>> anthony: for most of my life, libya was a word with bad associations. libya meant gaddafi. libya meant terrorism. >> reporter: pan am ight 103 went down in a blazing fireball. >> anthony: libya meant a bad place where a comical megalomaniacal dictator was the absolute power. nobody in libya, however, was laughing. >> reporter: reports of explosions. >> reporter: clashes between rioters and security forces. >> anthony: in 2011, what was previously unthinkable happened. the libyan people rose up and fought for their freedom. >> reporter: heavy battles raging around the libyan capital. >> anthony: they fought like hell. >> reporter: the rebels are about to force gaddafi's complete departure. >> anthony: and they recorded the whole thing on their cell phones. [chanting "libya"] ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ >> a

>> anthony: for most of my life, libya was a word with bad associations. libya meant gaddafi. libya meant terrorism. >> reporter: pan am flight 103 went down in a blazing fireball. >> anthony: libya meant a bad place where a comical megalomaniacal dictator was the absolute power. nobody in libya, however, was laughing. >> reporter: reports of explosions. >> reporter: clashes between rioters and security forces. >> anthony: in 2011, what was previously unthinkable happened. the libyan people rose up and fought for their freedom. >> reporter: heavy battles raging around the libyan capital. >> anthony: they fought like hell. >> reporter: the rebels are about to force gaddafi's complete departure. >> anthony: and they recorded the whole thing on their cell phones. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, la, ♪ sha, la, la, la, la, ♪ >> anthony: it's amaz

airstrikes in libya. the u.s. began bombing islamic state positions yesterday in response to a request by the u.n. backed government there. five years ago the u.s. took part in an international bombing campaign that resulted in the death of bull market offi. key in the fight against global jihad. >> it is in america's national our fightnterest in against isil to make sure they are able to finish the job, so we are working in partnership with them to assure that isil does not get a stronghold in libya, even as libya begins what is going to be a long process. is our guest now from the european council on foreign relations. thank you for joining us. there was a lot of criticism about the lack of a plan for post-gadhafi libya. this time the u.s. is saying it is in libya for the long haul. will that make a difference? >> the difference from 2011 is strategy,here is a the u.n. backed agreement which was signed in december. it's a government that stems from that agreement that asked for u.s. intervention. it's the other

charlie: for your arab eyes in libya -- who are your arab eyes in libya? scott: an amazing young man from a coastal city, about 100 miles from tripoli. he has this amazing story. he was an air force cadet in the gaddafi air force when the revolution started in libya. he and his fellow cadets, 18 and 19-year-old students were kept in quarantined for 18 months. while the country was being torn apart, the west was doing airstrikes, he had no idea what was happening in his country. all he had been hearing was from ,he regime that is western western paid mercenaries and criminals who are doing this. months, gaddafi's military people came to him and said, we need to do a special patriotic mission. go back to this stronghold of the rebellion and find out who the rebel leaders are and identify the force so we can kill them. crossed nohis. he man's land, went back to his hometown only to discover that everybody was the rebels. everything he had been told for three months was a lie, even his own family was with the rebellion. so he did this kind of amazing he wasgai

isis actually is on the defensive in libya. there actually is a force run by the legitimate government that has them surrounded. their territory is shrinking. they are sitting ducks if we can hit them from the air and sufficiently weaken them. they can be defeated and that would be a great psychological victory for our side. it's much harder to get them in raqqa and syria where they are deeply entrenched and we really don't have the right forces on our side. but this is more than election play. this is a strategic opportunity. i'm glad the president is doing it. >> mercedes, this was acknowledgment there by president obama that they hadn't planned for the day after, the day after, the day after that. and that has been the criticism all along about the libya action. >> and even president obama in a fox interview said it was one of the worst mistakes of his presidency, the lack of planning. so, i was actually shocked that the president admitted that he kind -- they kind of made a mistake and the question becomes what took them so

