neck-in-neck with his top gop rivals. james carville and david are standing by. we'll talk about that. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room." a new wave of fury may be about to explode in afghanistan after a u.s. soldier allegedly walked out of his base and went on a house to house shooting rampage. 16 civilians are dead, nine of them children. military authorities say the soldier acted alone and turned himself in. vowing revenge for the killings, a statement from the taliban calls u.s. forces and i'm quoting, sick-minded american savages. u.s. officials are voicing deep sorrow. >> let me say that like many americans, i was shocked and saddened by the killings of innocent afghan villagers this weekend. we send our condolences to family who have lost their loved ones and to the people of afghanistan. this is not who we are. and the united states is committed to seeing that those responsible are held accountable. >> let's go straight to kabul with sara sidner standing by. sara, walk us through what's going on where you are. >> this really completes, wolf, a terrible trifecta in the last couple of months. this incident following what appeared to be u.s. service members urinating on afghan bodies and then the burning of the koran by u.s. service members who said they did it mistakenly but that caused quite a fury in this country and left 40 people dead and now an incident that the nato forces say involved a u.s. service member who walked off a base in the early-morning hours sunday while it was still dark and went on a shooting rampage in two separate villages killing as many as 16 people, which the afghanistan officials say involved nine children and three women. not far from a u.s. military outpost a disturbing scene. a dead toddler with a blood-stained face lies sandwiched between two dead men in the back of a pickup truck. in another truck, a blanket is pulled back to reveal the charred remains of two more people. these are just a few of the victims of the shooting rampage. one guy came in and pulled a boy from his sleep and shot him in this doorway and then they came back inside the room and put the gun in the mouth of another child and stomped on another boy, this mother says. u.s. officials including president obama, have all expressed their condolences and sadness but that has little means to the victim's families. a local minister said one family alone lost 11 family members in the incident. look at these bodies, they're all belonging to one family, this villager cries. men we want openly, barely able to speak through their tears while investigators sifted through the grisly scene, picking up shell casings. the evidence the something terrible happened overwhelming. the floors and walls of these homes, stained with blood. as the day went on, the sorrow was replaced by anger at american forces. this base told us to come back to our villages. they said we won't bother you. this is your land and this is your own village. then those dogs come and grab us, another mother shouted. some of the villagers claim there was more than one soldier on the ground when the massacre happened around 2:00 in the morning on sunday. but the international security assistance forces refute that saying that this was the work of a single soldier who walked away from base and was acting alone. now, we do know that afghan officials have asked for this trial when it takes place, to take place on afghan soil. there's been a response to that call from the pentagon, a spokesman telling cnn if this involves a u.s. service member they'll go through the military court as per the agreement. they will not be tried by the afghan judicial system. wolf? >> this is going to cause a huge, huge rupture in u.s./afghan relations. more sara on this story and i'll speak exclusively with the okay mader of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, the head of the international security assistance force, general john allen. he's in washington at the pentagon. we're moving on to other important news we're following. we're only a day away from crucial primaries in the deep south. rick santorum is hoping he can force gingrich out of the race. even time, mitt romney is doing all he can to court the southern vote. here's jim acosta joins us from jackson, mississippi, with the latest. jim? >> reporter: wolf, mitt romney might be a yankee but he's pulling out all the stops to lock down the southern vote before the primarieses in mississippi and alabama. >> this is like a sardine can. >> reporter: after days of tells voters in mississippi and alabama about his love of cheesy grits, mitt romney picked up an endorsement that might as well be the good housekeeping field of approval, make that "field and stream." >> i asked him if he can fix it and he did not blink and he said "yes, i can." >> there in a steady downpour in mobile, the man jeff fox worthy. he hosted a game show "are you smarter than a 59 grader" and a contest that he said they might lose. >> do you think this will mean jobs for small businesses? >> no. >> i'm afraid the president has failed the show. i know he's part of the fifth grader thing but i wonder why he does the things he does. >> reporter: it was romney doing a stand-up routine admitting to fox worthy he's not ready for the cover of "guns and ammo magazine." the lib wal remembers "think progress" came out with a list of why romney might not be a red neck. tom of the list, if your wife drives a couple of cadillacs you might not be a red neck. on romney's 65th birthday his campaign revealed unlike the vast majority of senior citizens who reach the same age, the gop contender decided to forego medicare and stick with his private insurance plan, despite the fact that rom my proposed dramatic changes to medicare and including raising the eligibility