situation for any late changes. this report coming from our state correspondent. it's one of many new developments tonight on many different fronts. two things remain constant. dozens of people are being murdered, killed every day and the assad regime continues to lie about it. in fact, they're finding new ways to lie about it. especially the two journalists killed in homs yesterday and whose bodies are trapped there. the government blaming them for dying in the conditions they created. also claiming they're not targeting journalists or civilians, only terrorists. the second statement is a flat out lie. one of the journalists, marie colvin did the last reporting on our program. we spoke to her hours before she was killed. a new rort out from u.n. investigators, sfie pages that read like an indictment of the assad regime. forces have committed widespread systematic and gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity. with the apparent knowledge and consent of the highest levels of the state. the report notes the opposition of the syrian army committed abuses and not comparable in scale to those carried out by the state. the assad regime is fighting armed terrorists, not systematically shelling unarmed civilians that we see happening in homs. secretary of state clinton opened the door to closer ties with the political arm, the syrian national council. listen. >> there will be increasingly capable opposition forces. they will, from somewhere, somehow find the means to defend themselves as well as begin offensive measures and the pressure will build on countries like russia and china because world opinion is not going to stand idly by. >> diplomats telling cnn this view may prevail the friends of syria conference which takes place tomorrow in tunisia, which secretary clinton is going to attend. they are trying to broker a cease-fire so food and medical supplies can get into homs and the wounded and killed can come out. the bodies of marie colvin and remi ochlik remain in homs near the makeshift press center that was rocketed yesterday when they were killed. two other journalists need more sophisticated treatment than they can get now. they need to get out of homs, out of syria to lebanon. today, they described their injuries and asked for help. >> i was wounded yesterday. three large wounds to my leg. >> translator: my leg is broken. the length of my femur. i need to be operated on as quickly as possible. the doctors have treated me as best they can except they cannot perform any surgical operations. i need, as quickly as possible, during a cease-fire a car with medical equipment or at least in good condition to take me to lebanon to be treated as quickly as possible. >> they survived the rocket attack that killed marie colvin. she spoke with us tuesday night telling the story of a baby, a 2-year-old who was killed by shrapn shrapnel, who died before her eyes. >> they claim there are not hidden civilians. >> it's freezing, there's nothing to eat, i'm shelled every day. because i'm sitting in homs on a civilian street. every civilian house on the street has been hit. we are talking this is kind of poor popular neighborhood, two or three story houses. every house has been hit. the top floor of the building i'm in has been hit. totally destroyed. there are no military targets here. it's a complete and utter lie they are only going after terrorists. there are rockets, tank shells aircraft fired into the city. the syrian army is showing the city of cold, starving civilians. >> thank you for using the word lie. a lot of people want to thank you. it's a word we hear but it's the truth in this case. you have covered a lot over the conflicts over a long period of time. how does this compare? >> reporter: this is the worst for many reasons. partly personal. there's nowhere to run. nowhere to hide. it's a real concern. just the terror of the people and the helplessness of these families hiding on the floor. all they can do is hope it doesn't hit them. it's very, very difficult to watch. >> that was her last interview. hours after that, she was killed when a rocket hit the makeshift press center where she was working. the syrian foreign ministry issued a statement blaming her and other victims rejecting all statement that is hold syria accountable for the death of journalists who infiltrated syria at their own risk, without knowledge of their entry or whereabouts. keeping them honest, the government knew their exact location. there's new reporting citing lebanese intelligence intercepts ceriseayrian army radio traffic. it reveals that direct orders went out to target the makeshift press center. we should point out, we have been unable to confirm the specifics on our own. arwa damon who spent time in the building days ago tells us it's been routinely targeted. take a look. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: it hit us. it hit our house. there's something burning the voice on the tape cries out. the media house has been hit. cut off the live camera someone shouts. they have discovered our position. nothing, they swear, will shut them down. to get to the upper floors you have to hug the wall because there's one window that's exposed. this is where you really see the full impact of the damage that was caused by the incoming rounds. i mean this right here speaks for itself. >> it bears mentioning and repeating again and again. government forces are targeting almost every building in several neighborhoods in homs, especially baba amr. but just about every outside reporter who has been in homs knows and has seen, eyes on the ground, that's parts of the overall syrian strategy. >> one of the biggest accomplishments for the media team is getting a live stream to show the world exactly what was happening in realtime. they believe this really aggravated the syrian government. this is one of the live cameras they had set up outside. they are telling us it was shot by a sniper's bullet that went in right there and came out the other end. but even though the