Pres. Obama under Fire for Libya
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Have a great day. Thanks so much. The Japanese nuclear crisis causing new concerns this morning on both sides of the Pacific. We begin our coverage with the latest from Japan. Two workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant have been rushed to the hospital. A total of three workers at the plant stepped in radioactive water. No word yet on the condition of those workers or why the third worker wasn't hospitalized. Officials say new tests show that Tokyo tap water is again safe for babies. A previous test raised concerns about radioactive material levels. Authorities still plan to distribute bottled water to parents. And more countries are banning or placing a hold on foods imported from the region around that damaged plant. Russia joins the United States, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong in imposing restrictions. Tinny tiny amounts of radiation from Japan have turned up in the western United States. Air monitors in Portland, Oregon, detected trace amounts. Health officials insist the amount is so small, there is no health risk. No need to buy those potassium iodide pills.</s>GAIL SHIBLEY, OREGON PACIFIC HEALTH DIV.: There continues to be no health concern, no health risk to people in Oregon. I would strongly suggest that people take whatever money they may spend on potassium iodide and send it to a trusted charity to support and provide assistance to the people in Japan.</s>COSTELLO: Air monitoring systems in Colorado also picked up tiny amounts of radiation. Again, health officials say it is harmless. In fact, the EPA says in a typical day Americans get doses of radiation from natural sources like the sun that are about a hundred thousand times higher than what's blown over from Japan. Let's go back to Japan. We want to show you new pictures from inside the Fukushima nuclear plant. They are the first ones we've seen from inside the plant since the earthquake hit two weeks ago. And as you can see, they show the damage. The pictures were taken by officials from the Japanese Nuclear Safety Agency. The pictures are from the control rooms of the number one and number two reactors. And as we told you before, two workers inside that plant were -- inside that plant were rushed to the hospital this morning. CNN's Martin Savidge is following that part of the story from Tokyo. So, Marty, exactly what happened to these workers?</s>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, these were workers that are working at reactor number three. Keep in mind there are six reactors out of that nuclear facility. But reactor number three has really been the most problematic and it's the one they're most concerned about primarily because of all six reactors out there it is the only one that has a plutonium mix with its reactor fuel. And as a result of that, it makes it much more dangerous. So the three workers were trying to lay down a new power cable because the idea is, of course, get the power in, get the pumps on, stabilize the circumstance. As they were working, they apparently splashed through a puddle of water that contained a great deal of radioactivity and as a result of that got radiation burns on their legs. As you mentioned, two of them were transported to the hospital. Why the third one wasn't taken to the hospital isn't exactly clear. What we do know is that the exposure to the level of radiation they received would be the equivalent of what they would be allowed to get on the job in an entire year. They apparently got it in just this one single incident. It's not supposed to be life-threatening to have this kind of exposure but they were taken to the hospital as a precaution anyway -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: And -- just another word on the Tokyo tap water. I understand it's safe to drink now. They're saying even pregnant women can drink the tap water now. I'm sure there are many people still loathe to do that, though.</s>SAVIDGE: Right. They are. I mean this is the -- this is the concern here, of course. You can tell people over and over, look, it's safe to drink. Apparently it wasn't safe to drink yesterday for children under the age of 1 year. But the test today show that the levels had dramatically dropped back down. What's unknown is exactly why you had that sort of 24-hour spike, if it was even that long. The water supplied to the city of Tokyo, which is well over 12 million people comes from three different rivers. So presumably one or all of those rivers have suffered some sort of contamination. But why it would go up and then drop back down isn't clear. One thing certain even if the level has gone down that hasn't stopped the run on bottled water. Just about every store in town had its shelves cleared in a matter of hours because even if they say look, it's OK for adults, many people here are just simply too fearful and they really aren't sure if they can trust what the government is telling them so the water went off the shelves -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Martin Savidge, reporting live from Tokyo. Thanks. For the next hour we'll talk with a radiation expert about the risks in Japan and here in the United States and whether we are painting a fair picture for you. Stay with us for that. It is day six of the coalition strikes on Libya and this morning's explosions echoed across an area east of the capital. Libya's government claims that allied strikes in one Tripoli suburb killed 18 people. State television says civilians are among the dead. Coalition officials say it's unlikely that there were any nonmilitary casualties in the attack and allied officials say that even though the offensive has put rebels in a stronger position, Moammar Gadhafi's forces still have the upper hand in the battle for that country. Yet, President Obama says the United States has an exit strategy that will take effect this week. That has some here scratching their heads. As you know, the president left El Salvador a few years early for a flight home so he could deal with Libya. And when he got to the White House he -- he tried to get into some French doors and as you see they were locked because he came back early. He did get in of course but it was perhaps an omen of what's to come. The House speaker sent a letter to the president complaining of a fuzzy mission in Libya. And Democrat Nancy Pelosi sent her own letter cautiously supporting the president, cautiously supporting him. So let's go to White House and Ed Henry. Ed, the president has many lawmakers angry over this and voters aren't sure what's up. So what's on the president's agenda today?