an important story just into cnn. the still unidentified u.s. soldier blamed for this week's deadly massacre in afghanistan now has a high powered lawyer. the prominent seattle attorney john henry brown who once representeded serial killer ted bundy. he spoke to tracy wyann. >> it's a tragedy all the way around. no question about that. i think it's of interest that we have a soldier who has an exemplariry record, decorated soldier, who was injured in iraq to his brain and to his body, and then despite that was sent back. i think that's an issue. i think it's a concern. i think the message for the public in general is that he's one of our boys. we need to treat him fairly. >> casey wian from pierce county, washington. casey, listening to the attorney there he didn't say my client didn't do it. he seemed to say his defense would be this soldier never, because of his injuries in iraq in 2010, should have been sent back to the battlefield. >> reporter: well, he did not say that definitively but he certainly indicated that was one avenue that they would be going to be -- they were going to be exploring. of course there have been many concerns, many reports in recent days about the base out here near tacoma, joint base, luis, mcchord, and allegations that perhaps troops were sent back into the battlefield earlier than they should be. perhaps concerns about ptsd were not being fully addressed. so clearly this attorney is planning to address those issues and see if that is one avenue for a possible defense. other information that we were able to gather from him, he spoke with the soldier this morning. very early this morning. he said the soldier who he would not identify by name for us was very quiet and asked his attorney to send his love to his family, his wife and children. that brought up another interesting issue, john. because there has been speculation and there have been reports that there were marital issues and that that was maybe one possibility of why this soldier may have done what he did. and john henry browne, his attorney, said that is absolute hogwash in his words. there were no marital issues here and that he continues have a very close relationship with his family. also says it's one of the reasons that the soldier has not been named and a concern he shares is for the safety of the family. they have been moved onto the base here near tacoma for their own protection, john. >> very important reporting from casey wian. thanks so much. we'll stay in touch as this story develops. the afghan president hamid karzai calls for a drastic pullback of u.s. troops. still angry about sunday's massacre, 16 civilians killed in that shooting spree, karzai told the defense secretary leon panetta u.s. forces should leave their outposts in afghan villages and return to their main bases. he wants afghan forces to take over the country's security in 2013, a year earlier than planned right now. after the meeting panetta emphasized there's no change in u.s. strategy. >> i think everyone also agreed that we need to stick to the strategy that we've laid out for the future. the campaign as i've pointed out before i think has made significant progress. all of the leaders agree. >> another important related development to this story tonight, new worries tonight, anger over the massacre in afghanistan could spark a terror attack here in the united states. a new security bulletin says the fbi and department of homeland security are concerned that this event could contribute to the radicalization or mobilization or homegrown violent extremists in the homeland, particularly against u.s.-based military targets. important developments in politics today as well. both senator rick santorum and the former massachusetts governor mitt romney are focusing on puerto rico. upcoming primary this week in puerto rico. today the romney campaign picked a fight with senator santorum by coming out against the former senator's contention that puerto ricos will have to make english their official language in orlando to be standed statehood. senator santorum defended that position. >> english has to be learned as a language. this has to be a country where english is widely spoken and use zbld should it be a requirement for puerto rico to become a state? >> obviously spanish is going to be spoken here on the island. but this needs to be a bilingual country. >> in a national political correspondent jim acosta has more from san juan. >> reporter: john, rick santorum created this controversy all on his own when he told a puerto rico newspaper that he this it should be a requirement for puerto rico to adopt english as a main language as a condition for statehood. this is a big issue on the island because puerto ricos may be going to the polls this fall to decide whether or not they would like to become a u.s. states. the reaction of santorum's comments were almost instant. one of his delegates announced he was withdrawing his support for the form pennsylvania senator in light of these comments. when we had a chance to camp up with rick santorum earlier today he did not back down from these comments, although he did say he would like to see english and spanish be the main languages for this island. the romney campaign is already drawing a distinction on this. mitt romney released a statement saying he would not insist on puerto rico adopting english as a condition for statehood. he's going to be here on the island over the next couple of days campaigning for the 20 delegates that are up for grabs on sunday. just goes to show you, once again, that not only does every state matter in this race for the gop nomination, but every territory does as well. john? >> jim acosta in san juan. more politics back here on the mainland. a sharper higher profile campaign mode for both president obama and vice-president joe biden. tonight the obama re-election campaign premieres a new 17-minute video pointing to what his people, the obama team, as the biggest accomplishments of the president's