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Killing Spree In Afghanistan; Taliban Vow To Avenge Rampage; Report: 45 Syrian Women, Kids Stabbed; GOP Candidates in Four Contests Tuesday; GOP Candidates Seek Deep South Votes; Flight Attendant's Rant Delays Flight; Interest Rate Manipulation Probe; U.S. Soldier Accused of Killing Afghans; Jeff Foxworthy on Romney's Side; NCAA Tournament Set; U.S. Soldier Accused in Afghan Massacre

Aired March 12, 2012 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this 10:00 a.m. hour in Afghanistan where an American is accused of a cold-blooded killing spree and a strained alliance reels from another disastrous blow.

The Pentagon has not released the name, but says he's an army staff sergeant in his mid-30s. He had served several tours of duty in Iraq, but was on his first deployment to Afghanistan. He's in custody, and the military says he acted alone.

Here's what we know. At 3:00 a. m. local time, Afghan troops reported seeing a soldier leave his army outpost near Kandahar. The U.S. dispatched a patrol to find him, but before they found him, he had reached a village about 15 miles away.

The military says he then went door-to-door shooting people. Most of the victims were women and children. The killing rampage is the latest incident to test the strained alliance between the United States and Afghanistan.

President Obama did reach out to his Afghan counterpart, but the phoned conversation seemed to do little in pumping down the outrage. President Hamid Karzai condemned the shooting spree as an unforgivable crime.

Brianna Keilar is at the White House. So, Brianna, how worried is the administration about this latest blow to the alliance?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, they are very concerned. There are enough challenges with Afghanistan. This is obviously something that creates a huge challenge, going further for the administration.

It comes, of course, on the heels of those inadvertent burnings of Korans that caused anti-U.S. violence. So I think there's also this concern of sort of accumulative effect at this point.

You saw yesterday how quickly President Obama reached out and made a phone call to President Karzai. He did that from the presidential limousine. You can probably tell from the photo when he was at one of his daughter's game. And also you saw Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reaching as well to President Karzai.

Statements coming out, President Obama calling this tragic and shocking and stressing -- and this is something that you're hearing a lot of administration officials stress, Carol.

That this does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan.

And he goes onto talk about accountability. I fully support Secretary Panetta's and General Allen's commitment to get the facts as quickly as possible and hold accountable anyone responsible -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, OK, so the apologies are out. President Obama is saying justice will be done, but we know how things can go in Afghanistan. So what other things is the United States doing to reach out? I mean, how could they move forward and put this behind them?

KEILAR: Sure, I think you're right and I think you could say that this is the beginning of things certainly not the end. You're seeing a lot of things on the ground in Afghanistan.

I spoke with a senior administration official, and they have a lot of -- their ambassador staff, their ambassador certainly very involved in this, and the commanders on the ground.

They're reaching out right now, trying to talk to community leaders, local leaders and stress some things specifically that this was a lone act here.

That this was not something that happened on a larger level and that's really what they're trying to convince these local representatives of, Carol, and also this U.S. soldier is going to be held accountable.

When you talk to them about some of the challenges this will -- that the administers will face as they try to negotiate the terms of having U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan over time, as there's a drawdown and they try to transition to having Afghan security forces really take the lead.

They're pointing -- the senior administration official that I spoke with, pointing to the fact that a couple of weeks ago, despite the issue with the Koran burning and the uproar that that caused, they say that they were able to negotiate something on the detention of Afghans, that they've been working on for some time.

So despite, obviously, the challenges that they've been able to take some steps toward as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Brianna Keilar at the White House. Here to fill in some more of the blanks, Retired Army General Mark Kimmitt. General, thank you for being with us.

I thought you were on the phone, but you're here live, and I'm glad. The Taliban is vowing to avenge these attacks. What can the United States do to prevent that type of thing? GENERAL MARK KIMMITT (RETIRED), U.S. ARMY: Well, I think every unit over there probably is in a heightened straight of alert. They're going to do everything necessary. They've been fighting the Taliban for 10 years. If the Taliban try to attack them, they're going to be prepared for those attacks.

