her remarkable story when she joins us live today, monday, her remarkable story when she joins us live today, monday, august 16, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to "today" on a monday morning. >> inns a crazy story of a woman who doesn't remember after 1994. >> the last point of reference for her is 1994. she's going to come in here and do an interview today, at some point in the near future, she'll forget that she was here today. >> that's true. >> so it's an odd occurrence. >> try to make an impression. >> we're going to switch to something more important. we're talking about president obama fending off critics including sarah palin. he says that muslims have a right to build wherever they want. the palins are challenging the president to tell the country if he thinks they should do it. the latest on this controversy coming up this morning. lost control in an offroad race and rolled into a crowd of spectators who were lining the course. at least eight people were killed, 12 others were injured. coming up we're going to talk to a man who witnessed that all happen. also are we getting closer to a royal wedding between prince william and kate middleton? a rather interesting sign of when that big day is. president obama jumping into the political firestorm over a planned mosque near ground zero. nbc's savannah guthrie is at the white house with more on this. savannah, good morning. >> reporter: for weeks when aides here were asked about the mosque they really tried to stay out of it saying this is a local issue. but on saturday night, the president walked right into the controversy and made it a national one. the president and first family in florida this weekend. hoping to show the gulf and its waters are open for business. but the message was overshadowed by mr. obama's decision to wade into an emotional ground zero controversy. on friday night at a white house dinner celebrating ramadan -- >> please, have a seat. >> reporter: the president spoke for the first time about a muslim organization's plans to construct an islamic community center and mosque in the shadow of the world trade center site. >> ground zero is indeed hallowed ground. but let me be clear, as a citizen, and as president, i believe that muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower manhattan. >> reporter: the comments touched off a political firestorm with headlines saying the president came out supporting plans to build the mosque. the next morning in the gulf, mr. obama tried to clarify, telling reporters he was speaking only about the right of muslims to freely worship, saying, quote, i was not commenting and i will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. with the appearance that he was now backtracking by saturday night, the president spokesman had to clarify yet again, saying, quote, just to be clear, the president is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night. for weeks the president's aides have side stepped the mosque question. >> i think this is a matter for new york city and the local community to decide. >> reporter: so what changed in the white house tells nbc news the decision came from the top. president obama found it would be inappropriate to host a ramadan dinner at the white house yet try to dodge the controversy. but the president's critics pounced. >> you can't be changing a position from day to day on an issue which doesn't come from our constitution. >> i think it does speak to the lack of a connection between the administration and washington anding folks inside the belt way and main stream america. >> reporter: sarah palin weighed in on twitter, asking the president, quote, we all know they have the right to do it, but should they? this is not above your pay grade. senior aides tell nbc news this morning that this may not be something necessarily that was smart politically heading into the midterms, but they say it took courage for the president to speak out and that he felt very strongly that it was his role to do. he leaves today on a five-day political trip. a lot of people think this is leaves a fresh political issue. >> an outspoken critic of the plan to build the mosque near ground zero. congressman king, good morning to you. you've been blunt, you said president obama is just plain wrong on there and i want to make sure i understand exactly what it is you think he's wrong about. is it this statement, let me read it for you, as a citizen and as president, i believe that muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country and that includes the right to build a place of worship and community center on private property in lower manhattan. do you gagree with those words r disagree? >> i would agree with those words taken by themselves. what i was opposed to is the inference he was giving, the clear inference he was giving on friday night that he was supporting the project in lower manhattan to build the mosque. the president's backed away from that. so right now i'm not certain what his position is. no, muslims and every other citizen has an absolutely right, but i think the responsible thing to do is not to build the mosque at ground zero. >> you say supporting the building of the mosque. that's what critics are saying, but when you look at the words, he's simply supporting religious freedom. >> i think the president was trying to have it both ways because from what i understand, everyone at the event on friday night and certainly the next day the media well into the afternoon was saying that the president supported the project. it was then that sometime on saturday that he had to back away. and for someone who's such a great communicator as president obama is trying to have it both ways, trying to support the building of the mosque and once he got feedback, probably from his own party, push back, he agreed to modify his position. he has clouded an issue, which is either stay out of it all together, but if you're going to take a stand, nobody's arguing they have the right to do it. >> pundits have every right to raise questions about the construction of an islamic center near ground zero, where is the funding coming, from what are the motives of the supporters, is the symbolism insensitive. but the view of the oval offiff differs from the -- by this standard, obama had no choice but the general path he took declaring a mosque off-limits would officially equate islam with violence and terrorism. no president would ever consider making that statement. do you agree with that? >> no, i don't. i