barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you very much. >>> let's move on to syria now.nt crackdown on the opposition there. explosions rocked several cities, again, overnight. syria's oil minister is now the highest government ranking official to defect from the iran regime to the opposition. he revealed it in a youtube video. it was a hot topic at the senate hearing yesterday with senator john mccain saying that the united states must do something to stop the slaughter. >> we look back, if we fail to intervene years from now and thousands and thousands of syrians have been massacred while we stood by because we can't address the issue. we can. we're the best military in the world. i understand the strain on american military, i understand the sacrifices made by american families, but i also understand if the proudest part of american history is when we have tried to help other people achieve the same goals that we so passionately articulated when we declared our independence. >> united states cannot be the world's policemen. we still have men and women dying in afghani

barbara starr at the pentagon. barbara thanks so much. >>> a closer look at the satellite images just released by the u.s. government. first before and after pictures. you see them there. this is the assault on the babar amar neighborhood. on the right heavy black smoke powers out from the buildings there. the wider pinpoint marks the neighborhood pock marked by artillery craters. next set of before and after pictures shows a bridge near the syrian border with lebanon. in the right hand picture you clearly see that bridge perhaps an access for people to escape the country destroyed. the u.s. government released these dramatic images on the eve of a new diplomatic push to try to stop the blood bath. former united nations secretary general cofkofi annan is now a special diplomat. set to meet with the president of syria tomorrow. >> is there any kind of a deadline that will be given to president assad? >> well, the imperative is to resolve this as swiftly as possible. our view it and i think the mounting view of the in

reaction, barbara starr joins me now from washington. barbara, let's talk about the pentagon's reaction and handling of this tragedy now. >> reporter: you would expect statements in public from high level officials expressing condolences and regret. but i have to tell you, behind the scenes, senior military officials, this is just a punch in the gut to them. you can hear their slumping shoulders in their voices when we talked to them today about all of this. both angry and upset and they wonder where it's all going to go from here. angry at the perpetrator, upset about what has happened. they were just getting past the koran-burning incident. this is only going to make the mission all that much tougher. >> do we know anything about the soldier accused? >> reporter: we're told he's a u.s. army staff sergeant and that he is not himself, part of any special soldier himself. no confirmation, but said to be part of the so-called conventional force in the u.s. army. one of the things they will be looking at closely in the whole investigation s

let's go to barbara starr at the pentagon. barbara, we were talking about this last hour.hat specifically is he calling on? >> senator mccain giving a very impassioned speech about the flight of the american people, trying to get air strikes given to the syrian forces. he said time is not on the side of the syrian people. assad is on the march. lets listen to a little more of what the senator had to say. >> at the request of the syrian council, the free syrian army and local coordinating committees inside the country, the united states should lead an international effort to protect key population centers in syria, especially in the north, through air strikes on assad's forces. to be clear, this will require the united states to suppress enemy air defenses in at least part of the country. the ultimate goal of air strikes should be to establish and defend safe havens in syria, especially in the north in which opposition forces can organize and plan their political and military activities against assad. >> reporter: make no mistake, you are talking about sending u.s. pilots i

barbara starr with new information.ig a little bit deeper right now with our national security contributor the former bush homeland security adviser fran townsend. what do you make of this new intelligence information that barbara starr is reporting on involving syria, fran? >> you know, wolf, intelligence officials have been concerned because, of course, both iran and russia have arms deals that they do with syria and have been supporting them not only in the u.n. but militarily, a so i don't think it's surprising, but the level of detail and the types of technical equipment that they're providing as barbara rightly points out makes this a much more difficult military operation if the president was willing to continue that. they're behind that in order to murder its own people. it really is important that the administration as it is works with the arab league, the u.n., and the international community to try and defeat this effort. >> let's turn to iran and its nuclear program. a very interesting interview that will ai