first term. today in ohio vice-president biden went after the top republican contenders by name. >> economic theories of gingrich, santorum and romney. they are bankrupt. if you give any one of these guys the keys to the white house, they will bankrupt the middle class again. >> let's check in with our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. jess, why name names now? >> reporter: i've talked to multiple senior democratic sources on this one, john. the answer's pretty simple. they thought that there would be a republican nominee by now. the folks i've talked to say that in addition to that they planned this a few weeks ago. not only did they think there would be a nominee but they ultimately decide the they can't wait until may or june to start responding to republican attacks. so they decided to start quote drawing contrasts. >> so jess, ohio today for the vice-president. what's next? then i guess the more important question may be when we look at an electoral map, where next? how are they decided where to go as they escalate the attacks? >> reporter: so vice president biden i'm told by a senior democratic official will go to florida next week to a senior center where he'll focus on medicare and attack the so-called ryan budget, that's what they term the house republican budget. that will be the message he hits there. the vice-president will also focus on these are key states for the president in his campaign effort. new hampshire, iowa and parts of virginia possibly as well. he's also going to have a little bit of focus on pennsylvania. but the campaign is feeling a little bit more cheery that their chances are looking better there. so ohio and florida and then those other states are the vice-president's focus, john. finally as of you note campaign feels that vice-president biden is among their best ambassadors to these states because he has the best rapport with basically blue-collar voters as well as jewish and catholic voters, john. >> you're going to be speaking the words ohio and florida quite a bit in the eight months amed. chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. ahead the return of the gender gap. some issues appear to be hurting republicans in their appeal to women voters. the chairman of the armed services weighs in on letting afghan forces take responsibility for their country's security. >> we have given them the training. they are much larger in terms of numbers. they are better equipped. they are respected by the afghan people. and they should take responsibility for their own country. 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[ male announcer ] be a winner with the all-new prius c from toyota. ♪ in the wake of the massacre in afghanistan, the obama administration is insisting despite some damages in relationships and despite some outcry back home to bring the troops back home it will stick to its strategy to bring the troops home and end the combat role in 2014. a new poll shows that could be a tough sell. 50% of the american people want the u.s. troops out quicker than the president's timetable. will public pressure change the policy? a bit earlier i spoke to the chairman of the senate armed services committee. president karzai says he wants the u.s. troops to go back to the bigger bases. should they do that? >> what i understand president karzai as saying is that not that all combat troops woulden out by 2013, but that they'd only be out of certain areas by the end of 2013. so i don't think this is necessarily a major difference. and we'll decide that the president will decide what the pace of the reductions are of our forces after summer of this year when we're down to about 70,000. whether we're going to continue to reduce troops from the end of this summer to 2014 or whether there's going to be a delay in any further reductions. that's to meet real big issue which is facing the president. not necessarily what president karzai said today. >> but to what president karzai said today, the point of a counterinsurgency strategy is to try to rebuild the communities where the taliban once held them, try to rebuild trust first with thes troops and the afghan forces who would presumably take over. if you can't be out in the most troubled communities what's the point of the mission? >> the mission should be, as far as i'm concerned, number one mission is not that we protect the afghan people but that we help train, equip and strengthen the afghan forces so that they can protect their own people. and that is consistent with what president karzai said in my judgment. >> the point of this mission for ten years now has been to get afghanistan to a point that when the troops ultimately leave, al qaeda does not come back, the taliban dud not come back and allow terrorist camps or allow heinous reign in some of these communities. bin laden is dead, the president says al qaeda is dead. its top deputies are dead. do we need to be there at those levels, sir, especially when it's clear a lot of the locals don't want us there to accomplish that mission? >> i don't think we should be there at those levels if you're refer together 108,000 levels. that's why i very strongly supported the reduction of troops which we are doing right now. that reduction is under way. 30,000 troops will be removed by the end of this summer, the so-called surge forces. then the key issue which the president will have to resolve is whether after the 30,000 surge force is removed by the end of the summer whether we will continue to reduce our troops through 2014 when we will be down to no combat troops being there. i hope the president sticks with what he said some months ago that the reductions will continue at a steady pace after this summer and that he will not feel that he should stop the reductions as some of our key uniformed military would have him do at the end of this summer. >> well, you get to a point of contention in the debate. you seem in sync with the president although you have that question for what