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Romney Wins Michigan And Arizona; North Korea Stops Nuke Tests For Food; Deadly Storms Hit Midwest, Plains; Third Chardon High School Student Dies; Chardon Teachers Back To School; Oklahoma Grass Fire Threatens Homes; Water Claims Home Near Seattle; Extreme Dive: Seven Miles Underwater; Pentagon's Options for Syria Attacks; Disabled Costa Allegra Nears Land
Aired February 29, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, now the Republican race for the White House. Mitt Romney rebounds, once again bolsters his game as the party's frontrunner. In Arizona, he breezed to victory.
He got nearly as many votes as his three challengers combined. In Michigan, where Romney grew up, the race was tighter and much more crucial. He narrowly edged Rick Santorum 41 percent to 38 percent.
Right now, Romney is getting ready to speak in Toledo, Ohio. Ohio is one of the ten states taking part in Super Tuesday next week. He says he has regained his momentum.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And in this room are the people who knocked on the doors and made the calls and went to the polls it made an enormous difference. We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough and that's all that counts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: We're covering all of the angles. Political editor, Paul Steinhauser is in Pontiac, Michigan where we could see you now.
So Paul, Romney won by mere 3-percentage points. Is that enough -- he feels like he's gained the momentum. Can he maintain that? That's really the question.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes. You know, listen, I think you summed it up quite well. A win is a win. Here's what the "Detroit News" is saying. It's one of the major newspapers in Detroit area. Romney brings home win.
Imagine what the story line would have been if Romney had lost here in Michigan, the state where he grew up where his father was governor. It would be a very, very different story line this morning. So for now, Romney moves on.
I think this victory kind of staves off any talk -- any talk of maybe somebody else jumping into the race, at least for a week. But there is a bit of a down side here. Remember, Mitt Romney and that "Super PAC" that has been backing him they were forced to spend a lot of money in Michigan.
Probably money they would have rather spent elsewhere and if you look at the exit polls for it. Mitt Romney still has a problem. Here in Michigan among people who said they were very conservative, they won a lot more for Rick Santorum than it did for Mitt Romney. So he did what he had do with a win, but he still has issues ahead.
WHITFIELD: All right, so this is interesting too, Paul because, you know, while Santorum came in second, he really had gained just as many, almost as many delegates as Mitt Romney.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. And the Santorum campaign is extremely happy. The candidate himself telling our Jim Acosta last night at his celebration in Michigan that, listen, we made Romney work hard here in Michigan. He didn't win by a lot. Take a listen to what Rick Santorum said last night at his HQ.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, we came into the backyard of one of my opponents in a race that everyone said, well, just ignore it. You have no chance here. The people of Michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates and all I have to say is I love you back. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: So the candidate himself and his campaign see the second-place finish as a victory. But remember, Rick Santorum was up in the polls here by double digits not long ago.
His campaign they tell us the candidate will spend more time now talking about the economy and less time about social issues. Fred, six days now, six days until Super Tuesday.
WHITFIELD: I know. This is an incredible race indeed. All right, thanks so much, Paul Steinhauser. Appreciate that.
All right, a story just now unfolding, North Korea agrees to rein in its nuclear program. The State Department says the new regime has agreed to limit launches and some nuclear activity in exchange for a massive amount food aid.
CNN's foreign affairs reporter, Elise Labott is in our Washington Bureau right now. So, Elise, what more can you tell us about this.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, basically, Fred, this was the deal if you remember that was going to be announced just the week that Kim Jong-Il died. It really threw everything into a tizzy.
Because now they didn't know whether his son, the new leader, Kim Jong-Un was going to go ahead with this historic food deal in which case the U.S. gives food assistance. Now we're not saying food aid, it's nutritional assistance.
Because the problem is what North Korea has a history of doing is giving food aid, grain, rice, and those types of things to the regime. They're having the 100th anniversary of the leader coming up. They're afraid it will end up on a banquet table.
So they're going to give this very targeted nutritional assistance, bars, that kind of thing. In exchange, North Korea is going to halt nuclear testing, stop its enrichment program and also admit inspectors back in.
You know, there was a lot of progress on the nuclear front before the Obama administration came into office. North Korea took a step back, started to restart its program.
