Page 27 - Cairo Egypt News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

I worked at the state department for eight years in the bush administration. i know what it's like to serve in a diplomatic post and try to get washington to approve something. it takes a very long time. that is the frustration here for me is that why are we critiquing when mitt romney spoke or the timing whether it was too early. the simple fact the president of united states waited 15 hours while a developing situation took hold and became more violent. why aren't we asking where the president was during those 15 hours? if i was out in embassy cairo dealing with all this as it was unfolding....

Exactly whether their missiles have been right on target? >> oh, they know a lot. those t-land missiles will hit within meters of their intended targets. they're listening to communications. they're trying to detect whether they have digital comes back into the air defense systems. i think they're getting ready for the next step. a lot of these are probably going to be measured pulses hoping they destabilize the regime and turn this thing around without further fighting. >> let me bring in nbc's richard engel reporting from cairo, egypt. when you're talking about the fact that you have this --...

And a half, the united states has launched operation "odyssey dawn" with missiles toward air defense systems from libya and also communication sites. it's one of a series of staged attacks. let's go to nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. he's in cairo, egypt. the fact that there will be a series of attacks, we are likely to see attacks continuing through the night now, richard. what does this do for the humanitarian crisis in libya? >> reporter: well, it depends on who you're asking. and right now, there is a press conference under way in tripoli by libyan officials. and they are ...

Was it too little? should we have acted sooner? >> oh, sure, there's an argument that says the rebels would not have been successful no matter when we acted. but they're very likely now to be unsuccessful. and had we -- the coalition -- acted 3 1/2 weeks ago, the rebels would have had a much greater chance of being successful. now i think they've got almost no chance at all. >> well, i guess i would just -- i defer to you an all things military -- >> do not do that. >> but do we have enough information now to know that it's impossible for, say, a lot of weapons to come across the border from e...

The logic in their arguments. so if you've been subjected to 40-plus years of constant propaganda and often very brutal images of graves and people who have been killed that they're claiming are victims of the western aggression and a variety of crimes committed against libya, it does have an impact on you, even if there are alternative sources of information. >> in that case, i guess, then it's been astounding to see how strong the opposition has been to moammar gadhafi and how intensely they've been willing to fight against this libyan strongman who's been in power for so long. richard engel...