COSTELLO: I want to talk a little bit about, you know, this rogue soldier. He apparently walked off the base at 3:00 in the morning. Is that easy to do?

KIMMITT: It shouldn't be easy to do and I suspect that along with the specific tragic incident, I wouldn't be surprise if there's an investigation of that entire unit. What their procedures were? Who is in charge and why was it such that somebody could walk off the base as you mentioned?

COSTELLO: So what is the normal protocol?

KIMMITT: Well, the normal protocol is they're in a combat zone. They're probably in a secure base area. They have got defensive positions out. They've got guards out every night.

They're worried about being attacked at those bases. They shouldn't be worried about people walking out of the base and going downtown and conducting these kinds of activities. There's a lot that still needs to be answered.

COSTELLO: He would have had to physically walk by someone who was at some sort of guard station at that outpost?

KIMMITT: Yes, Carol. I don't want to speculate on the specific facts of the situation. I think that's all going to come out in the investigation.

But it would be surprising in a combat zone somebody could walk out of the defensive position relatively easy without either being noticed by somebody or finding an area that should have been guarded that wasn't being guarded.

But again, I think this is something that we need to wait and find out.

COSTELLO: Definitely so. U.S. officials say that this soldier suffered a mental breakdown. A lot of people are saying there should have been some signs that this young man was troubled. In your mind, are those kinds of signs easy to pick up?

KIMMITT: They should be. And again, this is why I mentioned earlier, there probably ought to be a close look at that unit. We have sergeants checking out our soldiers.

We have senior sergeants checking out the sergeants. We have officers checking out the senior sergeants. Good units have a good feel for the condition of the people inside their unit, and hopefully we find these types of situation.

And these types of concerns within a unit well before these types of incidents and so again no rush to judgment, but that's probably one of the areas that the investigators will be exploring as well.

COSTELLO: We hear a lot of posts -- about post-traumatic stress syndrome. In your mind, does this type of action -- I mean, is that something that arises out of a condition like this?

KIMMITT: Carol, I'm not a doctor. I wouldn't want to make a prognosis, but to suggest there's a medical condition that would cause a U.S. soldier unbeknownst to anybody to walk off a base and conduct himself.

And conduct these kinds of heinous actions, there's no excuse and no medical condition for that. And if we do have soldiers in that kind of situation, the chain of command should have been able to pick that up well before this ever happened.

COSTELLO: This soldier turned himself in. He's now in custody. The afghan said, we should try this guy. The United States is, of course, balking at that. What do you think will happen?

KIMMITT: Well, our soldiers go abroad under the uniform code of military justice. One of the contracts that we have with our troops is they will be tried under U.S. justice while they're abroad. He's entitled to having a U.S. court hear his case.

We saw that, for example, as recently as a couple of years ago with the cases in Iraq, but these types of military justice happen every day, abroad done by Americans.

What I would not want to see is this is somehow turned to a show trial just to placate the locals. Our soldiers regardless of their crimes, regardless of the allegations are still entitled to U.S. justice.

COSTELLO: I think maybe a complicating factor was so many women and children were killed. So what can the U.S. military do to calm down tensions, to not make this into some sort of legal show, to get justice, to get this guy back to the United States without some terrible violence happening in Afghanistan?

KIMMITT: Well, there may not be a reason to bring him back to the United States. Most of the defendants were tried in Iraq. There's a way where you can find that balance point between American justice and making certain that the people in the country understand that they are being tried.

You are right. This is a heinous crime, but I think we need to take a deep breath, and rather than turning this into a lynch mob, let's demonstrate to the Afghan people that we can conduct an investigation and that American justice will prevail in the long run on this incident.

COSTELLO: And then my final question to you. I mean, our military is so great, filled with so many brave men and women and then something like this happens. As a military person, what goes through your mind when you hear such things?

KIMMITT: Well, what goes through your mind, as we saw going back is you have over 100,000 great young American soldiers and coalition soldiers over there trying to do the right thing every day. They put their values at stake. They put their lives at stake. They put their lives on the line.

And then one of their fellow soldiers let them down. It just really goes to the bottom of your heart. The disappointment you feel with one soldier, but also the profound sadness because of the burden that the rest of those soldiers that are doing the right thing every day under very tough conditions will now have to leave with because of these types of actions.