Now the international community wants to get a handle on what's happened in these last three years. So, it's a sensitive deal right now. The U.S. hopes to get some assistance in the next week. We have to wait and see because the devil is in the details.
WHITFIELD: All right, Elise. Thanks so much for that update. Appreciate that.
Deadly storms hit the central plains overnight. Here a tornado is dropping out of the night sky in Reno County, Kansas. There were reports of several tornadoes hitting parts of that state overnight.
The sheriff in Harveyville, Kansas says a twister destroyed about half that town. The governor is declaring a state of emergency.
And severe weather is blamed in the death of a woman in Dallas County, Missouri. Tornados also caused damage in nearby Branson, a popular tourist attraction.
The clean up begins today for people living in those hard-hit areas. Rob Marciano is here with some more details on what they might be able to expect -- Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, cloudy skies behind those storms. They're moving quite rapidly, a very, very strong system. This time of year, they move quickly. Some of these cells are moving 60, 70 miles per hour.
Here's a rundown of where they came from and where they went. All these blue markers, those are wind reports, some of which are over 70 miles per hour. Not only tornado damage, but straight line wind damage as well.
One report up in Nebraska, that's the first time on record we've seen a tornado in Nebraska in the month of February so this is more kind of a spring-like storm. About 15 reports of tornadoes so far, you saw some of the damage from these twisters.
Tornado watches right now in effect until at least 1:00. These will probably be extended to the east. As a matter of fact, this area in through here is what the storm's prediction center is most worried about as we go on through time.
You can expect the threat for isolated tornadoes there with a moderate risk of seeing that. Some other video that we've been seeing coming in, north of -- you know, there was one cell that rolled just north, and then at times along the Ohio River.
It started out in Illinois and then cruised just south of Evansville. Newburg, Indiana, just south and east of Evansville is where we saw some significant damage and we have that video to show it up. This thing continued to move off towards the east.
Now we're getting reports near Greenville, Kentucky, reports of a tornado on the ground there. Scenes like this will be replicated, no doubt in Central Kentucky and potentially across parts of Tennessee before the day is done.
Search and rescue obviously is underway now that the sun is up there. But the bottom line here, Fredricka, is we've had multiple tornadoes across a vast area with significant damage. And we have not really talked about the blizzard situation, which is happening north of this system so a huge, huge system affecting millions of people.
WHITFIELD: All right, we'll talk about that next time. Thanks so much, Rob.
In Chardon, Ohio this morning, teachers are returning to work at Chardon High. Counselors are also getting ready to help grieving students and parents trying to deal with Monday's deadly shooting.
A third student, 16-year-old Demetrius Hewlin has died. Daniel Parmertor was also killed. The doctors say Russell King Jr. is brain dead. We have the frantic calls to 911 that day from students inside the school when the shooting began.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see the shooter? Are you a student?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. I'm a student. I was right by the shooter when he pulled the gun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, who was the shooter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His name is Thomas Lane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you see him shoot how many?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw him take out two and then I was gone. I was out of there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Were the students still alive?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, ma'am. I didn't even check. I just got out of there as fast as I could.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, but they went down, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They were laying on the ground in blood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Ted Rowlands now in Chardon, Ohio this morning. So Ted, are teachers back and are they taking advantage of that grief counseling that is available, too?
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are reporting to school at this hour, and they will spend the day together as a team, if you will, and they will start the introduction process back to work. And also get ready for the students.
The plan is for just teachers to come to school today. There are counselors available for the teachers and then tomorrow students will be coming back to school, but they'll be coming with their parents.
There will be grief counselor there's as well and teachers to help everybody cope with it and slowly transition into a normal school day. That will be the first normal school day is scheduled for Friday.
Of course, it won't be a normal day by any stretch of the imagination, but that's when students will be back at school with teachers in place.
WHITFIELD: And, Ted, you know, the prosecutor yesterday said that he wanted to make sure that TJ Lane was going to be charged as an adult. Do we have more detail about that?
ROWLANDS: Well, they indicated that they will ask the court to move him up to adult court from a juvenile status, which isn't a surprise when you look at the severity of the crime and his age. He's 17.
It's not like it's a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old where it's a very difficult decision for a community to make. Here we are talking about a 17-year-old, and given the severity of the crime it's a no- brainer that they would ask for it and one would assume it will be granted.
