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Ready to Resign: Angry President Facing hard Decision on General McChrystal; General's Job in Limbo; A Look at General McChrystal's Long and Distinguished Career; Reporter Surprised by General McChrystal's Remarks; Public's View on Economy; Win... And They're In!; Judge Blocks Drilling Ban, White House Appealing; Should McChrystal Be Fired?; Step Away From the Happy Meal

Aired June 23, 2010 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Thanks for joining us. As Mohini (ph) in our cafeteria would say, tough (ph) day today, it's Wednesday, the 23rd of June. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. A lot to tell you about this morning, so let's get right to it.

Called off the battlefield at the height of the surge into Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal said to be ready to hand in his resignation to the president today if he asks for it. He's headed to Washington to explain why he slammed the White House in a profile in "Rolling Stone" magazine. We're live at the White House and the Pentagon this morning.

ROBERTS: After a judge overturned a six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the administration is refusing to back down promising to appeal the ruling even though Louisiana leaders are begging the president not to. How the White House plans to keep that drilling ban in place just ahead.

CHETRY: And Team USA is back in the soccer spotlight this morning. The Americans facing Algeria. It is their biggest World Cup match yet and their destiny is in their own hands. Our sports guy and our soccer guru are here to weigh in.

ROBERTS: And as it is every day, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation going on right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.

CHETRY: First though, his job is clearly on the line today. General Stanley McChrystal facing his commander-in-chief after he and his staff mocked top administration officials and the president's grasp of the war in a profile in "Rolling Stone" magazine.

ROBERTS: The general apologized for, quote, "poor judgment," but sources tell us he is ready to resign today, where that could leave tens of thousands of troops serving at his command and the longest war in American history is still a mystery this morning.

We're all over this developing story. Barbara Starr is standing by at the Pentagon. First though, Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House. And I ought to be a fly on the wall at that meeting today, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Kiran, there are two meetings that we're actually going to keep a very close eye on. One at 11:35 in the Situation Room. That's going to involve the president, the vice president, obviously General McChrystal who's going to go before Secretaries Clinton, Gates, just a host of national security advisers, a team of war counsel that's going to be in that room and they're going to be listening to what General McChrystal has to say and explaining himself and a lot of the criticism that came their way through his colleagues.

The other meeting, of course, very important. The one-on-one with the president himself in the Oval Office. We have heard some very damning comments from various White House officials, including a spokesman for the president, Robert Gibbs, saying all options are on the table. This is a profound mistake, questions in his judgment and capability in leading the U.S.-Afghanistan mission. But in typical Obama style, Obama fashion, President Obama was very measured and has been very measured in this and says that he at least wants to give General McChrystal a chance, a hearing, if you will, to explain himself before he decides his fate. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to fire Mr. McChrystal?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, General McChrystal is on his way here and I am going to meet with him. Secretary Gates will be meeting with him as well. I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed a poor -- showed poor judgment and -- but I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, John and Kiran, a very interesting thing that happened after he made those comments. The lights went out. The cameras were heading out of the room when the president said, no, no, no, he has something else to say. And then he went on to talk about, let's make sure that we stay focused on the main mission here, going after Al Qaeda, making sure that the sacrifices of men and women overseas are justified. That signals that he is trying to prepare the American people for whatever his decision is regarding General McChrystal, that there's a larger mission, that this decision is bigger than just one man -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: A lot of tea leaves to be read and a lot of different interpretations of it. Suzanne Malveaux, thanks.

CHETRY: And right now, we bring our Barbara Starr who's live at the Pentagon this morning. And, Barbara, there is a lot that the president has to consider if he's actually thinking of firing a four- star general during a time of war, especially in what has now become our nation's longest war in Afghanistan. Tell us what you're hearing at the Pentagon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I've spoken to a number of senior military officers, both active duty and retired, about what goes into a president's calculation about maybe firing a four-star general in the middle of a war. I want to follow up on what Suzanne was talking about.

Everyone says it will boil down to this essential issue -- the man, General McChrystal, versus the need to win in Afghanistan. The absolute imperative to be successful there because so many tens of thousands of troops have been sent.

So, think of it this way. People say the first thing on the table really is, is General McChrystal the only guy who can do the job? He was put in because Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yes. But now we don't really know what Gates thinks about all of this.

The timetable in Afghanistan. It's absolutely brutal right now. The fighting in the southern strongholds is behind schedule. Casualties are up, and McChrystal owes both the U.S. and the NATO alliance a progress report on Afghanistan by the end of the year, some seven months or so from now. Is there even time to put in someone new?