believe that the president is going do raise the issue, he was going to bring it to the level which he should have, of it being a right a constitutional right. then he should have, to use the president's words, use this as a teachable moment. he could have said they have the right to build this mosque, but they have to also appreciate the tremendous insensitivity and then have the parties come together. he could have used the bully pulpit to move the nation forward but they want to build a bridge, their leaders want to build a bridge to other ethnic groups. this would be an ideal opportunity to do it. >> it's not that you're disagreeing with what he did say, it's more that you're offended or you find insensitive what he didn't say? >> and also the inference he was giving. i mean anyone who was watching that on friday night came away with the belief that the president was supporting the building of the mosque, not just the right, but actually supporting him doing it. now he's saying he's not supporting it. i think he missed an opportunity. he could have used that as a teachable moment. >> on a scale of one to ten in terms of resonating with voters in the midterm elections, could it be catastrophic or what do you see it for the democrats? >> i don't want to make a political issue out of it. i would hope this could be resolved this week and everybody the forgets about it by election day. i have too many friends who are suffering with all of this to make it a political issue. >> congressman peter king. good to see you as always. all right now let's get a check of the rest of the morning's top stories. >> good morning, everyone. investigators in california are looking for answers in a racing tragedy over the weekend that left eight spectators dead. a truck hurtled out of control into the crowd watching the race in the mojave desert. one spectator said that the driver hit a rock and then tumbled. some spectators were standing within four feet of the crash. survivors in pakistan say international aid is not coming quickly enough following the worst flooding there in history. new details this morning about last week's plane crash in alaska that killed former senator ted stevens and four others. here's more from anchorage. >> reporter: natalee, good morning, members of the ntsb say two things are critical in their investigation, talking to survivors and examining the wreckage. now they have begun to do both. as a heavy lift helicopter hoisted the wreckage from last monday's crashing, investigators spoke to survivors. one victim told the ntsb he noticed nothing unusual before the float plane slammed into a remote rugged mountain side in alaska. >> he stated as they were flying along, he detected no changes in pitch, or engine noise and that they were flying along and then they just stopped flying. >> 13-year-old willie phillips is the youngest survivor, he was released from the hospital over the weekend. meantime these photos of the wreckage show the battered fuselage of the aircraft. before takeoff, weather was poor, but it was pilot terry smith's decision to fly in fog and rain with victim at three miles and the cloud ceiling at just 600 feet. the ntsb says weather may be a factor in the crash. smith had been a commercial pilot for nearly 30 years but spent only 45 hours behind the control of the otter, the small plane that went down. the ntsb wanted to know if the cockpit warn system can detect mountains was working at the time of the crash. the summertime can be the most dangerous time to fly. since june, there's been 17 fatalities in air accidents. a mass for former senator ted stevens will be held later on "today." >> thank you, miguel. overseas markets are mostly lower this morning. erin, what's the focus there this weekend? >> stocks have struggled to get a little traction, we also have evidence of a slowing goebl economy. this morning growth in japan has slowed and china is actually the largest economy in the world upsetting japan's long reign as number two. the u.s. economy is still two times bigger than china and it could take china several years to catch up. there's still some challenges and a choppy week ahead. and martin kaymer beat bubba smith in the playoffs. leading at the time was dustin johnson who was penalized two strokes on the 18th hole for illegally touching the ground in a waste bunker. he said he had no idea he was in a good morning. it is a warm and humid monday morning around our region. we have a mostly clear sky as we start off this morning. we'll have clouds building later today. we're in the 70s around the region. now 75 in washington. highs climbing into the low 90s. then from 3:00 p.m. to as late as 8:00 p.m., we could have some storms developing. slight risk an isolated storm could produce some damaging winds and hail, in addition to heavy downpours and frequent lightning this evening all right, citizen -- stephanie, thanks. more on the accused killer found dead in his jail cell. jeff rossen has the details. >> reporter: this really came out of nowhere and shocked everyone from prosecutors to marcof oh,'s phone lawyer. he used his background, his training as a medical student to commit suicide. he apparently according to sources used a pen inside of his cell to stab himself and then suffocate himself all inside his own jail cell. prison guards found phillip marcoff's body in his cell sunday morning. he was reportedly dead for hours before anyone noticed. law enforcement forces say marcoff the accused craigslist killer killed himself late saturday night which would have been his one-year wedding anniversary to megan mcallister. >> when the anniversary came out, i think he realized he was never going to have anything like that again and his lawyers weren't going to get him off, he was going to spend hiss life in prison and that's something he couldn't face. >> reporter: this clean cut medical student was accused of leading a double life. he was planning a wedding that would never happen. by night, the craigslist killer attacking women he found on the website's erotic services section. >> the family was getting ready, preparing for the trial, i mean getting psychologically set to actually look this man in the eye. now all of a sudden, we find out the guy's gone. >> reporter: the evidence was piling up against him, inside markoff's home, investigators found plastic ties and duct tape he used in the attacks. investigators say he took the victim's panties and kept them under his bed. >> he preys on young women who are vulnerable. who are