WHITFIELD: All right, Ted Rowlands, thanks so much for that report from Chardon, Ohio.
Coming up, a rare and dangerous trip to the very bottom of the sea. It doesn't get any deeper. We are talking about seven miles down to a place where only two men have gone before and filmmaker James Cameron is taking CNN along for the ride.
And a cruise ship disaster goes under the microscope on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers will hear from two Americans who survived the horrifying ordeal in Italy. That story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Checking stories cross country now. A big brush fire near Tulsa just won't die. Firefighters have contained about half of it. They're trying to keep it away from dozens of homes there.
And take a look at what happened to this house near Seattle. It fell right into the river. No one was hurt. Recent storms flooded the river and eroded its banks. The house used to be several hundred feet from the river's edge.
And then all caught on surveillance videotape right here in Georgia at a convenience store, right there, what in the world just crashed through that door?
Well, an 11-year-old girl and her brother were leaving when what you'll see is a deer crashing through the glass knocking her down to the ground. She has a mild concussion, but she should be OK. The deer had to be put down.
Oscar-winning director James Cameron's latest project is not the "Terminator," "Titanic" or even "Avatar." This is a real life adventure to maybe the harshest, most remote and least understood place on earth.
CNN has exclusive access to it. Cameron will try to take a one-man watercraft to the deepest point of the ocean, 36,000 feet into the Mariana trench near Guam. And actually film the trip on the way just to give you an idea of how deep that is.
Well, if you look up and see a jet at cruising altitude, that's how about far down Cameron wants to go in the sea. He has been doing test dives off Papua, New Guinea, and CNN is the only news network with a team on board Cameron's ship. Here is an exclusive report now from Jason Carroll.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Fredricka, when you talk about adventure, explorations and advances in science and technology, it does not get better than the chance to go down to challenger deep.
The challenger deep is the deepest known point in the ocean. It's located in the Marianna trench. This is a deep, desolate scar in the Pacific. It's located about 1,600 miles from where we are in Papua, New Guinea.
When you talk about how deep it is, Fredricka, think about it this way, it's 36,000 feet deep approximately. That's seven miles down. It's deeper than Mt. Everest is tall. That helps to give you some perspective.
You know, at those depths, there's no sunlight. The water is extremely frigid. The pressure is so great it would instantly crush a human being. The trench is one of the most isolated and extreme places on earth. This is by anyone's account.
And James Cameron, that's right, the award-winning academy award winning director, James Cameron, the very same man, the man who directed "Titanic" and "Avatar" many people don't know that Cameron is also an accomplished deep sea explorer.
Back in 1995, he explored the wreckage of the "Titanic." In 2010, he was consulted on the Gulf oil spill. Over the past few years, Cameron has been pursuing his other passion, exploring challenger deep.
He has designed and financed a high-tech sub to try to take him there. He's been working along with National Geographic, JPL, the University of Guam, the University of Hawaii, and Cameron has actually invited us along to give us a peek at how he is trying to accomplish this historic, extreme dive.
At minimum so much can be learned from this dive in terms of what can happen here. You know, the types of life that can exist at those depths. Whole new species could be revealed. We will bring you updates on Cameron's progress as he moves closer to this extreme dive seven miles under water -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Jason. An incredible view there, experience you're having. So this may be the harshest place on earth. Everything is intense from the pressure as you heard Jason explain to the temperatures and of course, the darkness.
Chad Myers is here to talk more about that. So Chad, what more can you tell us about what is an incredible experience?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't think anybody really up here on land understands what the danger is involved here, to take that kind of pressure on any vessel, put it down there with a man inside or more than one man inside that is going to be the challenge.
That's why they're not going all the way down to the bottom every time. They are doing successfully deeper dives to make sure this holds up. It's basically a big ball, like a gerbil ball. You put the gerbil in it, he runs around.
That's what it looks like. As it floats down there sinks down to the bottom, they'll be testing this water tightness because literally it has to be water tight. So almost like taking 8,000 elephants, standing it on top of a car. That's the pressure that you'll get at 38,000, 37,000, 35,000 feet down there.