And, of course, the real bottom line is the U.S. troops. What is their mood about all of this? They certainly know about it. There has been a very mixed reaction by many troops to General McChrystal's policy of counterinsurgency which essentially boils down, many troops feel, to restricting their ability to engage in combat. Pardon me. It all really boils down to trust and confidence that McChrystal is the guy to get the job done.

CHETRY: All right. We'll have to wait and see. Had a day to chew this over and get reaction. And we'll see what happens today. All eyes on that White House meeting in the Situation Room. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

ROBERTS: General McChrystal may soon be out of a job but this morning we want to take a look at how he became the man that President Obama selected to run the war in Afghanistan. It has been a long and distinguished career starting back in 1976 when McChrystal graduated from West Point. He went right into Special Forces training after that, eventually becoming a green beret and an Army Ranger. By the time of the Persian Gulf war in 1991, McChrystal was commanding the 75th Ranger Regiment.

In 1998, he traded the battlefield for the academic world doing fellowships at Harvard's JFK School of Government, and then at the Council on Foreign Relations here in New York City. By 2003, he led the Pentagon's most sensitive operations through the Joint Special Operations Command. It's big successes as well, including the 2003 capture of Saddam Hussein.

And then in 2006, they tracked and killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. This ultimately landed McChrystal the command in Afghanistan. But one dark spot on his record, in 2007, he was singled out in a Pentagon report for not immediately telling Pat Tillman's family that the military suspected the former NFL star- turned U.S. soldier was killed by friendly fire.

This morning, we're also learning more about General McChrystal's decision to sound off about the entire national security team. Last night, Anderson Cooper spoke with Michael Hastings. He is the reporter who wrote the article for "Rolling Stone."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, "AC 360": President Obama said this shows a huge failure in judgment by General McChrystal to have done this article, to have said these things in front of a reporter. Do you agree?

MICHAEL HASTINGS, CONTRIBUTOR, "ROLLING STONE" (via telephone): I mean that's a great push. He made a failure in judgment. I think it reflects parts of General McChrystal's personality which we've seen in the war over the past year.

General McChrystal and his staff are willing to take risk. He may push the envelope. I guess what I'm saying, if it's a failure in judgment, it's the fact that McChrystal is acting as McChrystal acts. He's a risk taker and sometimes he pushes the envelope to get their message across and perhaps this may have gone too far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And in about 30 minutes, we're going to take a look at whether President Obama can really afford to fire General McChrystal right now when we talk with Michael O'Hanlon. He has traveled to Afghanistan several times and knows McChrystal well.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, Nikki Haley, now the first Republican woman to win her party's nomination for South Carolina governor. The state lawmaker easily beat Congressman Gresham Barrett in a bitter primary runoff. I guess you could say easily. It certainly was a hard-fought primary in general. Haley, Indian- American, facing attacks about her race and her religion, along with whispers about sex scandal allegations. Well, now, she faces Democratic state Senator Vincent Sheheen in the general election.

ROBERTS: Fire officials in Flagstaff, Arizona finally getting the upper hand on a raging 14,000-acre wildfire. About 1,000 residents were forced to evacuate. They could go back home some time today. The flames are now about 10 percent contained. Fire officials say it will likely be another two weeks before their work is done.

CHETRY: It's eight minutes past the hour. Time to get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Reynolds Wolf in the extreme weather center. I know yesterday they were talking about the winds not being in their favor as they were trying to fight that. What about today?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it looks like the winds are going to drop a little bit today and that's certainly some good news. Temperatures being in the 80s up in the high elevations of Arizona. That's great news. Bad news in other weather stories, spreading like wildfire. We happen to have tornadoes that have been popping up across the landscape. In fact, over the last 24 hours, get this, 51 reports of tornadoes across 11 states.

Let's go right to the maps. As we do so, you're going to see an area especially in parts of the Great Lakes, the same areas, usual suspects, strong storms developing. And you'll see that box just right towards the center left of your screen. That is a tornado watch that is in effect until 9:00 local time.

Now, coming up, we're going to give you an idea of what this may mean for your travel plans especially in spots like, say, Milwaukee and Chicago. Chances are you probably already have an idea. More on that coming up in just a few moments.

CHETRY: Yes. When we see lots of reds and yellows on your radar, it doesn't look good.

WOLF: Whatever the indication.

CHETRY: Reynolds, thanks.

ROBERTS: A judge in New Orleans has overturned the president's six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico but the battle is far from over. How the White House plans to keep the ban in place. Coming up next.