COSTELLO: General Kimmitt, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I know you're busy there in Dubai. We appreciate it.

KIMMITT: Sure.

COSTELLO: More about the suspect now. He was stationed in Washington State. The joint base, Lewis-McChord is located outside of Tacoma, and it's been tied to other attacks on Afghan civilians.

In 2010, four soldiers from Lewis-McChord were accused of forming a kill team and slaughtering three unarmed men from support. That same year, the military "Stars and Stripes" newspaper called it the most troubled base in the military.

It quoted a retired general saying there was a leadership problem. The next year, the "Los Angeles Times" cited a spike in suicides and called it a base on the brink.

And the "Seattle Post Intelligence" newspaper quotes one veterans' advocate as saying this: this was not a rogue soldier. This base is a rogue base. This bloodshed is the latest embarrassment to Rock Lewis-Mcchord's military community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN ERICKSEN, ARMY CIVIL AFFAIRS TEAM LEADER: It's going to complicate missions, most definitely, but I think also we're all affected by senseless death regardless of how it happened. Seven years away from my kids, my wife, my family, my community, you know, stressful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A vigil is scheduled tonight in Lakewood, Washington near the joint base Lewis-McChord. Both the civilian and military communities will honor the Afghans killed in the attack.

Now to the more troubling new reports out of Syria, rebel activist says more than 100 people were killed across the country yesterday, but the most gruesome stories are coming out of Homs.

Opposition groups say government troops stormed into Homs and stabbed to death at least 45 women and children. The government blames terrorists for the attacks. CNN is unable to verify because Syria bans most foreign reporting.

And today a funeral is planned for an American reporter killed in Syria. Marie Colvin was killed in Homs when government forces shelled a residential area. "The Sunday Times" correspondent will be laid to rest in her childhood hometown of Oyster Bay, New York.

The GOP candidates battling for delegates in four contests tomorrow, the Alabama and Mississippi primaries taking the focus. Rick Santorum is in Mississippi today. We'll hear from him a little later.

Mitt Romney is celebrating his 65th birthday today and he's stumping with comedian Jeff Foxworthy in Alabama. Heavy rain this morning, under an umbrella, Foxworthy joked with the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF FOXWORTHY, COMEDIAN: I avoided politics for 53 years. My friends say, why would you get into this? The answer is, it's too important because while I don't like politics, I don't like big government. I love this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He wasn't joking. He was pretty darn serious. Newt Gingrich will be speaking in Mississippi in just about an hour. Gingrich and Santorum are trying to push each other out of the campaign to become the only solo challenger to Romney.

Southern states aren't exactly pulling out the welcome mat, though, for Mitt Romney. But that's not stopping him from turning on some good old southern charm at least he's trying.

Joining me from Austin, Texas is political reporter, Peter Hamby. Peter, it may be obvious to folks what Romney's problem is in the south, but why don't you tell us?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, there are a lot of issues here. One, he's had trouble with rural voters, Evangelical voters, very conservative voters, Tea Party voters. You know, basically the conservative base.

And the South is certainly crucial to the Republican Party in the general election. It will go to Republicans, but the problem for Romney is he's having trouble making the case to Republican voters in this long drawn out nomination process and it's really come to the floor in the South.

He lost South Carolina. He lost Georgia, which is Newt Gingrich's home state. He lost Tennessee, a state he thought he could win to Rick Santorum. He's also had problems in the Midwest. He lost Oklahoma.

For example, he won Florida. You know, a state that Southerners, including myself, probably don't count as part of the South. He did do well in the Florida panhandle. He won some of the more populous counties on that conservative Gulf Coast.

And he also won Virginia, but again, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were not on the ballot. He defeated Ron Paul there and Virginia is more of a purple state.

So looking ahead to tomorrow, the Romney campaign thinks maybe that they're underdogs, but they can pull out a win in Alabama. That's the contest they're focusing on the most, but again, Carol, they're going to come out of there with some delegates. Somebody will not get a win, but they will get some delegates tomorrow.