This is deeper than Mt. Everest as high. No one's ever been down there. In 1960, there was somebody down there for a few minutes, but this is going to be something where -- why do we care? We could prove that there's obviously life on other planets.
If you can get life down there to live at that extreme temperature, that extreme darkness and cold and that extreme pressure, other planets may have this type of single cell organism, double cell organism or into the world of crabs or things like that.
This is so, so very deep. There's no light down there ever. None of these things living down there would have eyes. The pressure would be unbelievable. If you take an animal, I'm sure they will try at some point in time.
If you take an animal and try to bring it to the surface, it would almost explode. The same way that if you take the sub and it goes down it could implode because the pressures are so different even if you pull a big fish up from 200, 300 feet, it doesn't like it a lot. That's not 300 feet, we're talking 30,000 feet deep.
WHITFIELD: Gosh, it's extraordinary. We're going to talk some more about this. Chad, thanks so much for your perspective. Cameron wouldn't be -- I'm talking about the filmmaker, wouldn't be the first person to actually go the distance at sea like this.
It has been done before back in 1960. In fact, Phillippe Cousteau knows one of the men who made that historic dive. Phillippe Cousteau will be joining us after the break to talk about what might be discovered down below.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, let's continue our conversation about James Cameron's epic journey to the deepest point of the ocean and what we hope to learn from it.
CNN's special correspondent and environmentalist, Phillipe Cousteau joining us now from Los Angeles. Good to see you.
PHILLIPE COUSTEAU, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, ENVIRONMENTALIST: Good to be here.
WHITFIELD: You have actually met one of the men who made a very similar dive back in 1960. What's different about this attempt?
COUSTEAU: Well, Fredricka, on January 23, 1960, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and a Swiss oceanographer, Jacques Piccard descended for the first and up until now, the last time down to the bottom of the challenger deep.
The thing about that dive is that they had very little technology compared to what we have today. They dropped down in an escape to the bottom, kicked up a lot of mud and weren't able to take a lot any samples or any photographs.
So even though we've been to the bottom of the challenger deep, we know very little if next to nothing about what it looks like down there.
WHITFIELD: So this time this submersible, and again, it will be a manned submersible what is the hope that it might be able to see given the advanced technology this go around?
COUSTEAU: Well, you know, a lot of people have a misconception that we have explored the oceans. We turn on any number of television channels these days and there are documentaries about coral reefs and whales. Well, in fact, we have only scratched the surface, haven't explored far less than 10 percent of our oceans.
We know more about the surface of the moon than essentially we do about the deepest parts of this planet. So we really don't know what to expect. But what we do know is that there are untold creatures.
Not just small microbes and crabs and tube worms, but potentially very, very large creatures as well that live down there from giant squid to different species of sharks. Nobody has any idea. That's what is so excite about this.
WHITFIELD: So it's exciting what may be revealed, but at the same time do you worry about the exploitation that could potentially come with this kind of exploration?
COUSTEAU: Well, you know, really we're all about exploration and knowledge. I don't worry so much about this type of exploration being a problem for the oceans. We already know that the oceans are in trouble.
And from the shallower deep dives that we have done throughout the oceans over the past few decades, we find debris, trash, pollutants and chemicals like PCBs and others in samples that have been taken.
So we already know that human beings are having an impact at the bottom of the ocean even though we haven't spent very much time there. In this case, only a few, about half hour that Don Walsh and Jack Picard spent in 1960 so we are having an impact already on the oceans.
This is really an opportunity explore and learn and that's critical to find out what we can do to help build a more sustainable future.
WHITFIELD: All right, Philippe Cousteau. Thanks so much. Look forward to talking to you again once there are pictures and we can actually see and you can help us understand what it is that we might be seeing.
COUSTEAU: It's very exciting, very exciting.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
All right, a surprise announcement from a New England senator could be a real game changer for the Democrats this fall. We'll ask our "Political Buzz" panel to explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, checking top stories right now, one person is dead and three others are missing after a coast guard helicopter crashed in Mobile Bay, Alabama. The crew was on a training mission when the chopper went down last night. A search continues for the missing crew members.
North Korea has agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile launches and nuclear activity at its major nuke site. That word this morning from the U.S. State Department. North Korea agreed to the move in exchange for food aid.
