the rest of the problems in the area, specifically, iran and hezbollah over in lebanon. and now he sacked the cabinet and he has this moment, first in the 11 years of his rule to step forward and do something that could show some reform. is that a possibility? guest: i think it is too little too late. the cabinet is irrelevant. never has had any power. all the power is in the presidency. he has so far to go to reform that country it s amazing. keep in mind, the military is the palace guard. it would have to be dissolved, as well. this is not egypt. so, how he can salvage this, joe know, and this happened 30 years ago and they flattened a city to put down a rebellion and i am hearing the generals are
u.s. military commanders us now analyst, paul pillar with georgetown university. paul, great to see you again. let s talk about moammar gadhafi. what do we know and what don t we know about what is likely to happen with him? can he remain in tripoli, surrounded by loyalists, despite the squeeze of sanctions and defy the west? gadhafi has erected a structure with his own private militias, his own kind of palace guard that leaves him almost impregnable, unless you had a full-scale invasion that basically overran the western part of libya. so i think we re looking at moammar gadhafi staying in place, at least in charge of a rump in the west, even if we have what amounts to an independent republic in the rebel east. where does that leave us? the president and his spokesman repeated today, days if not weeks with america in the role. i understand the limits of air
united states facing this kind of language, have you no choice. because gadhafi left you no choice. do we do this to save the libyans? of course, we do. that s the humanitarian mission. will we take, if you will, the end of the gadhafi regime? of course, we would, if it just happened, if it was one of the unintended consequences of the war. we don t know what will happen. look at saddam, he fought in 1991, and then lived to fight another day, and another day he fought for 12 years before we came back to get him. now, this engagement we have will not get moammar gadhafi, he will be in his bunker, something else will have to get him, his own people, the calamity of the war, the palace guard around him. that s where the uncertainty is. jill, is it from u.s. officials saying, we re not targeting gadhafi. is it we re not targeting gadhafi, wink, wink, wink? because suddenly a cruise missile lands in his compound? i think it s not targeting gadhafi yet.
the president of the united states facing this kind of language, you have no choice, because gadhafi left you no choice. do we do this to save the libyans? of course, we do. that s the humanitarian mission. if it was one of the unininterpreteded consequences of this war, we don t know what will happen. look at saddam, he fought in 1991, and then lived to fight another day, and another day he fought for 12 years before we came back to get him. now, this engagement we have will not get moammar gadhafi, he will be in his bunker, something else will have to get him, his own people, the calamity of the war, the palace guard around him. that s where the uncertainty is. jill, is it from u.s. officials saying, we re not targeting gadhafi. is it we re not targeting gadhafi, wifrpg, wink, wink? because suddenly a cruise missile lands in his compound?
the gadhafi forces are almost at the outskirts of benghazi. and gadhafi made an error which saved the people of benghazi. he told the truth, he said he was going to come house to house, find them in their closet and kill them and show them no pity. the president of the united states facing this kind of language, you have no choice, because gadhafi left you no choice. do we do this to save the libyans? of course, we do. that s the humanitarian mission. if it was one of the unininterpreteded consequences of this war, we don t know what will happen. look at saddam, he fought in 1991, and then lived to fight another day, and another day he fought for 12 years before we came back to get him. now, this engagement we have will not get moammar gadhafi, he will be in his bunker, something else will have to get him, his own people, the calamity of the war, the palace guard around