unexpectedly stealerized and is in front of cameras in tripoli. the opposition forces claimed they had him in custody. apparently not. in any case, not anymore. here's some of what he had to say. >> translator: there have led through the sea and through other means, people who are sabotage and you could see the people of libya are standing and had to have break the spine of those gangsters and rats, just -- today we will go in the hot spots of tripoli -- in tripoli an and we will reassure the people that things are fine in libya. now we're going to go on a walk about in tripoli and in the places where they said there has been -- they have actually seized from us. then he said, the hell with the oscc. >> a short time later, as the dictator's son was about to leave matthew chance caught up with him one-on-one. >> we broke the backbone of the rebels. so we're winning. and now, let's go, let's go together to the hottest places in tripoli, okay? it's very hot. you want to go? go, take the car, let's go. >> i have to -- >> we have to move. >> okay, bye-bye. >> have to move. we'll check back with matthew chance shortly. he and his crew were basically captive audiences tonight. they are stuck, pinned down, not able to leave the hotel by fighting at a nearby gadhafi compound and gadhafi loyalist gunmen are patrolling the halls inside. the question is what happens next in tripoli and what's happening right now? it's hard to tell. has the opposition been lured into a trap as saif gadhafi claims? this afternoon, president obama called on the missing dictator to resurface and surrender. >> although it's clear gadhafi's rule is over, he still has the opportunity to reduce further bloodshed by explicitl ly rly r kwishing power to libya. >> that's president obama this afternoon. he called the situation "fluid." and it is certainly that. the administration is preparing for a post gadhafi libya. the "wall street journal" reporting that the u.s. has promised the council to quickly free up billions of dollars in frozen libyan assets if and when gadhafi finally falls. more on that shortly from our people on the ground. first a quick look at the opposition's road to tripoli and, they hope, to victory. after weeks of intense fighting, the coastal city of z achlgt wiya and the next target, tripoli. on sunday, the advance began and the rebels were surprised at how easily they were able to infiltrate the city. >> the road was completely clear and we were able to get here in no time flat. we're just seeing the outskirts of the town but you can see there are checkpoints. you can see people are screaming "god is great." you can hear the shooting in the air. and we're getting very, very close now to the city center. >> by dusk the first reports of fighting within tripoli. western journalists are held by the government inside the tripoli hotel. >> reporter: seconds or a few minutes we've learned that the security that's been so prevalent around this hotel has all of a sudden decided to leave, essentially, the government minders who are armed with rifles and things like that, have departed the hotel now. and it's pretty empty in the area apart from a few security staff. or a few hotel staff. apart from that it's completely empty. kind of an uncertain time. because obviously, we don't know the exact reason why the minders have left with their weapons. the assumption is it's because the rebels are very close by. >> late sunday, gadhafi made an audio appeal on state television for residents to defend the capitol. >> translator: how can you allow tripoli to be destroyed, burned. >> lib yankee government spokesman told reporters that tripoli was, quote, "being turned into a hell fire." by 1:15, they marched. >> right now, everyone is -- [ gunfire ] what we're seeing is rebels all over the square. there are no civilians. mostly men with guns in the square but we're also seeing people running. there's a lot of gunfire and they say they are snipers. we all had to pull back [ gunfire ] >> the situation is very tense. >> scenes of celebration inside the city as world leaders, including president obama, called on gadhafi to surrender. but as dawn broke, celebratory gunfire turned hostile as government forces fought back. here's a convoy of opposition fighters. [ gunfire ] rebels gain another victory by announcing the arrest of the news anchor for libyan state television who brandished a gun during her broadcast declaring she would become a martyr for the regime. after her arrest the opposition forces say they got control over the state run network and turned the broadcast off. serious fighting continues in parts of tripoli and the opposition said they are certain of victory and have begun making plans to govern the nation. but the one task that could end this war once and for all 'still eludes them. the capture of moammar gadhafi . again, gadhafi is hiding somewhere. his son, saif, reappeared tonight and they join us from tripoli with matthew. how did he appear to you? he seemed pretty confident. >> yeah, he did. he seemed very relaxed. he seemed looking quite good, actually, for a man who was supposed to have been in custody for the last 48 hours. he said that was a trick and made the point the rebels have come into tripoli. he said that gadhafi forces had broken their backbone and given them a hard time before the door closed and he drove off. he drove off in a motorcade into tripoli. clearly into an area which is very much under control of the forces of his father. >> and you say -- he said the opposition had fallen into some sort of trap. what did he mean? the opposition has been claiming besides they captured him, but they control 90% of tripoli? >> yes. they are saying that. i think there are questions tonight about to what extent that's the case. it's very difficult for us here in the hotel to verify what -- how much of tripoli is controlled by the rebels and how much is controlled by gadhafi. i can tell you this, safe gadhafi got into the motorcade and he's in the area immediately around the area. the gadhafi compound is around this area and other key installations and he's driving around with pretty limited security. a couple of other cars filled with bodyguards. not like a huge armored car or anything like that. he seemed to feel