COSTELLO: Peter Hamby reporting live for us. Be sure to stay with CNN for all the latest news on tomorrow's Alabama and Mississippi primaries. CNN's coverage of the results begins tomorrow night at 7:00 Eastern.

What would you do if you heard a flight attendant behaving like this on your trip?

We'll ask the passenger who shot these pictures what he did. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back. Remember the last time you paid attention to your flight attendant? What if she did this? I'm sure you have seen it by now, but watch again.

This was on an Americans Airline flight. Passengers say the female flight attendant got on the intercom and acted hysterical, telling passengers to get off the plane. She started talking about the plane crashing.

She even referred to the 9/11 attacks. Passengers and the cabin crew were able to restrain the woman who was taken to a Dallas hospital. Joining me now is the passenger who shot those pictures, Steven Termunde. Welcome.

STEPHEN TERMUNDE, PASSENGER ON THE AA FLIGHT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Have you recovered from that incident?

T ERMUNDE: Have I recovered? I still think about it very often. I would like to put it behind me, definitely.

COSTELLO: Explain to us again what happened on board that flight and the slow realization that there was something seriously wrong?

TERMUNDE: Well, it was a progression. We couldn't tell if the stewardess just had an odd sense of humor, if she didn't know we could hear her on the PA.

But she continued to reference that we needed to sit down, put on our seat belts and turn off our electronics, and we had clearly already done that.

So it wasn't until really she started trying to communicate with the other stewardesses and to the pilot that we knew there was a problem. There was one instance where she actually started speaking in Spanish.

So like I said, at first, a little difficult to see if there was a situation, if there was not, but once she referred to crashing and told the pilot if we didn't return to the gate, the crash would be on him. That we knew we had a situation on our hands.

COSTELLO: It was interesting to me that as soon as she said that, the passengers like you reacted. How many joined in to help restrain this woman?

TERMUNDE: At first, there was an off duty pilot that was in about the third seat of first class. He got up and that's when everyone relaxed a little bit. He addressed her. Tried to take the mic away from her and that's when the scuffle started.

The other two stewardesses and the pilots started scuffling with her and two people from first class in the first road jumped up and assisted in restraining her and tried to get her to the seat.

At that point pretty much everybody had their seat belt off and was ready to react. But there were two people in the back that came running up, and I thought, wow, finally, there was an air marshal or somebody on board that's going to help us.

But it was really two colleagues of mine from Sam's Club that run up and helped subdue the woman and really brought the situation under control.

COSTELLO: Did you feel that it was up to the passengers to take control of the situation? There's no air marshal on board. What did American Airlines do to make you feel safer after this incident?

TERMUNDE: Honestly, they didn't do anything to help me feel safer after the incident. When we landed, we expected to have an opportunity to talk to American Airlines. There were representatives there, but they just assist with connecting flights.

So no one was there to tell us what happened or what was going to happen or really anything. So later on when I returned home, I received an e-mail saying for my inconvenience, I would receive 10,000 extra bonus miles to my account, which really wasn't important to me.

COSTELLO: What do you wish American Airlines would have done?

TERMUNDE: I wish someone was there prior to us taking off. We just waited for a couple minutes and then they said they would get a new crew. One of the stewardesses was not injured they thought it was best because of the situation that she get off the plane because it was a stressful situation, which kind of was a little irritating. We were in a stressful situation as well. We weren't offered the same thing. So it would have been nice for someone to tell us what was going on before we took off. Because the person that caused this commotion was able to get off the plane, and we were wondering, you know, could anything have happened to the plane?

Could she have done anything before we got on? It was a very stressful flight. When we finally landed, there wasn't anyone there to answer our questions or console us.

COSTELLO: Or even say thank you. Wow. Steven, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

Big banks have some big explaining to do. They're accused of manipulating interest rates. We'll explain how next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Big banks could be in big trouble again. At issue this time is whether or not banks manipulated interest rates. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. This can't be good for customers, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. No, no, no especially if you're looking to take out a loan. So what's happening now is that no banks have been charged with this yet, but the Department of Justice is doing a criminal investigation.

