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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[ male announcer ] with wells fargo advisor's envision plan, you always know where you stand. in fact, 93 percent of envision plan holders say they will retire on their own terms. get started on the plan you need today -- wells fargo advisors. together we'll go far. let's look to the big stories in the week ahead. we got you covered from west to east from hollywood to wall street. we begin at the white house. >> with high gas prices at the pumps president obama will be focused on energy this week when he hits the road on a four state tour making stops in nevada, new mexico, oklahoma and the battle ground state of ohio. the president will be putting the spot light on developing domestic oil and gas as well as pushing for more fuel efficient vehicles. before hitting the road the president will welcome the irish prime minister to the white house on tuesday. housing will be the big focus on wall street. we are expecting a report on housing and construction as well as existing home sales. also coming up we'll get earnings from tiffany, general mills, fed ex and nike. we'll see how the market responds to all of it and track it on cnn money. we go one-on-one with the cast of celebrity apprentice and getting the inside scoop of the brand new season of dancing with the stars. be sure to catch show biz tonight on hln. the man whose viral video made a war lord become public name. the film "kony 2012" has- >> dear friends of invisible children. these last two weeks have been tough, really tough because when we set out the make the kony 2012 film our goal was for 500,000 people to see it. in a week and a half it was over a million people. it was incredible. now is hard for all of us. it is especially hard for jason because the story was so personal for him and his family. and that pressure took a serious toll on him and the whole world saw that. >> what? >> very hard to look at that. your heart can't help to go out to him and his family. this is what the world saw. jason russell naked on the sidewalk making bazaar motions. invisible children say he was exhausted and dehydrated and that led to the strange behavior. millions saw the video about kony. the project consumed him. his family released the statement saying he has never had a substance abuse or drinking problem and this episode wasn't caused by either of these things. but he did have irrational things brought on by extreme exhaustion. the head of a neighborhood watch says he did it in self defense. the family says it is murder. there is growing outrage in the country and online. we are going to go in depth next. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now. time out. sweet. 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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 own son's cries and mrs. martin says it was trevon begging for his life. >> the question is why hasn't george zimmerman been arrested? why he hasn't been arrested and the investigation as we know has to play out. it appears there is no movement on this and on social media, people ongoing crazy about the story. >> i would say that if not for what has happened in social media specifically among twitter and some of the leading journalists and key influencers there that this would have ended. >> disturbing questions about what happen today trevon means this story is not over and you better believe we will continue to follow. one u.s. president famously said the buck stops here and the white house gets the blame and credit. can a president control the price of gas? we'll tackle that next. man: okay, no problem. it's easy to get started; i can help you with the paperwork. um...this green line just appeared on my floor. yeah, that's fidelity helping you reach your financial goals. could you hold on a second? it's your money. roll over your old 401(k) into a fidelity ira and take control of your personal economy. this is going to be helpful. call or come in today. fidelity investments. turn here. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping you do what you do... even better. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink two very different commutes depending on where you live in the country. >> we have had interstates shut down and a lot of travel problems across the country. i want to make one quick mention of a breaking news story in nebraska. a tornado has touched down and some damage has occurred in a big railroad area. no reports of injury. details sketchy on how severe this is. that tornado is north of the city. we will continue to track that situation. let's talk about snow and the interstate shut down. take a look at this video out of flagstaff, arizona. 180 mile stretch closed for most of the day. more than a foot of snow came down. very strong winds. that snow is going to continue overnight. we are going to continue to watch in the upcoming days ahead we are talking at least through the middle of the week because it is a very slow moving system. we are going to stay unsettled, cold and damp. ahead of this system is extremely windy and warm. we know you saw a bunch of record highs. this is the severe weather area that we are watching includes nebraska through kansas as well as parts of texas. just behind that into the high plains is where we have the risk of fire danger because things are so crisp and also veryp windy. as the system heads through the plains it will sit here and pick up moisture in the gulf of mexico and bring it up towards the north. that with days of rain ahead means we could have a flood threat. let's get to the nitty-gritty. tomorrow's commute tonight. if you are traveling pack with the sweaters across the west and short sleeves across the east. city number five. new york city morning fog and low clouds. we can have a few problems in places like philadelphia and washington, d.c. this will be in the morning. city number four, phoenix, arizona. you were with rain yesterday. kansas city, missouri looking for showers and thunderstorms. that can cause delays at the airport. houston texas looking for showers and thunderstorms. most of this will be late in the day. hopefully this will boo okay for your drive in to houston. city number one, dallas, texas. they are also under the threat of severe thunderstorms tomorrow. i knew you would recognize that big ball in the skyline. >> no quiz tonight. it has been a long weekend i didn't need the quiz i probably wouldn't have passed. we are going to talk some politics right now because when it comes to political debates few issues hit home faster than the rising cost of gasoline. is the criticism fair? earlier i talked about it with will cain. i started by asking will if it is really fair to blame the president, any president from either party for the high cost of gasoline. >> no. simple answer. that's