pretty safe. he said, look, get into the car and i'll take you to some of the hot areas of tripoli, the implication being that there are areas that are being talked about as being in rebel hands and he wanted to show us that these areas were safe to drive around. he didn't take the opportunity for -- i didn't take the opportunity but he came across as very confident, indeed, anderson. >> it would seem a multiswrooirk white land rover convoi would be a pretty good target for nato planes overhead. the fact that he's driving around that at night does seem to show a certain amount of confidence. >> it does. he told reporters earlier in the evening that he was going to be giving a press conference. we didn't know he wasn't in captivity at this point so we were all taken aback and skeptical that this will happen. our skepticism was confirmed when we went down at 11:30 at night to get ready for the press conference and he didn't turn up so we thought, this is just spin being put out by the rebels. and then when he appeared at the hotel entrance about two hours later, we were all really surprised. what was really surprising of everything is that he was still in tripoli. he was still -- he was free and he said his father, moammar gadhafi was still in tripoli, as was the rest of his family, trying to dispel those rumors that elements of the family had fled or been killed or taken captive. >> at this time are you hearing gunfire? are you hearing the sounds of any kind of combat and if not, when was the last time you did? >> it was about, you know, three or four hours ago, shortly before saif gadhafi turned up at the hotel. previous to that there have been enormous gunfights. ferocious gun fights. grenades exploding. huge explosions around that compound which has been the moammar gadhafi compound. in particular, this firefight has surrounded there for the past 72 hours or so as the rebels entered tripoli. but after saif gadhafi made his appearance at the hotel, the whole situation seems to have changed. no gunfire at site. i'm talking to you on skype. the electricity is on in the hotel. a few hours ago we were all sitting in searing 450e9 because there's no air conditioners and there was no running water, no lights outside or inside and now, the generators have gone back on again. it seems that, at least in this area, this area of tripoli, around the rixos hotel and the gadhafi compound the government has succeeded in defending this pocket and reestablishing their control. control, they never really lost in this particular area. >> i know you've been sort of scavenging for food. stay safe and we'll continue to check in. you know he took power in a coupe and his brutal often eccentric personality is all they've known all their lives. can you imagine? that's the way it's been for a 23-year-old libyan woman we'll call nora, to protect her identity. she lives in libya with her family and says libyans have wanted to live a normal life. for months she's not spoken but tonight she breaks her silence. she says she's on the cusp of experiencing freedom for the first time. i spoke to her earlier by phone. how are you feeling? when you hear the gunfire and when you see what is happening how do you feel? >> i'm frightened because we know that gadhafi and his army, the kind of people -- they do not care about anyone. they're -- they think in a deeper way. they're not even human beings. you cannot -- you can never, never expect what they will do. they're reactions, they are unexpected. so we don't know. they may do anything. actually, before maybe one or two hours and a half, they were firing rocks and 100% sure that we -- we are trying to -- we're defending our freedom and we didn't choose the situation. we didn't choose to have this war in our country. actually, it was gadhafi and his army. he's the one who forced us to fight -- to take our freedom from him. now we are fighting to take our simplest needs as people, as human beings. we were treated by him, for 42 years, as slaves. >> what does it feel like, your entire life you have lived under gadhafi. what does it feel like to be on the brink of change? to be on the brink of something new? >> you know, now i'm 23 years old. as you say, i lived all my life under the control of him. my feeling now are very, very close to my freedom so i will just in the moment that i will take it and i will leave every moment of my life and thank the lord for every moment i will live it without him and his control and his son's control as well. so i'm wanting and really, really, i'm waiting for this minute. i'm waiting for the time that we'll hear that gadhafi is over. they captured him and he's over. no gadhafi. even if i die after that moment has arrived, i will live for a moment that they will tell me there's onagan no gadhafi. that will be the best thing in my life. >> thank you for talking to us. stay safe and be careful. >> thank you so much. >> imagine what that feels like. let us know what you think. we're on facebook and "ac 360." how much help has been gotten. boots on the ground? covert assistance? we'll talk to a former army intelligence commander about the possibilities. >> gadhafi finished. now, libya freedom! future of b. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ to help move business... forward. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. sure, but let me get a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do. saef gadhafi said opposition forces have been lowered into the capitol to be crushed and offered little to back it up. the opposition claims to control about 90% of the city and they also claimed to be safe in custody for saif. we know that opposition forces have moved into tripoli, so quickly, in part with nato air support. they've become better fighters with the kind of covert assistance you don't see on the evening news. i spoke about it in saif's presence and general james spider marks general marks, with the fight for tripoli ongoing and gadhafi's where abouts unknown, how do you see this playing out especially with the appearance of saif gadhafi. >> you can't believe the first report you hear and that's played out with the appearance of saif gadhafi in town. the really, the issue is what type of command and control exists among this