happens down the road a little bit. i want you to listen to your friend and colleague senator john mccain on this program the other night. >> he doesn't have much credibility anymore in the region. because initially for a surge they asked for 40,000. he agreed to only 30,000. they needed the end of another fighting season in order to finish the job in eastern afghanistan. the president announced an early withdrawal. >> so the senator is saying, senator mccain is saying give the commanders what they want. you're saying the commanders are out of time. don't give them any more troops? >> some of the military leadership here want to stop reductions at the end of this summer. that's what some of our military leaders want. the president has said we're not going to stop reductions at the end of this surge. we're going to continue at a steady pace. i hope the president sticks to that position and that we continue to reduce our troops at a steady pace because that is the way to force the afghan army and the afghan security forces to take responsibility for their own security. we have given them the training. they are much larger in terms of numbers. they are better equipped. they are respected by the afghan people. and they should take responsibility for their own country. >> mr. chairman, appreciate your time tonight. >> sure. again today, president obama mocked his republican rivals for promising and photo ops in the process lower gas prices. apparently for getting a bit of his own political history. more on that in a little bit. next the former governor of illinois, rob blagojevich, he makes the most of his last chance to share the spotlight. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love. i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know right now. >> welcome back. i feel like you're a holl gram. you're here for about two days. welcome back. good evening, everyone. headlines to catch you up on. we begin with a bit of embarrassment for republican senator richard luger's re-election campaign. today indiana's election board ruled luger isn't eligible to vote in his home precinct because he lives in virginia and sold his indianapolis home in 1977. the senator's campaign says it's just dirty politics, though, since the election board's democrats voted against him. much more on that, i'm sure. and federal health officials unveiled a set of new and as you can see very graphic anti--smoking commercials. they feature people who have had amputations, paralysis and disfiguring surgeries because they smoked. officials say the $154 million campaign will save $170 million over three years. memphis, tennessee is finally about to join at least 900 other u.s. cities and towns in naming a street in honor of martin luther king. it will happen on april 4th, the 44th anniversary of king's assassination in memphis. the new dr. mlk jr. avenue will be a mile-long stretch of what is now lynden avenue. several blocks from the motel where king was shot and killed. not everyone's first day in prison is a media event or a media circus. but the guy in the dark coat? do you see him? dark coat and shirt carrying the backpack is former illinois governor rob blagojevich. cameras covered his every move as he reported to a federal penitentiary outside denver this afternoon. he'll be serving 14 years for corruption. and i bet he enjoyed every moment of this. >> here's the question. you know, he likes the attention. he's very boisterous. he's shall we say self-confident and self-assured. will he be quiet going along getting along well in prison or will we be talking about incidents and troubles? >> that's a good question. he's probably writing a book in prison. wouldn't that be a good thing to get? >> i think maybe he should stick to the writing and less talking and things might go all right there. >> we'll definitely cover it. don't we always? >> well, sometimes we shouldn't but yes, we will. >> blago? always. >> kate, thanks. the president of syria and his wife were shopping online while their country descended into chaos. thousands of alleged e-mails have been uncovered. we'll have that story next. @ you were there the day the priceline negotiator went down in that fiery bus crash. yes i was. we lost a beautiful man that day. but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale every day. so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding. is it hard for you to think back to that day? oh my, this one has an infinity pool. i love those they just... and then drop off, kinda like the negotiator. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. i care about my car because... i think it's a cool car. i think it's stylish and it makes a statement at the same time. and i've never had a car like that. people don't totally understand how the volt works. when the battery runs down the gas engine operates. i don't ever worry about running out of battery power... because it just switches over to my gas engine. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i love my chevy volt and i've never loved a car. ♪ in this half hour new evidence the gender gap is back. republicans are making it wider democrats say by pushing issues like birth control. president obama has a case of political amnesia when it comes to complaining about photo ops and high gas prices. and while the country burns and thousands die, the wife of syria's leader apparently e-mails her friends about among other things harry potter. we'll read some of these e-mails in just a bit. this is the latest round in the battle of what the democrats call the republican war on women. it's the violence against women act now up for reauthorization in the congress. last time it passed with plenty of support from both democrats and republicans. but here's why there's trouble this time around. >> the bill includes lesbian and gay men. the bill includes undocumented immigrants who are victims of domestic abuse. the bill gives native american tribes authority to prosecute crimes. in my view, t