take libya, gadhafi. you have a bunch of tribes, a government they're trying to support but we're not shiewmplet what is going to be demanded to create and maintain stability? we're now engaged in a battle against i.s.i.s. in libya. >> right. i think libya is a great example of what happened. libya is one of the so-called artificial states created along with iraq and syria. >> rose: when we say who created them, clearly it was the brits and the french. >> and in libya's case the italians. >> rose: right. so they joined together these lands that under the ottomans were largely autonomous and had little to do with each other. they joined together, if you will, the artificial states and, for a long time until the end of world war ii, things kind of went along. they had these western allied monarchs. then around the late 1940s, early '50s, you started seeing these totalitarian regimes, the dictators come into party, the baathist party in syria and iraq and muammar gadhafi coming in, in libya. what the strong

charlie: let's take libya. we have a lot of tribes there a government is trying to support, but it is not sure. what can they do for stability? we are engaged with the battle against isis in libya. scott: libya is a great example of what happened. libya is one of the so-called artificial states. it was created along with iraq and syria. charlie: when we say who created them, clearly it was the brits. and the french. scott: in libya's case, the italians. so you join together with these lands that under the ottomans had largely very little to do with one another. they joined together these artificial states, and for a long time, at the end of world war ii, things kind of went along. they had these western allied monarchs. and then in the late 1940's, early 1950's, you start seeing these totalitarian regimes come into power, dictators. syria, iraq, gaddafi in libya. so really what those strong individuals, along with looking out for their own power, was they were trying to create a national identity in places that

isis actually is on the defensive in libya. there actually is a force run by the legitimate government that has them surrounded. their territory is shrinking. they are sitting ducks if we can hit them from the air and sufficiently weaken them. they can be defeated and that would be a great psychological victory for our side. it's much harder to get them in raqqa and syria where they are deeply entrenched and we really don't have the right forces on our side. but this is more than election play. this is a strategic opportunity. i'm glad the president is doing it. >> mercedes, this was acknowledgment there by president obama that they hadn't planned for the day after, the day after, the day after that. and that has been the criticism all along about the libya action. >> and even president obama in a fox interview said it was one of the worst mistakes of his presidency, the lack of planning. so, i was actually shocked that the president admitted that he kind -- they kind of made a mistake and the question becomes what took them so

now we're going to bomb in libya to get rid of isis. in the normal year a fall out is a feel for clinton. it might still be. >>> here is trump with a interview with fox business news. >> we're bombing isis in lib yar libya, do you approve of that? >> yeah, we have no choice. that was one of clinton's beauties. they have taken over. it's no good. >> now, they have tried to keep the attention on the attack and somehow they could argue that they're focused on that and not enough on the bigger picture when it came to it itself. it's a decision that's going to haunt clinton beyond just what happened in benghazi. joining me now from washington is foreign affairs columnist and former affairs editor at the washington post. i want to start with a bigger picture here and that is libya and it feels like it is a hard lesson that we did not learn when it came to iraq and in the decision to go into libya and then the mess that was left after wards. at the same time that lesson was learned and one lesson that was learned out of it and is it over learn

and certainly encompasses libya. one of the great concerns that western counterterrorism officials have had is that libya has become a fallback position. safe haven for isis, in particular in the surrounding areas in the city of sirte. keep in mind, isis took over sirte in may of last year. so they have occupied this major city on the mediterranean coastline for over a year, and they have had upwards of 6,000 operatives that they have been able to recruit and leverage. and so the fact that the obama administration is now using air power, saying this is going to be an open-ended campaign and supporting the forces on the ground in libya, demonstrates this is a all-out war against isis and certainly well beyond the confines of syria and iraq. >> how significant is the threat in libya? you heard mik point to the fact that the numbers are likely reduced at this point. but to your point, they're still fairly significant. >> they are. and the challenge here, of course, and we have seen this in iraq as well as parts of syria