And live pictures right now of Hillary Clinton talking about this deal before a House committee on Capitol Hill.
Opposition activists in Syria say children are among the victims of attacks by government forces. A witness says this video shows a boy under rubble in the city of Homs. The opposition says another boy, a 13-year-old, was killed by sniper fire today.
All right, "Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions 30 seconds on the clock.
Playing today: Pete Dominick, comedian and political talk show host on Sirius XM Radio; Andrew Romano, is a senior writer at "Newsweek"; and Tom Blair is the author of "Poorer Richard's America".
All right good to see all of you gentlemen. First question let's jump right in to last night's primary results, Romney beating Santorum but Super Tuesday looms are there any turning points left in this race, Pete?
PETE DOMINICK, COMEDIAN: Yes absolutely. There are still so much could happen. Everything going on in Iran, gas prices will be focused on, but I don't think most Americans are really going to think anything too special about Super Tuesday unless it's a sale at Wal- Mart, Fred. I think next week really does matter, and then after that we've got how many? Six months until August 27th. We'll see. There's still plenty of time. And maybe for drama, maybe Mitt Romney will light his fair on fire or go on the "Colbert Report." Oh God forbid.
WHITFIELD: Ok. Tom?
TOM BLAIR, AUTHOR, "POORER RICHARD'S AMERICA": I think we need to correct the statement. I don't think Mitt won. I think what happened is he got the -- the vote by default. In fact he didn't even get the majority of votes.
In the same hand, I'm not sure Santorum lost to Mitt. I think he lost to a bunch of women that said don't tell me about birth control until you change a few thousand diapers. And a lot of Americans sort of look back fondly on JFK.
I think there will be drama, but it will the drama from the left field. Or there'll be the Reverend Wright type of drama, the Monica Lewinsky type of drama. It won't be drama from talking about serious issues to serious people.
WHITFIELD: All right, Andrew?
ANDREW ROMANO, SENIOR WRITER, "NEWSWEEK": Yes you know this was supposed to be easy month for Mitt Romney. It turned out not to be that way. March, the line up is much more difficult for him going into Super Tuesday. States in the south like Oklahoma, Tennessee, Santorum is leading there. So you know I think there will be drama but it's going to be a strange kind of existential drama. Everyone thinks Romney is going to win but no one can figure out how he's actually going to do it and well be tuning in to watch that.
WHITFIELD: Ok and Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine calling it quits after this term. Is this a stealth game changer for the Democrats? Tom you first.
BLAIR: It could be. But I think the -- the Democrats have the perfect opportunity to drop the ball the same way they dropped the ball when they are trying to replaced Ted Kennedy's seat. I accept the Senator's statement that really Congress has become too polarized.
I think when she went in we -- we had Tipp O'Neill in, we had Bob Dole in. Then there was only one litmus test, that litmus test was you need to do what's best for America. I think she is frustrated with the different variety of litmus test now that tend to be extreme.
WHITFIELD: Pete.
DOMINICK: I don't know if stealth game changer is right. Jeremy Lin is a stealth game changer. But the Democrats (INAUDIBLE) the majority 53-47 in the Senate, it makes it a lot harder for Republicans, they needed to keep that seat, because Maine is a weird seat. They're extreme left, they're extreme right, moderates do well.
I just got to say, my opinion this feeds into President Obama's narrative of running against Congress he's jumping on her statement. And if things are so bad why not try harder? Try harder to make them change. Stay in and play the game. I think it's quitting, but that's my opinion. I've never been a senator.
WHITFIELD: Ok and Andrew?
ROMANO: Yes. Olympia Snowe, you know she sided with Democrats some of the time. She is the most moderate Republican in the Senate. There is no Republican who looks like they can win the race now and Maine stepping in, so that's going to be a seat that's going to go to the Democrats. Democrats still have uphill battle, though I think there are seven Democratic seats in play versus only three Republican seats.
So they could very well lose control of the Senate even with Olympia Snowe stepping out.
WHITFIELD: Ok and your "Buzzer Beater" 20 seconds. Conan O'Brien joking last night about fading interest in the Republican primaries. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: If you're tuning in for news about the Michigan primary, I have two things to say. We tape early, and we don't care, ok. We just -- we're all together on this? I've tapped into my audience perfectly right there. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Oh boy, ok so here is the question. Was he cutting a little close to the bone there, Pete?