It's nine minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour right now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

The man "Rolling Stone" magazine calls the runaway general, the man everyone is talking about this morning, Stanley McChrystal, will meet face-to-face today with an angry commander in chief, by all accounts. General McChrystal is in hot water after he and his aides in a profile mocked top administration officials. The author of that article, Michael Hastings, joins us now on the phone from Kandahar, Afghanistan where he's embedded right now and continuing to report.

Thanks for being able to call in this morning. We appreciate it, Michael.

MICHAEL HASTINGS, CONTRIBUTOR, "ROLLING STONE" (via telephone): No problem. Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: I want to ask you first off, did it occur to you while were you working on this story that we might end up where we are this morning, a general on his way back to Washington and prepared to hand in his resignation as a direct result of the article you wrote?

HASTINGS: Well, when I was working, you know, I was focusing on just trying to do the best job possible and not spend too much time, you know, thinking about all the possible consequences of an article, of the article. But not really. I didn't think -- I guess it never really -- I didn't think this was a possibility.

CHETRY: Well, when you were writing it, I mean, the finished product when you read it probably back to yourself, did you think, this is going to get General McChrystal probably in some trouble? This is certainly going to be provocative, if nothing else?

HASTINGS: Well, I believe General McChrystal has had a number of run-ins over the past year in incidents in the media where President Obama has been upset with him and his command. My sense was, not knowing how any story is ever going to play, where that this might just be another headache, another example of General McChrystal sort of pushing the envelope or saying things perhaps he shouldn't have said, but escaping unscathed as history has shown that he has usually.

CHETRY: A lot of people wondering, though, how you got such remarkable access to the general and to his staff. It seemed that you were almost brought in to the inner circle. They spoke freely to you. How did all of that come together?

HASTINGS: Part of it -- I think a lot of journalism is based on just being in the right place at the right time depending on how one views it. And it turns out when I met the general in Paris, the volcano in Iceland exploded so we ended up getting stuck with him and his staff for a much longer period of time than initially planned. So I think that was part of the reason why this actually happened.

CHETRY: Were you surprised that he fired the -- the press guy that was -- that helped arrange this?

HASTINGS: I don't know the details on that. I am surprised as they pride themselves (INAUDIBLE) and I think it's unfortunate that the first person that gets thrown under the bus is the press adviser who -- whom I find (ph), by most accounts, over the past year, has done a very good job of giving General McChrystal a great deal of press coverage.

So I'm not sure the details about what happened there. I have not heard firsthand. I just heard news accounts. But I'm a little disappointed that -- that, you know, with -- that he would be the -- the first person that's thrown under the bus in all of this.

CHETRY: It's interesting, your publisher, Jann Wenner, apparently told Douglas Brinkley that there was vanity, in essence, that led General McChrystal to sort of allow you in the way he did. Did you ever get the sense, as you were with him and his men, that they were doing this out of ego, perhaps showing off a bit?

HASTINGS: I think they've become accustomed, whether it's vanity or -- or a certain kind of arrogance, to the very flattering profile from basically every media -- every media member they'd allowed in. So I assume that that played into it and that certainly played into some degree that they expected more of the same, and whether anyone wants to call that vanity or arrogance or complacency, I think those are all fair terms. CHETRY: What do you think may happen today at the White House? I know you don't have a crystal ball, but do you think General McChrystal is able to talk his way out of this one when he meets with President Obama?

HASTINGS: Well, I think (INAUDIBLE) -- I've been in Kandahar the last few days, so I'm -- I'm pretty far out of the -- the Washington beltway loop. So I think it's (INAUDIBLE) is a dilemma.

If General McChrystal stays, then, in a way, it proves the thesis -- one of the main thesis of the article, which is that President Obama is sort of a weak command. The chief in general can get away with -- with anything and stuff or really know the consequences and maybe a slap on the wrist.

And for -- if President Obama decides to relieve General McChrystal, then -- then obviously (INAUDIBLE) so much -- so much has been put in to General McChrystal's lead strategy, trying to change corps or change commanders at this time would obviously have a lot of -- you know, would have a high political price.

CHETRY: Right, and just add to the many challenges that we're certainly facing there on the ground in Afghanistan as well.

Michael Hastings, the man of the moment with this "Rolling Stone" piece featuring General McChrystal. Thanks so much for joining us this morning on the phone from Kandahar. We appreciate it.