involvement in libya is so significant. robert: they've carried out a major strike against the islamic state in february. the difference this time is first of all it is against the stronghold. this was in coordination with the national unity government. it was merely created. it was trying to get itself establish. in the intervening months it was still weekend but expanded through the entire country. it is in a much stronger position than it used to be. the forces are battling against the islamic state organization. this is a demonstration of a growing coordination between the andonal unity government the united states authorities. clearly what the national unity government is hoping for is that the united states we use its air power to try to support the government in its attempts to not just destroy the islamic state organization but to drive it out of syria altogether. according to some estimates, there was a region of 6000 islamic state fighters inside libya this year. >> turkey and germany are going through a bumpy pat

bombing libya? >> certainly hearing all of the news about the khans and their extraordinary story, we're reminded of the price that is paid in this country for the continuing wars, the global war on terror as george bush used to call it, president obama wants to call it something else but it is the same war. this is a significant escalation. the airstrikes in libya were aimed at the isis forces that remain in the city of sirte. city now of about 80,000 people. we have had no reports of who else might have been injured or killed in the strikes, what is happened to the civilian population. it is as if there is no one there, but the few hundred isis fighters that the u.s. says are there. libya has been in chaos since the u.s.-nato attack, the regime change attack in 2011 that led to the ouster and in the killing of omar qaddafi and the overthrow of his regime. there's been absolutely to chaos. could off the the regime have spread throughout the situations they're much worse. one of the things we're see

over libya. that was another one of hillary clinton's beauties. they've taken over libya. no good. we have to bomb them. stuart: would you extend the bombing if you are elected president? >> you have to do what you have to do get rid of isis. it's a terrific problem and a horrific -- we should have never been there in the first place. i was opposed going into iraq, we unleashed a monster in the middle east, yes, i would bomb them, you have to do what have you do to get rid of them. stuart: in france, they closed down 20 mosques associated with radical islam, would you do something similar in america? >> you see what's happening in france, they have no choice. i say we have to be vigilant, and part of the vigilance is looking at the mosques. stuart: you are staying with a restriction of anybody coming into the country from a terror zone, correct? >> that is correct. and we'll be very strong and we'll have extreme vetting. we want extreme vetting. we don't want people in the country that are going

libya's u.n. policy because after gadhafi was exposed, you can argue pro and con what it should have been done, but once it was done, the one thing the government asked for, democratically elected government of moderates, not radicals, they wanted the united states to help build a security force so they could help put down the radicals. the u.s. refused to do that, and eventually we retreated out of libya, out of our embassy. so what's going on in libya today is a result of our u.s. policy failure. >> secretary of state hillary clinton was involved in some of the decisionmaking. is the news today on monday going to be a shift perhaps in our strategy and will we be more engaged in libya? we'll be watching. general, thanks, great to see you. >>> pope francis touches on some controversial topics as he wraps up a five-day trip to poland. we're live with what he had to say. you both have a perfect driving record. until one of you clips a food truck. then your rates go through the roof. perfect. for dri

the regime change in libya not only has continued with the destabilization of libya, but destabilized otherers. it hasas created problems in muh of northern africa. amy: and what did the u.s. elections mean for what is taking place now? >> look, you can see from your news report at the beginning that in domestic terms, there is a great difference between donald trump and hillaryry clinton. donald trump is not only thing absorbed by the white nationalists, but he appears to be a white nationalist. but seen from the rest of the world, the dififference between the two is minimal. here you have donald trump who is in many ways the erratic, god knows what he will do once he becomes president. amy: you think god knows what he will do? >> i think god knows what he will do. if the republican party was at such a place with ted cruz who said he would like to bomb syria to see the desert essentially be irradiated, if the republican party can see somebody like that godormal, as rational, then help us if the republicans are in charge of things. but let's take the case of hillary clinton. here is s

the regime change in libya not only has continued with the destabilization of libya, but destabilized others. it has created problems in much of northern africa. amy: and what did the u.s. elections mean for what is taking place now? >> look, you can see from your news report at the beginning that in domestic terms, there is a great difference between donald trump and hillary clinton. donald trump is not only thing absorbed by the white nationalists, but he appears to be a white nationalist. but seen from the rest of the world, the difference between the two is minimal. here you have donald trump who is in many ways the erratic, god knows what he will do once he becomes president. amy: you think god knows what he will do? >> i think god knows what he will do. if the republican party was at such a place with ted cruz who said he would like to bomb syria to see the desert essentially be irradiated, if the republican party can see somebody like that godormal, as rational, then help us if the republicans are in charge of things. but let's take the case of hillary clinton. here is somebody

