of the coalition. we will have a military role in the coalition, but we will not have the preeminent role. chris lawrence is live at the pentagon. you re getting new reaction about that attack on gadhafi s compound. what are they saying this morning? exactly, kiran. i spoke with a coalition official who said the compound was hit. he confirmed that. he said it was targeted because of command in control capabilities that gadhafi has there. in other words, they re trying to cut off his ability to be able to communicate and direct some of his forces. he says it was not targeting