barbara starr, what do you know?1 sets fragmented of remains who perished here at the pentagon on 9/11 buried in a land fill. if you didn't think that was bad enough, listen to this. the pentagon this afternoon, releasing thousands of pages of documents about all of this and how it came to happen. this has been going on for some time. unidentified remains being buried, incinerated and buried as medical waste. dover air force base was in charge of all of this. and apparently back in 2002, there was actually a debate about whether it was a good thing to do. these doms show an extensive e-mail debate between officials. some officials saying the remaining should be buried at sea, such as military remains are with appropriate military dignity. others saying no, they're unidentified, incinerate, put them in the land fill as medical waste. and other officials saying there's no way these were normal medical waste remains if such a thing even exists. so these pages of documents show us more insight into this very difficult de

barbara starr is at the pentagon working her sources. barbara, i understand there are some new concerns about this soldier's family in the united states. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, carol, u.s. officials are confirming to us that over the weekend his wife and children were moved onto the base, onto the lewis mccord military base in washington state. they apparently lived off the base and moved there for their own protection in case they were to face any harassment from the community or any unpleasantness. this obviously has to be just terrible for them. his name has not come to light yet. that is expected to be made public by the military once there are charges. then we are likely to learn this man's name. some of the other things on the table right now, a decision about whether or not to move him back to the united states for prosecution. he's currently at the kandahar detention facility in southern afghanistan. they will have to decide if they want to move him back to the states for any potential further detentio

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joining us live now from washington. sources telling you? >> reporter: hi there, fred. we want to get right to it and show some newly declassified imagery and we're going to keep it up on the screen so people can have a good look at it. this comes to us from a u.s. state department website showing some of the destruction across syria, especially in the city of homs. why is this imagery as we continue to look at other images here, why is it so important? this is giving the u.s. intelligence community a good handle on the broader picture of the level of destruction in these areas. you know you see those youtube videos and that may show you destruction on a particular street or in a particular place, but here you see the city of oleppo and very recent injury, broad scale, vehicles on the move. this indiscriminate artillery shelling across broad areas. that's giving the u.s. government a much better idea of the scope of the syrian military and how well they are dug in, how much the regime is in this for the long haul. >> and

. >>> barbara starr is on the phone with us now. barbara, this news that sergeant bales probably made two trips in that killing spree, why is that a factor into what happened, how investigators are trying to piece together what happened and how? >> reporter: well, you know, fredricka, one of the things investigators want to know is, did anybody see him come and go. did anybody know that he might have been acting outside normal military behavior. if he came back, indeed as they now suspect, was he seen, did he talk to anybody, what were his activities in the period of time that he returned to the base, how did he get in and out without being stopped, without presenting a very good reason to be going off base by himself, because they believe he acted alone. this is really extraordinary behavior for military base in the middle of a war zone. i can't recall anything like this. so they're going to want to piece all of this together. and it may give them some additional valuable clues. did anybody else on the base suspect anything. was the

barbara starr joins me now by phone from washington. so, barbara, how is the pentagon handling this tragedy coming so shortly after that koran incident? >> well, you know, don, i have to tell you, you know, i don't think it would surprise anybody, the official word is that this will not deter the mission, sad and criminal as it is, but behind the scenes you can hear the slumped shoulders in the voices of the military officials i've spoken to throughout the day. they are -- this is just a punch to the gut for them. they are both angry and furious that anybody in a u.s. military uniform could have done this, and they are absolutely heartsick. it does come right after the koran burning incident. they felt they were barely getting past that and now this. it just really couldn't be more disconcerting at this point. they're trying to take a very moderate attitude in public, not say anything that could incite any violence, but they are deeply, deeply upset about this, don. >> i have to ask you this before i ask you about this particular individ

