libyan rebels? reporter: well, that was the impression i got today, but i have to tell you, i ve had that impression before and was disappointed. in fact, the old habits of chaos quickly came back, so it s hard to say, but what we are hearing from people in benghazi is that they have now sent to the front lines soldiers from the old libyan army who have defected to the rebels, organized into units, equipped with long range ground surface-to-surface missiles that are probably the heaviest weaponry yet to be used by the rebels against libyan forces, the pro-gadhafi forces in the eastern part of the country. whether this is going to translate into a dramatic change on the ground in terms of the balance of power, it s hard to say, but i think there is a growing realization that the current system of fighting, of
peabody award for the coverage of the oil spill disaster along the gulf last year. it s our 16th peabody award. cnn has followed the cleanup. what if the coastline is never really clean? david mattingly has this exclusive look. reporter: louisiana officials are watching their worst predictions come true, bp oil damages to sensitive marshes may be permanent. are these marshes done for? this area is likely going to be open water in a few years. this is what this 40-acre section of marsh looked like when the oil hit last may. the syrupy crude i saw then was just the beginning of the problem. returning ten months later, the louisiana governor s office gave me an exclusive and disturbing look inside the damaged eco system. i could still see oil everywhere. sticking to the plants. it s like tar. so sticky. look at that. it s also saturated the fragile
planes overhead and also nato planes striking targets in misrata. wolf? i think there s been a change in the rules of engagement since nato took full command as opposed to the united states. we ll continue to watch that part of the story. fred, thanks for your excellent reporting. it s not just misrata. the brutal fighting raging across eastern libya right now. there s also all the sudden talk of a potential cease fire. the regime is rejecting truce terms offered by the outgunned opposition, but at least on one front, the rebels seem to be on the offensive, at least on this day. let s go straight to benghazi. cnn s reza sayah is standing by live. what s the latest from where you are, reza? reporter: well, it looks like these opposition forces are a little bit more coordinated and organized than they were over the past couple of weeks. and the opposition is saying the credit goes to the defected army units that are now leading the charge in the front line with
reporter: well, ever since the regime, the regime forces main push towards ajdabiya and regained territory, there has been concern in benghazi. the question is what is there to stop the regime forces from moving onto benghazi? there are reports of some people leaving, heading out. they are counting on a new push by the opposition forces to stop that surge, and they re all counting on those air strikes. the opposition forces did get a boost overnight with a fresh supply of weapons, a convoy of rocket launchers and heavy artillery being delivered to the front line. leaders telling us these are not weapons from outside states. they re refurbished weapons from the old defective army units. make no mistake, wolf, even with the way things stand now, even with the fresh supply of weapons, these opposition forces do not have the capacity, based
is very similar to the way the coalition has conducted it up to this point and no more, but also no less. not everyone is convinced. i think we re going to have to step up our involvement, not find ways to scale it back. even if our goals are limited. and therefore, i m a little befuddled by the administration s confidence that it can entrust this mission more and more to the europeans. reporter: and that is the unanswered question right now, wolf. if you are going to have nato and the european nations take over this crucial mission of attacking gadhafi s forces and equipment on the ground so they cannot attack civilians, does nato really have what it takes? do they have the will? do they have the firepower to do the job that the u.s. has now stepped back from? wolf? the will, the political will. that s the key issue. because it s a lot of it s got to act unanimously, consensus all of these nato allies, and i wonder if some of those allies like germany and