unacceptable. so are threats and orders to shoot protesters and further punish people of libya. reporter: the president has been underfire from conservatives, including sarah palin, a potential challenger in 2012 for not commenting earlier in a crisis in a facebook posting palin said, now is the time to speak out for the long-suffering libyan people. while other countries have been able to evacuate some of their citizens the u.s. has not been able to dock a chartered ferry to tri poe lie until today. and they made it clear that the president is focused on the passengers. the safety of american citizens is obviously a concern to the president, as it should be. reporter: during part of the rant on tuesday, muammar gaddafi blamed america for upheaval in his country and with several dozen u.s. diplomats and up to 600 private american citizens in libya at the time, even critics who say mr. obama could have offered more support to the opposition in the past, agreed his focus now shou
correspondent leland vittert. in tripoli, armored jeeps could be seen lining up as if to make good on gaddafi s promise to fight to the last drop of blood. mercenaries fired on unarmed civilians as they tried to put down the uprising. in eastern libya, about 500 miles from tri poe lie, antigovernment rebels seem to control the city, celebrating in the square. demanding they free libya. gaddafi, go away we don t want you. your family, your tribe, nothing. we don t want you anymore. gaddafi hasn t listened to his citizens in a rambling defiant speech last night he read from the green book, often referred to as his manifest toe. today, protesters destroyed
copies of it in protest. it proved too much as tens of thousands escaped across the tunisia and egyptian border. worried they ll be caught up in a civil war as rebels circle the stronghold and force the dictator of more than four decades from office. those escaping tell harrowing tales of army checkpoint and soldiers taken away everything. including mobile phones for any video video of the violence reaching the outside world. every minute, many, many people die. every minute. you know the situation now in tri poe lie. every minute. reporter: it appears gaddafi is trying to use his army and air force to put the protests down, but it may not be that easy. today, two pilots ejected from