and karim mezran talks about libya. "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: for those who would like to occupy the oval office, a new poll has hillary clinton leading donald trump by eight percentage points. this also blends in some third candidates. the green and libertarian, so they combined to be 12% of the potential vote in the "washington post" poll. this leads to our question -- are you considering a third-party candidate? who is it, why, what are you not seeing in the other folks? tell us your story, your opinion on the race and whether you are considering a third-party presidential candidate. eastern and central time zones can call (202) 748-8000. if you live out west, it is (202) 748-8001. if not by phone, you can weigh in from social media. --@cspanwjtraitor is our twitter handle. times" has this headline that says "dreams see opportunity amid voter discontent." --y say the boisterous crowd jill stein gazed at her reflection with a look of dumb short list. "can you say that again?" ms. s tein asked. poll," at

katty: reporting from the front line in libya. meanwhile, the so-called islamic state group confirmed the death of its spokesman, abu muhammad al-adnani, in aleppo, syria. it did not specify when he was killed. and why is this significant? reporter: he was a charismatic leader of the group, katty. the overall leader, i'll baghdadi, isal- reclusive. adnani was not. he disobeyed the voters of the al qaeda leader and drew a whole set of younger fighters to the crisis brand. -- isis brand. he was also propaganda specialist and used social media in a way al qaeda had it. crucially, he was the one who articulated the new jihad. not the spectacular attacks of al qaeda, but remember, yet the famous statement in 2014, kill members of the coalition with whatever means you have, be itas rock, knife, vehicle. katty: he spent time at the pentagon and -- you spent a lot of time at the pentagon and you know they were particularly interested in getting adnani. how much will this help in the battle against the islamic state? reporter: probably not

, a libya already so divided. algerian daily says it will make things worse for algeria and also the eu and the u.s., which risks repercussions over these airstrikes. let's stay in the united states, where the president barack obama has lashed out at donald trump. >> "unfit and woefully unprepared" were his words according to "the guardian." urged theobama has republican party to denounce trump. the republicans need to stop indulging trump, that is what this "new york times" contributor says in this opinion piece. he calls him an unabashed and unrepentant fabulist with little control over his temper. commentshe president's show how out of control this election is getting, according to "vox." >> that a president would isticize a candidate unprecedented. the fact that we did not even flinch over obama's comments show how off the rails this election is getting and has gotten. waseems like trump concocted in some liberal laboratory toe frighten obama. anchor: a fox news analyst has compared the khan family to a woman

could've been a massacre, a bloodbath in libya. we did so as part of an international coalition and nder u.n. law. i think that all of us collectively were not sufficiently attentive to what had happened happen the day after and the day after and the day after that in order to ensure that there were strong tructures in place to assure a of liby -- basic security and peace inside of libya. the good news is that we have the beginnings of a government and a government national court. they are serious about trying to bring all the factions together to start creating a basic ecurity structure, to begin to monitor libya's borders, and to cooperate internationally to deal with issues like isil and penetration on their territory. at the request of that government, after they had already made significant progress against isil and had essentially pushed isil into a very confined area in and around cert, it is an america's national security interest in our fight against isil that they re able to finish the job. e are working in partnership wi

this firepower is coming from the navy and 50th assault ship, the uss wasp stationed off the coast of libya. we are told the strikes are emanating from various positions, various platforms including marine harrier jump jets, reaper drones and even rocket fire from doctors. there are risks though. one told me that the isis militants if they are defeated in surt could simply go to other parts of the country, creating at other terror attacks like last year's execution of christian prisoners on the libyan beach and the country itself cannot, ever since the trampling of muammar cannot be five years agoremains unstable. the government on their very shaky, militias are fighting militia and there are elements there also al qaeda linked terrorists . we want to underscore this comic important information that we are seen come together in the past few minutes, this is a major operation, a new us-led effort against isis to try to get them along with ground troops out of another stronghold city as the tree three-phase operation involving surveillance, ships and helicopters, involving fighter planes, inv

