traffic now is a trickle. everybody who was going to leave pretty much has left. the stragglers will wait for the rest of the day. rick: good news. we ll be checking back with you. jenna: that is our big story domestically. we can t forget what is happening overseas. we re hearing reports that the fighting inside of tripoli is getting more and more intense over the last several hours. in the meantime in syria more protests against the president there, president assad. some say he will be the next middle eastern leader to fall. questions remain about how the u.s. should proceed in syria if at all and how our actions inside libya have set a precedent or not for our mideast strategy. michael sing is the managing director at the washington institute for near east policy. michael, just with the events over the last week, what does that really say, our role in libya, what does it say about our broader strategy in the
. rebels have effectively toppled the regime of moammar gadhafi but the fight is not over. nato is still heavily involved. operation slipups point to a steep learning curve for a new governing group. let s bring in michael sing and a former senior director on the national security council. with us sara margon, a former top staffer on the senate foreign relations committee. thanks for joining me. hi. saif al islam, we thought he was in rebel custody and he pops up on television. what does that tell us? should we be concerned what we re hearing out of the rebels? i think what it points to more than anything else is there s a certain amount of chaos in tripoli. as we ve known all along, this is not a professional fighting force. it s well organized. saif al islam could have been in custody and escaped is not entirely surprising. it should give us a note of
staff and those are now united now they are moving together. i project there are going to be tensions between the two groups as they try to form the next government. i think tensions is an under statement. director of the middle eastern affairs as national security council welcome to you michael. i wonder if you think this is is this a grande? should general mcenernarmcmcinei be giving each other high fives? we are going to spend the next due days analyzing what will be happening next. i think we should take a moment to recognize this for the moment it is where people who have been oppressed in brutal ways for 40 years are experiencing something like freedom at least for one night. what happens tomorrow is a question. i may be more optimistic than other commentators about this. one is this is not iraq organ stan. you don t have the deep ethnic religious divisions in libya
staff and those are now united now they are moving together. i project there are going to be tensions between the two groups as they try to form the next government. i think tensions is an under statement. director of the middle eastern affairs as national security council welcome to you michael. i wonder if you think this is is this a grande? should general mcenernarmcmcinei be giving each other high fives? we are going to spend the next due days analyzing what will be happening next. i think we should take a moment to recognize this for the moment it is where people who have been oppressed in brutal ways for 40 years are experiencing something like freedom at least for one night. what happens tomorrow is a question. i may be more optimistic than other commentators about this. one is this is not iraq organ stan. you don t have the deep ethnic
defend moammar gadhafi? we are getting a report off of al jazeera television. i want to be very cautious and tell you that although our translator is getting this from a journalist on the ground in tripoli, that it is in no way confirmed. but al jazeera is reporting there is an attempt to capture moammar gadhafi near a hospital east of tripoli. officers and soldiers who defected are seeking his capture. military source told the reporter on the ground that gadhafi has been resisting the capture and two officers tried to arrest him have been killed. again that s reporting from al jazeera television that we have not been able to confirm. let me bring in michael sing, he was an advisor to the white house from george w. bush. thank you for joining us mr. sing. how difficult is it for the united states to get good information about what s going on on the ground? well, in this type of very