Key Senators pressed the head of the Pentagon on why the U.S. is not being more aggressive in trying to help rebels in Syria. But Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey both insisted that Syrian air defenses make the prospect of airstrikes — like those used in Libya — very difficult. They also said the opposition in Syria is too fractured to risk sending in arms, which could end up in the hands of extremists.

In a speech at Northwestern University Law School, the attorney general said the president "may use force abroad against a senior operational leader of a foreign terrorist organization with which the United States is at war — even if that individual happens to be a U.S. citizen." That position bothers civil libertarians.

Attorney General Eric Holder spoke in Chicago on Monday on the legal rationales for targeting and killing Americans suspected of terrorism overseas. Carrie Johnson talks to Melissa Block.

In Monday's March 5, 2012 political grab bag, President Obama warned U.S. and Israeli politicians that bellicose talk towards Iran only helped that rogue nation by increasing oil prices. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum appeared tied in Ohio heading into Super Tuesday. Rush Limbaugh's "apology" did little to stem still the outrage over his "slut" remark.

Obama told The Atlantic that he doesn't "bluff" as president of the U.S. when he says he's willing to use the military to stop Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon... Maryland became the eighth state to legalize gay marriage... Virginia approved a controversial anti-abortion bill requiring ultrasound which the governor says he will sign.

The New York Police Department has been monitoring Muslim students in cities as far as Philadelphia, Buffalo and Syracuse, according to the Associated Press. Americans question whether this is a privacy breach or a necessary safety measure. Host Michel Martin speaks with the an AP investigate reporter and a member of the national Muslim Students Association.

U.S. forces intend to stay in Afghanistan through 2014. But they are preparing to launch a new approach that would put Afghan troops in the lead when it comes to fighting the Taliban. These American advisers are currently being trained at an Army base in Louisiana.