isis is libya is a concern. isis operatives can fairly readily move across the mediterranean into southern europe or across north africa and carry out more attacks. the hope is that this extra u.s. fire power with more attacks in the coming weeks expected will be enough to push isis out once and for all. john and christine. >>> a long time fbi employee faci facing prison time. 46-year-old chun, a top official with security clearance was arrested in march. under a plea deal, chun will be sentenced to two years behind bars. >>> attorneys for accused charleston church shooter dylann roof are mounting a death penalty defense, but are looking to drop that charge. he faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes in the shooting death of nine people last summer. >>> the measure is being challenged by a group of native-americans who argue the strict law makes it difficult if not impossible for people in rural reservations to cast ballots. >>> 18 minutes past the hour. the look at the weather. a drier, hotter forecast

and you said the worst thing is to plan for the nato intervention in libya. do you see your new dediscussion to bomb isis as a direct result of that? president obama: yes, i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. i said so last week. e keeps on proving it. he notion that he would attack a gold star family that had made such extraordinary sacrifices on , the fact ur country that he doesn't appear to have basic knowledge around critical , in europe and the immediatele east, in asia means that he's woefully unprepared to do this job. this is not just my opinion. i think what's been interesting is the reaped denunciations of of leading ts republicans including speaker of the house and the senate majority leader and prominent andblicans like john mccain the questions they have to ask themselveses if you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? what does it say about your party that this is your standard earer? this santa situation where you have an -- this isn't

positions on libya's northern coast, east of the capitol of tripoli. doug mckelway is live. >> reporter: critic ares are saying the airstrikes are a day late and a dollar shot, saying they failed to stabilize after the missile attack on the moammar gadhafi convoy and the beating of gadhafi by a mob which resulted in his death. it left a void in into which isis stepped and has flourished so many critics are saying that the united states is doing today what it should have done years ago. the attacks began on monday, from the uss wasp off the coast of libya. uss -- marine harrier jets launching attacks and the reaper drones from jordan. we learned on monday there were five such attacks. on tuesday the attacks. on wednesday, one attack. and today there are none that we have heard of. pentagon officials have said this operation is going to be short-lived. going to be fast-paced. president obama has given it basically a month-long window but the pace of operations will be decided ultimately by the government of libya. also keep in mind that last june, cia di

mission in libya is changing. warplanes are now targeting isis in what some are calling mission creep. >> reporter: the u.s. is launching another phase in its war on isis, now in libya. u.s. planes hitting isis strong holds, with claimed success. >> translator: the first such strikes have begun today are specific sites in the city of cert, causing heavy losses. >> reporter: with the u.s. led military pressure growing in iraq and syria, isis established a new dangerous beachhead in libya last year. while the u.s. has targeted isis figures in libya twice since last fall, following terror attacks in paris and tunisia, today's strikes are the first time the u.s. has acted in coordination with combat troops on the ground. government militias have had success. militant totals are down to 1,000. >> we've seen isil's numbers reduced in libya, and we think this precision air strike capability, this unique capability that we can provide to their on going efforts can make a difference. >> reporter: according to some, isis is

so isis now growis into libya. we know libya has been an unfolding disaster ever since hillary clinton made her judgment that we should remove the leader and yet not have a plan after that. so now we're finding ourselves being forced into doing air strikes in libya. you know, you've got to think of islamic radicalism like a balloon. you can squeeze it here but it's going to come out on the end. you have to figure out how to crush it completely. that means finding the command and control center. the only way to do that is to have boots on the ground which will give us accurate, timely intelligence. >> and to the point about any boots on the ground, there was a little bit more discussion about that in the pentagon briefing today. we want to play a bit of that. >> are you making it clear there are no u.s. teams of any kind on the ground? or are you just specifically saying there are no u.s. on the ground related to this particular operation? >> i'm -- this is specific to this operation. i'm not going to get into what

