No NATO Apology for Libyan Rebel Deaths
FEYERICK: Well, no apologies from NATO, despite an admission it may have hit rebel tanks by mistake in an air strike yesterday. The attack was caught on video. It killed at least four people.</s>REAR ADM. RUSSELL HARDING, DEP. COMMANDER, COMBINED JOINT TASK FORCE: I'm not apologizing. The situation on the ground, as I said, was extremely fluid and remains extremely fluid. And up until yesterday, we had had no information that the TNC or the opposition forces were using tanks.</s>FEYERICK: And our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in eastern Libya. He takes us to a hospital where those wounded in the air strike are being treated.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A wounded fighter asks after his comrades. "They're fine. They're fine. Every one's fine," he's told. But they're not. They were wounded and others killed in what may be the second NATO air strike in less than a week that hit men on the wrong side, killing not just fighters, but a doctor as well. Saleh Ali Wameh's (ph) death, a harsh blow to colleagues, who, for weeks, have risked their lives up at wildly fluctuating frontline. And yet another blow in a war where little seems to be going right for the anti-Gadhafi opposition. According to eyewitnesses, a plane they believe to be from NATO struck their column halfway between Brega and Ajdabiya. "We heard a sound like a plane," says fighter Abdel Atif (ph). "We heard them above, far away, then it came close. Then the tanks went up in a huge explosion." "Then," says Khalid (ph), "they came back and hit again." NATO officials say that without observers on the ground, they can neither confirm nor deny the strike. Already demoralized by the superior firepower of the Libyan army, fighters and medics alike are showing the strain, and they're lashing out at their should-be protectors. "They shouldn't hit the revolutionaries. We're helpless," says this fighter. Dr. Ahmed Abu Bakr (ph), a Libyan doctor living in Germany, came to Ajdabiya to volunteer in the hospital. He didn't come here to patch up the wounded from friendly fire. DR. AHMED ABU BAKR (ph),</s>LIBYAN DOCTOR: I am very, very, very unhappy to the action. They came here to help us, not to injure us.</s>WEDEMAN: The attack has left the opposition forces reeling and sparked yet another wild retreat. First foe, and now it would seem friend, has them on the run. Ben Wedeman, CNN, outside Ajdabiya, in eastern Libya.</s>FEYERICK: Here in the NEWSROOM we're focusing on "What Matters." We've witnessed some dark days in Japan, but aid groups the world over are mobilizing to help out. The American Red Cross alone made an initial contribution of $10 million and plans to give even more. The U.S. fund for UNICEF is also raising money for children affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters. Meanwhile, former president Bill Clinton is headed back to Haiti, 15 months after a quake there left the country in ruins. Clinton's scheduled to tour a school and launch a national cholera awareness campaign. He's helping map out a plan for reconstruction. And if you want to help in any of these efforts, log on to CNN.com/impact.