ROBERTS: Well, just in this morning, new poll numbers show the public's view of the economy is improving. Our Christine Romans will break down the poll results. She's "Minding Your Business" for you this morning.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. Christine Romans here this morning, "Minding Your Business." Good morning to you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Some signs of improvement about how we feel about the economy. Some small signs of improvement -- let me be clear about that. More of you think that the economy is now out of recession compared with last year.

Twenty-one percent of you now think that -- that this economy is -- is not in a recession anymore. Last year only 10 percent of you did. I guess you could still say 4 out of 5 people still think that we're in some -- some version of a recession, so that shows you that it's not all roses and rainbows out there for how you feel about the economy.

But this is where it gets interesting, the public mood starting to darken a little bit about how you feel the country is going, and women in particular are more pessimistic than men. Let me tell you what -- just from the spring, for example, how are things going today?

Well, 73 percent of you think that things are going badly today. That's worse than this spring. Only 27 percent of you think things are going well. And one thing in particular here is the Gulf Coast oil spill. It looks like that has something to do with this, this feeling of impotence about being able to stop this right away, right up there with this feeling of impotence about jobs and housing.

And women in particular feel worse about the direction of the country today than men do. Seventy-seven percent of women think that things are not going in the right direction, and the situation in the gulf mirrors this -- this feeling as well. Fifty-four percent of women think the situation in the gulf is -- is getting worse. The majority of women think that that is a problem.

So it's an interesting kind of snapshot. This is a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation brand new poll that just came out 20 minutes ago that shows us how you'll all feeling about things. And interesting to see the Gulf of Mexico situation thrown in to what has already been kind of a -- a complicated outlook about the economy. Even as the numbers keep telling us things are getting better, you're all telling us it doesn't feel much like it.

So -- but it is a little bit of improvement about the number of people who think that things are not in a recession.

CHETRY: Because it was -- because it's 90 percent last spring felt that things were bad, so any little uptick is an improvement in that one.

ROMANS: I know, and they were probably right. Ninety percent of them were probably right last spring, and a lot of economists tell me they think that the recession may have technically ended some time last summer. We wouldn't know for sure until -- until more time has passed and we can look at all of the data and that official designation can be made.

But now the big concern again is about housing. It is about jobs. Some of the big, intractable problems of the last few years have shown little signs of improvement. Now we want to see the follow-through. We want to see the public sector -- or the private sector, rather, job creation and we just haven't seen that on a sustained basis just yet.

So we're going to talk a little bit later in the program about the two most important things to your money -- your job and your house, and where we're seeing signs of improvement and where we're still seeing some signs of stickiness. So --

ROBERTS: But nice to know there may be some light out there.

ROMANS: There might be. There might be. Yes.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.

CHETRY: And Christine, there's always World Cup. That's right. The biggest match of the World Cup so far for the U.S. Can they advance? Well, they need this win over Algeria to lock it. The excitement's building.

A.M. Soccer guru Richard Roth, also our sports guy, Max Kellerman, give us their take.

Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Win -- and they're in. In just a few hours' time, the U.S. plays Algeria in its biggest World Cup match so far.

CHETRY: That's right. The victory means that the Americans would advance to what they call the knock-out stage.

So joining us for more soccer talk this morning, our no-hands team, CNN contributor Max Kellerman, he covers the sport and all the other sports in the world for us and our resident soccer guru, Richard Roth. Welcome to both of you.

So let me start with you, Richard, because I know you're totally into this. What does it mean -- what does a win against Algeria mean today for the U.S.?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SOCCER GURU: Well, it means -- it's good news for the United States. It would be tremendous disappointment if they don't advance out of this so-called group stage which they failed to do four years ago. They can also advance with a win or a tie depending on how many goals England gets.

So it's an achievement but they did this in 2002. So nobody will be jumping for joy totally, but they'll be relieved because they squandered some points along the way.

ROBERTS: You know, Max, what do you make of the audience fascination with this? It's all anybody is talking about these days and this traditionally is a -- is a country that reveres our version of football or maybe the NBA Finals and even the Stanley Cup, not that many people watch anymore. But soccer suddenly has become all the rage.

MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I recommend Sal Paolantonio's book "How Football Explains America."

But soccer, in spite of the fact that it's been a great -- it's a great participation sport for kids and has been for over a generation now, there's been tremendous investment in this country in soccer. There is -- you know, the immigrant population in this country has always been -- it has always included soccer-playing countries because the rest of the world seems to love soccer. And yet in spite of all that, it's never had the popularity of baseball, basketball or football even though every four years we do as a result of the reasons I just mentioned pay increasing attention. And this is not, you know, my original thinking here, but the idea is that there in soccer there isn't the kind of compelling narrative that there is in baseball or football on the field. And so as a result, you look to kind of off the field issues, why there's hooliganism in international soccer matches, et cetera, to why -- why "The New York Times," "Algeria's Fight for Independence" and then the Civil War is represented somehow.

