slaughtered in a terrifying massacre in syria. rebel groups say government forces stormed the city of homs, going house to house, stabbing women and children and then burning their bodies. syria's government is blaming the killings on armed terrorist groups. rebel groups are claiming over 100 people were killed sunday in government crashdowns. . the doonesbury comic strip has been pulled from several u.s. newspapers outrage after that comic strip tackled texas's new law requiring ultrasounds before women can seek an abortion. kentucky, syracuse, north carolina and michigan state earning the top seeds in their regions. kentucky's the favorite to go all the way. but the madness will get under way on thursday morning. and mississippi and alabama holding primaries tomorrow. mitt romney's getting a little help from a southern comic who just might be a red neck. and that rick santorum is counting on conservatives to provide him with a little bit of southern comfort as well. up first here, the killing spree that could threaten the u.s. mission in afghanistan. an american soldier going on a house-to-house shooting massacre in two southern afghanistan villages early sunday. 16 civilians were killed, 5 others were wounded. afghan president hamid karzai says this was an intentional act. he calls it unforgivable. a pentagon spokesman says the u.s. is certain that the gunman acted alone. >> it was noticed when the individual left the outpost and was reported up the chain of command. they did exactly what they should do, which is try to take a proper accounting at everybody at the outpost. there was in fact one person missing and they knew who it was. >> sara sidner is live in kabul, afghanistan. if we can begin the fact that it was one soldier. there were some suggesting it was several soldiers. what can you tell us about that? >> officials are sticking with the one soldier story that just one army staff sergeant left the base, went on a shooting rampage and return and turn himself in. they are still saying this morning this was the work of one person, there was no mission going on at the time in the area, that person obviously has been detain and an investigation, a full investigation, is under way. i want to tell you a little bit about some really gruesome images i've just looked at coming from one of the locals in the area who took a lot of photos and video of the villagers. the scene is gruesome. there are pictures of perhaps the worst pictures are burned bodies, including a toddler who has what appears to be a bullet hole in the toddler's head. there are images inside of one of these small homes of blood covered floors and blood splattered on the walls. we're also talking about a shell casings that are on the ground being picked up, obviously from investigators who have come in the next day. this apparently happened somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 this the morning on sunday morning. since then, the villagers have been accusing the rus government of not telling the truth, saying there were more u.s. soldiers on the ground when this happened. but we did hear from a couple of people saying that all they know is that at least one of them did open fire. that person as i said has been detain. gruesome images coming out of the distract. this is an area known to have a strong taliban presence, an area where villagers say we were told by the u.s. to come back to this area and look what has happened to us. a lot of sorrow, a lost people crying and trying to explain what happened through tears, in the western part of kandahar. zoraida? >> are we worried now about reprisals, perhaps? >> reporter: the taliban has already this morning said there will be reprisals, perhaps violent ones. we also know that members of parliament have decided to close down the parliament here in protest of the killings. so here in kabul, parliament will be closed. there is a lot of anger brewing. we know there have been the villagers that have gathered outside of the base, gathered both yesterday and they are gathering today, of course, the funerals will happen today as well. so we'll be getting more and more information from that area. but the anger is growing and there's a lot of speculation that this really plays right into the hands of the taliban who is trying to divide people and trying to say, look, you can't really trust these coalition forces who claim to be here to help you. the u.s. government, nato, and afghan officials are looking into this but there are a lot of people asking for swift justice and wanting the person who perpetrated this crime to be tried right here in afghanistan. we don't know if that's likely to happen or not, zoraida. >> have you heard anything about how this affects the strategy moving forward in afghanistan? >> yes, right now, everyone is just expressing their anger or sorrow or both over what happened. this is certainly going to strain ties again between the afghan government and the u.s. the president as you mentioned has said he is deeply satined by what happened. this is a de-floridaib flooploa regrettable incident. in a statement yesterday, hamid karzai made it seemed like he believed there was actually some sort of a mission that went wrong. we're still trying to clarify exactly what he meant by his words. but certainly, there is anger now and there's going to be have to be a lot to get worked through because of this incident, zoraida. >> sara sidner, great to have you this morning, live in afghanistan. while israel engages in a round of cross border fighting with militants in gaza, the former head of israel's intelligence agency is warning against a preemptive strike on facilities. rather surprisingly, he said aing toing iran could set off a regional war and said there are still more time for diplomacy. >> you have said publicly that bombing iran now is the stupidest idea you've ever heard. that's a direct quote. >> an attack on iran before you exploring all other approaches is not the right way how to do it. >> on subject of diplomacy, our president urged israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu just last week to be patient when it comes to iran. meir dugan said a nuclear armed iran is not an israeli problem, it is an