oil money who will use it to kill americans on u.s. soil. because all of these people that wanted to rush in and said we have to go in and start a war with a third muslim power. this is what they have set loose. i agree. at this point there s no other alternative or outcome that s acceptable for america s interest in the region. but it s not a sure thing that he can be driven from power or that if he is driven from power that the vacuum that s left is to american s advantage. it s a dangerous line that s been krosd but it has been crossed. the inten is the humanitarian, the intent is to stop these people from killing their own people. what then makes our choices different in libya from those in bahrain. also, though, in sudan on the same continent in the 1990s, there were 2 million sudanese that were murdered in a barbaric
information. and we ve actually loaned them and are working with them on other monitoring equipment. and now back to the new developments out of libya. joining us now from tripoli, nbc news jim maceda and jim, with all that s going on, let s start with this. what effects so far are the air strikes having on the fighting on the ground there? if you see the pictures from yesterday outside of benghazi, it s hardly recognizable, compared to the same road in the same location just two days ago. at that time, there were masses of forces of pro-gadhafi forces, artillery tanks pushing relentlessly into benghazi. now, 20 miles outside benghazi, those pictures we saw of just sheer devastation, tanks, artillery, bodies, these are all pro-gadhafi forces and that came from a combination of french and u.s. air strikes. we understand that the front line has moved from benghazi now
this has been one of the most repressive regimes. if you look at the situation on the ground there, so many parallels to egypt. yes. and now even syria is starting to explode. and add yemen to that list. there s beenslaughter in the streets of yes, ma s of yemen. i m sure we ll be there. she ll have to write another book and talk about the killing in yemen. i m serious. let s talk about what this really is about. i don t like the veil of our troops are not being sent in. our troops are not on the ground. i think it s inevitable we will be on the ground in libya in some way, even if it s just intelligence and special operations forces th. that s good. that s good. that will be our third we re running out of names,
they re going to do? we don t like to murder foreign leaders, though. unlenot say murder him but h must go. i m sorry. who am i quoting? barack obama. right. does anybody here think we do not have right now american troops on the ground in libya? no. i mean i think that is exactly the case. special ops. i think special ops were there a long time ago. they have the lasers pointed at the buildings and the tanks. those are the three stories mark has driving the week. go to joe.msnbc.com for mark halperin s full list. is he going to do it? get ready. i love this part. this is big. mark will be doing a live web chat. chatty kathy. yes. he s going to do it again. go to our website to submit a question for mark halperin. some of the craziest images. amazing. that webcam stuff, awkward.
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 will be a member of the coalition, we will have a military role in the coalition but we will not have the preeminent role. good morning, it is 8:00 on the east coast. spring season off to a chilly start in manhattan. welcome to morning joe. with us on set, msnbc and time magazine senior political analyst mark halperin. he s great. we also have once again back with us this morning, adjunct senior fellow for middle eastern studies on the council for foreign relations, dan senor. the big story of course, libya. i think the new york times headline is the big question target clear, intent is not.