states to opt out of health care reform. >> woodruff: and we report on how political satire in the vein of the "daily show" became a hit on iranian television. >> a lot of people have come here from the opposition groups and they watch the show. now if they choose to change their mind and see things a little bit differently, that's up to them. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> blooet in. breathe out. as volatile as the markets have been lately, having the security of a strong financial partner certainly lets you breathe easier. for more than 140 years, pacific life has helped millions of americans build a secure financial future. wouldn't it be nice to take a deep breath and relax? your financial professional can tell you about pacific life, the power to help you succeed. >> you can't manufacture pride. but pride builds great cars. and you'll find it in the people at toyota all across america. >> chevron. we may have more in common than you think. >> and by bnsf railway. >> and by bnsf railway. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: world powers moved today to tighten the screws on libyan leader moammar qaddafi. as they did, new protests broke out in and around tripoli, and security forces rushed in to disperse them. but qaddafi, in an interview with abc news, refused to acknowledge there were any protests in tripoli. >> they left me all. they will die to protect me. >> woodruff: we begin with a report from jonathan rugman of independent television news, who's in tripoli. >> reporter: in a suburb of libya's capital an extraordinary act of defiance. the leader of the last 41 years is torn to shred ares and trampled underfoot. and then the flag of colonel khadaffi's revolution is set alight. this is a dirt poor district where they want another revolution now. parts of this area are now beyond government control. though from a distance playing close... plain clothed security men are keeping watch. last night there was an attempt to remove all the anti-khadaffi graffiti but by this afternoon it was back. >> what the people here are telling us is that the man they're burying was shot in the head during demonstrations on friday and he died of his wounds last night. his funeral is evidence of the revolt against colonel khadaffi being within the city of tripoli itself, within the capital. what people are telling us is that they want the international community to do something to help them. they say colonel khadaffi is crazy. they don't know what he's going to do next. they're worried he will kill and kill and kill just to save his regime. >> he doesn't care how many people he'll kill. just himself. he wants himself and control of libya. >> reporter: it seems more justified by these pictures of the colonel's son clutching an assault rifle. the video is believed to have been recorded yesterday. mr. khadaffi is on top of a vehicle and rallying his supporters. the government is handing out not weapons but money. $400 a family. what one man called khadaffi's last roll of the dice to keep his people on side. the support for the colonel is genuine. do you believe the news that lots of libya has gone out of the control of khadaffi? >> well, i don't think so. i don't think so because all of the libyans love moammar khadaffi. >> reporter: all of them? >> yeah. >> reporter: the government spokesman has the same message but there has been no reckless violence against civilians but that hundreds of thousands could die in a civil war provoked, he says, by islamist militants and the west. >> the islamists love chaos because they thrive on disorder and want to have their mediterranean afghanistan and libya half an hour away from europe. >> reporter: yet this afternoon these graffiti artists on the outskirts of tripoli gave us a very different message. that they have been shot at by their own government and that khadaffi must go. >> brown: in his abc interview today, qaddafi laughed when he was asked if he would step down voluntarily. and 30 miles away, a large pro- government force massed near the town of zawiyah with tanks and anti-aircraft guns. farther east, opposition forces in misratah fought off new attacks by troops loyal to qaddafi. the libyan government also announced it would send an envoy to benghazi-- now held by rebels-- with a shipment of food and medicine. we have a report on the situation in benghazi. for safety reasons, we are not naming the correspondent or the news organization. >> volunteers, deserters, retirees in the service of the revolution. enthusiasm possibly exceeding soldiering skills. in benghazi they're preparing ammunition for their chinese- made anti-aircraft guns. colonel qaddafi kept his army illy equipmented and fragmented so it couldn't stage a coups or challenge his republican guard in tripoli. outside the north benghazi courthouse, the leaders of the uprising here say they haven't been in touch with the u.s. or any other outside government. >> i think the united states should take care of its own people. we can look after ourselves. as soon as we get rid of this regime we want to build our civilization. keep your weapons at home. you may need them for somewhere else. >> reporter: behind closed doors the new 20-person coalition running the town meets. their message to the outside world, get qaddafi. >> the world has already seen the crimes and genocide he committed in breach of all international laws. we want the world to deal with him as a war criminal. he should be arrested as soon as possible. >> reporter: but how? referring him to the international criminal court isn't the same as apprehending or toppling him. >> it's friendly nations and nations that have the power to decide should come forward to assist us. especially by using their technical might. i also appeal to the enter in the community to enforce a no- fly zone over libya in order to prevent some some of the neighboring countries from sending things into tripoli. >> reporter: tonight some fear that colonel qaddafi could attack benghazi again but they raised their flags and tried to establish civilian and military control of the town. >> woodruff: on the international front, the european union approved an arms embargo and other sanctions against the qaddafi regime. the u.s. military began moving air and naval forces closer to libya. british prime minister david cameron called for enforcing a no-fly zone against libyan planes. and in geneva, secretary of state hillary clinton said all options are