is responding. we'll take you live to afghanistan. also, no holds bard in south carolina. the candidates unleashing brutal attacks trying to stop mitt romney from steam rolling straight to the nomination. will it work? newt gingrich who said, i'm not going to go negative. here's what he said. >> this is going to be armageddon. they will come in here with everything they've got, every surrogate, every ad, every negative attack. >> wait, wait, what happened to the i'm not going to go negative? that's ridiculous. i will not go negative until now when i go negative. we'll talk about that. plus, the story of a florida gator quarterback who is not named tim tebow that everybody loves. "starting point" begins right now. welcome barx, everybody. here inside tick talk diner in new york, lower part of midtown. the delicacy here is this dish. loet me move my coffee out of the way. this is a diner delicacy everywhere. giant waffle covered in fruit and then smothered in whipped cream, again, i have been snar offing down food from diners. we have a lot to talk about. this judge blocking the mississippi pardons. we told you yesterday about haley barbour and now there's new information that has had a judge say that he's able to block those pardons. that means that some of the people that are about to be pardoned will not be pardoned and it means the several or many that have been pardoned now will report back. the attorney general in mississippi feels like haley barbour is showing absolutely no regard for the law. lots to dig into this morning with jeff toobin who is around the table with us this morning. our senior legal analyst and our panelists join, as well. nicky ward from vanity fair contributor and simi is an attorney, as well. love to have your opinion on this and will cain is back. too far for me to reach him. let's start with what happened. the attorney general has now been able to intervene and that's because, really, of the constitution. >> you know, its arer very weird. i certainly never heard of a provision like this before. but mississippi's constitution says that the governor has the right to pardon and that's true of the president and true of all 50 governors and this weird provision. the pardon can only go into effect if the person applying for the pardon has published in a local newspaper the 30 or more days before the pardon goes into effect a notice that he's seeking a pardon. well, the attorney general went into court and said, we don't know whether this notice provision, whether these advertisements have actually been published. >> injunction. >> so, the judge said i'm going to put all these pardons on hold until january 23rd when we will find out. when we will survey and see whether these notices were published. some of them were, but some were not. >> one thing we were talking about with haley barbour. here's the statement that he released and i want to read it to you. approximately 90% of these individuals, the people released, were no longer in custody. the pardons were intended for them to find gainful employment or require licenses as well as hunt and vote. i thought, well, that's the nonanswer answer. we're only talking about the 10% that xil people. >> look at all the banks i didn't rob and, no, the key, the focus of the outreach are these convicted murderers who worked in the governor's mansion. >> four of them killed wives and girlfriends in brutal, brutal ways. >> terrible. >> this one woman was holding her baby and she was shot. >> we talked to her sister yesterday. >> those people were not recommended for pardons. they were looking for many, many more years in prison. but under this weird tradition that they have in mississippi of having convicted murderers work at the governor's mansion, barbour got to know them, trust them. >> do you know him, jeff? >> the murderer? >> no, haley barbour? >> i mean, he's certainly, you know, one of the great wheeler-dealers. >> actually, let me play a little chunk of that. this is jim hood, the attorney general was furious and i think the reference was to say, you're making us look like a back water. you're going to release these people. very few people standing up and saying, yes, this is brilliant. release murderers and make sure they can have guns later for the people who are afraid of them returning. let me play a little bit of what he said yesterday with anderson. >> former governor barbour. i mean, he didn't follow the law. this is a very simple constitutional provision and governor barbour didn't follow it. very clear he had to have this information, he didn't obtain it before he signed these pardons and that has caused public safety issue. >> so, the injunction is in place. >> does it make me a bad person that i don't know who boss hog is? >> oh, my -- >> about five blocks from here. >> boss hog was the big bad sheriff in starsky and hutch. >> dukes of hazard, thank you. >> same genre. >> okay, in any case, here's my question. you can put this injunction in. but, bottom line, those who can have been released. they have to report back -- >> every day, once a day to the authorities. >> what happens in the end. is this injunction a way of slowing down, stop it. >> they have to see -- very short story. >> if the governor wanted to pardon them, doesn't this allow them to go back to prison and then they publish it for 30 days. >> no, it's a new governor now. the new governor is not going to do this, given the reaction, the new governor is not going to reissue these pardons. i think it all comes down to where these ads ran. if they didn't run -- >> i don't think they were all in prison. >> not all. >> some of them, you have to look at this. yes, they committed brutal acts, i agree. didn't just happen yesterday. they have been out and rehabilitated and treatment, halfway houses. >> but not the murderers, they were not out. >> they were not out and, what's more, one guy had been dinged for parole. like two weeks before. the family members told us yesterday that they were notified. he will not get parole and then the next notification he got, i believe the next day, well, actually, he has been pardoned and then he was released. >> can we just come out, what is this working in the mansion thing? >> it's the ad release program. >> this is interesting. last night on "ac 360" anderson was saying when he was a kid -- >> he had been there. >> his father is from mississippi and he wrote a book and they