New Phase In Libyan Campaign; More Than 20,000 Dead Or Missing In Japan
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Suzanne. Thank you. A weekend of action, now comes the patrolling of a no-fly zone over Libya. That's the word from AFRICOM. The U.S. military's Africa Command describing phase two of an allied campaign to protect Libyan civilians from their own government. The action phase included a cruise missile strike on the heart of Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli. Libyan officials say no one was hurt, and the allies say Gadhafi is not being targeted. The bombed out building supposedly house add military command and control center. After well over 100 missile launches since Saturday, an African spokesman says U.S. involvement in operation odyssey dawn, as it's called, may have peaked. The coalition has nine other members and NATO may take the lead, though that is still being decide. And Libyan fighters are still on the move. We're getting word from Misurata, that's east of Tripoli, that Gadhafi's tanks and snipers today unleashed, quote, "Absolute destruction and carnage." A witness says they are shooting people in the main street. An exclusive CNN poll finds broad American support for the allied mission. More than 80 percent say protecting Libyans from their longtime dictator should be a somewhat or very important goal of the U.S., but 70 percent do not favor sending in any ground troops. I want to turn now to CNN's Arwa Damon in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. She joins us live now on telephone. Benghazi is the seat of the opposition movement, and I wonder, Arwa, whether Gadhafi's opponents feel that their fortunes have changed?</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They most certainly do, Randi. Just to paint a picture for you what happened over the weekend, even though the U.N. resolution had passed on Saturday, Gadhafi's forces assaulted southern Benghazi. At least 95 people were killed, according to hospital officials. Residents eyewitnesses were telling us they themselves saw Gadhafi's troops on top of vehicles, mounted with automatic machine guns, spraying buildings indiscriminately, firing tank rounds into buildings indiscriminately. People -- the opposition did, on Saturday, manage to drive Gadhafi's forces out, but everyone we were talking to felt as if a slaughter, a massacre at their hands was effectively imminent. On Sunday, then we saw fighter jets bombing Gadhafi's military mass outside of Benghazi. The damage caused by that extensive (ph) stretching for as far as the eye could see. We counted at least 70 burnt vehicles. It brought Gadhafi's military regime to a grinding halt and everybody who we were talking to has one simple message to the international community, and that is a message of thanks, because without that sort of intervention, they do believe that they would have been killed -- Randi.</s>KAYE: And tell us what you're hearing from, or even about, Misurata, because we were getting word of tanks and snipers there from pro-government forces.</s>DAMON: Yes, we were just down in front of the courthouse in Benghazi where there was a demonstration, people showing their support and solidarity calling for intervention for Misurata and also for this other area called Zintan. We just met a woman whose daughter lives in Misurata. She was frantic, she was trying to get in touch with them. We gave her our faria (ph) phone to try to get through. She can't get through to her relatives there and the most disturbing part of it is that she says a few days ago on Al Jazeera so saw one of her daughter's homes damaged. And so, naturally, she's very frantic. We have all sorts of eyewitness reports from Zintan, from Misurata that there is a massacre of slaughter going on at the hands of Gadhafi's forces. People here most definitely wanting to see the no-fly zone extended to those areas as well, because even though they realize that Benghazi is safe for now, this entire battle for Libya is far from over at this stage -- Randi.</s>KAYE: And Arwa, just a short time ago, we heard from the Pentagon saying that they are not in direct contact -- those who are attacking Libya are not in direct contact with the rebel forces. Do you get the sense, though, that the rebel forces and the opposition on the ground does understand that they have a lot of support from Americans?</s>DAMON: They do now, and they do know that the U.N. resolution passed, now that they're seeing America actively involved. Up until that stage, they did feel that the U.S., by taking so long to try to help in how they could push this resolution through, was in fact the fact (ph) aligning itself with Gadhafi's forces. Once that resolution passed, I had a number of Libyans come up to me thanking and praising the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Rice. Many of them saying that they were so impressed by her attitude, her stance (ph), her statement at the United Nations. And now they do have the sense that they're not in this alone, that the United States is effectively standing with them, that all of these international global leaders are by and large (ph) standing with them -- Randi.</s>KAYE: All right. Arwa Damon for us in Benghazi, Libya. Thank you, Arwa. Now to Japan. In Japan right now the focus of a devastated nation remains on the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant and two hot reactors in particular. Today, gray smoke billowed from react number three even after 1,000 tons of water was sprayed from fire trucks and cranes to try to keep spent fuel rods cool. Later, white smoke came from reactor number two, but we haven't heard of new explosions at either site. On the hopeful side, all six of the Dai-ichi reactors have now been hooked up to power cables but only two have power. That's important because electricity can run pumps that will keep water moving where it's needed. Outside the plant, a ban exists on the sale or distribution of milk and produce from Fukushima prefecture and on spinach from a neighboring prefecture. Over the weekend, samples tested positive for radioactive iodine and cesium, but still experts say there is no immediate health risk. Officially, the death toll from Japan's twin natural catastrophes, earthquake and tsunami, stands at 8,805. Twelve thousand six hundred fifty-four people are officially missing. And if those numbers sound overwhelming, well that is an understatement. Here's CNN's Kyung Lah, and we want to warn you, you may find some of these images you're about to see disturbing.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Japan's disaster, there are too many dead to have a proper funeral. Sixteen-year-old Hiroki Sugihara is underneath this blanket. His parents and two brothers drove his body to the emergency shelter, the best farewell they could offer in the wake of the tsunami. Don't give up hope, Hiroki's father tells his friends. Keep living for my son. These children have already lost two of they are friends, Hiroki is the third. He wasn't at school that day which sits sits high above his neighborhood. Crews pulled his body from the rubble. Sixteen-year-old Takuma Kinno (ph) played soccer with Hiroke.</s>TAKUMA KINNO, HIROKE'S FRIEND: I've lost my best friend, Hiroke, he says. Hiroke died young, he should've lived a long life.</s>LAH: Life has been cut short all across Rikuzentaka, one of the hardest hit towns in the tsunami zone. Search crews find the body of a middle-aged woman, like all the others, they can't identify her, but cover her and load her and load her body on to a truck. They offer a single sign of respect, of farewell, on the ground, flowers and offerings of tea to mark the passing of another life. After a few seconds, crews return to the search. It is tough to cope with this scale of loss as an adult, for the young, incomprehensible. It's too early to know how many children have been impacted by this disaster, but aid organizations believe that number will be well into the thousands and that they'll feel the psychological damage for years to come. We have already spoken to children who are having nightmares, they're unable to sleep. They're frightened to the sea because they believe it's going to come back. They're frightened of being indoors because the building shook so violently during the earthquake. So, there's absolutely a chance that many of these children are going to have difficulties, serious difficulties, coming to terms with what happened to them.</s>LAH: For the friends of Hiroki Sugihara, this impromptu funeral is some closure. A thank you from the family. His father covers his son and offers a final farewell to his friends. A few more seconds to cry, then Hiroki's friends move back inside the shelter to deal with what this disaster brings next. Kyung Lah, CNN, Rikuzentaka, Japan.</s>KAYE: And the people of Japan, of course, need your assistance, so head to the impact your world section of Web site to see how you can help. The U.S. military says it's ramping down its role in Libya, but what does that actually mean? We'll talk about that on the other side of the break. And we want to know what you think about the U.S. involvement in Libya. Send us your thoughts. Here's how to reach us at Twitter, Facebook and our blog. We'll read your answers later in the show, so be sure to stay tuned.