on the table, from no-fly zones to war crimes prosecutions. >> colonel qaddafi and those around him must be held accountable for these acts. which violate international legal obligations and common decency. through their actions, they have lost the legitimacy to govern. and the people of libya have made themselves clear. it is time for qaddafi to go. now. without further violence or delay. >> brown: the u.s. treasury also announced it had frozen at least $30 billion in libyan assets since last week. and u.s. aid teams were heading to libya's borders with egypt and tunisia. an estimated 100,000 people have been streaming into those regions in recent days. so far, egyptian and tunisian authorities have provided them with shelter and food. >> woodruff: margaret warner has more on washington's and the world's response to the libya revolt. >> warner: and for that, we turn to robert malley, former director for near east affairs at the national security council in the clinton administration. he now heads the mid east-north africa program at the international crisis group. and michael singh, who held the same n.s.c. post in the george w. bush administration. he's now a visiting fellow at the washington institute for near east policy. welcome to you both. beginning with you, arms embargo. asset freezes. travel bans. what do you make of the international response so far? >> two things. first if you compare the international responses to others in the past it has been extraordinarily quick. that may not feel very good if you're sitting in tripoli and you have to enjoy the continued rule of qaddafi. from a comparative perspective it's been extraordinarily rapid. in part that's because ka qaddafi himself has very few friends. he is now paying the price for alienating his friends. and also because this administration in particular had staff who feel very strongly about this. the president himself and some who work for him and see it as their life mission from preventing what happened in rwanda from happening again. >> warner: do you think these kinds of measures that have been taken so far will persuade qaddafi that he has to leave? >> i think that rob is right. it has been quick comparatively but for many libyans and people in the region it seems very slow. simple steps like sending humanitarian teams could have been announced two weeks ago now. i think that the steps announced today are good, but i think that we need to see more. i do think that something like a no-fly zone, for example, should be put in place because you have two goals right now. one is to prevent a humanitarian crisis. the other is try to persuade qaddafi to step down. some of these measures that were described today by the e.u. and by secretary clinton will i think get at that question of trying to convince some of the senior libyan officials around qaddafi that they have no future with this particular leader. but as far as the humanitarian crisis goes, inadvertently or paradoxically some of these measures could convince qaddafi that it's in his interest to hold on with all of his might. what you want to do is deter him and prevent him from using those most serious heavy weapons he has at his disposal and the foreign mercenaries being flown from elsewhere against the opposition. >> warner: one thing on the table is to deter qaddafi from further killing. how do you do that? >> very hard to deter him. personally as mike just said he's somebody who may see all of this as the writing is on the wall. if i'm going to lose, i'm going to lose by fighting. >> warner: you heard him in that interview say my people love me. they'll die for me. >> i think one of the objectives is to peel off as many of his supporters as possible. there's been a huge number of defections. you want to make sure that the ones keeping him in power leave and leave now. if they don't, they're going to lose in the end. >> warner: is that a matter of what secretary clinton and ambassador susan rice were saying? basically they're threatening those who would stick with him they'll face the consequences. >> that's part of it. that's part of the sanctions and the international accountability with the international criminal court. other things can be considered. we talk about military actions which are always sort of the last resort and one should consider them is the fact that he considers... continues to resort to violence and puts at risk a large number of civilians. >> warner: what do you mean... military actions? >> the no fly zone. it was pertinent a week ago when we were hearing that rcraft were striking civilians. the conflict has entered a different phase where it seems like it will be the rebel armyancy good forces of qaddafi. that becomes much harder for the international community to intervene militarily. >> warner: should there be any hesitancy to appear to be going in in some way on the side of the opposition forces? i mean that, one, it's a slippery slope. but, two, it can almost de legitimize the opposition in the eyes of its people if they're seen as a sort of western instrument? >> well, i don't think there's much hesitancy from that point of view. you heard already many libyans themselves calling for a no fly zone. you've heard calls coming from international officials as well. human rights officials. there's plenty of cover as it were for something like a no fly zone. not per se direct military intervention. i think the hesitation on a no fly zone is that this may be an open ended military commitment. in 1991 we imposed a no fly zone in parts of iraq. we were there for quite some time. that's i think where the hesitation comes in. where i may differ with rob is that i think that we shouldn't assume that the reasons for a no fly zone are sort of in the past now. with those forces sort of closing in like a pincher around qaddafi he still has plenty of fire power available to him and foreign mercenaries from africa apparently. you want to make sure he doesn't think he can win this fight against the opposition. >> warner: what are the politics here for the europeans, rob malley? you've seen them almost one- upping each other in suggestions. david cameron is calling for the no fly zone. the defense minister today suggested that there should be some, it's the foreign minister, that they should withhold all the payments that europe makes to libya for the oil it imports. what is driving the european response? >> i'm not against a no fly zone. it may become very, very important