let's bring in barbara starr. barbara? had. >> well, wolf, you're right.s talking about syria. for the first time in detail talking precisely about why it would be so tough for the u.s. to attack. the top u.s. military commander for middle east operations says the fall of bashar al assad is inevitable. >> not if but when he is going to go. >> reporter: but for civilians, it may be about to get worse. >> he's gaining physical momentum, sir, on the battlefield. i think he's creating more enemies. i think he's creating more reason, more international pressure against him. but on the tactical battlefield, he is clearly achieving what he wants to achieve. >> reporter: the first public discussion why senator john mccain's call for air strikes may be too tough to do. >> the russians have provided very advanced integrated air defense capabilities, missiles, rada radars, that sort of thing that would make imposition of any no-fly zone challenging, if we were to go that direction. >> reporter: but mccain was clearly out of patience, eye specially with the arguments

i want to turn to barbara starr. if these aliens were to attack iran, how might that unfold?e uisraeli militar capability be? would they be something less? they have a lot of fighter jets into the hundreds, and they do have the bunker buster bombs, so it's precision weapons designed to punch through underground targets or heavily reinforced targets which is what everybody believes iran has in their nuclear facilities. the question is, if iran were to continue to reinforce, continue to bury deeper and deeper, would the israeli bunker busters work or do we get to a point where it's only the heavier u.s. weapons that would work? that's one of the challenges facing israel right now as they try to develop their strategy and thinking of all this, brooke. >> so we don't know at what point israeli bunker busters would actually be effective versus american weaponry. so we don't know, that's one variable. i do want to move along, though, we're hearing senator mccain of arizona talking about syria. he wants to call u.s. air strikes against syria? what can you tell us about that? >> that

but barbara starr told it was robert bales. chris, now we have the name of the staff sergeant. obviously it's easier to look at his record and all that. >> reporter: we just confirmed with a second pentagon source it was sergeant robert bales. he did a lot of work with the tribal elders there. actually i've been online just in the last minute or two. saw some photos of him working with some of the afghans with some of the work that he was doing there in the short time of the past few months that he was there. the next step is for him to arrive at fort leavenworth. we're told that will likely happen sometime tonight, maybe within the next few hours or so. once he gets to fort leavenworth, the usual procedure is he will be given a lengthy physical and psychological exam to see where best he should be placed at fort leavenworth. and then you start to get into the legal process. first step obviously down the road would be article 32 hearing in which sort of a -- think of probable cause hearing in a civilian court. from there the ball just keeps rolling. the one caveat to this case,

pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us. barbara, what should we expect to hear from panetta and dempsey, let's say? >> reporter: this hearing just getting underway, as you say, carol. chairman levin, the senator from michigan, just opening it up. look for secretary panetta and general dempsey, the head of the joint chief, not to step anywhere outside the parameters that president obama has laid out. they are going to stick to the u.s. policy right now which is no use of military force. that is likely to set off senator john mccain, the ranking republican, of course, who has been calling for airstrikes. mccain is saying the situation in syria is so dire, the people there suffering so much, so many killed that this is now the only appropriate option and that airstrikes are one of the key ways you're going to convince bashar al-assad that he cannot win in this conflict against his own people. and you know what, you've been hearing the administration say for so long now is that assad could, could hang on for weeks, months in thi

barbara starr, tell me more about what are karzai told defense secretary panetta today. >> according to the pentagon, secretary panetta is saying after this meeting, it was one of the best meetings he ever had with the afghan president. look, this comes a couple days after this tragedy, this atrocity in afghanistan when a u.s. soldier killed those afghan civilians. so the best meeting maybe not from the afghan point of view. hamid karzai is now saying he wants all foreign troops out of afghan villages really sooner rather than later. he wants them to go back to their main bases across afghanistan. that will pose a very fundamental challenge to the u.s. strategy, which is to have troops in the villages working with the people, convincing them that they can be safe and trying to help them get on with their lives and fight the taliban, which of course, exists all across afghanistan still. so this is going to be a little problematic, you know, the u.s. isn't going to keep troops in the country if they're not wanted but that hasn't been what the strategy is. it was to get everything wrapp

