>> schieffer: today on "face the nation," the republican campaign goes south and a terrible turn in the afghanistan war. as tensions grow in afghanistan in the wake of the koran burning, an american soldier apparently opened fire for no legitimate reason on afghan civilians. we'll have the latest from mandy clark in kabul. back home, the republican campaign grinds on. rick santorum swept the kansas caucuses, and mitt romney won in wyoming, but there was no mistaking that the big battles were down south. >> good morning, y'all. good to be with you. i got it right this morning with grits. i'll tell you. delicious. >> the first time he had ever tasted grits.

i just wanted to reassure all of you that i have had some acquaintance in a variety of forms with shrimp, with cheese, with gravy. i get it. >> schieffer: it was one of those you can't make it up weeks on the campaign trail. so where do things stand now? after winning georgia, newt gingrich is still dancing. but can he or santorum stop romney? we'll ask him. then we'll talk to a top obama campaign advisor robert gibbs. the latest on the campaign and afghanistan with analysis from correspondents norah o'donnell and david martin. this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning again. the overnight news from afghanistan is sober.

at least 15 afghans by some counts are dead, and more are wounded after an american soldier went on a shooting spree. it happened in khandahar province just a short distance from the u.s. military base where villagers stood in silent shock this morning when officials collected bodies and tried to sort out what had happened. cbs news correspondent mandy clark is in kabul this morning. mandy, what have you been able to find out? >> well, we understand the american soldier left his remote base in khandahar province this morning around dawn. he went house to house shooting villagers. according to an afghan official in one home he killed 11 civilians including women and children. he has been detained and an investigation is ongoing. >> schieffer: do we have any idea what prompted this? >> no. american officials have been asked what caused the attack

to happen. there is no indication what the motivation could be. they haven't made any links to the victims and the soldiers so it's very unclear why he went on this shooting rampage. >> schieffer: mandy clark in kabul. mandy, thank you so much. security correspondent david martin is with us in the studio. david, can you add anything? >> as she said, the soldier is in custody so sooner or later presumably they will find out his motive. but the motive seems almost beside the point. the number one mission for u.s. troops in afghanistan is to protect afghan civilians. for an american soldier just to open fire on afghan civilians just undercuts the mission of the u.s. troops in afghanistan. >> schieffer: david, thank you. you'll be back later and we'll be joined by our white house correspondent norah o'donnell who will have more on all this. let's turn now to the campaign annuity gingrich who is with us this morning in birmingham.

mr. speaker, good morning. what would you do this morning.... >> good morning. >> schieffer:... if you were president? >> i think you have to reassure the afghan people that there will be transparency, that justice will be done. we're the opposite from al qaeda and the taliban. they kill civilians deliberately. we protect civilians when a tragedy like this occurs we have an absolute obligation to deal with it out in the open and to ensure that justice is done and they know how serious we are about protecting the innocent of every background and every nationality. >> schieffer: you were pretty strong about the president's apology over the burning of the koran. what can he say now? what should he say? >> well, this is a total different situation. with the burning of the koran they were killing young americans. no american president should apologize to people who in the process of killing young americans. this is a different situation. we obviously want to offer condolences to the families. i think we want to offer compensation. we want to recognize this is a

terrible event. as i said, we are in the business worldwide of protecting the innocent. our enemies, the terrorists are in the business worldwide of killing the innocent. we need to make very clear that moral distinction. then we have to live up to that distinction. >> schieffer: is it time for us to leave afghanistan, mr. speaker? >> i think it is. i think we have to reassess the entire region. i think the revelations about pakistan having hidden bin laden for seven years in a military city near their national defense university and then hunting down not the people who were protecting bin laden but hunting down the people who were helping america, i think the muslim brotherhood in egypt and you look around the region, this is going to get much worse. it's why i've called for an american energy policy. we need to decide we're going to produce our own oil and we're going to frankly be capable of surviving without having to define or dominate the region because i don't think we have the will power or the capacity to do the