government managed to bring down this live feed, they still had other cameras set up, still managed to get the images and the message out. >> more than 100 people killed today in syria. more than 100 people. according to the opposition. dozens more died yesterday. dozens more will die tomorrow. the wounded will not get treatment. the children will die. tonight, marie colvin's mother waits, perhaps in vain, for her daughter to finally, finally come home. i spoke with christiane amanpour at abc news. when you hear the syrian government warning journalists not to go in and report in unsafe and turbulent conditions when they are the ones that created the conditions, it's just one of the many galling things they have said over the last 12 months. >> it is. the government doesn't want independent journalists going in and exposing what you're saying and what they have been seeing. in bosnia they snuck in. it's the only way to do it if we are not going to be able to get in there independently. that's what makes this reporting and what marie gave her life for and what remi did and anthony shadid, and all of the people we lost, it's to get to the truth, and it's so difficult in these circumstances. >> we have a situation where a number of reporters there are asking for some sort of evacuation to get out. it's basically, i mean a microcosm of what -- there are civilians there who can get food in and what some sort of corridor. >> nobody can get in or out saefrl right now, the ratifiy r are justifiably afraid. they have been brave getting there. obviously, the civilian population is trapped as well. again, the same kind of things. the siege mentality we saw in sarajevo and all those towns that are so evocative 20 years later. it was 20 years ago we saw this in the call balkans and it's be repeated in these small towns around syria. >> every time we talked to marie colvin, we talked to her a lot over the years. in many different situations. her voice was always so cool and yet her words were so powerful. she was so determined to see the truth and to tell the world. she called us on the last day of her life, not because she wanted to be on tv, but she was so desperate to get word out about what was happening. >> that is what defined her. her voice and persona was always urgent and determined and fierce. emotional, but not emotional to drown out the reality of what was going on. that she was reporting. >> you knew her as a friend, i never met her, but i knew her as a voice because i talked to her so often. now you hear the syrian government, whether or not they targeted her and the other journalists there, there is some indication they may have, but we don't know, they may have clearly just by indiscriminately shelling, targeted countless numbers of people. >> it's important for bashar to turn the lights off. this is exactly what the regime is all about. this man, we know he harks for his father's time. he harks for a time the lights could be turned off. people like marie colvin and others are a challenge to him. it's been said, anderson, this is the first youtube war. we see everything. we see everything. these brave people paid a terrible price to make us see deeper and deeper. i think there is absolutely a great amount of tolerance in our world for this because all the violence we have seen in syria hasn't risen to the level where the world would come to the rescue of the people of homs and to the rescue of the people of the other syrian towns. >> anderson, i strongly believe that's because you need people like marie colvin and arwa damon and all the people who go in there to humanize these endless hours of very brave youtube videos. >> the youtube video is not enough. >> it's not enough. you need the human story, the face to the numbers, the emotions of the people. you need to hear what they are going through. and to see that. that's what marie and everybody gave. >> i remember you in bosnia. i would occasionally go to bosnia. over the course of that war, i found people getting angry toward reporters saying you know what, how many deaths do you need to see and take pictures of before somebody starts to do something? >> rightly so. we chronicled the story every day. at that time, american networks had a higher appetite for international news. we got our stories on every night on american television. >> there are very few places tilling the story of what is happening in syria right now, especially broadcast networks. >> it's true. it's a scary situation. marie's death had a chilling effect as you can imagine. in syria, there is no appetite to intervene. we have been told by the politicians and by the world leaders, it is difficult. it's not like libya. in bosnia, we heard it's a terrible civil war, all sides are equally guilty. people didn't want to do anything until they were forced to do it. it's going to be interesting to see in the friends of the syrian people meeting that's happening on friday, secretary of state, 70 other countries and organizations, what they will come up with there. >> how serious is it? >> it's a battle of wills. between the friends of syria, the united states, france, the european powers, the arab powers, and then what i call the friends of the syrian regime. that's basically russia, iran, hezbollah, very important, ally from beirut, and lately joined by none other than hugo chavez who is sending supplies and fuel to the embattled regime. if i were a gambling man, i would bet my money on the syrian regime rather than the friends of syria. the friends of syria are nothing. they're just running the clock. we talked a couple nights ago and i said something to you. about even on that sarajevo clock, there's still 18 more months to be run. there's 18 more months to be run. the syrian violence is a year old. as all three of us were talking about bosnia, it took three and a half years before calvary came to the rescue. >> it took less time to bring in humanitarian aid. this is the crux of tomorrow. the only thing they can do is try to put an ultimatum to