No word on which bank it's looking into. But there's also a civil case being brought by private investors and that one is against Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC and other banks.

All right, so here is what the big issue is, authorities want to know if banks tried to influence how interest rates go up or down, more specifically. They want to know if banks manipulated what's known as (inaudible) rate.

That's the actual rate that is set in London each day to determine how much banks charge each other to borrow money. And that, in turn, influences the interest rates that are charged on loans taken out by every day people around the world.

Meaning rates on mortgages, credit cards, student loans or bond investments. And Carol, this is such a big deal right now. This investigation that it's not just the U.S. looking into this other countries are involved in the investigation as well -- Carol?

COSTELLO: So what happens if the banks are found guilty of manipulating interest rate?

KOSIK: And that's a good questions, one analyst said banks could be on the hook for billions of dollars. Criminal charges and individual lawsuits, yes, they are also a possibility.

But, you know, it really depends on how far this thing goes. You know, all of these various investigations could take years to resolve. The banks right now, law enforcement officials, they're not commenting, but we are seeing a bit of a reaction in the markets. Bank stops are slightly lower at the moment -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.

He's pretty darn popular among southern conservatives for his red neck jokes, but will Jeff Foxworthy's influence be enough to give Mitt Romney a win tomorrow? Your "Political Buzz" coming your way next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our "Top Stories" now. Afghanistan's Parliament has demanded a public trial for the U.S. soldier who allegedly went on a shooting rampage Sunday, killing 16 people, including nine children.

Here in the United States, efforts are under way to prevent this type of tragedy from happening again and, of course, the Taliban has vowed to avenge the deaths.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Good units have a good feel for the condition of the people inside their unit and hopefully we find these types of situations and these types of concerns within a unit well before these types of incidents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The new national average for a gallon of regular gas is $3.80. That's up from $3.77 just a week ago. That's according to AAA. Gas prices are more than $4 in Alaska, California, Hawaii and Illinois.

The NCAA tournament field is set. Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina and Michigan State are the top regional seeds. The tournament play kicks off tonight.

"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today: CNN contributors, Maria Cardona, Will Cain and Dana Loesch, you are with us.

DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. We didn't know if we could get her shot up and we managed it. Welcome to all of you.

First question is a serious one. According to a new ABC News/"Washington Post" Poll, 60 percent of Americans do not think the war in Afghanistan was worth it.

Now that a U.S. soldier is accused of killing 16 civilians is the time to withdraw now? Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think that we have to remember that we already have a withdrawal plan in place. And it's in -- it's going to take place in 2014. Now as tragic as this horrific incident was, we also should remember that we shouldn't have just a completely emotional reaction to it.

But keep in mind that actually Afghanistan was the war though -- that was the right one to do right after 9/11. It was the one -- it was the place where the hatch -- the -- the plan was hatched for 9/11. And then we got into Iraq which I -- which I think really took us off track. So Afghanistan was the war to go into.

COSTELLO: Will?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It's long past time to leave Afghanistan. While this story, I agree with Maria, is one that is extremely sad and awful, it isn't a precursor for why we should leave Afghanistan. The reason that we should no longer be in that country is that for a decade we've been unable to answer the reason, the purpose of the goal why our soldiers are dying in that country.

Without that, without a purpose, I don't see why we should stay in Afghanistan. I would agree, that doesn't mean you rank -- you yank everybody out tomorrow. But you leave as quickly as you can, in an orderly fashion.

COSTELLO: And I said we got Dana but it went away.

CAIN: Her Skype.

COSTELLO: No video, her Skype went down, I'm sorry about that.

LOESCH: I heard it.

COSTELLO: Dana, you're back.

LOESCH: I'm -- I am here. Now this -- is it my turn? Because I'm ready to go.

COSTELLO: Ok.

LOESCH: This -- this is -- I actually kind of agree with Maria on this topic, which is very odd because that rarely happened that we agree on something. But you know I do agree that we have a withdrawal plan in place. But I'm also -- I'm -- this whole incident has kind of been turning me into some sort of peacenik because I want a more -- I want a more coherent plan as to what we're doing in Afghanistan up until 2014.