age to join the program. but the best birthday gift of all would be to see rick santorum and newt gingrich split the conservative vote in alabama and mississippi. that scenario has dawned on santorum who is jumping on this when he called the south "an away game." >> we're not focused on one region of the country. i don't consider this an away game. this is home for me just like it is where everywhere i go in this country. >> mitt romney is spending the rest of his 65th birthday in miami. that's a nice place to spend your birthday. not a place to order cheesy grits. i wanted to share with you and we had a chance to catch up with jeff foxworthy here in jackson, mississippi and asked him about romney's invitation to go hunting. he said, that sounds more dangerous than cheney. we may start with a bb gun and work up to a rifle. so the candidates and their surrogates are keeping their sense of humor, wolf. >> keep their putter dry for now at least. >> every bowl of grits may be important to mitt romney. those deep south races are looking very, very close right now. let's assess with our chief political analyst, gloria borger. look at these american research group polls. in mississippi, gop voters tomorrow, romney, 34. gingrich, 32. next door in alabama, 2k3wr0i67, 34. romney, 31, 24 santorum. 6, paul. so right now it's a tie if you believe these polls. >> i think the races are too close to call and one reason, wolf, is you see rick santorum and newt gingrich splitting the voters they've been splitting throughout this entire process, which is the evangelical voters and that helps mitt romney. and i talked to someone in the romney campaign they believe what helps them is romney is emphasizing his business experience again. he's going back to the basic message. they believe in the south in particular, which has been hard hit, given the problem with gas prices, this is a message that resonates. and newt gingrich has been talking about getting gas back to $2.50 a gallon but mitt romney seems to be doing better than they anticipated. so we'll have to see what happens. >> if romney wins one or both of these states, for him that would be huge. >> i think it would be huge and what would allow him to do is pull away from the pack. right now he has a big psychological hole in the middle of his campaign. that is, people say, you can't win in the south. that's where the base of the republican party is headquartered. you have to win in the south. if you talk to the campaign, they'll say, even if we come in a close second in these two states we're doing better than we have a right to do so we'll consider that a victory and as you know, the delegates are proportional anyway and they predict victory in hawaii. >> they'll get delegates and the delegates are kwooe right now because as a popular vote is one thing and he has a significant advantage opt delegate count right now. >> and the romney campaign is spending time talking about math. and talking about inevitability. saying that rick santorum, for example, would have to win 65% of the remaining delegates in order to become the nominee. look at this in "the washington post," abc news poll. they asked who you expect and they asked this of a republican and republican-leaning independents and 74%, 74% say mitt romney. that helps him. a lot of times when you're in the race in the thick of it people decide he want to be with the winner. and if they believe that mitt romney is going to be the nominee, that might sway some people to vote for him so it's becoming part of their campaign mantra. >> on my blog i write about a lot of romney supporters are already sensing it's theirs to be had. their very, very close and they're thinking about vice-presidential selections maybe because of the movie "game change" and sarah palin. he might want to -- >> we'll see what happens. >> thank you, gloria. drug test at unemployment. one state moves towards a controversial requirement. jack cafferty is coming up next with the cafferty file. and what former president bill clinton thinks of obama and his decision to take out osama bin laden. is that an ace up the sleeves for the democrats. and an man in charge of all u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan. general john allen is standing by live. are you guys okay? yeah. ♪ [ man ] i had a great time. thank you, it was really fun. ♪ [ crash ] i'm going to write down my number, but don't use it. 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[ laura ] hot, right out of the shell. i love lobster. i'm laura mclennan from spruce head, maine, and i sea food differently. my exclusive live interview with general john allen, the commander of all u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, that's coming up. lots to discuss. other news. women and children allegedly, allegedly targeted in syria, lisa sylvester is monitoring that. some other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what's going on? >> hi, wolf. syrian opposition groups say at least 45 women and children were massacred in the city of homs late on sunday. they claim children were stabbed to death in front of their mothers and girls and women were sexually assaulted and then shot to death by syrian forces and thugs. opposition leaders have declared an official day of mourning tomorrow. cnn cannot independently confirm reports coming from inside syria. and the worst violence in months is flaring in israel and gaza. police say militants in gaza have fired more than three dozen rocket into israel and more than 200 since frayed. israel has responded with air strikes that have killed at least 23 people, including five today. authorities in indianapolis are investigating a deadly school bus accident. the driver and a girl of about 5 years old were killed when the bus hit an overpass abuttment. no other vehicles were involved and witnesses say they saw nothing unusual before the wreck. officials say the driver may have had a medical condition that contributed to that accident. and whitney houston's only child is speaking out publicly for the first time about the singer's sudden shocking death last month. 