DOMINICK: Well, no. I would never ever criticize my idol, Conan.
WHITFIELD: I didn't think you would.
DOMINICK: The great, it was a great joke. And that's what he's supposed to do. The -- I just think that it is getting boring. For those of us that cover politics, it's getting a little boring. I'm sorry, that's how I feel. And why? Because there's four white guys, Ron Paul is exciting, he has a lot of different ideas. But back in '08, it went all the way to June, but there was a black or a female, an African-American or a woman was going to be the first President. That did make it exciting. Maybe they should have a Jeremy Lin run.
WHITFIELD: Tom?
BLAIR: Well, let me go back to Olympia Snowe. I would suggest that when you're 65 years old you have the right to quit and not be called a quitter. But that's just me because I'm over 65. Actually, I don't think Americans have an interest in the primaries, they have an interest in the candidates. We're going to a point where there are actually entertaining and it's enjoyable on the evening news to really watch Mitt talk about what kind of cars his wife drives or perhaps listening to Santorum suggest that "Onward Christian Soldiers" should be our new national anthem.
WHITFIELD: All right, Andrew last word.
ROMANO: Yes, I don't -- I don't know what Conan is complaining about. These guys are sort of writing his monologues for him and every day out there on the trail with the jokes about NASCAR and contraception. So you know keep it coming. It's working out well for the late-night comedians.
WHITFIELD: All right. Andrew, Tom, Pete, thank you, gentlemen.
DOMINICK: Thank.
BLAIR: Thanks Fred.
ROMANO: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, lawmakers on Capitol Hill don't want your next ocean cruise to end like this one. They're looking for answers. And they'll hear from survivors of this tragedy.
And global condemnation targets the Syrian regime over attacks on its own people. Now comes word the Pentagon has drawn up plans for military options against Syria. Our exclusive report after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Syrian opposition activists say a besieged neighborhood is under its heaviest shelling since government forces started attacking it weeks ago.
Besides the shelling in the Barbar Amar section of Homs, there are also reports of fighting between the Syrian army and opposition fighters. The Pentagon has drawn up detailed plans to carry out military action against the Syrian regime if President orders it.
CNN's Barbara Starr has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the shelling and the protest continues, CNN has learned the Pentagon now has detailed military plans it could carry out against Syria if ordered by President Obama. Sources tell CNN the planning has been underway for weeks, but now there are specifics on how operations could be carried out.
A senior U.S. official says the options are being teed up but no decisions have been made. But for the first time, the potential plans include details on the number of U.S. troops need and the types of air, land, and sea capabilities required. Arming the rebels seems unlikely.
REP. MIKE ROGERS, CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: You don't want to go in and arm the wrong people.
STARR: Congressman Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's John King the U.S. has to encourage Arab League Nations.
ROGERS: There's some talk of maybe establishing a safe haven somewhere in the country through the Arab League.
STARR: The U.S. is looking at basing its own humanitarian relief operations in neighboring Turkey or Jordan, but there's concern it could be seen as to much U.S. interference in the region. But forcing Assad out through a military campaign may be toughest of all.
ANTHONY CORDESMAN, CSIS: We can send in air power. And we have stealth assets and we have cruise missiles, these are things that Syria has very limited capability to defend against. The problem is it's very hard to bomb your way into changing power.
STARR: The U.S. Is collecting satellite images and intelligence of Syrian military movement, information that could be used against Bashar al Assad should he be named a war criminal. But the U.S. isn't pressing for that now.
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think people have been putting forth the argument, but I also think that from long experience, that can complicate a resolution of a difficult, complex situation because it limits options to persuade leaders, perhaps to step down from power.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Barbara Starr now joining us from the Pentagon. So Barbara, what's the congressional reaction to these plans?
STARR: Congress watching very carefully. The senate arms services committee, a very powerful committee on Capitol Hill has suddenly scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday. They want to hear directly from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff General Dempsey about what this full range of options are and what it would take to do it -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.
STARR: Sure.
