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Melissa Block talks with Abderrahim Foukara, Washington Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera, about President Obama's speech on Libya

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

This evening, President Obama went to the National Defense University, here in Washington, to defend the U.S. military role in Libya. The president addressed a range of concerns including the cost of the operation and the overall scope of the mission. Mostly, he made a broad case that America had to act in Libya because it was the right thing to do.

Melissa Block speaks with EJ Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution and Matthew Continetti of the The Weekly Standard, for analysis on Obama's speech.

President Obama is speaking to the nation this evening from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. His subject: the military campaign in Libya.

Indiana House Democrats who fled the state nearly six weeks ago to protest a Republican agenda they considered an assault on labor unions and public education returned to the Statehouse on Monday after nearly six weeks in Illinois.

Minority Leader Patrick Bauer said he and his fellow Democrats ended one of the longest legislative walkouts in recent U.S. history after winning concessions from Republicans over recent weeks on several issues.