ROTH: Compelling narrative? Today, if you have any feeling for the sport at 10:00 A.M. East Coast Time, you're going to have two games going at the same time. The U.S. game, the England game, you don't have that in many other sports. Anyone who has any enjoyment for this sport is going to -- is totally on edge.

KELLERMAN: But that's not -- that's a compelling narrative in terms of the context of the tournament. On the field, there's no real sense of possession like there is in football. It's not episodic like baseball. It's less involved than basketball.

ROBERTS: There's -- there's no two-minute warning drive in the fourth quarter?

ROTH: But you don't have time-outs. Every -- in basketball, a sport that maybe you like, I'm not sure, you could have 15 time-outs, the last two minutes in the game in the NBA can take 50 minutes.

KELLERMAN: But it seems to take 50 minutes for them to run up and down the field in soccer and at the end of two hours it is a two- two tie.

ROTH: Well, it's good if it feels like --

CHETRY: Well, let me ask you --

ROTH: -- 50 minutes because each half is 45 minutes and it's a team --

CHETRY: No, it's going double time. You know, but I do want to ask you one question. One thing -- last time we had you on we're talking about Galarraga getting robbed with his perfect game.

KELLERMAN: Yes.

CHETRY: And then we saw what happened to the United States. Many people say they were robbed of that goal that would have ended this whole debate about --

(CROSSTALK)

KELLERMAN: That certainly makes it more compelling. But, you know, you look -- that's why in all the coverage I see of the World Cup, the idea is that the journalists are looking for things like a wrong referee's call, et cetera.

CHETRY: No, no. My question was, if we were better, if the U.S. team was better, would there be more interest here?

KELLERMAN: I think so. I think it goes hand in hand.

Richard, you're in a better position to talk about it than me. It seems to go hand in hand. Why hasn't MLS taken off in this country to the extent that it might have because people know when they're watching the major leagues versus the minor leagues.

ROTH: But here's the problem, which I will confess to. Imagine if you were living in Europe or Asia and someone said, hey, let's go to a baseball game. Well, the best baseball players are in the United States. Here in the United States, we can watch, as I do every Saturday morning, the best of the European soccer beamed into my home. It's going to be hard to suddenly get up the enthusiasm to go to an MLS game.

I think, over time, with decades of change, demographically, soccer will move up in the ranks. I agree, it's one of the sports now. But you're going to see changes coming. If America sports and ownership changes, high-priced players sign here, you're going to see what we saw with Pele and the Cosmos.

ROBERTS: Do you agree with that Max?

KELLERMAN: I used to go see Pele play for the Cosmos when I was a kid. And, no, I don't think -- I think the problem is that the reason soccer hasn't been more successful in the United States of America is there's more competition for the entertainment dollar. And so, we have better sports to watch, not to necessarily play, or to watch live, but better TV sports here than soccer and it's crowded soccer out.

ROTH: And look, I agree, there -- it's a problem. But if you get hooked on the European game -- and I turned my cousin, I turned him! He's a baseball fan. He said, tell me about this soccer. We were talking at a hockey game. Within a few months, my own brother said, what did you do to him? He's watching soccer everyday, every Saturday, every Sunday from Europe.

ROBERTS: And look at that, the clock has run out on this game.

CHETRY: That's right.

ROBERTS: But this morning --

ROTH: There's a whistle.

CHETRY: One-one tie.

(CROSSTALK)

KELLERMAN: What else is new?

ROBERTS: All right. Max Kellerman and Richard Roth, thanks so much.

CHETRY: Thanks so much.

Well, right now, 32 minutes past the hour -- time for a look at our top stories this morning.

President Obama will be deciding the fate of his top general in Afghanistan today. He'll meet with General Stanley McChrystal who was called back to Washington after mocking the White House in a "Rolling Stone" magazine piece. General McChrystal has apologized for poor judgment. Sources though say he is prepared to hand in his resignation if the president asks for it.

ROBERTS: There's a new matter of concern for people who fly. Cracks in the parts that secure engines to an aircraft wing have been found on at least two Boeing 767s owned by American Airlines. Boeing says that it's concerned that the problem may exist on other airline fleets, planning to advise all carriers to inspect their jets more often. Tests are underway to determine what could have caused those cracks.