WHITFIELD: A tragedy at sea and a disaster that could have been avoided? This morning lawmakers on Capitol Hill look for answers and hear from two Americans who survived that harrowing ordeal in Italy. That story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. Talk about rehabilitation. Lindsay Lohan says she is quitting the party scene. We've got the inside story from A.J. Hammer, host of showbiz tonight. He is in New York. All right. Give details.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST: According to Lindsay, she's done with the clubs, Fred. We are, of course, rooting for her. But you know if we think back to her track record, everybody is understandably taking a kind of wait and see attitude towards Lindsay's recovery right now.
But publicly she's on the record saying she's done with partying. In fact, she sat down with the "Today" show's Matt Lauer and here's what she told him about all that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDSAY LOHAN, ACTRESS: That's not my thing anymore. I went out actually a few months ago with a friend. And I was so uncomfortable, not because I felt tempted just because it was a just the same thing that always was before, And it just wasn't fun for me.
I've become more of a homebody and I like that.
HAMMER: Well, good, if she's become a homebody, I think that's pretty encouraging Lindsay in the home stretch now of her probation, really at this stage all she needs to do is stay out of trouble with the law and we can watch her hopefully get on with her life and her career.
She's going to be hosting "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, Fred. So we'll all be watching and maybe, just maybe, we'll get to watch see Lindsay in action kicking off a major comeback that will stick around. We'd love to see that.
WHITFIELD: I think everybody will be rooting for her.
Meantime, I understand the Godfather is making a comeback.
HAMMER: That was terrible.
WHITFIELD: Was that bad? I love you Marlon Brando. Sorry about that, that was my best imitation. Go ahead.
HAMMER: No, no. It was more spectacular than I ever could have ever done. I expect there to be a lot of Godfather fans heading to theaters tomorrow Fred to see re-mastered version of the film. While there may be crowds, I don't think anyone will have to go to the mattresses to get in . This is an offer you can't refuse. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the movie, it's going to be shown on 55 screens around the country just for one day.
If you want to find out if there's a theater near you go to cinemark.com. They have announced the Godfather 2 in theaters for one day, April 19th. Even though everybody has, of course, seen the film many times. I think people are going to be very excited to see it in theaters.
And Fred, that was terrible what I said.
WHITFIELD: It was terrible?
HAMMER: No it was wonderful. What I said was terrible. Your impression was wonderful.
WHITFIELD: That's ok. I got thick skin. I'm all right.
I'll try it again another time. All right, A.J. thanks much.
All right. Want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? I threw in a little Elvis there too, I don't know. A.J. has it this evening on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", that's at 11:00 eastern on HLN.
All right. Coming up, a cruise ship disaster that rattled nerves around the world. This hour congress focuses on your safety and hears from survivors of the Costa Concordia tragedy.
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WHITFIELD: All right. We have an update this morning on that disabled cruise ship in the Indian Ocean. The Costa Allegra is due to arrive in Seychelles today two days after an engine room fire knocked out power and running water. The 1,000 passengers and the crew will be put on planes and then sent home almost immediately.
And the vessel is sister ship to the ill-fated Costa Concordia which capsized off the coast of Italy last month. At least 21 people died and today in Washington, U.S. Congress is holding hearings to talk about cruise ship safety. CNN's aviation regulation correspondent Lizzie O'Leary is live from Washington right now. So Lizzie, I understand you talked to some of the survivors of the Costa Concordia who are going to actually testify today. What might they say?
LIZZIE O'LEARY, CNN AVIATION REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a couple, Tamir and Divya Sharma, Americans from Boston. They are sort of representing the survivors. They were there on their fifth wedding anniversary trip, a trip he had planned and had sat down, had dinner. They just had been on for a few hours when they felt an enormous boom. They said no one on the staff really knew what was going on it. It took them 15 minutes to even explain there was an electrical outage, then they weren't told where go or what to do.
Listen to Divya Sharma describe the chaos that ensued.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
If there was a gash that ripped open three compartments, 15 minutes is a long time for them to come around and say everything is under control. Stop lying. Stop lying. If they would have not lied -- mistakes happen. We are all human beings, ok. I'm not saying I haven't made a mistake in my life. Accept it and say, you know what, this is what has happened.
Let's proceed to the master station, have the crew members come around instead of like pouring champagne in the glasses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'LEARY: That's in fact what happened. They were at dinner. Folks were still pouring champagne in the glasses, not telling the passengers exactly where they should go or what they should do -- Fred.
WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, that was some scary stuff. So what will happen after their testimony and others? What will congress do -- what can they do.
O'LEARY: Well, you heard Divya Sharma talk about muster stations and what that is, that's a place you're suppose to go if there's an emergency. Passengers have told us they didn't get a briefing. Nobody told them where they were supposed to go in the event of an emergency. The Sharma's ran up five flights of stairs to try to find their own life jackets.
Right now international law says you can sail for 24 hours without actually giving that safety briefing and congress is thinking, you know what? That might not be long enough. We may need to see those briefings in port. They can do that for ships that sail out of a U.S. Port.
Right now a lot of U.S. companies have pledged to do that voluntarily. You could see some tougher rules coming down the road, also mandating more life boats. Right? And this is hearing is something we're going to be watching all day long.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much from Washington.
If you take prescription sleeping pills like Ambien or Lunesta, listen up. People who take even modest amounts of sleep medication are 3.5 more likely to die prematurely than those who don't. And six to 10 percent of those who take sleeping pills are more likely to develop cancer. The study cannot conclude whether the pills cause cancer and death or whether those people are just more likely to take sleeping meds.
WHITFIELD: All right. One family drops everything, unplugs and hits the road. They're fed up with the political process.
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WHITFIELD: What are the choices when you look at the politics, the political landscape?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a little unconventional in that regards. You know, to me it's a diarrhea milkshake or turd sandwich. Those are the two choices.
All right next hour, Suzanne Malveaux is live from Arizona. We will tell you why that family is not following the fight for the White House.
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WHITFIELD: Franklin Graham is now apologizing for publicly raising questions about President Obama's faith. In an MSNBC interview last week, Graham was asked whether the President was a Christian. Graham said because the President's father was a Muslim, Islam sees him as a son of Islam. Graham now says he regrets any comments that may have raised doubts about the President's Christian faith.
And we're moving forward in the GOP primary season with the Super Tuesday contest just six days away, let's bring in mark Preston. Oh, my gosh; six days away and finally it's here. Ten states, more than 400 delegates at stake.
Last night with Michigan and Arizona wins for Romney. How does that give him momentum into Super Tuesday? Does it change the landscape.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: It certainly changes the narrative, right Fred, that was going to last night. that if Mitt Romney had lost Michigan, what we'll be talking about today is that Rick Santorum could be the inevitable Republican nominee. What he was able to do last night by winning Michigan and really a blowout in Arizona is that Mitt Romney was able to change changed the narrative back that he is the person best fit to head into November against President Obama.
WHITFIELD: Does it make it harder for Santorum to maintain his strategy, maintain his narrative? Does it make it harder for even Newt Gingrich who is hoping that he's going to do well in those southern states, three of them out of ten up for grabs on Tuesday?
PRESTON: Well, this is certainly for Newt Gingrich here in Atlanta, in Tennessee, he has to do well. If he does not do very well there will be pressure on Newt Gingrich to finally leave the race and perhaps get down to two real candidates, that being Mitt Romney and --
WHITFIELD: Even though he just got new big super PAC money.
PRESTON: He has the money, but if you don't have the support then the money does nothing for you. But that money could help and we'll see what happens on Tuesday night.
For Rick Santorum, he needs to recalibrate his campaign a little bit. He did very well acting as the person who would best help out blue collar voters. You know, we expected him to do well in Michigan because of that. He's from Pennsylvania. However he has got to move away from his social conservative message in some ways because it has hurt him.
WHITFIELD: Interesting, cnn.com, some interesting analysis about five things we may have learned from the primaries.
PRESTON: I thought for five things. What we say from Mitt Romney yesterday is confidence. When he, gets a self-confidence, he is actually a pretty descent candidate. He doesn't stumble over his words over the past couple of weeks he's been stumbling over his words.-- .
A couple over things. Look, Rick Santorum didn't lose last night. He won a lot of delegates in Michigan. The race goes on.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much always good to see you, especially in person.
All right. Thanks a lot. All right. The CNN NEWSROOM continues with Suzanne Malveaux live from Phoenix, Arizona.
Hey Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Hey Fred, great to see you.