I think that definitely this incident should be investigated and an investigation will happen. Punishment will come down. But I also think that we need to stop sort of positioning ourselves (inaudible) which come after us as well, and kill our soldiers. Because we had the U.S. trained and funded military, that -- that's in Afghanistan, that did that. The Afghan military.

So I -- long story short, I think we need to get out of Afghanistan. COSTELLO: Okay, second question, the Doonesbury comic strip causing a stir again lampooning a Texas law that requires woman to get ultrasounds before an abortion. Some newspapers have pulled the comic from their pages. The question is should they have done that? Will?

CAIN: Specifically to your question, should newspapers yank this cartoon? That's a question for every single one of these newspaper owners and editors and what they feel like is appropriate for their readership. Who are their customers?

Specifically whether or not this cartoon offends me, which answers your direct question but I would say this, I'm pro-life. I would like to see abortion gone, over with. I think we'll look back on abortion 100 years from now with the same kind of disdain and disbelief that we do over slavery.

But that being said, I can't get behind anything that mandates this kind of intrusive procedure that the Texas law, where I'm from, would require.

COSTELLO: Dana?

LOESCH: Well and again, newspapers they have the right to run whatever strip that they think is appropriate. And of course, I know that Doonesbury creator Gary Trudeau has every right to draw whatever he thinks is necessary and interesting to his readership at the time. That's just the way freedom in the United States works and the open newspaper market, as they were.

So I mean, that's just -- that's the unfortunate side effect. You have free speech but there are consequences with that. And if the newspapers don't want to run it, they don't want to run it.

COSTELLO: Maria?

CARDONAL: I don't think they should have pulled it. But it is their decision at the end of the day I think that the issue they were lampooning has every right to be lampooned. It's a ridiculous law, it takes away the rights of women to health care access, to making their own decisions with their doctors, with their families, about their own bodies.

And I think it reflects the overreach and the extremism that is going on in some conservative circles in trying to put forth this policies towards and taking -- and wanting to take women back to the 19th century, absolutely worth lampooning.

COSTELLO: Ok third question. Jeff "You Might Be a Red Neck" Foxworthy, is touring with Mitt Romney. So let's listen to a bit of what he said on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF FOXWORTHY: But the fact that you would stand here in this pouring down rain to listen to the next President of the United States proves to me you are smarter than a fifth grader. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So Jeff Foxworthy is with Mitt Romney. We wonder what comedian would be a good sidekick for the other candidates? Dana.

LOESCH: Oh my gosh look, he's got Kid Rock now. And he has Jeff Foxworthy. I think that there's a trend that's developing with this. If they want to get behind a Republican candidate, that's fine. Mitt Romney, who has been able to attract his share of celebrities, that's for sure in going in, going forward with his campaign. I'm just astounded by Jeff Foxworthy and Kid Rock. I saw Kid Rock on stage and they were campaigning.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Dana. Maria.

CARDONA: Let's see. I've put a -- I tried to come up with a list. And I came up with Homer Simpson, perhaps Lewis Black. The unknown comic from the '70s but at the end of the day, Carol, here's what I came up with.

Some of the policies that these candidates are putting forth are so laughable on their own, that I don't think they need any comedian to underscore how laughable those policies are.

COSTELLO: Ouch.

Will?

CAIN: It's like an LSAT test. I'll tell Dana the correlation here. It's a correlation of opposites. Mitt Romney is to Kid Rock and Mitt Romney is to Jeff Foxworthy. Its opposites, we have to find that thing corollary. Rick Santorum, he would be as to say somebody Daniel -- like Daniel Tosh, completely crass and funny.

Listen, Newt Gingrich would be somebody warm and endearing. I don't know. Bill Cosby.

COSTELLO: Bill Cosby.

CAIN: Ron Paul, somebody young.

COSTELLO: Oh geez that's terrible. Ok, thanks to all of you. And Dana Loesch, I'm glad we finally got you up -- up and running this morning.

LOESCH: Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it. On to other things now, sharing her grief with the world, one month after the death of pop star Whitney Houston, her daughter Bobbi Kristina talks publicly about her loss.