international problem. time now for "early start" news you will be tacking about tonight. marie colvin will be laid to rest tonight. many syrian-americans attended her wake though they did not know her personally, to thank her for giving a voice to people struggling for freedom. a ruling is expected in the jerry sandusky case. it will be decided how much evidence will have to be forked over, including times and dates when the alleged abuse took place. the kony 2012 video, another one is expected to be released today. this one to answer critics who question the group's management and motives. the creators joined cnn's don lemon just last night. >> we're going to release a ten-minute video that clicks through some of the questions where we say here's all the answers. here's all the figures. you know, there's nothing to hide. invisible children has been transparent since 2004 when we started. that's our intention. we want to show this campaign is part of a strategy and model that's comprehensive and that we stand by it. >> the video was posted to bring attention to the atrocities committed by ugandan warlord joseph kony. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all making gains for the week last week. u.s. markets closed higher on friday after that stronger than expected jobs report. >> let's bring in christine romans, telling us about a new survey about student loans threatening the u.s. economy? >> this is a bankruptcy attorney group that is warning that they think the next debt bomb is student loans. of course they would like their clients to be able to discharge their student loans in bankruptcy. did you know if you file for bankruptcy, your student loans stay with you on the other side of bankruptcy? in bankruptcy in general, your alimony, child support, court fines and restitution and student loans cannot be wiped away in almost all cases. there are rare exceptions. this bankruptcy group is saying, look, we are seeing among our clients the same kinds of signs we saw early on in the mortgage crisis of people who are drowning under these student loan debts. it's interesting. it's not just students. it's their parents, baby boomer parents and in some cases grandparents who are taking on the student debt. the average student graduates with about 25 grand in student debt. this is as of 2010. this study finds little chance of loan relief. that's surprising to a lot of people. tuition keeps going up and up and up. even as the class of 2010, 2011 and hopefully not the class of 2012 are having a hard time finding jobs, you guys. this is something that's important to watch here. i want to say something. what we know from the data is we're not doing a very good job in this country of managing our student debt. parents in too many cases are taking on student loans and shouldn't be. they don't have enough working time to be able to pay them off. >> they're also paying off their mortgages, too, at the same time. >> their income is down, might be under water on their loan. bureau of labor statistic data is clear, pugh research found last year if you have a ba, bachelor of arts or sign agree, on average you'll make $650,000 more over the course of your working life than if you don't. $650,000. seems you should be able to pay the $25,000 if it's the students taking the loan, managing them properly and getting the right kind of degree. we need to be a little worried about the fact that we're taking on all this debt and we're having difficulty paying it back. >> but what we should most be worried about is the fact that the parents are taking on the debt. >> i'm very concerned about the parents. there are a lot of personal finance experts who will tell you you need to think of it in one third, one third, one third, save a money, the kid pay one third and the parents pay one third. >> what's the percentage of students with under water -- i'm not going to say under water student loans but maybe we're getting there. i don't know. >> kids who recently graduated, by the next year, up to a quarter are late on their student loans or in default on their student loans. it's a big number. it's a big number. there are even new rules, believe it or not, in health care reform to help keep your student loan bill to a certain part of your income. i think the big problem for kids right now, there's no income. they've graduated in late 2000s, 2010, 2008, 2009 and they're still having trouble getting in the work force. that's the real problem here. >> or they're getting ai job that only pays crap because that's all they could get. >> don't take loans on behalf of your kids if you're too close to retirement and you think you haven't saved for retirement. your kid has their whole life to pay back loans. you don't. >> thank you. hard but good advice. storms moving through the south with the potential of more tornadoes. cnn's alexandria steele is in for rob marciano. oh, no. >> not a huge threat. that is not the case. isolated tornadoes, certainly the exception, not the rule by any means. big picture radar in the south, may be waking up in new orleans, i-10 will see wet weather today. in the upper midwest, minneapolis, chicago, also indianapolis. that's where we will see later in the day showers and thunderstorms. isolated severe storm, again, not the rule, though. pacific northwest, maybe you're waking up super early this morning. we'll see rain portland, maybe could have troubles there and snow in the highest elevations. here's the big picture. there's the rain in the northwest. again, here's the potential for some severe storms. isolated probably at best. showers in the south. you know what will have everyone talking today? the heat. today 20 to 35 degrees above average even with the rain and storms in chicago. 67 agrees. 