the opposition support, for example? gadhafi has so few friends, i doubt it. gadhafi does have a track record of negotiating with opposition elements. for instance he led the cease fire agreement with the islamic fighting group. he not only led the negotiations, he actually initiated them. he does have the reputation in libya of being slightly more reasonable with his other brothers, prince. general clark, david gergen. peter s going to stay with us for a little bit. if you ve been following libya closely, you most likely have heard the story of the libyan woman who burst into the trip i tripoli. she was taken from the hotel by regime officials. tonight she spoke to cnn s anderson cooper. she wants to share her story with you, but i want to warn you, some of what you re about
there are some al-qaida links to this opposition group? yes, you can count the number of things that we actually know with specificity on one hand. one of the things we do know is, again, eliminating islamic fighting group. that is not al-qaida but it s been aligned in the past with al-qaida. they disagree to some degree on tactics but they have sent fighters to iraq and afghanistan over the years. we know al-qaida has been recruiting out of benghazi and surrounding region over the years. we know the muslim brotherhood has been very involved in that part of the world. we got word of this this week, a former leader of al-qaida there says he thinks freelance jihadists have joined the rebel forces already and that s coming from an al-qaida leader saying some of his own members have joined the fighters. right. i mean, al-qaida, other extremists, this is what they love. the chaos of this type of environment is an opportunity for them to, again, call for jihad. you have a great number
jenna: brand new air strikes in libya, this time in and around the rebel-held city of misurata, this city under seige by qaddafi forces now for days. the overall goal of the mission? to stop the libyan dictator from cracking down on civilians, from attacking his own people, and to support the rebels pushing for democratic change. but who exactly are the libyan rebels? here now, phillip mudd, a former cia counterterrorism analyst and fbi intelligence adviser. so phillip, who are the rebels? i think when we look at libya in the past, when i was at the cia, we worried about people like the islamic fighting group and then libyan kids who showed up on the battlefields of iraq. my sense, though, is that what we have in this case is a popular libyan uprising, that is, citizens,
the united states launched a series of strikes against the headquarters terrorist facilities and milt assets that support moammar gadhafi s activities. despite his recent steps to neutralize the islamic fighting group, experts say there are other groups that could threaten to seize power if he leaves. cnn national security contributor fran townsend traveled to libya last year to meet with gadhafi and his sons at the government s invitation. what are the likelihoods of a militant group rising to power in libya if the family leaves the scene? i worry about the broader group doctor, al qaeda and the islamic, the gspc which has real training capability and operational capability. and frankly, could support islamic extremists throughout the broader maghreb north of north africa. another analyst says that is group, al qaeda in the islamic
karzai s administration, but leadership is so worried. today obviously a significant they try to derail the peace day because president obama did come to afghanistan. process. posting this al qaeda video on especially after he s already promised to increase the u.s. troop level by 30,000 additional the internet. translator: we announce a great step forward toward a holy troops. victory, a group of jihadists today s visit actually solidifies the fact that the u.s. administration is now from the islamic fighting group in libya are integrating with al acknowledging really that president hamid karzai is the qaeda. reporter: it wasn t true, but president of afghanistan, that he saw the danger in this he did win those elections in propaganda and risked his own 2009 and will be the president of afghanistan for the next five safety by sending an open, defy years. both men, obviously knowing that yant letter to al qaeda s neither of them can be leaders. successful without each other s i q