And we're feeling March Madness at the CNN Center. Check out this time lapse of the building of the big bracket. Coming up next, we'll talk about a sleeper in the NCAA tournament.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Get out your brackets and get ready for March Madness. The field is set for the big day. The NCAA tournament begins Tuesday night with play and games. On Thursday 64 teams will begin to shoot for a national title. The top seeds: Syracuse in the East; Kentucky in the South, North Carolina in the Midwest; and Michigan state in the west.

Now, one of the things that makes March Madness is the excitement of the Cinderella team, taking down a higher seed. And this year Murray State could be that team.

Here's Rob Marciano.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: College basketball and Kentucky go hand in hand. But when you think of Kentucky basketball, the Murray State Racers aren't likely the first team that comes to mind. Well, think again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're trying to put Murray State on the map for Kentucky basketball.

MARCIANO: A mid major program with a rookie coach and a roster of players whose resumes don't exactly match those of the bigger programs is in the midst of what can only be described as a Cinderella season.

The Racers ended regular season play ranked tenth in the coach's poll with 30 wins and just one loss. Now they're looking for that magic slipper in the NCAA tournament. It's all they can talk about in this small western Kentucky town. Where Rudy's is Murray's oldest restaurant. Stop in for lunch and you will get your fill of Racer basketball.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can be (inaudible) -- their three- point game, staying on the outside line. It's going to be awesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe here in Murray, Kentucky. We believe they can go all the way.

MARCIANO: That sentiment fuels a team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's motivation for us just knowing that we got this town behind our back.

MARCIANO: Junior guard Isaiah Cannon leads the team in scoring.

ISAIAH CANNON, JUNIOR GUARD, MURRAY STATE: Whether it's a weak opponent or a stronger opponent, a smaller school or a bigger school, we're going to come out to compete as if it's our last game.

MARCIANO: But does Murray State have what it takes for a good showing in the tournament?

ALLEN WARD, MURRAY STATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR: We're not a one-year wonder. We've won a lot of championships. Been to a lot of NCAA tournaments. 25 straight winning seasons

MARCIANO: Senior forward Ivan Aska (ph) was a sophomore the last time the Racers went to the tourney. And he credits first year head coach Steve Prohm with keeping the team focused and building this winning season.

IVAN ASKA, FORWARD, MURRAY STATE: It was like a bond, like I said a family. More like brothers.

STEVE PROHM, COACH, MURRAY STATE: I've got the best kids in the country, when you talk about character, toughness and ability.

MARCIANO: It's those qualities that Prohm says are the key to the Racers' success.

PROHM: It's something we talk to them about day in, day out, about how you represent this program. Don't seek your own honor. Honor will find you. That's what's happened to these guys. They've been unselfish and good things were happening.

MARCIANO: And Racer fans expect good things to keep on happening in the tournament.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Final four, definitely. Final four.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the way. All the way.

MARCIANO: Rob Marciano, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: We're having March Madness fun at the CNN Center. Take a look at our big bracket with all the games on it. You can join in the fun by registering for the March Madness bracket challenge. Go to cnn.com/brackets and join the CNN group. See if you can pick the games better than any of us.

Your deadline to enter is halftime in tomorrow night's first game. So hurry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: More now on today's top story, the Taliban is promising to exact revenge for a killing spree allegedly at the hands of a U.S. soldier. The soldier's accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, most of the victims, women and children. The Pentagon has not released the soldier's name, but says he's an army staff sergeant in his mid 30s.

He served several tours of duty in Iraq but was on his first deployment to Afghanistan. He is now in custody. And the military said he acted alone.

In the last hour I talked with Barbara Van Dahlen, a clinical psychologist who works with military families. She says the soldier had likely been having some pretty disturbing thoughts for quite some time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA VAN DAHLEN, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, I think we'll learn a lot more in the coming days to understand this soldier's behavior. But this was an active and irrational man. This is not something that we would expect to see if in fact he was functioning healthy in a proper way emotionally, psychologically.

So I suspect that we will come to understand that this is someone who is probably pretty tormented, disturbed, and this was an act of irrationality.

COSTELLO: So would there have been signs that something was wrong?