rebel force that can really put in place some degrees of control around gadhafi's military that still exists? what are those units that have to be destroyed and how can they get that equipment from the forces and put them into locations so you could lock them down and do an inventory so they don't appear elsewhere in battle and more importantly, don't get sold on the black market. so it's critical for the next couple of days and what we've seen is not at all certain. >> bob, it seems that the opposition fighters, in the early days we saw how completely disorganized they were, shooting in the air and running forward and then retreating. jumping into vehicles. it was really complete chaos on the battlefield. they clearly began to get some direction and organization. how much of that do you think came from foreign special forces, from intelligence operatives, from nato and other countries? >> a lot of it has. nato has played a crucial role in this. and in order to hit these targets, as general mark knows you need close air support and communications with the airplanes and surveillance equipment. a lot of them are contractors, benghazi this summer and providing support. some of it was lethal support. and british commandos and the french. and they've played a key role and that's why we've seen a lot fewer hits on rebel forces. >> it's also why there's been less coverage of opposition troop movements because they've finally got sort of battlefield control over where reporters go. general marks, if the batting is in tripoli, what role does nato play in that? obviously there's air support and they can bomb but if it becomes a street to street fight, that becomes more difficult for nato to be involved with unless they use some sort of covert forces on the ground, no? >> absolutely, anderson. we've been talking about the inevitability of foreign boots on the ground. that will take place. whether the fighting assumes what we call street-to-street or block-to-block types of urban warfare or more importantly, during the periods of transition, and we'll state it as we see it, there will be a transition and it will be shortly, they've got to lock down gadhafi's military forces so they don't grow legs and go elsewhere and that takes some degree of force on the ground. >> there's also concern, bob, that they decide to do some sort of insurgency that gadhafi forces go out to the desert or some other area where they can operate and do a operation. how likely do you think that is? or does he not have the loyalty that that would require? >> no. he can do this. in the early part of the conflict he was talking about going to the desert. it's remote and hard to hit. this may be a fantasy on his part but remember, this is a tribal conflict and there's still tribal loyalties. it won't be like overthrowing saddam. once he was out there wasn't all that much loyalty. with gadhafi it's more tribal binding and we'll see resistance and as general marks said we have to get in there and some way, prevent a civil war, because that's a likelihood in a place like libya. >> i've been in countries that have fallen and i remember that once a dictator has been in power for a long period of time who many people owe their allegiance to, once he's seen to be weak, you never know what his forces are going to do. >> you don't. it's euphoria of the moment. what you have is gadhafi's forces. now everybody is trying to cut their own deal and everybody is in survival type of mode. his calls for some last-ditch effort to continue the fight really, are going to cause greater bloodshed. and then the rebels, which haven't demonstrated a lot of command and control, a lot of maturity and discipline, have now been able to achieve this or are about to achieve this great victory, the earn the for score-settling is very large. >> thank you both. coming up, president obama might be on vacation but he's closely involved with events playing out. we'll analyze the president's strategy on libya next. [ male announcer ] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them. it's the at&t network... and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. ifyou don't have facetimene, on your phone, it's the at&t network... which makes it this easy to talk face-to-face with another iphone. this easy to talk with a mac and this easy to talk with an ipad. facetime. just one more thing that makes an iphone an iphone. everyone has been waiting for this day for moammar gadhafi to get out. everyone is waiting for that very minute. they can capture the son and confidants of gadhafi but until they have gadhafi captured dead or alive, even in benghazi, people are still apprehensive because the man has been, quite frankly, a bogey man for everyone. the chance that his followers might take up arms. still very real. >> very real indeed. a very fluid situation as president obama today characterized the events unfolding inside libya. the president is monitoring developments from marthas vineyard where he's on vacation with his family. he spoke by phone to members of the national security council and with british prime minister david cameron. here's mart of what he said. >> over the last several days, the situation in libya has reached a tipping point as the opposition increased its coordination from east to west, took town after town and the people of tripoli rose up to claim their freedom. for over four decades, libyan people have lived under the rule of a tyrant who denied them their most basic human rights. now the celebrations that we've seen in the streets of libya shows that the pursuit of human dignity is far stronger than any dictator. i want to emphasize that this is not over yet. as the regime collapses, there's still fierce fighting in some areas and we have reports of regime elements threatening to continue fighting. >> the president also said it is time for gadhafi to relinquish power to reduce further bloodshed. we're joined by fran townsend. in may of 2010, fran visited high-ranking officials at the invitation of the libyan government. and we have representative of contractors and others. the u.s. strategy in this campaign leading from behind, taking a supporting role in the end, did it work? >> well, the question is, is it working? while success may be a de