</s>ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, very interesting strategy from this White House, Carol, because the president really is going to stay out of the public eye, at least according to his schedule right now. He's having lunch with Vice President Biden. He's somebody who's a very important foreign policy strategist and adviser for this president. And so we would expect Libya will be a key topic on the menu there obviously. And then in the afternoon the president is going to be meeting with his senior advisers to go over the strategy in Libya a little bit more. But I spoke to a senior aide who said that as of now the president is not planning to come out and address the American people, address the world today, to explain a little bit more and answer some of those questions that both Speaker Boehner as well as some Democrats on the Hill have about exactly what is the endgame in Libya -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: So a lot of people say he should come out and address the public on television in primetime. Do you think that he'll be forced to do that by, let's say, those angry lawmakers or those confused voters?</s>HENRY: I think it's going to be determined, frankly, by exactly what happens on the Hill over the next few days and, more importantly, perhaps, what happens on the ground in Libya. As you noted, the White House continues to stick to this line that they are going to turn over the key handling of the mission and handling of the no-fly zone to allies in days, not weeks. Well, they started saying that Saturday. So if you start adding it up, days, pretty soon, are going to run out and start becoming weeks. And so if the pressure gets a little bit more intense and they still have not turned this over, you can bet that it's more and more likely the president then would address the nation. I think right now they're going to do a lot of canvassing behind the scenes now that he's back here to take the temperature of lawmakers on the Hill and see if they can sort of assuage some of those concerns they have by answering the questions about exactly what is the endgame. And if they don't come up with those answers there's going to be more pressure to address the nation. There's no doubt about it.</s>COSTELLO: Not only about the endgame, Ed, but about this exit strategy. What exactly does that mean? Does that mean that some of our war planes will leave? Some of our warships will leave? Does it mean that we'll just sit back and do nothing? I mean what does it mean?</s>HENRY: Well, I think it's all tied up in an endgame and an exit strategy is -- we're talking about the same thing. Yes, what does it mean when the U.S. pulls back? NATO allies already saying they don't -- they don't yet have a plan in place to take over for the U.S. So that's one stumbling block. Secondly, when you talk about an exit strategy what happens with Colonel Gadhafi if he stays in power after all this bombardment, all this pressure, what then does the U.S. do? I mean they've made clear that the U.N. resolution authorizing this in the eyes of the White House does not call for regime change, does not call for directly pushing Gadhafi out. The White House certainly wants him to go. The president has said that over and over. If he doesn't leave, what then, Carol?</s>COSTELLO: So many up unanswered questions. Ed Henry, live at the White House, thanks so much.</s>HENRY: Good to see you.</s>COSTELLO: More anti-government protests are taking place throughout the Arab world. And Yemen demonstrators rallied against the president there. Ali Abdullah Saleh has the country's legislature voted in favor of a state of emergency. That vote came despite an appeal from government opponents who say it could lead to a new, quote, "massacre." In Syria, 15 people were killed during protests demanding government reforms. The U.S. State Department says it is deeply troubled by these civilian deaths. Syrian state television says the governor of the province where the protests took place has been fired. The director of a human rights group tells CNN Syrian security forces fired live ammunition at unarmed protesters. The turmoil across much of the Arab world has hit Americans in their back pockets. Here's a look at the fuel prices lately. The national average on gas has held steady overnight. It crept up less than half a penny a gallon, keeping unleaded at $3.55 a gallon. But oil prices keep climbing. The benchmark U.S. contract closed at $105.75 a barrel. Earlier in the day, it passed the $106 threshold and that's the highest level in two and a half years. Right now the U.S. is leading the mission in Libya but President Obama is promising that Washington will hand over the reins within days. We'll find out how tough it will be for the U.S. to take a backseat. General Wesley Clark will join us. And the silence from the control tower at Reagan National Airport. The lone air traffic controller does not respond when pilots ask for help in landing. The FAA is looking into reports he was asleep.