brooke. >> barbara starr, appreciate it. that's your reporter roulette on thursday. >>> i have now been told we have live pictures. take a look. live pictures, here you go, off the coast of orange county, california, and what you are looking at is a whale has been tangled up in some old fish netting there. this is near the beach if you know the area and they are trying to reach the whale with boats in buoys. they say it is older than a baby whale but not quite an adult whale. we'll keep you posted on the progress to save this whale. >>> so we have the police report. i have it right here. the police report, sanford police detailing what happened the night trayvon martin was shot and killed. now we have the surveillance video. it shows george zimmerman after the shooting. we have mike brooks standing by who will walk us through this video frame by frame to show us what injuries zimmerman may have had or perhaps did not have at all. don't miss this. we always hear about jobs leaving america. here's a chance to create jobs in am

sara sidner is in kabul, barbara starr is in the pentagon. sara we want to start with you. how close were these attacks to leon panetta? was he ever in any danger? >> reporter: no. they were quite far away from where he was in helmand province. this happened in -- we're talking about 100 kilometers or so away. quite a distance away, however, these types of roadside bombs have been used many times against isaf soldiers going to and from different parts of the country. so of course that's going to put things more on a high alert for anyone visiting, although they're already on high security alert right now because of what has happened on sunday with the massacre allegedly by a u.s. soldier. i want to talk to you a little bit about what mr. panetta has been saying as he's been visiting the country. he talked to u.s. and u.k. troops there and trying to reassure them that the mission right now is a transitional one. their job to help train afghan soldiers so that the afghan soldiers can take over their country and to control the country themselves as the time for u.s. and nato t

barbara starr covers the pentagon for us. i want to start there. you have the soldier who allegedly did these terrible things. the united states military has him in custody in afghanistan. at what point do they get him out of the country for some kind of trial? >> reporter: this will be a key decision for commanders to make, carol. do they hold the trial in afghanistan on a u.s. military base once charges are made against this man and if he goes to court-martial or do they send him back to the united states? we've seen things go both ways. the issue of his safety, the safety of the troops around him, the safety of any base where he's being held is going to be one of paramount concern. one can only imagine. make no mistake. he'll be handled by the u.s. military justice system and not turned over to afghans. there are very strict laws and regulations about that. i want to go back a minute and touch on the lewis-mccord situation. that base. certainly that base is a place where there have been many, many very well documented problems. things that have

barbara starr is live at the pentagon for thus morning.estigation is only just beginning right now. barba barbara? >> that's right, ashleigh. by all accounts this soldier about 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning on sunday walked out of his base in a remote area of kandahar province in the south, went to villages nearby and conducted these killings. brutal business. very tough. i mean, you know, just think about this one little area where the u.s. troops were operating. they were there specifically not just route out the taliban but to help the people who live in that area, to convince them that they would be kept safe, that they could proceed with their lives. this was all about trying to be the one voice of safety and stability for the people in that regioned. and, of course, it has gone so terribly wrong. u.s. commanders we're talking to absolutely heart sick, a real punch to the gut on this one. they are promising a full investigation. so far, no one can say what the motivation was of this soldier to do what he did. >> so maybe it is one soldi

. >>> i'm barbara starr at the pentagon. inspectors back in to look at a secret site. does that mean any of us should be less concerned that iran's trying to make a nuclear bomb? we'll have details at the top of the next hour. >> thanks to all of you. >>> plus we've seen rush limbaugh get slammed for calling a college student a slut. we've seen his advertisers bail. but comedian bill maher uses at times worse language without the backlash. is there a double standard going on here? we'll talk about that in the next hour. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ >>> time for my favorite part of the show, sports. miami already fot lebron. are they going to get peyton too? >> i don't know if he's going to hold a big show like the decision or anything like that. it very well could be we might see him on south beach too.

barbara starr is joining us from washington with more on this. bara, i know you're digging on this. there have been reports of military officers affections. there are signs the syrian elite are moving money and family out of syria. what are you learning about what's happening there? >> good morning, randi. just yesterday, i spoke to three senior u.s. intelligence officials who are directly monitoring the situation in syria. and they say the u.s. assessment right now is that the regime is not cracking, that assad remains firmly in control, in command on his forces, in communication with his people and there's no real cracking of the inner circle. the defections that have been made are people not really directly involved with him. and their conclusion, the u.s. intelligence community conclusion is that assad could hang on for quite a while. unless you get the defections from his circle and you begin to see those fundamental cracks. right now, they feel the regime has basically talked themselves into sticking with this plan of assaults and violence.