things you have to do to fundamentally change the region. >> schieffer: you say it is time to leave. you mean let's leave. let's start leaving right now. >> i think we need to reconsider the whole region. we need to understand that our being in the middle of countries like afghanistan is probably counterproductive. we're not prepared to be ruthless enough to force them to change. and yet we are clearly an alien presence. that was the real meaning of the reaction to the koran burning. i mean the fact is those korans had been, in fact, defaced by muslims who were prisoners. they had been abused by muslims not by americans. and yet the instantaneous anti-american sentiment is so deep we need to recognize we're walking on egg shells in places like afghanistan. after $20 billion in the last decade it's pretty hard to argue that the pakistanis are seriously our allies when they hide bin laden for seven years. >> schieffer: let's talk a little politics here.

last week you told us you had to win georgia. you did win. but now it looks like you've got a little competition shaping up in alabama and mississippi. are these must-win states for you, mr. speaker? >> well, the states i want to win. i think the states are going to do very well in. we're going to get a lot of delegates in both mississippi and alabama. i think the odds are pretty good we'll win them. we're campaigning in both alabama and mississippi today and tomorrow. we've had great reaction, great crowd response. we have good organization in both states. you're always playing catch-up a little bit to romney because of the scale of his money and how early he starts advertising. but the truth is we've caught up pretty dramatically. i think we'll have a good day on tuesday. and i am committed to going all the way to tampa. i mean, part. this, bob, is i have 175,000 people who have donated to the campaign. 95% of them are... have given under $250. they want a visionary conservative in the reagan tradition. i think they deserve to have a

voice and i'm doing everything i can starting with our american energy policy and our proposal for $2.50 a gallon or less for gasoline to outline the kind of future we'd like to have. >> schieffer: let me play to you something that john mccain, your republican colleague, said. he is a romney man, of course. but he told me this week that the longer this campaign goes on, the more he worries about i. here's what he said. >> so every day between now and november that is devoted to winning the primary is lost on winning the general election. i have to tell you that that makes me very worried about our chances of winning in november. >> schieffer: now, a group of conservatives, social conservatives, people like tony perkins, the family research council, and others, said this week that you could be a king maker. that you ought to get out of this and throw your support to santorum. what about that? >> first of all senator mccain's memory is exactly backwards.

it was senator mccain who won the nomination early. it was barack obama and hill aerl clinton who fought all the way into mid june. it didn't seem to hurt barack obama to have a vigorous contest. he won the election, remember? so i think that senator mccain has it backwards. second, the same people who have been for santorum are for santorum. i get it. the fact is i have significant differences with senator santorum. all conservatives aren't the same. as leader of the house we balanced the budget for four straight years. as a member of the senate leadership team, senator santorum ran up a trillion 70 billion dollars in deficits and had to raise the debt ceiling five times. i am for less regulation. i have called for repealing sarbanes-oxley which is really hurting american business. senator santorum helped pass it. on economic issues i am much much more conservative than senator santorum. more importantly on big long- term vision lofl things like an americaning in plan, like a

personal social security account for young americans, like projects on brain science for alzheimers and autism and parkinsons and mental health. we're a different kind of people. i represent reagan tradition of very large ideas. he represents being a team player on a washington team. this is not the same kind of conservatism. >> schieffer: mr. speaker, we always appreciate you stopping by and answering the questions. thank you so much. i'm sure we're going to be talking to you further down the trail. returning now to robert gibbs who comes to us from a different side of the street. he of course is the former press secretary to the current president, barack obama. and he's one of the senior advisors in the campaign. robert, how does all this look to you right now? how are the obama people feeling about this? >> look, i tend to agree with what republican pollster who does national polling for the wall street journal said this week. this entire process for them has become corrosive. i think it's become destructive.

i think, as you see them roll out tax plans that cut taxes for the wealthy and add trillions of dollars to our deficit, it drives independent voters away. it's a fascinating process to watch. >> schieffer: you're also from alabama. i noticed governor romney was trying to get in good with the folks down there in alabama talking about the oil. >> bob, i don't want to give advice to republicans particularly mitt romney but as a southerner, i would tell him that kind of stuff doesn't really go over well in the deep south. i will tell him this. he might not have her this. if somebody says they love the s.e.c.it's not the investigative body that looks into off shore cayman bank accounts. it's the world's greatest college football coffin conference. i hope he'll go with the flow if he's down there. >> schieffer: where do you see this campaign going now? is it still going to be about the economy and a referendum on president obama? >> i do think that the biggest issues are going to be economic issues.

