involvement in libya. one new development: reports quoting u.s. officials that cia teams are now operating in rebel-held eastern libya. today, gates declined to comment on any c.i.a. activity, but did respond to questions about the president's promise of no american military forces, so- called "boots on the ground." >> are there any boots on the ground? >> not that i'm aware of? >> so we're saying we're not going to put any boots on the ground but neither have our allies? >> that's my understanding and the opposition has said they don't want any. >> so is there any time on the future that there might be allies boots on ground in libya? >> not as long as i'm in this job. >> brown: questions about the strength libyan rebel forces came up as well and secretary gates acknowledged that the opposition appeared to have no coherent leadership. he was asked whether terrorist groups were likely to use that situation to their advantage. >> if we're not dealing with cohesive group, are you concerned al queda will take advantage of leadership vacuum? >> i thin

they had never lived in a libya without him. and i think there was a difficult, you know, it was a difficult prospect for them to vision a country where he was not there. >> warner: and lynsey, go back to this long trek you took, really, from ajdabiyah all the way to tripoli and tony has just said that you had seen kind of the wreckage of a state. you have this photographer's eye. give us just a little flavor of that. >> i mean, unfortunately i was bound most of the trip and blindfolded and so i couldn't see very much. but we were blindfolded. we took a six-hour journey in the back of a pickup truck where they blindfolded us and tied our hands behind our back and threw us in the back of a pickup truck and we were taken from probably the outskirts of ajdabiyah all the way to sirte where he spent a night in prison. and in that drive tyler was able to see out from under his blindfold and he was sort of narrating the scenes as long the side of the road. and i was hiding, i was sort of in fetal position if the back of the truck. just

macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: president obama said the war in libya is at a military stalemate, and nato allies continue to pressure colonel qaddafi to surrender power. good evening. i'm jim lehrer. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, we have the latest on the conflict, and on unrest elsewhere in the middle east. plus, we examine how the u.s. is dealing with uprisings around the region. >> lehrer: then, mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> woodruff: tom bearden returns to the u.s. gulf coast to see the environmental costs of the oil spill one year later. >> hundreds of fisherman are getting ready for the upcoming shrimping season, hoping against hope that the catch will be good fluff to allow them to stay if business next year. >> lehrer: robert macneil previews his upcoming series of newshour reports on autism. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to

what's changed is the target environment in libya. it's now much more difficult to stage airstrikes. they moved from the desert where they're sitting ducks-- sitting tanks as it were-- and they're in the cities which makes it much more harder to strike there and is part ofhe reason for the american reticence. >> warner: jim hoagland, bowes, thank you. >> lehrer: now, writers, poets, and one of the nation's leading literary institutions. jeffrey brown reports. >> "all the little birds fluttered through our block, cocoa-buttered up in their poom- poom shorts..." >> reporter: a portrait of the artist as a young writer: 23- year-old marcus burke, a first year student at the iowa writers workshop, where his short story in progress is about street life where he grew up, near boston. iowa's a famous place but you didn't grow up knowing about it? >> no, no. god, no. there were no writers in my neighborhood. >> reporter: but now, burke has turned from basketball-- he was a high school star and played in college-- to a different kind of bruisin

we've lost a significant volume of oil coming out of libya. this is very high-quality oil that was typically used to create... to make a lot of gasoline. but that's led to oil prices across the board being significantly higher up, some 20%. the other factor, though is that even prior to this demand had also been increasing, along with the general economy had been improving, especially over the last year. americans had been driving more and so we saw our inventories, our stock, our excess supplies of gasoline slowly coming down over the last several months. that's also led to it. so we have factors on both the supply and demand but it's really the crude oil price that's gotten us so quickly to $4 a gallon. >> suarez: if america's crude comes closefully closer places: canada, mexico, venezuela, why does a crimp in the libyan supply affect our supply at a pump in des moines. >> right, exactly. especially you're at the pump in des moines you're doing a little bit better because you've got some canadian crude coming in and it can only go to the u.s

hetherington was killed in libya today. he was 41 years old. and now to hari sreenivasan for what's on the "newshour" online. hari? >> sreenivasan: watch all of jeff's interview with tim hetherington, and read more about his career, on "art beat." see a slideshow of images from the b.p. oil spill narrated by an associated press photographer who has covered the story from the beginning and our science unit asks experts what's happened to all the oil in the gulf. plus tonight's edition of "nova" looks at the use of technology to defeat global warming. all that and more is on our web site: newshour.pbs.org. gwen? >> ifill: and that's the "newshour" for tonight. on thursday, we'll look at allied aid for the opposition in libya. i'm gwen ifill. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you online and again here tomorrow evening. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> oil companies have changed my country. >> oil companies can make a difference. >> we have the chance to build the economy. >> create jobs,