unlikely to resist. unlikely to fight back. >> reporter: markoff tried to hurt himself once before when he first got to jail last year, just after his then fiance visited him behind bars and told him it's over, he cut himself. recently we're told he kept to himself, alone in his cell reading a lot. >> his suicide was not a bid for attention that we sometimes see, he had medical training, he knew how to kill himself and he made sure he was very successful at it. >> reporter: a devastating blow. >> a trial would have produced closure on any number of levels and that's when the truth comes out but that won't happen now. >> reporter: the family is said to be furious about all of this. we spoke to markoff's family who says they're absolutely devastated by this. the question is, how the prison officials let this happen a high profile inmate left alone for so long where he's able to kill himself in such a slow and agonizing way without being detected for hours. >> it is now 7:18, once again here's matt. now to an historic moment for the u.s. military in iraq. more than seven years after then president bush announced the start of the war, soldiers winding down the combat mission. >> reporter: good morning, matt. soldiers from the last american combat brigade have already begun to leave, all american combat troops will be out of iraq by the end of this month. this is a symbolic and emotional time after so many years of sacrifice. suiting up for the last time in iraq, soldiers prepare to board a flight from baghdad airport to the united states. >> mission accomplished and we did it now we're on our way home. >> reporter: is soldiers are from the 42 striker brigade. they call themselves the raiders, now they have a special place in this war t raiders are the last combat troops in iraq. when the rest of them leave by the end of this month, the combat mission will be over. >> my best mission here is leaving. >> really looking forward to some mcdonald's. >> reporter: the troops checked to make sure their weapons are unloaded. and settle in to wait for their flight. >> i'm very, very excited. >> reporter: the 42 striker brigade commander colonel john norris told me that ending the combat mission is a historic privilege. >> it represents closure, it represents the end of a chapter, seven years of war in operation iraqi freedom. we have the privilege of being the last combat brigade in iraq. and we're in the process of withdrawing the brigade and that represe . >> it's the biggest logistical operation since world war ii. the u.s. military is moving 1.5 million items. and disposing of nearly 200 million rounds of broken hardware. outdated armaments are cut into pieces so they can't be used to make bombs. damaged electronics are mutilated to make sure they don't contain any secret codes or information. but in central baghdad, many iraqis worry about their country's future after american combat troops pull out. on the tigris river, this man told me he only receives two hours of electricity a day. but he said i only realized how desperate people feel here when a man came swimming up to the boat. a man showed me sewers overflowing into the street. no one has come to clean here in eight months, he said. the government is a disaster. but baghdad is much safer than a new years ago. u.s. commanders say the iraqi security forces are ready to take more control. back at baghdad's airport, the raiders are finally given permission to board. by now it's nighttime, they have been waiting for hours, but it isn't dampening the mood. >> i'm going home! >> and unlike soldiers that support them, these soldiers won't be coming back to iraq. >> reporter: the combat troops still in iraq are clearly excited. they are already packed and waiting to go home. they're also very proud of what they have done here. >> richard engel at camp liberty. thank you very much for that report. coming up tragedy in california's desert. just ahead, a new warning to parents about a new way predators are targeting teens online. also a woman who suffers from a rare disorder that wipes out her memory. she wakes up each day thinking it's 1994 after your local news. u a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. v8. what's your number? good morning. it's 7:26 on this monday, the 16th day of august. i'm joe krebs. in the news for today, several families in gaithersburg are now scrambling to find a place to live after a tree came crashing through the roof of their apartment complex during last week's bad storms and now that building has been condemned. the landlord put people up in a hotel, but it's only paid for until tomorrow. the red cross is working with those who are displaced to try to find some permanent places for them to live. we'll take a break and come back and look at our weather forecast good morning. i'm tom kierein. here's your four-day forecast. could get strong storms this afternoon. highs reaching the low 90s. some storms could produce damaging wind and hail 3:00 to 8:00 p.m.. how's the traffic? >> 395 northbound along the 14th street bridge, lanes are open. lanes have reopened. joe? >> nbc 4's backpack for kids campaign is under way. tune 7:30 now on a monday morning, 16th of august, 2010, lady liberty in the distance there. kind of a hazy morning here in new york. the temperature about 74 degrees, it will be warmer today and a little bit humid as well. there's some of the people gathered outside who don't seem to mind the weather. we'll say hi to them in just a couple of minutes. meanwhile inside studio 1a. just ahead the latest on a deadly accident on an offroad race in california's mojave desert. >> a driver lost control of his truck and rolled into the crowd. straight ahead we'll speak to a man who was there and witnessed it losing one of his long-time friends. you have warned your teens about the dangers of sexting, sending sexually explicit material over the internet. now there's an even greater risk to their safety. it's called sextortion. how you can talk to your teenagers about this. imagine if you woke up this morning and had no idea what you just did on sunday. >> she lost her short-term memory after an accident, can't remember anything that's happened in the last 16 years. not even parts of her own wedding, in fact she only remembers her husband because they met before 1994. we're going to be talking to them exclusively and find out how this came to be. >> fascinating, but let's begin this half hour with a tragic crash in the mojave desert. >> reporter: the investigation into what caused