VAN DAHLEN: Well, from what I understand, just in terms of history, this is someone who has a family. He served apparently three tours in Iraq. And this one in Afghanistan. So it's likely that when we look backward we will see things that people say about him, changes in his behavior, reactions. Messages he may be conveyed to people. But maybe it was the people who wouldn't have known what to make of that.

But I suspect that we will come to understand that there were things that had we known what we were looking at could have told us that something really horrible was brewing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: President Obama calls the killings tragic and shocking. He's offered his condolences to the Afghan people.

The primary fight is heating up in the Deep South. Who's likely to come out on top? We'll ask Paul Steinhauser. He's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: She shared her mother with the world. And now that Whitney Houston is gone Bobbi Kristina is opening up about how she's coping with her mother's sudden death. Houston's 18-year-old daughter invited Oprah Winfrey and her cameras into her home in Atlanta. She told Winfrey her mother is always with her, and she plans to carry on her legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBI KRISTINA BROWN, DAUGHTER OF WHITNEY HOUSTON: I can sing her music. But to hear it, right now --

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: You can't.

BROWN: I can't. I can hear her voice in spirit talking to me and telling me, keep moving, baby. I'm right here. I got you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Winfrey also spoke with Houston's brother and sister- in-law about her life and death. Houston, as you know, was found dead on February 11th inside a Beverly Hills hotel. The official cause of death has not been released.

In your "Daily Dose" of health news, the cost of caring for millions of Americans with Alzheimer's is going way up. A recent report from the Alzheimer's Association says this year we will be paying $200 billion for patients with all types of dementia. It also says costs are projected to increase to $1.1 trillion by the year 2050.

Rick Santorum's taking on a new war with teleprompters. We have the story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Not all politics have to be so serious. "Saturday Night Live" knows that. Here's a few political punches from Seth Meyers' "Weekend Update".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Mitt Romney won a key victory in the Ohio Super Tuesday primary narrowly beating Rick Santorum by just 1 percent. Specifically, the 1 percent.

Despite only winning the Super Tuesday primary in Georgia, Newt Gingrich vowed to continue his campaign, saying "I'm the tortoise. I take it one step at a time. Also, if you roll me onto my back I can never get up."

Rick Santorum today won the Kansas caucuses beating Mitt Romney by 30 percent. Santorum was expected to do well in Kansas because it's also a giant square.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I think it was more like a rectangle.

Joining me now for the serious side of politics is our political editor Paul Steinhauser. So who has the momentum heading into tomorrow's races?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Sure Carol. Make me follow the funny guy. Make me look -- yes, yes, thanks a lot. Tough act to follow.

Let's take a look. It is dead even. We have Alabama and Mississippi tomorrow. Let's start with Mississippi. A brand new poll out this morning from American Research Group. And look at this. It's about as tight as it gets right there in Mississippi. Mitt Romney at 34 percent. Newt Gingrich at 32 percent. That's basically dead even. Santorum at 22. Ron Paul at 8 percent.

Let's move over to their neighbor to the east, Alabama. Same story. Change the two numbers on top. But basically all knotted up. Gingrich at 34, Romney at 31, Santorum in the 20s. Paul in the single digits.

One more thing, Carol. Rick Santorum: maybe not so crazy about teleprompters. Here's what he said yesterday in Mississippi.

"I believe that when you run for President of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter because all you are doing is reading someone else's words to people." That may not always be the case. But listen -- who is he talking about here? Because Mitt Romney and President Obama have been known to read off teleprompters. Is he going after them?

COSTELLO: I know. The teleprompter police? Who's going to like --

STEINHAUSER: Exactly. Just wanted to get that out there for you.

COSTELLO: Thank you Paul. We appreciate it. Be sure to stay with CNN for all the latest news on tomorrow's Alabama and Mississippi primary. CNN's coverage of the results begin tomorrow night at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

My time is done. I'm going to toss it over to Kyra Phillips.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Because not all we do is read from teleprompters right.

COSTELLO: I don't know what to say. We're just talking.

PHILLIPS: What's wrong with that?

COSTELLO: Guilty.

PHILLIPS: Thanks Carol.