countries in fighting the arabs. that s always been a difficult situation. wolf blitzer, i know you have a busy day. gloria borger, i got a sneak peak at your column for today. some of what you talk about is this specific goal in libya on behalf of the u.s. should president obama have said specifically, we have to get gadhafi out? there are many that think no he should not have said that. you saw in his press conference today, he had to separate u.s. policy from u.n. policy. and the point is, if gadhafi is the one murdering his own people. how can the u.n. policy be deemed a success unless gadhafi goes, if he s the one doing the murdering. there s a problem here, which is, how do you judge a humanitarian mission a success?
zone, based on the information we have, no arab has been involved in the initial stage. that could change with subsequent stages in the coming days or could be an indication of what s to come. this could be a symbolic role played by arab nations as opposed to a more active, operational role. reza, you would agree that there would certainly be a large cadre of arab nations that will shed no tears if and when gadhafi goes. there is no question about it. look, this no-fly zone would not have happened without the endorsement of the arab league. the block of 22 arab nations. you recall it was last saturday, that the arab league voted unanimously to support a no-fly zone. they pushed the u.n. security council. again, the question is, what kind of role are these arab nations going to actively play
goals could be achieved while leaving moammar gadhafi in power there. what happens in gadhafi remains in power? i think the expectation is that he will remain in power and in control of a fairly substantial part of libya. what we re left with is sort of a rump bit of rebels in the northeast section of libya with gadhafi controlling everything else and something of a stalemate. in any case, even if gadhafi goes, it s difficult to see how the rebels are going to be able to beat the army if gadhafi s arm dissolved how they will form a government. a desperate group of people with no leadership and no genuine objectives that can be achieved. it s hard to see what comes next. don t think anybody including secretary of defense or president of the united states is able to articulate what comes next. from the rebels perspective, have they arctticulated if they intend to march on tripoli? they held benghazi. it s been their stronghold.
so protect citizens, prevent atrocities. does that mean that we will legitimatize it, create an existence and be there in the future? let s establish what the politics of this can be and what the u.n. resolution says. the u.n. resolution is very clear, but i think you re right in saying that the humanitarian language of the u.n. resolution is very different from the way most of us are thinking about the purpose of this whole thing. i think for most people the purpose this thing is tip the military balance so that the good guys start winning and the bad guys start losing, and gadhafi goes. that s not what the u.n. resolution says. the u.n. resolution necessarily is stated in terms of humanitarian purposes, and rightly so. the geopolitical relationship we have is to get rid of gadhafi and to address this nascent democracy that is sweeping south africa and to prove, what the president likes to say, we re on the right side of history. not only that, if we fail to do this libya, we will
the resolution you suggest isn t cle clear. protect atrocities, protect civilians. will we create an existent and be there long into the future? let s distinguish what the policy will be and what the u.n. resolution will be. the u.n. resolution is clear and i think you re right that the humanitarian oefrt the u.n. resolution is very different than the way most of us are thinking about the purpose of this whole thing. i think most of us think the whole purpose is tip the balance so the good guys start winning, the bad guys start going and gadhafi goes. that s not what the resolution says. the go political objective we have is to get rid of gadhafi and assist this and to prove as the president likes to say we re on the right side of history. not only that, if we fail to do