libya is in ruins. or ambassador and three other really great americans are dead, and isis has gained a new base of operations. syria is in the midst of a disaster. isis controls large origins of territory. a refugee crisis now threatens europe and the united states. egypt, terrorists have gained a foothold in the sinai desert near the suez canal, one of the most essential waterways of the world. iraq is in chaos, and isis is on the loose. isis has spread across the middle east and into the west. in 2014, isis was operating in seven nations. they were in seven patients. terrible but that's what it was. today they are fully operational in 18 countries with aspiring branches in six more for a total of 20 more, and many believe that number is actually 28-30 countries. they don't even know. a situation is likely worse than the public has any idea. a new congressional report reveals that the administration has downplayed the growth of isis with 40% of analysts saying that experienced efforts to manipulate th

military front inli that fight, in libya. >> the request of libya's government of national accord wt are conducting strikes and support of government aligned forces as they fight to restake sirte from i.s.i.l and we will continue to support the government's efforts to secure their country. >> warner: the meeting cameee three days after the u.s. launched a series of air and drone strikes against isis's libyan stronghold, in and around the town of sirte. the u.s. air campaign comes in support of a libyan government- backed coalition of brigades anc militias fighting isis on the ground. those forces have taken heavy casualties trying to clear the town block by block, pushing isis fighters into the city center. >> ( translated ): despite the obstacles and difficulties we have faced in the dollar neighborhood such as land mines, booby traps and snipers, the snipers took all the roofs of the high buildings, despite that we made good progress forward. >> warner: but their slow going prompted the u.n. and western-d backed libyan government in tripoli to request the u.s. air strikes. the trip

clinton's disaster, total disaster in libya. hillary clinton's forceful advocacy for the intervention was the deciding factor. that's why we went in. >> so donald trump says hillary clintn urged president obama to intervene in libya. you know what? that is completely true. a guy like donald trump would never make such a stupid mistake -- except he did. >> gaddafi in libya is killing thousands of people, nobody knows how bad it is, and we're sitting around, we have soldiers all over the middle east and we're not bringing them in to stop this horrible carnage. now, we should go in, we should stop this guy, which would be very easy and very quick. >> that's right, trump also supported the intervention in libya. basically, he's trying to go back and rewrite the past. so i give this one "back to the future," which, coincidentally, also features a parent who wants to bang their kid. (laughter) yep. (applause) >> trevor: desi lydic, everyone. (cheers and applause) now, donald trump did include one policy idea in his speech that, for me

have been a massacre, a blood bath in libya. we did so as part of an international coalition and under u.n. mandate. but i think all of us collectively were not sufficiently attentive to what had to happen the day after and the day after and the day after that in order to ensure there were strong structures in place to assure basic security and peace inside of libya. the good news is that we now have the beginnings of a governme government in the government of national accord. they're serious about bringing all the factions together to start creating a basic security structure to begin to monitor libya's borders and to cooperate internationally to deal with issues like isil penetration on their territory. and at the request of that government after they had already made significant progress against isil and had essentially pushed isil into a very confined area in and around sirte, it is in america's national security interest in our fight against isil to make sure they're able to finish the job. so we're working in partnership w

with respect to libya. you know, i have said on several occasions that we did the right thing in preventing what could have been a massacre or bloodbath in libya. and we did so as part of an international coalition and under u.n. mandate. but i think that all of us collectively were not sufficiently attentive to what had to happen the day after and the day after and the day after that in order to ensure that there were strong structures in place to assure basic security and peace inside of libya. the good news is, we now have the -- the beginnings of a government and the government of national accord. they are serious about trying to bring all the factions together to start creating a basic security structure, to begin to monitor libya's borders and cooperate internationally to deal with issues like isil penetration on their territory. and at the request of that government, after they had already made significant progress against isil, and had essentially pushed isil into a very confined area in and around

