gadhafi's last stronghold, reaching the heart of tripoli, celebrating on his turf and cnn was on the back of the truck to witness it all. >> amazing. i'm carol costello. president obama telling moammar gadhafi to face the facts and give it up. the white house already hoping the rebels are ready to lead out on this "american morning." all right. good morning, carol. good morning, everyone. it is monday, august 22nd. this is "american morning." i'm christine romans. >> i'm carol costello. thank you for joining us. ali has the morning off. a lot going on. let's get to it. >> that's right. up first, breaking news, new explosions overnight coming from moammar gadhafi's tripoli compound. three of his sons are in custody but gadhafi's whereabouts are still unknown as history continues to unfold in libya this morning. >> quite a sight. rebel forces say they control most of the capital and gadhafi's forces in one tripoli neighborhood are negotiating their surrender. listen. >> talk about happy. after months of fighting the rebels fighting and easily rolled into tripoli, gadhafi's army almost didn't put up any fight. >> wild celebrations as the rebels took green square, the symbolic center of tripoli. thousands of libyans tearing down pictures of the dictator and firing guns into the air, this time firing in celebration. >> thousands also filled the streets to celebrate in the heart of libya's second city, benghazi, second largest city. even though it's a victorious day for many libyans it came at a painful price. a libyan government spokesman says some 1300 people were killed and about 5,000 wounded in this past weekend. >> we are hearing rebels have captured three of gadhafi's sons, a prosecutor for the international criminal court sells cnn talks will be held today on transferring one of them, saif, to the hague. no one knows for sure where their father is. he may not be in tripoli anymore even though he went on the radio vowing to stay to the end. >> who knows where he is at this moment. president obama is monitoring this from martha's vineyard and said libya is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant and gadhafi needs to face reality and acknowledge he is no longer in control. the celebrations continue in tripoli and across libya this morning. sarah sider in rolled into the capital and watched as they seized control of the main square and watched as the people came alive. >> there were expectations of a blood bath, there wasn't one, at least not on this day. we begin our coverage with sarah who is still in tripoli. she's not live. let's -- let's take a look back at what she got and we'll talk to her live. >> fin, finish. >> tripoli very happy. gadhafi finish. now leave. >> what you're seeing behind me are the rebels are now saying there's going to be a massive battle here. they do not have full control of the city. >> at the moment we're not fully in control of tripoli because you can see, you can see that. >> what is this making -- how do you feel about this day? you are from tripoli. why is this day important? a historic day? >> historic day because we had to leave from here and now we had it to fight. i'm not a fighter. i'm a student. it's my first time with a gun. >> civilians are now gone from here and we also have to leave. >> what's happening as everyone starts gathering, [ inaudible ] we are here in the middle of tripoli, what we're seeing is rebels all over the square. really no civilians. mostly men with guns in the square but we're also seeing people running. there's a lot of gunfire. they say they are snipers. we had to pull back. the situation very tense here. but there is a lot of celebrating going on. some of this is just gunfire in the air but people are very, very concerned because they say there were snipers posted on the top of some of these buildings. they're not sure exactly where some of this gunfire is coming from. every now and then you see people just running trying to get out of the way. right now the rebels have green square and it is a historic moment here in tripoli in the capital. the real stronghold of moammar gadhafi has now been taken over by the rebels. >> sarah sider in is still in tripoli. i'm wondering what happened to the thousands of people loyal to moammar gadhafi? >> they're not existent is the best way i can describe it. we are [ inaudible ] main square there, green square, and i can tell you there's not a [ inaudible ] rebel and a [ inaudible ] who have come out. libya, we are united. free libya. there's a lot of [ inaudible ] you ride along, seeing hundreds of people, for example, out of their homes. what you are seeing is long stretches of no one, shuttered buildings, shuttered homes, nobody around, and then suddenly you find where there are a few families on their balconies or at street level and cheering or chanting as the rebels pass to and fro from the middle of the city center out, the rebels clearly have a handle on getting in and out of neighborhoods. they are going neighborhood to neighborhood, trying to what they told us, clear those neighborhood of remaining gadhafi forces including snipers. that's what the situation is right now. we're not seeing at this point and in this neighborhood, any evidence that gadhafi troops are still here in this particular part of tripoli. >> sarah, initially we heard that one of gadhafi sons was leading a small force in tripoli. do you know anything more about that? >> we've heard nothing, but rumors are absolutely rampant. they have been for many months now, to be honest, but now that this has come to a head, the rumors get more and more sometimes outrageous. not hearing that same information. what we are hearing is a lot of screaming, people are celebrating and they are in and out of green square, although they do say there are still some parts of the city, although they may be spread out inside buildings. [ inaudible ] for a second. >> we're going to jump away, sarah, having trouble understanding you right now. communications -- communications, of course -- >> chaotic scene for her? in green square a month ago it was plastered with a picture of moammar gadhafi in full uniform and now plastered with rebels and people celebrating in the streets about the fact that the rebels have entered tripoli. back to sarah