at some point. the europeans i mean they have some of the same considerations we have. to add to that they have the real fear of a migration crisis of floods of refugees coming into europe and we've already seen what happened in tunisia. that's begun to happen. it could happen and it's happened in libya with people leaving libya to go to tunisia and egypt as you just suggested. if anything they really would like to see this resolved quickly. they would like to see qaddafi go. they'd like to see civility restored because otherwise their direct interests could be at stake. >> warner: both in terms of oil and refugees? >> oil yes but i think the oil right now i think we're seeing again it's one of the very positive aspects of this. the international community not just europeans and americans but arabs and africans seem to be working more or less hand in hand. that's pretty unprecedented. >> warner: how do you see the europeans' reaction here? >> rob is right. one additional angle might be that there was a lot of... many calls for action before this in the preceding two weeks. of course both the europeans and the united states were hesitant because of the citizens that we had in libya needing to get them out. >> warner: and the fear they could be taken hostage. >> there could be retaliation against them. given that criticism you see european officials and american officials falling over themselvess to show that they're tough with someone like moammar qaddafi in light of everything that's transpired there. >> warner: given the sorts of things he's saying including this interview today and what his sons are saying, who has time on their side? fairly briefly but from each of you on this. in other words, can the u.s.... is qaddafi losing ground every day or, in fact, is the momentum with him? >> this one he does seem to be losing ground every day. that could shift but the problem is he may still be able to wage a protracted fight just from the holdout he had in tripoli and try to wage a war outside. that's the biggest danger. i think that's where we need to be, to start thinking ahead of time of what we do if that's the scenario that unfolds as opposed to a quick ouster of qaddafi. >> warner: a sense of urgency, how much do you think the west or the international community should have here. >> a tremendous sense of urgency. those who dons have time on their side are the libyan people. one problem that was pointed out today with the lack of humanitarian access. we just don't have great insight into what's happening especially in western libya where government is still in control. we don't know what the casualty figures are like. we don't know what the food and water situation is like for those people or the medical situation. so as the days go by not only increases the chance of a violent confrontation but there may be people who are in desperate need that really aren't being attended to there. >> warner: more people who will lose their lives or could lose their lives. >> absolutely. >> warner: thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: still to come on the newshour, the fight over spending cuts; opting out of health care reform; and political satire, iranian style. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: protesters kept the pressure on several other arab governments today. in the persian gulf region, protesters in bahrain blocked parliament and massed at the state broadcast facility, demanding political concessions. next door in saudi arabia, 100 academics and activists called sunday for sweeping reforms, allowing a constitutional monarchy. and in oman, protesters were out in force for a third day, after one person was killed on sunday. in yemen, hundreds of women joined ongoing protests against longtime president ali abdullah sale. he offered to form a unity government, but opposition leaders rejected that idea. across afghanistan, four nato troops were killed in roadside bombings and insurgent attacks. one was italian, but there was no word on the nationalities of the others. a total of 34 nato troops have died this month in afghanistan. that's up slightly from january. the stalemate in wisconsin showed no signs of abating today. democratic senators again boycotted the legislature to block a bill that strips public employees of most bargaining rights. and republican governor scott walker warned if they're not back by tomorrow, the state might face deeper spending cuts. in washington, president obama defended public workers at a meeting of the nation's governors. >> i don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated, vilified, or their rights are infringed upon. we need to attract the best and the brightest to public service. these times demand it. >> sreenivasan: governor walker has said he will start laying off state workers in wisconsin within days if his bill is not passed. in economic news, consumer incomes rose in january by the most in nearly two years, thanks to a cut in social security taxes. but the commerce department said consumer spending managed only a small gain. wall street rallied today amid signs that oil prices have stabilized. the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 96 points to close at 12,226. the nasdaq rose one point to close at 2782. former opposition parties in ireland have begun talks on forming a new coalition government. they swept to huge wins in friday's national election, fueled by voter anger over ireland's financial collapse. the leader of the main center- right party voiced optimism about reviving the economy, as votes were counted over the weekend. >> we stand on the brink of fundamental change in how we regard ourselves, in how we regard our economy, and in how we regard our society-- change that will require a gigantic leap, a leap of faith in a time when the idea of hope, even the idea of future itself, are being tested. the new government the new government is expected to demand better terms on its bailout by the european union and the international monetary fund. the last surviving american veteran of world war i has died at the age of 110. frank buckles passed away sunday at his home in charlestown, west virginia. he enlisted in the great war when he just 16 after lying about his age. later, buckles survived more than three years in japanese p.o.w. camps during the second world war. he was honored with a white house visit in 2008 with then- president bush. in a statement today, president obama said buckles' life "re