in the speech on monday do you think that the president needs to spell out a end game and do we need to hear from the president come monday night? i would like to hear the planns going forward. you can call that an exit strategy or end game. best laid plans stipes have twists and turns. but the president under the able advice of secretary gates and secretary of state hillary clinton, i look forward to hearing from the president how he thinks it will unfold. senator udall, great to see you from colorado. have a great saturday. we ll check in with rick back on the latest operation in lib yampt hi, rick? ci am sorry, i apologize we have lost that transmission
today in the new york times that most allies expected military force would lead to talks between gadhafi and the rebels. what are you hearing about a possible endgame or exit strategy? is a negotiated settlement even possible now? i don t think personally that s very likely. i don t see the gadhafi regime very warm and meaningful talks with the rebels. the rebels believe that if gadhafi is in power, they re dead, and i don t think they perceive a scenario where gadhafi remains in power and most of them continue to live. so i don t think there s going to be much talks on that front. and i think gadhafi s families is so interwoven in the fabric of government here. it s not that feasible for gadhafi and his seven sons to just climb on a plane and go. general clark, you just heard what paula newton was saying about the character of the nato mission changing.
from people in that room, including secretary of state hillary clinton, that the feeling around the table is look, if we hit him hard the first few days, the quote from everyone around that table was, he won t last long. he s already lasted too long as far as some members of the coalition are concerned. nato takes over, what does that mean? it means on the ground this mission will change. nato is a completely different structure. there is no way that the air strikes will be able to be as nimble and also to what end? i think around the table, many are asking themselves, saying look, we ve given it our best shot. at this point we have to try something else. let s stay on theme with that, david. end-game strategies, you wrote that most allies expected military force would lead to talks between gadhafi and the rebels. what are you hearing about a possible endgame or exit strategy? is a negotiated settlement even possible now? i don t think personally that s very likely.
define what the mission is. you have an understanding of an exit strategy. you asemble overwhelming force and the other part is, you have the support of the people membership. those are the elements that are critical. we have in the defined the mission in this case. we have a muddled mission. is it to get rid of muammar qaddafi? the president says he has to go. but he says the mission is not to get rid of it. what is it? when did it become a personality defect for a president to sit back and think, do we want to put american lives at risk? when is that a bad thing for a president to get consultations from a number of experts and say, now we go in. governor huckabee: sometimes the difference between deliberating and dithering is a matter of perception. but there is a difference and the distinction is, when you dib rate you are bringing in the best mines and making a decision but you make a decision and it is a cheer clear decision.
that it is difficult to see where the opposition is coming from. and the same with yemen. and in the back of everyone s mind is the fact that al qaeda is active in both the countries and would love nothing more than to try and make a bid for power but the secularists are challenging the regimes. dave: we can presume the president knows this, so, why do you think we are in libya opposed to syria or yemen? anything to do with oil? or why are we there? guest: my personal view is we sleepwalked into libya, and there was an uprising against a government, the west put the weight behind the uprising and muammar qaddafi looked to be winning again, there was a we have to do something moment at the u.n. so, now we have a no-fly zone and as you said, we do not have an exit strategy so it is a mess. but the same thing is happening in yemen and syria, 18