i think you saw a good economic jobs report on friday. we took another important step in a long road to recovery. we've got a long ways to go. but we've created 3.9 million private sector jobs in 24 consecutive months of adding jobs to this economy. that is tremendously important. i don't think it will be a referendum. ill thrill it's going to be a choice, bob. we're going to have a choice in this election about whether we're going to continue positive job growth or go back to the policies of cutting taxes for the wealthy and ignoring the middle class. many of the issues and policies that got us into the mess we're trying to dig out from right now. >> schieffer: the president didn't have much to say about the republicans so far. i mean there was that cover on the new yorker where he was sort of sitting back eating popcorn while they were fighting as if they were on a football field or something. do you expect him to become more engaged in this campaign or is he going to let them just fight amongst themselves?

>> look, until we have a republican nominee, i anticipate that the president will continue to do what he's been focused on since he got into office. that is how do we strengthen this economy and put more and more people back to work? i think he'll watch and it's clear that this republican race is going to go on for quite some time. not a matter of weeks but likely a matter of months. >> schieffer: do you think it will be mitt romney? do you think that's inevitable or do you think gingrich orp santorum might wind up with the nomination. >> i think yesterday was instruct tive. a state like kansas, when you have the support of somebody like bob dole that you don't do that well in kansas you get about 21, 22% of the vote like mitt romney does i think it shows you've got some real problems on the road to this nomination. i think anything is still highly possible. >> schieffer: do you think it might actually go to the republican convention? do you think they might actual he'll get there? i've been looking at these numbers. romney keeps saying that it is inevitable that there's no way that the other guys can get

the nomination, get enough delegates before they get to the convention. but the way it looks to me it mate be difficult for mitt romney to get the number of delegates before they get to the convention. >> bob, i think you hit on it. they did a call this week to say the other two wouldn't get the majority that they needed but they certainly stopped short of saying that they would have that majority before they got to the convention. i don't know. i think probably anything is possible but i know if you look at what these candidates have been saying, tearing each other apart with negative ads, it is a process that in many ways has torn each of them down, and i think has weakened them for a fall election. >> schieffer: let me ask you a little bit about this situation in afghanistan obviously you're not in the white house now. but you're in very close contact with people there. what happens here? what's the president to do? >> well, look, i think obviously this is a deeply regrettable incident. any civilian loss of life, as your correspondent david martin said, our primary mission over there is to protect afghan civilians from

the destructive nature of the taliban. so again this is a deeply regrettable incident. i know that the coalition forces over there are in the midst of an investigation. and our job is to do as much as we can to train the afghans, to secure and protect their ofern country. and to continue the transition of giving them that responsibility so that we can bring our men and women home. >> schieffer: robert gibbs, always a pleasure to have you. >> thank you. >> schieffer: i'll be back in one minute with some analysis from norah o'donnell and david martin. >> what would you like to say to mr. romney? >> good luck tonight. >> no, really. >> really. >> do you think that was an endorsement? in charge of their. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want.

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what's the latest over at the white house. >> president obama has been briefed about this u.s. soldier who opened fire on afghan civilians. bob, this could not come at a more sensitive time. president obama was just speaking to president karzai on thursday in a video teleconference. they're in the midst of negotiating a broader strategic agreement to help transition u.s. forces out of afghanistan from a combat role to a training role. in may there's going to be a huge nato summit in chicago. where this is the discussion. how do we pull more forces and accelerate the transition? so this really is going to be a huge story this coming week for this president and our situation in after sgan stan. >> schieffer: you just heard newt gingrich say it's time to leave. this just didn't work. david, i know you left to go make a few more calls. did you turn up anything more? >> you know, the commander in afghanistan general john allen is in washington this week because he's testifying on capitol hill. it wouldn't surprise me if general allen himself briefed