in a few minutes. the images of rebel forces rolling into tripoli sparked celebrations across that country. it thousands of fighters shoutsds, fired their weapons into the air in benghazi, the rebels first stronghold and the city where the current rebel government resides. >> and this right here was the scene in misrata, a city that came under heavy fire by gadhafi forces for months in the early part of the conflict. here at home, president obama is being briefed on the dramatic developments in libya during his vacation on martha's vineyard. the president issued a statement saying, quote, tripoli is slipping from the grasp of a tyrant. the gadhafi regime is showing signs of collapsing. the surest way for the bloodshed to end, is sim million, moammar gadhafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end and has to come to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls libya. he needs to relin distinguish power. suddenly, again, libya in the headlines on his vication, dan? >> that's right. and so the president has to juggle not only his domestic agenda, but also foreign policy agenda. this is, though, positive news for the administration this coming some six months or so after president obama first called on moammar gadhafi to step aside. as you pointed out, the president has been getting briefed throughout these developments. john brennan, his counterterrorism adviser has been here on the island. we are told to expect that the president will be getting a briefing first thing this morning. the president also conducted a high-level conference call last night with senior level members of his national security team, including his chief of staff, the secretary of defense, and others, we are told. but, you know, the administration so far has been very careful not to put the president out in front of a camera. obviously because the situation is so fluid. as you pointed out, the president did release a statement last night and also in that statement, the president saying, quote, the people of libya are showing the universal pursuit of dignity and the freedom is far stronger than the iron fist of a dictator. the big question is, what happens next? there are a lot of questions, uncertain what this new leadership will look like. the president saying that there should be a peaceful transition towards democracy. again, questions as to how that will all unfold. christine? >> dan lothian in martha's vineyard, we'll check in with you again soon. with the gadhafi regime crumbling three of gadhafi sons have been captured. our senior international correspondent nic robertson has reported extensively from libya. nic is live from washington. what's going to happen to these three sons? >> saif al islam gadhafi, his son who has essentially been leading the country, has international arest warrant from the international criminal court out for him. a lot of pressure on the international council to live up to the expectations of the international community, the requests of secretary of state hillary clinton, other world leaders, that they should honor the wishes of the people of the country, they should form a transitional government and key their international obligations to act in a democratic way. there will be pressure on them to hand safe al islam gadhafi over to the international criminal court in the hague. the other sons, one could expect to see them perhaps to go on trial in libya in the not-too-distant future, but certainly in this period where there's still chaos on the streets, where there is still sort of a sense that the battle is not completely over, it's not beyond the realms of imagination to expect, if they were to get in the hands of the crowd, their outlook would be very, very limited. it would be pretty desperate situation for them. at the moment the best they can hope is they're safely under lock and key right now, carol. >> as far as moammar gadhafi is concerned, what is your best guess? is he in al gear, venezuela, or hiding in tripoli. >> he vowed to fight to the end and the fact that three of his sons have been caught is somewhat surprising. you would think they would have been smart enough to read the writing on the wall and get out of the city. gadhafi has been surrounded by fans that told you everyone loves you, the country is okay, you don't need to run. has he listened to them and now holed up in tripoli because he didn't run when he could. i'm surprised that saif al islam and saadi have allowed themselves to be outmaneuvered and caught. there's a possibility that moammar gadhafi himself hasn't run, that he hasn't listened, you know, to what's going on properly, and is believed there's plenty of time and he can get out when he wanted to. he has said he'll fight to the end. anyone's guess is 42 years in power, the guy is not crazy. his paranoid, perhaps, schizophrenic, according to some people that know him, but there's a possibility he may yet be caught inside the country. it wouldn't surprise me if that was still to happen. >> maybe we'll know soon. nic robertson, many thanks. now is your chance to talk back on the big story of the day. the question this morning, was u.s. involvement in libya worth it? there's no question now libyan leader moammar gadhafi's reign is over. thousands are reportedly dead and it's likely more will die. but thanks in large part to nato forces and the united states, libya will likely be free of a cruel dictator. libya is celebrating. here at home, in the united states, the celebrations may be satisfying to watch, but the feeling is tempered like everything else, u.s. involvement in libya was conflicted. liberal congressman dennis kucinich accused president obama of an impeachable offense because mr. obama moved forward on libya without congressional approval. republican senator john mccain was critical because he said president obama didn't move fast enough to prevent a long, drawn out fight for freedom. americans weary of war were concerned about costs. according to the obama administration, the libyan mission will cost american taxpayers $1.1 billion by september 30th. still, in just six months, gadhafi is just about gone. remember he was slaughtering his own people. al jazeera estimated last month 13,000 libyans have died in this conflict. the talk back question this morning, was u.s. involvement in libya worth it? