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
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
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
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.
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