CHETRY: And even though a judge has blocked the president's six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf, 33 idled rigs remain shut down because the White House is appealing that ruling. The interior secretary insisting that a moratorium is needed to ensure safety. And he's preparing a new, more detailed ban to replace the one that's been overturned.

ROBERTS: Well, this is day 65 of the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Our Chris Lawrence is live in New Orleans this morning.

And, Chris, a lot of jobs on the line here depending on what the decision on the moratorium is in the appeals court. And yet at the same time, Interior Secretary Salazar is saying that he will issue a new moratorium order later this week.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, what it all comes down to is nobody's going back to work any time soon because these wells aren't going to reopen, they're not going to call their workers back with the threat of the appeal hanging out there that could shut them down all over again. And the environmentalists aren't happy with this judge's decision, but the judge seemed to make the rationale, sort of, made the case, saying, you know, are all airplanes a danger because one is?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): The last ships are sailing for small businesses that supply the oil rigs.

Some of these companies thought they had months before they ran out of work.

VELMA MOCK, OPPOSES MORATORIUM: But it all happened pretty much in a couple of weeks. And now, you know, we're dead in the water.

LAWRENCE: Then a judge overturned a six-month moratorium after just four weeks.

(on camera): What was your first reaction?

MOCK: I was ecstatic. I was very happy. But it didn't last long.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Because right after the ruling, the federal government indicated it plans to appeal which means no deepwater drilling until it plays out in court.

As oil companies consider moving rigs to South America or Africa, Governor Bobby Jindal asked the Obama administration --

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: Don't appeal this ruling. Don't prolong the uncertainty. Give them a final answer.

LAWRENCE: Environmentalists were not happy with the judge's ruling.

AARON VILES, GULF RESTORATION NETWORK: It's hard for us to understand as we look at the Gulf of Mexico and see the oil washing in the Barataria Bay and, you know, disturbing pelicans on their nests and coming in to Pensacola and disturbing the tourism that's so critical for that region, why we couldn't have a time out.

LAWRENCE: They say government oversight is still too weak to start drilling again.

VILES: The inspection process isn't really worth the paper it's printed on because it's been exposed that the paper was printed on by the oil industry.

LAWRENCE: So, what now?

MOCK: Personally, I feel like it's going to stay tied up in legalities. He's going to appeal, they'll hopefully block it again, and then there will be another appeal.

LAWRENCE: If so, others in the industry say, some oil rigs are bound to leave the Gulf.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. The industry's going to see that there is no end in sight. It's time to cut your losses.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Almost everybody I talked to says they think that an appeals court judge would probably make the same decision as this judge. It looks pretty bleak, but there are some who feel perhaps this decision will now bring the two parties together, perhaps to work out some sort of compromise where the government gets some of the safety regulations that it wants and perhaps there's a way to restart some of the drills sooner than that six months -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: We'll see what the secretary of the interior has to say later on this week.

Chris Lawrence -- thanks so much, Chris.

CHETRY: Well, if you suffer losses in the wake of the oil spill disaster and filed a claim with BP, we want to hear about your experience. Tell your stories at iReport.CNN.com.

ROBERTS: In the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we're going to be joined by BP's managing director, Bob Dudley. We'll ask him about the drilling ban and how those relief wells are coming as we enter day 65 of the disaster in the Gulf.

General McChrystal's relationship with President Obama in limbo this morning -- can McChrystal survive this? We'll talk with Michael O'Hanlon from the Brookings Institution -- coming right up.

Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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ROBERTS: Twenty minutes now to the top of the hour.

The president's top man in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, will meet face to face with the president this morning. The four-star general's command and career in jeopardy today after an article in "Rolling Stone" magazine in which McChrystal and his inner circle mocked White House officials. We're told that McChrystal is prepared to resign if told the president has lost confidence in him.

Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He joins me now from Washington.

Michael, does the president have any choice but to accept General McChrystal's resignation?

MICHAEL O'HANLON, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Absolutely, John. I think it is a very close call. I would understand either call, but I think there are very powerful arguments on each side of the issue. And we all know the arguments in favor of a change of command, but the arguments in favor of keeping the general are that, first of all, he's extraordinary. He's an outstanding general in the field. He has incredible respect in Afghanistan.

And the irony here is he has not been a good team player vis-a- vis Washington, but he's a very good team player towards President Karzai, towards the international coalition, towards his own commanders in Afghanistan where things count, arguably, even more at this point in the war. So, I think it's a very, very tough call and we're going into the sixth most crucial months of the whole campaign perhaps, and at this point, to change command to somebody who is going to have to go through a learning curve would be difficult and regrettable.