got invited to stay at the governor's mansion. when anderson was a little kid, they were meeting and fixing and cutting the grass, they're all convicted murderers. this is how it's done. >> no matter what we read in "new york times" and what we talk here, the whole story of this is outrage. >> for the 90%, yes. that's his release said. the 90%, it's no problem. but the problem with that is that 10% are killers who now, with a full pardon, get a weapon. >> and face time with haley barbour. i'm curious, is there not a defense for haley barbour. >> the pardon issue doesn't need a defense. >> you know, a lot of people have said, particularly people on the left have said, look, governments don't use pardon power enough. that there are a lot of people in prison who should be there who are nonviolent who, nonviolent drug offenders. >> but these are not the ones. unfortunately -- >> not a case for any of these guys. >> this will probably lead governors to say, i don't want to take the heat. barack obama has pardoned practically no one and i think a lot of people are upset about that. people in federal prison, it can't be that they all should be there. but the fact that obama is simply washing his hands of it all. >> that upsets the democrats because they expected some pardons from barack obama. >> first, an update of our top stories and continue our conversation on the other side. christine romans is back at cnn center for us, she's not out at a diner, but i'll bring you food back later. >> i'm still shocked that jeff toobin didn't know who boss hog was. once i get over that news flash -- >> '8 0s trivia, please. >> dukes of hazard. >> i was like, really? >> obviously, i'm not alone. >> i'm the brit here. >> i'm not playing trivial pursuit with jeff toobin on my team unless it's about the law. the south carolina primary is nine days away. nasty among the republican presidential candidates. they're spending millions on attack ads and to hear newt gingrich tell it, it's about to become armageddon. >> well, i concede that every effort i made to stay positive and every effort i made to talk romney out of doing this failed. that you can't, you can't unilaterally disarm unless you want to get out of the race. since this is the objective reality, we have no choice. this is going to be armageddon. they will come in here with everything they got, every surrogate, every ad, every negative attack. >> south carolina is a crucial state and chosen the eventual republican nominee since 1980. bombshell revolutions in the casey anthony case. in court depositions she tells a psychiatrist, she may have become pregnant with daughter, caylee, after date raped. iran calling on the u.n. to condemn the killing of its nuclear scientist. three irainian scientists killed in terrorist attacks. they claim the u.s. and israel is behind it. secretary of state hillary clinton denies those charge as. concern this morning about a new outbreak of swine flu. the centers for disease control reports that 12 people have become infected with a new form of the virus. iowa, maine, west virginia. severe storms rocking parts of north carolina. funnel cloud was captured on tape. the massive twister tore up a mobile home park. all right, it's 11 minutes past the hour. let's get the morning's travel forecast. rob is out today and jacqui jeras is in and, let me guess, it is winter, again, in the midwest. >> i know, finally, after record high after record high after record high. it is cold out there, a bitter cold start in the upper midwest and snow to greet you this morning, as well. a very strong arctic cold front making its way from minneapolis down through milwaukee, chicago, our first significant snowfall accumulation of the season. ahead of it, we saw the video from north carolina, so rare to see a tornado this time of the year there. that system bringing a wet mess across the northeast. it is going to be tough for travelers from d.c. on up towards boston. snowfall accumulations, for the most part, you're going to use one hand to count the number of inches but enhancing off the lakes and northern parts of new england really getting parts of that heavy snowfall and just rain for all the big cities. for today, that cold air sinking southward, looking for very windy conditions associated with this, too. even down into dallas and new orleans and that will sweep through across the east throughout the day. just to hit reality for you, a little bit about winter, we're actually pretty close to where we should be for this time of the year, christine. maybe about five degrees below average. look at the omaha, nebraska. >> someone is wishing for a snow day today. minding your business, u.s. stock futures are down a little bit. futures for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all up ahead of the opening bell this morning. december retail sales and the weekly unemployment claims report both later this morning. economists report 3,000 jobless claims filed for the first time last week. that is below the key 400 level. if it comes in like that, it will show the labor market headed in the right direction. we'll get you those numbers as soon as they're available. also new this morning, realty track markets that, realty track says foreclosures are down to 2007 levels. it's good news, but with a big a asteri asterisk. that notorious robo signing scandal back in 2010 where they just kept foreclosinforeclosing foreclosing, rubber stamping the paperwork even when people weren't supposed to be foreclosed on. >> christine, thank you very much. still ahead this morning, international outreach to tell you about. soldi . plus, you heard our debate, our spirited debate over the controversial pardons. this morning, we're also going to talk about whether we think haley barbour should get real or not. we'll tell you why. plus the internet is like crack, apparently. literally like crack, apparently to a study. that is good news to start your morning with. 