president assad. i've heard, give him 72 hours or something to cease fire or put on more heavy sanctions. to try to bring in humanitarian aid. that as we all know, requires armed escourts. humanitarian aid doesn't just drive in with vehicles and civilians, certainly not in war zones. that's going to be interesting to see. i would disagree with you. you say the friends of the syrian people are nothing. the friends of the syrian people are the united states. the world's only super power. they have to be able to come up with something to affect the situation on the ground. the problem, of course, is that the opposition is splintered. we don't exactly know who we would give, the u.s. or allies would give weapons to and how to do it. unless there's an area where the west or turkey or whatever combination will carve out a safe zone. >> someone talked about turkey carving out a safe zone up north, that the turkish military somehow would defend. >> the turks are ready to help, and they have drawn their line. they will not allow massive influx of refugees from syria. they told bashar what the rules of the game are. they will not allow massacres close to them. the turks need american leadership, and already, if we're talking about the friends of syria meeting, it's going to be several hours in tunisia. and the tunisias themselves say they precluded a decision on their soil that any help, any military help would come to the syrian people. bashar is going for broke. he already knows. >> there's no going back. >> the fate is, he stays in the bunker he's in in damascus or knows the fate and is send to the hague, or he knows the fate of gadhafi, and when we say we're going to give him an ultimatum, he said, and then what? that has to be backed by the use of power. we keep finding reasons to abdicate. we find reasons to avoid the moment of reckoning. >> i saw marie colvin's mother. this poor woman. i was thinking about her. how many countless hours and weeks of her life has she spent waiting for her daughter to come home from one dangerous war zone or another, and now she's waiting, hoping her daughter's body will be brought home, and even that is in question. >> it's a terrible tragedy for parents and families. who watch us go to the zones. we put them through terrible hell. usually, they let us do what we have to do because it's really important, and marie made that very, very clear, but can you imagine what she's going through right now, and her brother, her sister, and the family just wanting to get the body out and the injured colleagues in there. across the population of homs and the cities. >> they have nowhere to go. christiane amanpour, great to have you on the air. thank you. fuad, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> it is great to have her back. let us know what you think. we are on facebook and google plus. add us to your circle, follow us on twitter. i'll be tweeting. let me think know if you think arming the opposition is a good idea. who got the most out of last night's cnn debate? with two tight races coming up, it could be make or break. we have new polling. later, a man's wife ends up at the bottom of the ocean. he winds up in jail in australia, then on trial in alabama. a prosecution witness saying the story doesn't add up. today, the judge issued a stunning ruling. we'll talk about that. 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(laugh) forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. raw politics now. new poll numbers showing a tight race between romney and santorum. michigan holds primaries on tuesday. michigan is considered do or die for romney. new poll shows him trailing santorum slightly 38% to 34%. it's within the margin of error. statistically, it's a tie. shows the race tightening and senator santorum's lead slowly fading. it does not show the effect last night's debate is having on the race. a lot of observers felt romney had a strong performance. we're going to talk about, including what a lot of political analysts saw as a shaky performance by santorum at last night's debate. >> the reason this issue is alive is because of the bill you drafted in massachusetts, romneycare. which was the model for obamacare. >> wait a second, wait a second. >> i have to admit, i voted for that. it was against the principles i believed in, but when you're part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader, and i made a mistake. he supported the folks on wall street and bailed out wall street, was all for it. when it came to the auto workers and folks in detroit, he said no. that is not a consistent principle condition. i had one. i believe in markets. not just when they're convenient for me. >> governor? >> nice try but let's look at the facts. >> i defended that at the time. i'm proud i defended it at the time because i believe they did make mistakes. i believe there was abuse and i said we should stop it. as president i would impose earmarks. >> governor? >> i didn't follow all of that but i can tell you this, i would put a ban on earmarks. >> so, did any of that move the needle? let's bring in paul begala, also republican strategist mary matal matalin. it seems like santorum could not stay on message has he had in past debates, getting drawn into discussions he could have maybe avoided. do you think he's going to be hurt now? >> it's something paul and i have seen uncounted times. no matter how well prepared one believes they are, no one is completely ready for their spot, their time in the lights. he had a rough beginning. he had some low points. he had some very high points and he did recover. the first time the lights are heating up you, you just can't prepare for it. there's no way to prepare for it. i don't think anybody -- i don't think those debates move the needle anywhere. although you're exactly right. romney had a very strong night, but i don't think the beigate is going to move michigan or arizona. >> paul, do you agree with that? >> i think it can and will. i disagree with that part. a lot of people