ROBERTS: The president in his comments yesterday seemed to leave him a little bit of wiggle room, saying that he wanted to talk to him first before deciding what do. And, certainly, if you look at this in a historical context, this was all about back-biting, trash- talking, but not a fundamental disagreement over policy like it was between Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War.

O'HANLON: Absolutely. I do not think this is insubordination in any way, shape or form. It is very poor team-playing, very poor cooperation, collegiality among McChrystal and his top advisors. They made some huge mistakes here and it does reflect a bad state of affairs perhaps between him and some of the other American officials. That's very serious. But it's not insubordination.

And moreover, I would simply say, I've been around McChrystal and his staff a lot. They do not typically talk the way this article quotes them. They may have -- I'm sure they said what was quoted, but it is not their normal way of doing business. They are very good team players, very deferential to the president and to President Karzai, frankly. They try to be good supporting players, not lead players or run-away generals.

ROBERTS: So, what do you think happened here? I mean, you've talked to McChrystal before he knows you. He knows your reputation. If he's going to be candid with anybody, he'd probably be candid with somebody like you. He didn't seem to know much about this reporter from "Rolling Stone" magazine.

Why do you think the things that came out of his team's mouth did?

O'HANLON: The best guess I can make, John, is that they were trying to get their message out, so to speak. And to do so, they wanted a establish a feeling of trust and rapport with this reporter and make him feel somehow that he was getting the real raw deal from them, and therefore, on comments that mattered more about policy or about the war, he would understand that they were leveling with him and being honest, and there would be that sense of trust.

That's the best theory I can come up with. But it was obviously a big mistake.

ROBERTS: Well, he surely did seem to get the raw deal. No question about that.

You know, when you look at the president's Afghanistan team, it's notoriously fractious. You know, Karl Eikenberry, the ambassador, complains about Richard Holbrooke, special envoy. Jones, the national security advisor, backs up Eikenberry. McChrystal calls Jones a clown, criticized Holbrooke as well.

Is this any way to run a war?

O'HANLON: No. Although I don't think General McChrystal called Jones a clown. I think that came from an aide and that was an aide that perhaps should be fired himself rather than having the general lose his job over that.

But I think that, frankly, knowing these different individuals, I have to say, Eikenberry and McChrystal, even if they've had tension in policy disagreements, they know how to put those aside and work together. I don't think it's a warm, fuzzy relationship, but I think it is a very professional one. And, again, I think the article is therefore misleading in the implication that somehow these two can't work together.

ROBERTS: So, the president is going to try today and make kind of get derailed if he has to fire General McChrystal or things he does. But the president is going to try to pull his Afghanistan team together. Can dad somehow get the kids to stop calling each other names and work together?

O'HANLON: Yes. For one thing, I admire the way the president's been handling this. I think he's sending a stern message while reserving his options. That makes a lot of sense.

And secondly, these are generally good team players despite it all. And here you have a situation where there have been major policy disagreements and that's part of why you see the personal animosity developing. And yet, at the end of the day, from what I can see, they are working together.

And therefore, the article again is misleading. I don't necessarily blame the author because I don't think that the quotes were wrong. But I think as a reflection of the war effort, it's misleading.

ROBERTS: Michael O'Hanlon, it's always great to get your perspective on things. Thanks for joining us this morning.

O'HANLON: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: Kiran?

CHETRY: Well, still ahead: scientists in Japan hoping to kick off a baby boom. That's right. They think that a high-tech robot can actually help turn couples into new mom and dads to be. We'll explain ahead on the "Edge of Discovery."

Forty-five minutes past the hour.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Researchers found that most parents don't know if their preschool age child is overweight or obese. I think the real news here is that those are the only two options.

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ROBERTS: And new this morning, the food police serving notice on McDonald's. Lose the happy meal toys or get sued. The Center for Science and the Public Interest says including toys in happy meals amounts to quote, "unfair and deceptive marketing aimed at children." The group likens McDonald's to a stranger in the playground handing out candy. The fast food giant rejects the accusations saying it misrepresents their food and marketing practices.

CHETRY: You don't have to buy the happy meal to get the toy.

ROBERTS: Although the kids at McDonald's are saying, can I have the happy meal because I want the toy. I've gone through that.

CHETRY: Kids aren't driving themselves to McDonald's though. Parents have to --

ROBERTS: Yes, but they drive the parents to make certain decisions about the food they buy.