>> today, fighter jets carried out strikes on isis' positions on libya's northern coast. combat planes are taking off from a navy assault ship. so the question -- where what are the goals here exactly? and can we really finish what we started in 30 days? ambassador john bolton is a former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and fox noose contributor. sir, always good to see you. you know, i've heard you talk about the mistakes that we made in libya, and this president now is saying they are among his regrets as president. is this a makeup? >> well, they should be among his regrets as president. if this is a makeup, he's off to a bad start. when we talk about attacks on the isis positions in and around the city, we're not talking about waves of bombers like world war ii. we're talking about a limited number of strikes from harrier jump jets on that carrier. you know, it's convenient the pentagon has announced this will last for 30 days, just in case isis was wondering. and it's a reflection that the president really does not have a comprehensive strategy against isis. we

it has spread to libya. you noticed in recent days, we have begun air strikes in support of ground forces, local ground forces in libya, who were fighting isil there. we're obviously doing the same in afghanistan and we're going to need to do that anywhere the cancer spreads. we've brought the difference ministers out to andrews air force base two weeks ago and i said look, we need you to do more. you know we're doing more. we're trying to accelerate what is the certain defeat of isis. we need to win as fast as we can. >> you mentioned libya. on monday, you launched five air strikes against isis in libya. today it was zero. when somebody looks at that, they say this is a limited, narrow, one-city approach. >> that's where isil is. it's a town called sert and that's where they're concentrated. the targets that we hit are when the libyan forces identify them. they'll do that, i'm certainly will be more. what you'll see is the libyan forces, with some of our intelligence support, moving into a certain neighborh

in libya, i was put in prison with my children. i had to pay money to get out. i put my life on the line. on thechildren's life line to come here. in this land my children can go to school, we can live in peace. what else is there? chris: there is joy here. these people have found a safe passage. but over the last fortnight, a dozen bodies a day have been washing up on the beaches of libya. near the site of this rescue another boat floating in the , water, possessions on the site and no sign of what happened to those who were once in it. the international organization for migration says already this year internationally more than 4000 refugees and migrants have died. it is thought around three quarters of them here in the mediterranean. medecins sans frontieres, which operates this rescue ship, is now refusing money from european governments, saying their policies are not helping refugees. >> seeing how europe actually is treating the people, we hear numerous times about people getting tortured, girls getting mass-raped, people being sold into slavery. you see p

as he talked about libya specifically, clarissa ward, let me fifth back to you. it wasn't too long ago president obama in an interview was asked about his biggest regret and he said it was libya and the fact is, as donald trump continues to point out hillary clinton has her fingerprints all over it. >> that's true, but i think if we've learned anything, brooke, by the rich tapestry of the middle east over the ages what we understand is it's incredibly complex and there are no really good solutions. the idea that donald trump seems to be proposing that we return to the heyday of the brutal dictator, that that's better for the region is laughable. the reality is the arab spring happened, it didn't happen because of president obama, if anything it was unleashed because of president obama's invasion of iraq but as ben wedeman said, it's been bubbling under the surface for decades, you can't put the genie back in the lamp, so to speak. the region is a complete mess and it may take decades. he specifically mentioned president sisi several times as a kind of bastian of

he was so arrogant about his position in libya. i hopeted saying, well, to be remembered as selfless, that i gave to my people, these kind of throw away answers. then he paused for a second, he chuckled and leaned remain and leaned hope this is just towards me and said, i hope this is true. he had -- i don't think he had overlue what was coming, and over again, i don't think posting the correct, up until mubarak had toi resign, i don't think he thought he was going to go. but there are so inoculated, that they just really lost touch with reality. juan: i went to ask you a bigger question that you try to tackle here to what went wrong with the arab spring? we're in a situation right now where people are famous for this enormous one refugee problem out of the middle east and two, these failed states. made [inaudible] destabilization the less, and how you get out of that situation? >> it is very hard. inthere is any consolation the current situation, i think we're kind of near the bottom of how bad it can get. it is hard to see how pl

