places where it ought not be. i want to go back to your statement you that said you didn t ever seriously consider arming private security experts. tell me why you ever considered it at all. we considered a whole range of issues. we knew that the insurgents fighting gadhafi needed support and what they were provided was air support, facilitated by the united states. the united states did not provide any private contractors to assist them. it was an e-mail that was from mr. blumenthal. an e-mail before that also discussing the same situation. do you know who mark toury is? no, i don t recall that i know who that is. he was a private trafficker in weapons. he was working with mr. stevens and attempting to develop an
after refusing to bomb protesters in benghazi last february. these are very lucky men. two other pilots who flew to algeria were handed back to the gadhafi regime and reportedly they were publicly executed. heather: david piper streaming live from tripoli, thank you very much. the battle for bani walid continues. gregg: not an easy one. his plan isn t even out yet. he s already catching a load of heat. we ll tell you about the president s proposal to tax america s millionaires. and the potential impact on the struggling economy. heather: the group sugarland under fire. should the group be held responsible for the deadly stage collapse? our legal panel will debate. courtney live on the red carpet for tonight s emmy awards. where are you? reporter: o my gosh, super toasty out here.
are still fighting gadhafi s followers around his presidential palace. which is in the heart of the town. they are trying open new fronts into there. but they are struggling to control the situation there. are taking heavy losses. nato was in action overnight their forces hit 11 targets, they said. ibrahim the spokesman for gadhafi a fugitive now in this country has within on has been on the radio saying nato strikes are causing heavy casualties. we can t find out if that is correct. nato said before they have exaggerated their claims. at the same time today in tripoli, two libyan fighter pilots who flew to malta, instead of bombing their own citizens, received a hero s welcome on their return. the two men stayed in malta,
strongholds held by gadhafi s followers. rebels have told us they are up against a well-organized and well motivated group of followers of the former libyan leader. let s start first at bani walid. 90 miles southeast of here. gadhafi s force there is have managed to launch a counter offensive of their own against the fighters surrounding that town. they were beaten back and then the rebels launched their own offensive themselves. it descended into chaos with foot soldiers getting ahead of tanks and rocket launchers they had to fall back. they are regrouping. but they ve got reinforcements from other villages and towns. we stand they lost about 16 men in that offensive with over 25 wounded. in the hometown of gadhafi, sirte which is on the coast, there s intense fighting there. it is street to street battle. the rebels have told us they
africans. gregg: by the hundreds. and denying them any sort of due process. and in some cases there have been reports of executions. now, there are concerns that this evolve into a dangerous islamic state. do the islamists have advantages there? they have advantages and disadvantages. i think their main advantages are the credibility they gained in the years that they spent fighting gadhafi. i think that gadhafi is so loathed at this point, like so many dictators, simply that fact gives them some credibility. also the absence of institutions in libya, like political parties or civil society groups, in a sense they might be the best organized alternative out there to the regime. on the other hand, we have to take into account that people in5l=u libya may be tired of any kind of rigid ideologies after suffering for decades now under gadhafi and his ludicrous ideology. frankly, this is not a place