let's go to barbara starr. tell viewers what's going on. >> wolf, we are often talking about the threats for north coria, but this time the entire asia-pacific region and the u.s. may be facing a new crisis. >> all eyes now this launchpad in north korea where the regime says it will fire a long-range missile carrying the satellite in mid-april. this new digital globe satellite image exclusively obtained by cnn shows increased activity. you can see trucks and the assembly crane on the launchpad. united nations resolutions prohibit north korea from firing long-range missiles. >> north korea had agreed to implement a moratorium on long-range missile launches. during those discussions, the united states made it very clear that a satellite launch would be a deal breaker. >> the u.s. has stopped promised food aid in the wake of north korea violating the ban. >> you have now no confidence that the monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the food assistance goes to the starving people and not the regime elite. >> the firs

barbara starr, your reporting. let us know you what you think. up next, claims that some of the republican challengers are making about president obama's handling of the economy and promises they are making like bringing back cheap gasoline. >>> and it's been a year after japan's nuclear disaster, we have got under cover video from the crippled power station. and also why the man who made the video says the company is lying, those are his words, about the real danger proposed by the plant. i just got the popular girls from the local middle school to follow me around. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. >>> keeping them honest on campaign states. not to say that the economy is in grea

we'll get more on that shortly from our national security contributor fran townsend, but first barbara starrck carried out as the defense secretary's plane landed in afghanistan. barbara, what are you learning? >> let's go first to the runway attack, wolf. it was yesterday at the british-run base in southern afghanistan. defense secretary leon panetta is about to land when a vehicle full of gasoline containers comes barrelen down the runway, crashes, explodes into the plane, the driver died of his burns, but we are learning new details today. the pentagon says the driver of that stolen vehicle was in fact, they believe, aiming for the welcoming party for panetta on 9 runway. he may not have known they were there for panetta, or may not have known panetta was about to land, but a u.s. military official says that the driver drove the vehicle at a high rate of speed at individuals who had to get out of the way to avoid being hit. the secretary's plane was diverted to another part of the runway, they all had to stay on board until it was safe. here for the first time defense secretary leon panet

barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, has that happened?s indeed, carol. we know an awful lot now. those 100 troops are on the ground as advisors training, helping, and assisting african forces. the goal of the pentagon is to put those african forces in the lead. these are military forces in africa that very much want to do something about this but, let's face it, they need some help. the u.s. trainers are there. u.s. special forces on the ground in uganda. you see the map in the central african republic and south sudan operating out of some of the most remote areas in africa. they are not in combat themselves although they are equipped if the threat comes but they are working with the african forces, especially with the ugandans who have made some progress by all accounts. you know, until they get kony the job is not done. and there is an effort on the part of the u.s. military to get some more reconnaissance equipment, communications gear in there, things that they can do to help the african forces. that's really the strategy for the u.s.

let's go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. what are you learning?wolf, at this hour, cnn has learned that instead alcohol may have been a factor in this incident. two senior u.s. officials are confirming to cnn they are looking into the possible that alcohol was involved. one u.s. official telling us that when investigators searched the base, they found alcohol in the area where this man had been living. the staff sergeant, the suspect, another official also confirming they are looking at alcohol as a factor. toxicology tests on the staff sergeant suspect have not come back yet. so we cannot say with certainty that they have been able to tie alcohol to this incident, but there are things that are leading them to believe that alcohol may have been involved, including finding alcohol on the base. alcohol is available in afghanistan, but this is an islamic country, and this will be something very difficult to explain to the people of afghanistan. second thing we have learned at this hours, there is imagery. at these small bases, as you know, for perime