the president on this incident. they recognize this as an incident as serious as that burning of the koran. >> schieffer: david, let me ask you this question: how could a lone u.s. soldier with his weapon walk out the gate, which is guarded of his base and walk out into the community. people don't go anywhere alone in afghanistan. >> it's happened once before. an american soldier walked off his base. he's been a hostage ever since. how this guy managed to do it particularly after whatever mistakes they learned had been made when the first one walked off, i can't tell you. >> but this is now a concern about the safety of our soldiers that are over there in afghanistan. after the koran burning, some of our soldiers were killed. others were shot pointblank in the back of their heads. so they are really concerned

that afghans will want to retaliate. this inflamed things that are already going in afghanistan. bob, already after the koran burning you heard some democrats on capitol hill saying it's time to get out more quickly out of afghanistan. i bet we'll see more of that week from democrats who say why are we in afghanistan? it's time to leave. it's just coming at this time when this discussion is underway about pulling fors out. >> schieffer: and with the people like newt gingrich joining in. you already have ron paul who says we have no business there in the first place. now gingrich was pretty strong today. i mean it was almost like he said, you know, we made a mistake here. there's not much else to be said about it. it's time to pick up our stuff and leave. >> it just goes to show you in a presidentialy lx i mean this was a good news week for president obama because of the jobs numbers and then foreign policy enters into the debate. this is going to be a difficult thing for president obama to manage, and the republicans will have to talk about how they would do things differently and explain how they would position our forces

in the coming year in afghanistan. >> schieffer: isn't that the truth though, david? i mean we never seem to talk about foreign policy very much in presidential campaigns. and then, you know, all of a sudden the presidency becomes all about foreign policy. >> well, if you look at the last several months, look what's happened to our policy in afghanistan. first we have that cross-border incident with the pakistanis in which american aircraft shot at a pakistani border post and killed 25 pakistani soldiers. relations with pakistan still haven't recovered. the supply routes through pakistan are still closed. then you have the burning of the koran which forces the commander in afghanistan to pull all of his advisors out of the afghan ministries for fear of retaliation. they're still not all back in the ministries. and now you have this which is obviously going to be another setback. war is a huge undertaking. it can withstand a number of

mistakes. but when they start to pile up and accumulate in an atmosphere of war weariness.... >> i think it doesn't change what are the fundamental, you know, basics of this which is that this administration has already decided to accelerate the transition. secretary panetta told a group of pentagon reporters that we were going to be transitioning out of a combat role probably by the end of this year. so we'll be down to 68,000 troops in afghanistan this summer. i think we could see a significant drawdown after the fighting season. that's going to be part of this debate. this presidential debate about bringing u.s. troops home and out of afghanistan. >> schieffer: and in an odd kind of way, i wonder if this doesn't sort of help the president speed up that, because i think you are going to have more people like newt gingrich, for example, who say, wait, we just got to get ourselves extricated from this thing. >> i think politically it will be difficult for those

republicans that argue to stay in afghanistan to make that argument given these current situations certainly. >> schieffer: i want to thank both of you this morning for bringing us some insight into this awful, awful development. i'll be back in a moment with some lighter thoughts. in a minute. [ hermann ] there's always something

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cheese. not good. sort of like asking for mayonnaise on corn beef in new york or when republican candidate gary bauer got in a pancake flipping contest in new hampshire and like an outfielder misjudging a fly ball fell off the stage. so as the campaign moves across the south toward texas, my home territory, here as a public service are some tips for all the candidates. first, they may call them cheesy grits in mississippi, as governor romney referred to them, but in texas they are called cheese grits like cheese burgers. nobody said cheesy burgers. same with grits. second, texans love mexican food. someone is bound to offer you candidates a tamale. they're great. but remember they are wrapped in a corn husk. it's called a shuck. you take it off before you take a bite. during the '76 campaign someone gave president ford a

tamale right in front of the alamo. he didn't know about the shuck and took a big bite, shuck and all. nearly choked. no one remembered anything else about the day. so just remember, candidates, shuck the tamale, and then eat it. you're going to really like tamales. back in a minute. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing.

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