it. >> it really is, don. i can tell you that gas price is the subject of global supply and demand and the current spike we are seeing has a lot to do with instability in the middle east. in the short term presidents have very little to do with what the gas price is. >> it sure does get your base rowelled up. it makes for a great narrative. one guy against the other. am i right? >> absolutely. it's gold in the political world. >> so do you want to weigh in on this? >> i agree with will. it hasn't been fair for any candidate to be challenging the white house no more than the loaf of bread or cost of cotton or any other product we use in america. the thing i find frustrating right now is because on one end challenging the president on the current price of gas and on the other end there is the word about iran. not understanding if you talk about going to war with iran you are expecting gas prices to speculation. so it is kind of like having cake and eating it, too. >> the last thing you just saw, then why, are the american people, why are so many people buying into it? this president is responsible for high gas price snz why are people buying into it? >> because we want things to exist in a factory. we want things to be easier for ourselves. that is the real truth about us as a culture. we can't keep saying we want lower taxes but we don't want the government to touch spending. we want it all. we can't have it all. that's with gas prices, too. >> it's not just gas prices. it's the economy and business cycles in general. we think the president has a direct lever. >> i get that point. you said it is not fair. i'm asking why are some american people buying into this narrative. >> they buy into narrative the president has control of everything. they think clinton was a great president of the economy because the economy was great at that time. they think we see an economic uptick and obama gets credit for it. there are so many things at play that it is silly to blame or credit a president with that. it is a nuance argument. there are aspects to a president's effect on an economy. >> when he ran for office he said he wanted to see gasoline prices go up. he said energy prices would sky rocket and he selected three people to help him implicate that program, the secretary of energy, the secretary of the interior and epa administrator. gas prices are up. the right course is they ought to be fired. >> i just want to say this -- president obama did run on alternative energy sources and weaning americans off of carbon based fuels. that means gas prices are going to have to go higher. is he responsible for them? no. did he want higher gas prices? eventually he did. >> as many as 20% of the people in the african nation are living in poverty. health care in america is the costliest in the world. is it the best? searched the world for a solution to this health care issue. what have you found? >> in taiwan which is a free market country with a vigorous free enterprise system they had a totally free health care system in the 1990s. they studied all the models in the world. we asked the guy who designed the taiwan health care system what did you learn from america. he said from america you learn how not to do it. our system is just a total mess. in taiwan what they decided to do was to go for a single insurer but private providers. the hospitals are private and doctors are private but you have a single insurer, in other words medicare. >> paid for by tax dollars? >> they have the lowest health care costs in the world. they are up there. they are among the best in terms of outcomes. they only spend 7% of their economy on health care. we spend 17%. 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[announcer:] if you take prolia® (denosumab) you should not take xgeva®. prolia® can cause serious side effects, including low blood calcium levels, serious infections... ...some of which may require hospitalization, and skin inflammation, rash and eczema. tell your doctor if you develop dental problems... ...as severe jawbone problems may happen. what's out there matters to me. so does what's in here. break a leg! thanks ed. ask your doctor if prolia® is right for you. tonight in our what matters segment as many as 20% of the people in the african nation of mauritania are living in slavery. >> that's why slavery persists because people don't need to exercise physical force. there is symbolic violence and what is symbolic violence? it's misery. perhaps the most surprising thing is this. some people born into slavery don't realize they are being exploited. back in the capitol we spoke secretly with a former slave. he was liberated years ago eand told us he never understood the freedom he was granted. we reunited him with his former owner who has been living abroad and hasn't seen in years. their relationship isn't what you would expect. we were surprised by their interaction. there is a twist to the story. the slave master would go on to be one of the most prominent abolitionists. go to cnn.com/slavery to view the entire stronghold series. you can find out how you can be part of the solution by donating to a training center that is run by sos slaves. they have been searching for decades and now researchers may have found a lost work by leonardo da vinci. we'll take a look after the break. 7 one of the best things about state farm is our accessibility. oh, yeah? [ chris ] you can call us 24-7, get quotes online, start a claim with our smartphone app. you name it, we're here, anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. that's the way i need it. any way you want it. [ man ] all night? all night. every night? any way you want it. that's the way i need it. we just had ourselves a little journey moment there. yep. [ man ] saw 'em in '83 in fresno. place was crawling with chicks. i got to go. ♪ any way you want it ♪ that's the way you need it ♪ any way you want it ♪ some great ones not about how we happen to match today but a real life da vinci code. what is it? >> this has been going on, this mystery for centuries. if you have ever read the book it is right out of the pages of the novel. i'm not kidding you. >> i saw the movie. >> or the movie if you like to goep that route. researchers think they have found a leonardo da vinci called the battle unfinished in 1506 when leonardo da vinci left florence. it was painted on the walls. it was believed that it was destroyed after this building was remodelled. a new artist painted several paintings throughout the buildings. they used sonar and knew there was a space between the walls and so they took a drill and found paint samples and those matched the same pigments in the mona lisa. >> where do you come up with this stuff? >> isn't that amazing? how do they figure this out? on that painting it said circa trova and that translates to he who seeks finds so they think it was a clue on the second