67 in boston. you should be in the 40s this time of year. new york, washington at 70. these temperatures only warming further as we head toward the next couple of days. travel troubles, big american hub, chicago, indianapolis, detroit, atlanta because of some showers and also portland with the rain and the wind. the full forecast coming up in just a bit. back to you guys. >> love the heat wave. thank you. >> i don't know if i love it in march. i've got to be honest. while it's nice, i still freak out. does that mean 110 this summer? >> oh, no, no, no. >> i like the heat waves. i leak them. >> thank you, alexandria. this just in for you. are you ready for it? gas prices, up again. if you weren't paying attention over the weekend, it's the third straight day they're up. the new national average for a gallon of gas stands at $3.80. that's according to aaa. that is a rise of 0.9 cent. experts say the high gas prices are here to stay, at least through the summer. we might be hearing about $4 gas by may. sorry to be the bearer of the bad news. still ahead, a comic controversy. some papers are yanking a doonesbury strip about a controversy abortion law. and tiger woods, rolling, not walking off the course. just weeks before the masters. what do you make of that? 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[ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ 18 minutes past 5:00 a.m. christine romans has been busy collecting news stories throughout the night. she's joining us with a look at all the top stories. >> good morning. the top stories south of kandahar early this morning. u.s. military officials say they're certain sunday's killing spree in southern afghanistan was the work of a lone american soldier. 16 afghan civilians were killed in the house-to-house shooting rampage, including nine children. afghan president karzai calls this slaughter unforgivable. officials in yemen say u.s. drone strikes killed at least 64 suspected al qaeda militants in separate attacks over three days. those strikes targeted insurgent hideouts and arms supplies. the yemeni government says it received no advance warning from the u.s. answering their critics, the men behind the kony 2012 documentary that's exploding online, they plan to release a new video today in response to many critics, including a victim of the abandoned warlord who says the viral video has done nothing but make him a celebrity. and a setback for tiger woods. he was forced to withdraw after 11 holes at the wgc cadillac championship in miami yesterday. forced to withdraw with an injury to his achilles. tiger was even carted off the course. later, he released a statement saying he felt tightness in the tendon when he was warming up. deman for apple's ipad, it's off the charts. preorders are already sold out. apple's website showing march 19 is the earliest possible ship date for online orders. if you want one on the march 16th launch date you'll have to visit an apple retail store, ladies. >> or you have to camp. >> camp outside the store. >> have you gotten a chance to take a peek at it? >> i haven't. i'm still on apple ipad i. i just want a camera. that's all i want. >> the girlfriend, get with the program. they haven't released the new ipads to the press, have they? >> no. there's a big hullabaloo about it. >> the companies that make the cases have to wait until the last minute because they keep all of this under wraps. the case companies are going bananas trying to make sure they have the cases just right. >> i like to try it out before i purchase. >> maybe we'll try to get one. >> that would be lovely. >> or we'll wait in line like everybody else. >> i'm thinking that will happen on this. >> they're never going to do free samples, no way, not apple. we're getting an early read on stories making national headlines this morning. a couple stories from around the horn, the atlantic, "new york times" and "the washington post," let's start with max fish are in "the atlantic" talking about what christine was reporting on, the horrible massacre in afghanistan by what's thought to be a lone u.s. soldier. he lists off the different pressures american soldiers are facing 0en that tour of duty. this is a world where a young man or woman might be on fifth tour. think about it. five tours of duties over two wars in iraq and afghanistan. not only listening to bombs, roadside bombs, fearing roadside bombs, knowing your friends have been hit by road shooid bombs. in iraq, specifically baghdad or at basra, they join at 18 or 19 and for want of a job. they end up spending a fifth or quarter of their adult lives far from home in alien and hostile places surrounded by violence. it is hard not to think of the eric harriss and the dylan klebolds, the exhausted, confused, afraid and angry. that's harsh language if you think about it. max fisher pointing out that afghans also have it bad. they've had a decade of war within their country following a massive civil war, their homeland is a mess, their government's a mess, they're corrupt like crazy and some are acting out in similar fashion as well, through terrorism, et cetera. it's important to talk about the different sides that are a powder keg. what's our role in all of this? that will be the big conversation going forward. >> "the new york times" blog is pondering what will happen next in the case against a u.s. soldier that's accused of the killings. it asks whether he should be tried in afghanistan rather than court-martialed in the united states. it also says it is a trial in situ really so crazy, as a kind of soft power diplomacy as a kind of calming outreach to countries where the united states has a substantial military presence? why not a joint military tribunal or a combined court-martial by u.s. forces and the afghan national army? it forces countries to sign agreements that protect american soldiers from prosecution abroad. many afghan voices suggesting that trying the soldier under afghan law is the only wa i to calm the nerves there, to satisfy the people that live there. >> a lot of people will wake up to gary trudo, love the comic but "the washington post" is actually speaking to the creator of the doonesbury strip about the new controversy surrounding his latest venture. may be funny to some but not to others. several papers have decided to pull doonesbury in response to a story that slams texas legislators and the new law that requires women to undergo an ultrasound before getting an abortion. in the strip, a woman visits an abortion clinic and she's placed in something called a, there it is, shaming room. a male legislator goes on to call her -- are you ready for this word? slut. he talks about why he's tackling the abortion issue, s