because libya... we think of it as part of the middle east and as an arab country but it's an african country. >> i think jessica, it's interesting that you are picking on countries which are democratic. there have been elections very imperfect ones in pakistan and in most of africa, there are now elections. i think that goes to the heart of the issue which is elections are not enough. that doesn't necessarily give you a government that is trust and representative and legitimate. which again takes us back to why this is going to be a difficult transition. because an election in a country which has no history of pluralism, no real middle class to be the kind of bedrock of a new system. well, you wonder in syria, yemen, particularly libya, just how easy it will be. i think it's a very good point. we all know where we want to go but some of these journeys are going to be very difficult. i think it's also worth pointing out in the "new york times" today had an article which i've been waiting for is, oh, m

>> this morning was a discussion about the wide range of issues not just libya. obviously afghanistan which remains our main effort and the situation in egypt, what is happening in syria. what's happening in bahrain, what's happening in the rest of the gulf, what is happening in yemen. secretary gates said to me a few weeks ago it's like watching the seven playings of egypt unfolding. and as he said we haven't got to the locusts yet. we've been seeing an unusually large number of unstable situations in the region, all of which we're having to respond to. >> warner: but is there anything new that you came up with on libya to increase the pressure still further? >> well, it's not so much new as a continuation of the pressure we've been bringing on qaddafi. up until relatively recently really until the last few days, if you look at it from qaddafi's point of view, this has been something happening at arm's length, something happening in misrata, something happening in benghazi. what we've seen in recent days are attacks on tripoli to increase the psychological press

predator drones are now targeting moammar qaddafi's forces in libya. good evening, i'm jim lehrer. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight, we have the latest on the war. and examine beefed-up efforts by the u.s. and by nato on behalf of the rebels. >> lehrer: then, we sort through the competing democratic and republican plans for medicare. >> woodruff: robert macneil reports his fourth autism story. tonight, treatment and schooling for children with the disorder. >> for children with autism, many of the lessons teach basic life skills to talk, to sit still, pay attention, learn how to shave, know the dangers of traffic. >> lehrer: plus, we have two takes on the b.p. oil spill. hari sreenivasan talks to joel achenbach of the "washington post" about his new book chronicling the disaster. >> woodruff: and we close with a sampling of the year's images from the gulf coast taken by a.p. photographer, gerald herbert. >> there's whole sections of this island that are not even recognizable from what it was before. so, where there was mang

on monday, we'll have the latest on the war in libya. i'm judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> okay, listen. somebody has got to get serious. >> i think... >> we need renewable energy. >> ...renewable energy is vital to our planet. >> you hear about alternatives, right? wind, solar, algae. >> i think it's got to work on a big scale. and i think it's got to be affordable. >> so, where are they? >> it has to work in the real world. at chevron, we're investing millions in solar and biofuel technology to make it work. >> we've got to get on this now. >> right now. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. pacific life. the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing supp

warplanes were pulled from front-line missions in libya. britain, france and other nato allies will now take the lead in enforcing the no-fly zone. security forces in yemen cracked down on thousands of antigovernment protesters today. at least 15 people were killed when military forces and police snipers opened fire on a crowd in the southern city of taiz. dozens more were wounded. meanwhile, the "new york times" reported the u.s. has shifted its stance on yemen, and is now seeking the removal of president ali abdullah saleh. in washington, white house press secretary jay carney downplayed the report. >> we support dialogue, political dialogue. and president saleh has publicly indicated his willingness to engage in a peaceful transition of power and we believe the timing and the form of that transition should be accomplished through dialogue and negotiation. so we urge that process to continue. >> sreenivasan: saleh has been a close u.s. ally for years, particularly in yemen's role in fighting al qaeda. two american soldiers were killed in

the city is the gateway to much of eastern libya. meanwhile, france and britain complained nato air strikes are not doing enough to protect libyan civilians. the french foreign minister made the claim in luxembourg, and a top nato commander answered in brussels. >> nato absolutely wanted to leave this operation. voila. this is where we are. i trust them to assemble the necessary means. it is unacceptable that misrata can continue to be bombed by ka doofy's troops. >> when you look at what we've done in the high operational tempo of the last few days taking out numerous things, armored personnel carrier, with the assets we have we're doing a great job. >> sreenivasan: nato took control of operations in libya from the u.s., france, and britain on march 31. in northeastern syria, government forces staged attacks on two villages. neighboring villagers said they could hear heavy gunfire for much of the day. the towns are outside the city of banias, now sealed off by the army. in washington, a white house spokesman accused the syrian gover