CHETRY: Forty-eight minutes past the hour right now.

Let's get a check of the weather headlines. Reynolds Wolf in the Extreme Weather Center. I did drive by last week and I just purchased the Shrek watch. I did not get the food.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, I think there's a little bit of a strategy here, though. I think the whole purpose of having the toy is just to give the kids a little bit of distraction as mom and dad scarf in food as fast as they possibly can.

CHETRY: There you go.

WOLF: I mean, take your breaks in life where you get them.

And right now, parts of Midwest certainly need a break, not from toys, but rather from strong storms. Look at this, it seems we have strong storms moving across the western half of the Great Lakes from Milwaukee, southward to Chicago. The heaviest rainfall not in Chicago just yet but you see the development back towards the west. All that is going to driving eastward. As it does, heavy rain, the heavy wind, of course, small hail, and perhaps, even tornadoes later on the day. Also notice this, we have a tornado watch that remains in effect until about 9:00 local time this morning.

But, we may see more into the afternoon, and the reason why is we're going to see more of this spread out across parts into the Ohio Valley, perhaps back in central plains and maybe even some severe storms in parts of the northeast and into the Carolinas. So, we're going to keep a very sharp eye on that. Something else you're going to be seeing or rather feeling is the temperature continuing to rise some on these spots.

Mercury rising 98 degrees in Dallas, 89 Houston, 89 New Orleans, perhaps some scattered showers along the coast, 98 Raleigh, and 90 in Miami. So, what kind of effect is the rough weather going to have on your travel? Quite frankly, it's going to have a lot of effect on your travel. Let's fast-forward the maps. As we do so, you're going to see the delays stacking up.

Here we go very quickly. New York metros, not due to storms but just the wind, over an hour wait there. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, to wrap things up, you see the delays there. San Francisco, logistics, reason why, that's the cumulative effect of other delays we're going to have around the country. As you guys know, back in the studio, everything ends up, delays are inevitable. Let's send it back to you, guys.

CHETRY: Yes. Wow. Why do they always say the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco? It's 63 there today. It's 101 in Arizona. Wow. Thanks, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

ROBERTS: This morning's top stories are just minutes away now, including the top commander in Afghanistan facing the fallout from a bombshell article. He's heading to the White House answering to an angry president. Resignation in hand, a war hanging in the balance. We're live at the White House and the Pentagon this morning.

CHETRY: Also, the government now going after your in-flight snacks. Why your next flight may be peanut-free. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour. Welcome back. It laughs, giggles, falls asleep, it smiles if you rub its belly. It is a pint-sized robot that looks like a human baby.

ROBERTS: Students in Japan are hoping that it can teach the joys of parenthood and help kick-start a baby boom. Our Kyung Lah takes us to "The Edge of Discovery" this morning.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Yotaro (ph), baby robot. He giggles, sneezes, and even cries with a runny nose. Until you touch his warm silicone skin and calm him down. A robot can't be human, says Yotaro (ph) project leader, Hiroki Konomura, (ph) but it's great if this robot triggers human emotion so humans want to have their own baby. Yotaro's emotions are a computer program, the images projected, the warm body temperature, just warm water. All of this to make him as human-like and baby-like as possible and get a woman's biological clock ticking.

Japan has a major population problem, one of the world's lowest birth rates coupled with the fastest aging population. Japan's government desperate to produce more children is now paying families $150 per month, per child, until he or she reaches high school.

"Yotaro changed how I feel about babies, says Madok Herai (ph). I'm now paying more attention to babies on the street."

Yotaro is not a complex robot, and after a few minutes, a tad redundant, but this robot already succeeds in at least getting people thinking about babies. The first step, they hope, helping to solve a serious human dilemma.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tsukuba, Japan.

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ROBERTS: Japan loves its robots.

CHETRY: Oh yes, remember, Paro, (ph) the little sea lion? But that's interesting that they're paying people $150 a month per kid to have more kids.

ROBERTS: That's a good incentive. This robot is interesting. Although if you want the flip side of that, take those potential parents and put them on the airplane that I was on the other day with the two screaming kids, two rows (ph) in front of me. They'll change their mind.

CHETRY: I know. I feel bad for people that have to do that. I don't take my kids on the plane. I really don't.

ROBERTS: And I love kids, too.

CHETRY: They just don't mix, plane, long flights and children, not smart.

ROBERTS: The piercing wail of a child flying just gets inside your head to some degree. Love kids though, don't get me wrong. Three minutes to the top of the hour. Top stories coming your way right after the break.

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