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[music playing] confidence. available in color. depend® for women is now peach. looks and fits like underwear. same great protection. depend®. good morning. great day. good morning. you're looking at the inside of the tick talk diner. i'm on diner duty now free food paid for by cnn, which i like. talking now about international outrage over video that seems to show marines that are urinating on the bodies of dead insurgents. the afghan government is now condemning the video and nato led isaf the international security assistance force has denounced that even the taliban's calling it barbaric. the u.s. military is confirming that ncis lead investigator on this case. we have nick paton walsh and barbara starr live at the pentagon and also joined by retired army general james spider marks. it's nice to see all of you. nick, why don't you start for us. what is the reaction there in afghanistan? >> well, point out what we see in this video, first of all. it appears to show u.s. marines, according to the posting on the internet, a company in northern heldman but the details are still being investigated by nato. lots of caveats and disclaimers although one u.s. official said it was a reasonable conclusion to suggest that it had occurred in afghanistan. har midkarzai's people putting out a statement saying that the government of afghanistan is deeply disturbed that shows american soldiers desecrating dead bodies of three afghans. this act by american soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable by possible terms. really strong rhetoric here from an afghan government. the taliban, as you say, coming out and calling it barbaric and calling it inhuman and also saying they want to see the incident investigated and saying it apparently happened by a unit that may have already left afghanistan, but they're not sure of the details yet. soledad? >> all right, let's go to barbara now who is at the pentagon for us this morning. so, ncis, as we just mentioned, is the lead investigator on this and no indication to think that this is not genuine. this does seem to be real. what do we know about this videotape and how it came to be? >> well, that's right, soledad. we talked to a number of officials who say at this point, although they can't confirm any of it with absolute fuinality, there's every reason to believe it is legitimate and not a staged event. who was behind the camera taking these pictures? who were these marines that they appear to be marines by all accounts. the photo has some very interesting clues in it. if you keep that up for a minute, have a look. you will see that there are sniper rifles in that video that the men are carrying and that a couple of them are wearing helmets, very particular to u.s. marine corps sniper teams. the shorter front, shorter side helmets so they can hold their rifles up to their face when they're in combat. these are clues as to who these people might have been and, believe me, the marine corps knows exactly where their sniper teams were at all times and where they were serving. they will be able to pin this down very quickly. ncis will conduct a criminal investigation. it could, could lead to charges of misconduct, dereliction of duty and any number of charges could be coming pending the investigation, soledad. >> let's return to retired army general. when you saw this video, you know, i thought it was just so really incredibly disturbing. what did you think? >> absolutely, soledad. no other emotion other than this is terribly wrong. it's incredibly disturbing and, frankly, it's and as barbara has indicated, the marine corps, ncis, the joint staff, et cetera will pile on to this thing and figure out what went wrong. clearly, i'm more concerned about who is the leader of that sniper team that encouraged that behavior. i'll make an assumption that all of this occurred, that all of this is accurate. these were u.s. marines. let's get that off the table and then we need to figure out, who is the leader that pushed these young men to do that? i would suggest that you probably have an extremely bad apple that was determined by evaluation to be an elite marine. they don't take run of the mill guys to be on these teams. this was an incredibly elite, evaluated through vigorous training to achieve this great status and they get to operate on their own and work within the marine corps and these guys completely were outside of that box. folks are going to have to try to figure out what went wrong and if it is institutional. i would suggest it's not. >> before we get to open it up to our conversation this morning, general. it sounds like barbara is saying that it's going to be pretty easy to trace who these guys are and that will also determine if, in fact, this is genuine. at this point no one saying it is not. what could the punishment be. the geneva convention makes it clear you are supposed to treat the bodies and honorably entered and clearly the training says not to do this. what could happen to these men? >> this is a legal action. this is clearly within the uniform code of military justice. there will be a determination by the right folks that as we say in the army, we're the green tabs. those in leadership positions will make a determination as to what will happen. you have to determine what type of event took place, who was culpable. that will all take place. that's all legal. let's get to the root cause of how this occurred. that will happen in very short order. tt wiit will be very detail. >> i have a question for general marks on that. the taliban's take on this is completely meaningless to me. how do we deal with homosexuals do we bury them alive or throw them from the town tower? >> when the taliban calls something barbaric, you probably have crossed the line. >> seems that we have a bigger issue to deal with. that is when you train men to annihilate their enemy and kill their enemy, how do you draw a line to impose normal rules of civilization back on those men? isn't it a tough line to draw and have them continue to distinguish. >> but he just talked about, let's get the general answer -- let's get the general to answer that first because it sounds like will is saying, general, that if you're sort of pushing people to the edge all the time, how do you expect them to not sometimes or occasionally or often step over that edge? what is the answer for that? >> that's exactly the training that these marines and all folks in uniform are put through. it's a definition of discipline. it's doing the right thing when nobody is watching. there's incredibly emotion. there's incredible adrenaline. these guys were probably up until that point, let's assume, again, let's assume. i don't know that they were in an incredible dog fight right up until the moment they chose to do this. they need to compartmentalize. their job is done here