19-year-old bobbi kristina brown, tells oprah winfrey she can still feel her voice and her spirit. here is part of what aired. >> they actually come to you in your dreams? >> you've had that? >> oh, yeah. >> and especially throughout the house. lights turn on and off, i'm like, mom? what are you doing? i can hear a voice in spirit talking to me and telling me, keep moving, baby. i'm right here. i got you, you know. >> i gotcha. >> that's she said all the time. >> she's always with me. i can always feel her with me. >> is that what your hear in your head? i gotcha? >> that's all i hear. >> yeah, houston died in a beverly hills hotel room on february 11th. no word on the cause of death but a toxicology report is expected next week. i got to tell you, wolf, i watched that interview last night and it was riveting. no question about it. >> i'm sure it was. my heart goes out to that young lady. thank you very much. jack cafferty is here with the cafferty file. >> arizona could become the first state to require drug tests for applicants for unemployment benefits. this was part of the deal when congress agreed last month to extend jobless benefits through the the end of the year. legislation allows states to require drug testing for people who lost their jobs because they failed an employer's drug test for those applying for jobs where drug testing is common. the arizona state senate passed the bill and it's on the way to the senate and the bill sponsor told the huffington post he would have pushed for the legislation even if congress didn't pave the way. steve smith said the unemployeed is fortunate to live in a country where there are problems to help people survive when their out of work. applicants should at least prove they're of sound mind. supporters say businesses shouldn't have to subsidize illegal activity and suggest workers could increase their chances of getting hired if they prove they're drug-free. critics of drug testing say it's costly and it would cost millions of dollars for the states to administer and the drug test stigmatize them as drugs. and congress left it up to the labor department to determine how many unemployment applicants actually get drug tests. here's the question -- should applicants for jobless benefits have to pass a drug test? go to cnn.com/cafferty file or go to our facebook page. my interview with u.s. general john allen is coming up. in charge of all u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan. we'll get the latest on the alleged civilian massacre by an american soldier and the fallout. bill clinton's surprising first reaction to the death of osama bin laden. for business. 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[ man ] saw 'em in '83 in fresno. place was crawling with chicks. i got to go. ♪ any way you want it ♪ that's the way you need it ♪ any way you want it ♪ un dramatic developments happening in afghanistan in the aftermath of the u.s. army sergeant who apparently, allegedly, went on a shooting rampage, killing 16 afghan villagers. nine of them women and children. he allegedly left his base, went in a house to house search for regular afghans. he ended up killing so many and the afghans are furious. now there's a vow of revenge not only from the taliban but others in afghanistan as well. let's discuss what's going on and the ramifications are enormous for the u.s. and its nato partners. joining us in an exclusive interview is u.s. general john allen commanding all u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan. the allies international security assistance force as it's called. general, thank you very much. i know you're very busy visiting the pentagon right now. briefly, based on all the information you have and you can share, what happened here? >> well it would appear, wolf, we had a single soldier depart one of our combat outposts and in the district of the province of kandahar and while i won't go into the specifics of his actions, it would appear that he acted as an individual and did, in fact, shoot a number of afghan civilians causing fatalities as many as 16. a number of others were wounded. providing medical tear to them as well. let me emphasize, first, wolf, that i want to offer my sincere condolences and regrets to the victims of the shooting. to the afghan families and certainly, to the noble afghan people as a group. this is tremendously regrettable. we're investigating it aggressively and we'll hold the individual accountable, should the evidence point to his culpability here. >> general, can you release this individual's name? >> no, not at this time, wolf. >> and the reason being? >> we want to protect the investigation at this point. >> how do you know he acted alone? there are a lot of afghans who think he was part of a bigger group. >> the evidence at this point, both in terms of observations and reports and interviews, lead us to believe that he acted as an individual at this point. >> was he by himself? this was about a mile from his base. he supposedly left the base, walked for a mile and allegedly started killing these afghans. were there other troops with him or was he by himself? >> again, this is under investigation but it appears these were the actions of a single soldier. >> when you say the investigation is under way, who is taking the lead in the investigation. >> we'll take the lead within my command. >> and will the afghan government have any role in this? as you know there are already calls among afghan parliamentarians and others close to ham