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. we are still waiting for the end game. we are still waiting for moammar gadhafi, wherever he may be. ahead on "american morning," gadhafi's last stand. president obama said he needs to face the facts and get out. what role would the u.s. play in a post-gadhafi libya. a live report from the pentagon coming up next. >> hurricane irene may be heading straight to the united states. reynolds wolf with the forecast, next. 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[ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. [♪...] >> male announcer: now, for a limited time, your companion flies free, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. conditions apply.. breaking news happening now. our matthew chance is hearing gunfire outside one of the main hotels in tripoli. let's go live right now to matthew. what can you tell us is happening around you? [ no audio ] >> all right. we don't have audio from matthew right now. he's at the rixos hotel in tripoli where it's been a harrowing couple of days, is an understatement actually. >> there's sporadic fighting between gadhafi forces and the rebels but it's very sporadic. also snipers on buildings. the reason the communication is iffy is you also have nato forces flying over and blocking communication, satellite communication, so if moammar gadhafi were trying to communicate, that communication would be cut off. sometimes it affects our own transmissions. >> the challenges about the gunfire too, you don't know what is happening. if it's celebratory gunfire, or gunfire between snipers and rebels, there have been some gadhafi tanks that have been rolling out in some parts of some neighborhoods but we know gadhafi really only controls i think less than 20% of the city now. >> yeah. >> and that's going neighborhood by neighborhood at this point. >> do we have matthew back? we have matthew back. this is not celebratory gunfire. matthew said as much at 5:00 a.m. eastern time. what is going on? >> it's, as i say, one of those areas still controlled by the gadhafi loyalists. we've got colonel gadhafi's compound just behind me and that's been the scene of some ferocious battles over the course of the past hour or so between gadhafi loyalists staging a sort of defense there and the rebels who very much want to take that symbolic target. rebel forces want to come to the rixos hotel as well [ inaudible ] and the internet and media presence. but again, this is an area, one of the few areas in tripoli, where the government forces of colonel gadhafi are apparently still, you know, kind of making a stand, are still kind of like not allowing rebels to just walk in, which is what they've done in the vast majority of areas in tripoli. you've seen these incredible pictures of rebels simply driving into tripoli from the west, from the effort, from the south, with very little or no resistance. on their trip into the libyan capital, which is the intention to what the libyan government of colonel gadhafi said yesterday, they have tens of thousands of soldiers bracing themselves to make a vigorous defense of tripoli. >> all right. matthew chance, we'll continue to check in with you about the situation there. in the meantime it is 21 minutes after the hour. hurricane irene is gaining speed and strength. hurricane warnings in effect now for puerto rico, dominican republic. irene could hit the u.s. by the end of this week. reynolds wolf tracking irene from the cnn hurricane headquarters. >> you mentioned speed and strength, the two things that have increased since your last update. you're right on both of those. when it comes to maximum sustained winds, 75 miles per hour. the situation is it may intensify at least over the next several days. possibly with winds going to up about 90 or so. however the farther out you go, you extrapolate from the original forecast to the current forecast, things get a little bit inaccurate. a few more errors that sometimes pop up. something else, the intrusion of dry air moving into the top half of the storm. the thing is you still have plenty of convec sln closer to the center of circulation and back to the forecast in terms of the national hurricane center their forecast brings it through the turks and caicos, into the bahamas, possibly moving into the state of florida as we get into possibly thursday or even into friday. keep in mind that is just the center of this storm. this is something that's very big. in fact, if you were able to pick this thing up and drop it over the state of florida it would nearly cover the entire state. when you include the outflow, even the center of the storm, before we get too nervous the farther out we go, the more like we are to see changes to the forecasts. it pay pull deeper into the atlantic and miss land altogether, it could venture into the south and the gulf of mexico. florida is certainly in the cone of uncertainty. if you live in the state of florida it is the time to go ahead and prepare some of the freedness kits -- preparedness kits. store water and batteries. doesn't mean you need to evacuate. time to keep a sharp eye on what's happening in the atlantic. back to you. >> thank you so much. still to come on "american morning," a cloud of fear lifting over libya this morning as gadhafi's 42-year rule nears the end. we will show you a passionate interview with a 19-year-old woman from tripoli who finally thinks it's safe enough to speak. >> and even though the war in libya is not over just yet, we're already seeing the effects in oil markets. on oil prices. we're going to tell you why right after the break. mind. investors bracing for another potentially rocky week in the rockets. u.s. stock futures for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are trading higher as you can see ahead of the opening bell. that's just getting a bit of a boost from a dip in oil prices overnight after news that the war in libya could be coming to an end soon and the country could resume oil production. before the war started libya produced about 1.6 million barrels of oil every day. that accounts for almost 2% of global supply. european markets trading higher on the news out of libya, likely a short-live