opened a new front in the war on isis with multiple air strikes in libya. margaret brennan is following this. >> reporter: hundreds of isis fighters are battling the heat control of sirte libya, the terror group's most significant base outside of syria and iraq. for the past six weeks, local militias have been trying to today u.s. air strikes provided relief. harrier planes and a predator drone strategically bombed an isis tank and two vehicles. pentagon spokesman peter cook. >> they felt there were specific capabilities we could bring to bear that they were limited in terms of their military capabilities being able to conduct. one of the things that we're able to do is to conduct precision air strikes in an urban area like this, reducing the risk of civilian casualties. >> reporter: thousands of foreign fighters have poured into libya since 2011 after a nato-led air campaign forced dictator moammar qaddafi out, leaving a power vacuum. today libya's new prime minister, in office just five months, said he asked the u.s. to continue this strike but promised n

mission in libya is changing. warplanes are now targeting isis in what some are calling mission creep. >> reporter: the u.s. is launching another phase in its war on isis, now in libya. u.s. planes hitting isis strong holds, with claimed success. >> translator: the first such city of ave begun today are cert, causing heavy losses. >> reporter: with the u.s. led military pressure growing in iraq and syria, isis established a new dangerous beachhead in libya last year. while the u.s. has targeted isis figures in libya twice since last fall, following terror attacks in paris and tunisia, today's strikes are the first time the u.s. has acted in coordination with combat troops on the ground. government militias have had success. militant totals are down to 1,000. >> we've seen isil's numbers reduced in libya, and we think this precision air strike capability, this unique capability that we can provide to their on going efforts can make a difference. >> reporter: according to some, isis is making plans to flee the city

syria because of what happened with libya and did we joovercorrect when we we into libya. i would like to know, for instance, what lessons hillary clinton learned in going into libya and the aftermath. she hasn't addressed that. donald trump hasn't addressed things in detailes. there are some things where he comes across as isolationist and doesn't want to intervene. the other hand, he talks about hitting isis so hard they won't know what hit them. so yes i feel like this is an undercovered and underpart of the campaign. but of course, we have an unusual candidate we are covering this year. >> indeed. chuck todd, whose coverage we will see the minute this event is over. as he takes over at the top of the coming hour. chuck todd, thanks. richard engel, back to you. take on any of those questions you just heard from chuck. >> well, going back to, if i can, going back to what mick was saying. there have been a lot of battlefield successes in libya. as chuck mentioned, air strikes that have begun. what malcom was talking about. in egypt announced a short while ago. but globall

libya was a bigger question because of the political instability. what we need to see is a stable enough political agreement that allows the national oil company to repair some of the facilities that were damaged in the fighting that has been taking place over there. they need to repair those facilities and bring the production back. andeed to see sustainable significant production coming back from libya. the maintenance work you , that is going to take about six months, for what officials tell us, and it will bring back less than a third of the full export capacity of that port we are talking about. we are really talking about gradual steps before we get back to bringing libya online. the point is, we don't know how quickly they can come back, how much damage is there, if there's a more encompassing political agreement. can things come back more quickly? that remains a question. the supply that is off the market along with oil that is in storage remains in overhang for prices and for the market. rish: another overhang is iran also wanting to up the

opened a new front in the war on isis with multiple air strikes in libya. margaret brennan is following this. ter: hundreds of isis fighters are battling the heat control of sirte libya, the terror group's most significant base outside of syria and iraq. for the past six weeks, local militias have been trying to flush them out. today u.s. air strikes provided relief. harrier planes and a predator drone strategically bombed an isis tank and two vehicles. pentagon spokesman peter cook. >> they felt there were specific capabilities we could bring to bear that they were limited in terms of their military capabilities being able to conduct. and one of the things that we're able to do is to conduct precision air strikes in an urban area like this, reducing the risk of civilian casualties. >> reporter: thousands of foreign fighters have poured into libya since 2011 after a nato-led air campaign forced dictator moammar qaddafi out, leaving a power vacuum. today libya's new prime minister, in office just five months, said he asked the u.s. to continue this strike, b