the shooter is still a free man. the family says it was murder. that and more right here right now on cnn. good evening. i'm don lemon. we are going to begin with a developing story that is a turning point for the u.s. led mission in afghanistan and could start bringing our men and women there home much sooner than thought. the tragic story of army staff sergeant bales. his attorney has arrived to prepare for the first meeting with clients. bales is suspected of killing 16 afghanistan civilians. dan, let's start with bales attorney. what is the latest on his arrival? >> reporter: this story has been advancing over the weekend. remember for several days we had no idea the name of the suspect while the military kept his name secret. now we know he is robert bales and a portrait has emerged of him. he has an attorney, a prominent lawyer here in the seattle community. he has taken on high profile cases in the past. he represented serial killer ted bundy. he got to kansas, was going to meet his client this evening and addressed reporters briefly. >> it was more of a shock to them and the neighbors. you have been reading all of this. everybody says he is a very nice person, well mannered. >> reporter: the portrait is of somebody facing significant financial strain and perhaps showing an emotional strain and physical strain, as well. we spoke to some neighbors who told us that this is a person who had gotten injured during the time of war while fighting in iraq and he had a brain injury at one point a couple of years ago while serving in iraq. he wanted to continue fighting for his country. we don't have a sense as to what set him off. it is just a mystery. people have characterized him as a good soldier, a good human being. so how this happened we just don't know. back to you. >> thank you so much for that. a man who has known bales his life is simply stunned. he says the robert bales he knew could not have been kinder. >> reporter: robert remembers his last conversation with sergeant robert bales who called him from afghanistan. >> he said i love you, bobby. take care of yourself. >> reporter: that was in december shortly after he was redeployed to the region for a fourth time. >> a real caring, real understanding individual even from a real young age. >> reporter: durham has known bales all his life. they lived next door to each other. he still calls him bobby. >> bobby and my son were best friends. >> reporter: an uncommonly kind friend because durham's son wade is severely disabled. >> bobby was just a very understanding, very accepting kid. he didn't at one time point out a kid's disability. it was what they could do. >> reporter: bobby took wade swimming, to pool parties and the zoo and made sure he was never left out. >> with bobby around there was never a question. all of bobby's friends accepted wade because bobby accepted him. >> reporter: at norwood high school bales was a captain. after attending two colleges and working in finance a fateful day, 9/11. >> 9/11 really effected bobby. >> reporter: within two months he joined the army. >> he was like a lot of young men and women who decided not on our watch. you don't do this to our country. >> reporter: when they talked about the war durham says bales. >> i never heard him say he hated anyone. >> reporter: like most durham was horrified to hear about an american soldier who allegedly gunned down 16 afghan villagers door to door. how did you react? >> they are saying bobby did that. i didn't believe it. i still can't believe it. the bobby that i knew is not the bobby that did that. >> reporter: he suspects his friend snapped. >> he will never be the same. he is such a great person. that crushes me. i don't know. >> reporter: what questions do you have? >> i think everyone has the same question because everyone knew the same bobby. what happened? what happened? >> reporter: questions with few answers. >> i don't know what happened to my friend bob bales. i hope somebody figures it out. >> reporter: and gets him help. >> going to dig deeper in the fallouts in the shooting in afghanistan and what could lead to a fundamental shift in strategy. publicly the white house says they want to -- no doubt commanders are preparing for anything. james marks is with us. i want to begin by asking you why we could start seeing troops coming home as soon as two weeks as a result of this tragedy? >> you know that president karzai has directed that all leave villages. that doesn't take place immediately or overnight. there has to be a relief in place. that takes about a week. they have been into it. the forces in afghanistan have been into that about a week. if those u.s. forces are not going to come back to the villages and resume the mission our strategy has changed. it would not be unusual if there has not been a change in our posture inside those bases. you can see u.s. forces coming back. it is not inconceivable that that can happen. >> make sure you stay with us because i want to ask you if this sergeant is the face of a mission gone wrong and i want to talk more about the mission in afghanistan. 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who wants some ronald tonight!? geico. fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. for tonight on our top story the massacre of 16 civilians in afghanistan. it has angered many afghans but the impact could be bigger here. a poll shows most americans what the white house to speed up the withdrawal of troops in afghanistan. is he the face of a mission gone wrong? >> no. the mission has not gone wrong. what has happened in this particular case, if you look at this soldier's record, he is an emplarry soldier. he is now an e-6 after about ten years in service. that is a tremendous track record. his buddies and leaders recognized that. what happened a week ago we will figure out. it is inappropriate for us to draw a conclusion from this event to what the other soldiers, marines and all our service members are currently doing and have done in afghanistan and iraq. it is phenomenal what they have been able to accomplish. >> we need to talk about the multiple deployment. i want to know about our troops who have been deployed over there recently in the wake of this tragedy. what are they doing? they can't go into the villages? are they sitting on their hands? how long is general allen going to let this go on if that is the case? >> several things are taking place right now. certainly president karzai has said move the soldiers into the main bases. there are still activities, military activities that will take place outside of these operating bases. people have to be taken care of. there are logistics activities. there are still activities, training of security, afghan security forces, afghan military forces. those can take place outside in secured areas. into the villages conducting operations. that has to back off. the soldiers and sailors, air men, marines, those service members never sit on their hands. they are preparing for the next mission. if you stay on the forward operating bases for a week, week and a half, two weeks, that changes the mission. it doesn't change the readyiness of those service members. it changes the posture. those forces that should be conducting operations in villages need to go home. this is an inflection point. it needs to be monitored closely and clearly all of our leaders are doing that right now. >> you said this is a turning point and it could change the mission and could bring our men and women home much, much sooner than we thought. thank you so much. we appreciate you joining us tonight on cnn. if you are president of the united states you get blamed for quite a lot. high on that list the price of gas. can the president really affect what you pay at the pump? we will tackle that later this hour. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. mitt romney has new momentum heading into tuesday's illinois presidential primary. cnn projects he won an easy victory. mitt romney won 83%. romney was endorsed by puerto rico's governor and campaigned there on friday and saturday. by cnn's estimate romney has more than double rick santorum. newt gingrich and ron paul are changing. all eyes now turn to illinois which holds their primary on tuesday. rick santorum made multiple campaign stops and told one audience that a victory there could propel him to the republican nomination. he was asked about his strong criticism about the president's policy towards iran. >> reporter: something that has been on your website that has gotten a lot of buzz. your position on pornography. one of the things you say in promising a tougher crack down is that the obama department of justice seems to favor pornographiers over children and families. do you honestly believe that there are people in the department of justice who favor porn aographicers over children? >> my conclusion is they have not put a priority on prosecuting these cases. in doing so they are exposing children to tremendous amount of harm. and that to me says they are putting the unenforcement of this law and putting children at risk because of that. >> i want to play something for our listeners. in mount vernon, illinois talking about the president. >> we need a presidential nominee to draw a clear contrast between president obama and his failed policies here at home and of course his failed policies where he has been the weak horse, the appeaser around the world with evil. >> where is the for instance for that for our listeners? where do you feel the president has been an appeaser with evil? >> iran is the problem we are facing on the national security front right now. he has repeatedly sided with the government of iran in the green revolution in 2009 when people were pleading on the streets asking president obama to help overthrow this theocracy that is killing our men and women in uniform with improvised explosive devices and. >> there are new sanctions coming up. isn't that better than going in with troops? what is it you are suggesting he should have been doing? >> first off, he should have been aligning himself with the persian people and the pro democracy movement in iran. and he did not do that. and here he says i'm going to impose tough sanctions after he denied that and tried to stop those sanctions from going in place. only his own party got him kicking and screaming to impose the sanctions. what has he done since then? the u.n. resolutions say there will be no negotiations until they start processing the nuclear material. the president overstepped those things and ignored that precondition and is now negotiating directly with iran. he is buying time doing what the iranians want to do. this is the weak horse. these people, netanyahu came to the country and said time is up. we need your help. the next day he started negotiating with iran without precondition. that is weakness. >> rick santorum on state of the union. be sure you join us on tuesday night. we have your complete coverage of the illinois coverage. it kicks off at 7 eastern. what can you expect from the white house, wall street and hollywood in the coming week? we will give you a run down on what is on tap next. 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[ female announcer ] we all go. why not enjoy the go with charmin ultra soft. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. greetings from the people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. the attorney for army staff sergeant robert bales has arrived in kansas to prepare for his first face to face meetings with his new client. bales is the soldier accused of killing 16 afghanistan civilians last weekend. he is now at fort leavenworth, kansas. he can be charged in connection with the deaths as soon as this week. working to confirm that an american has been killed in yemen. al qaeda claimed responsibility for the killing. the group says the american was a missionary trying to spread christianity. police say a st. patrick's day celebration turned into a drunken mob and caused about $100,000 of damage. most of it took place in a college neighborhood with a history of disturbances. gas prices are up again for the ninth day in a row. aaa says the national average is now $3.83. seven states prices now have topped $4 a gallon. wyoming has the cheapest gas if you call $3.43 cheap. there is growing anger over the killing of a florida teenager. trevon martin was walking home when george zimmerman spotted him. he thought he acted suspiciously. he confronted the teen and within minutes shot him. i want you to listen to the attorney for his parents. >> he wants to say he has a concealed weapon for personal protection. that day he was acting as armed security. the official of a neighborhood watch program which we will give you a copy of specifically states that members do not possess police power and shall not carry weapons. >> i spoke with goldy taylor. zimmerman claimed self defense. witnesses tell a different story. >> i firmly believe this was not self defense. >> reporter: meeting his family for the first time mary dropped a bomb saying they witnessed the 17 year old getting shot and were ignored by the police. >> what we heard and we saw and we believe in our hearts 100% it was not self defense. i heard the crying. it was a little boy. as soon as the boy went off the crying stopped. >> police never arrested zimmerman because they had no evidence the shooting was not self defense. >> we believe that the gun was pointed at a 17-year-old child. he pled for his life and zimmerman pulled the trigger. >> reporter: the case has devastated the family and put the police department under fire. the mother says for these witnesses she is grateful. >> regardless of what happens there are still good people in this world. >> i have a 21 and 28-year-old son. i have never heard them cry as grown men. if i had heard them beg for their lives like this it would have been devastating to me. i can't imagine what ms. martin is going through tonight. >> let's listen to the 911 since you mentioned that crying and screaming. >> do you hear him yelling help? >> yes. >> you just heard gun shots? >> how many? >> just one. >> george zimmerman told police it was his voice on the 911 tape screaming. i'm a mother i know the sound of my