Nightly News   |  February 26, 2011

Reporter tells of ‘two Tripolis’

NBC’s Jim Maceda reflects on his journey into the Libyan capital.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> libyan regime is ptrying to project a calm public face. nbc's jim mesada just arrived there. we asked him which city he saw on his way in.

>> reporter: i think i've seen some of both. really on the one and, tripoli as least the ride from the airport to the center of town looks like a city and not a war zone . you see streetlights everywhere and that is the first thing that goes in an urban battle. along the route, his face was on the biggest posters. the city is clean and kquiet but not a normal city. it feels like it is in lock down or curfew. which it is not. tonight is saturday night and you saw no people and few cars in the streets. we did run into a checkpoint manned by civilians who were suspicious asking our driver for his id before waving us through. you certainly do feel two libyas, and two tripolis. one that has been cleaned up for the press and another one that is clearly tense and bracing for something. it is quite erie.