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American Morning

General McChrystal Arrives in Washington to Meet With Obama; Obama Administration Plans to Appeal Judge's Overturning of Moratorium; Judge Blocks Drilling Ban; Haley Makes History in South Carolina; A Look at BP's New Point Man; At the Helm of A Disaster; General Facing "Angry" President; Step Away from the Happy Meal

Aired June 23, 2010 - 07:00   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. Thanks so much for joining us on this Wednesday, the 23rd of June. It's the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.

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

First, it's the fallout that could be war-altering. 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 "Rolling Stone" magazine profile piece. We're live at the White House and the Pentagon this morning.

ROBERTS: The White House won't back down, insisting its moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is need even though a judge overturned it. The administration is appealing that ruling while at the same time the Interior Department crafts a new ban.

That means that 33 idled rigs in the gulf will remain closed up, leaving thousands of jobs in jeopardy.

CHETRY: She's one step closer to breaking South Carolina's glass ceiling. Republican Nikki Haley's made history winning her primary runoff. She'll now face her Democratic challenger in the race for the governor's mansion. Our Jim Acosta has been tracking reaction on the ground.

ROBERTS: But first, his job now clearly on the line, General Stanley McChrystal facing his commander in chief today after he and his staff mocked top administration officials and the president's grasp of the war in a "rolling stone" profile.

CHETRY: The general has since apologized for poor judgment, but sources tell us that he is ready to resign today, if asked. We're all over this developing story. Our Barbara Starr is standing by for us at the Pentagon.

First let me start with Suzanne Malveaux who's live at the White House this morning. Of course, yesterday, a lot of people were trying to gauge reaction, both from the president as well as the press secretary about how things may go today.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There are two meetings we'll be paying very close attention. Obviously in the situation room, 11:35, that's when the president, General McChrystal, the vice president, Secretaries Clinton, Gates, National Security Advisor Jim Jones, all of them are going to be sitting at that table. They're going to want an explanation from General McChrystal in terms of whether or not he believes he can further command U.S. troops and take this mission forward.

The other key meeting that we're going to keep our eye on of course is the one-on-one, face-to-face between President Obama and General McChrystal. That's going to take place in the Oval Office.

A lot of aggressive talk, a lot of strong words coming from White House aides. Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for the president saying, this was a profound mistake, that all options are on the table when it comes to General McChrystal's job. That he made a mistake and that people just don't know what is going to happen.

Now we heard from President Obama, and he was in typical Obama style, much more measured, said that he wanted to hear at least first from General McChrystal to give him a hearing before he decides his fate. Here's how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 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 is clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed a poor -- showed poor judgment. But I also want to make sure I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: John, Kiran, what was interesting about that statement that was made, when the lights went out and the cameras and photographers were leaving, he called them back and he wanted to make a point here, a message perhaps to the American people, saying, look, we've got to keep our focus on the bigger mission at hand, going after Al Qaeda, making sure that the sacrifices of those soldiers is worth it.

So that really sets him up in a way preparing the American people for whatever decision he makes regarding General McChrystal to send the message that this situation is bigger, larger than just one man.

CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning, we'll wait and see. 11:45 is the time in the situation room behind closed doors that discussion starts to take place. Thank you.

ROBERTS: Our Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon this morning. An awful lot for the president to consider here if he's thinking of firing McChrystal. As Michael O'Hanlon from the Brookings Institution just told us, he doesn't think the president has to fire him.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, there is a lot on the table here. It will start even before the White House meeting. We now know that General McChrystal will come to the Pentagon this morning, meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, to talk this all over before they go to the White House.

What is the president's calculation in deciding whether or not to fire a four-star general in the middle of a war? We've talk to a fair number of military officers, retired and currently serving, about this question.

Here's how they lay it out. Here's the points the president may well consider. First, is General McChrystal really the only guy who can run the war? Is he the only man available, the only general to command this situation? We don't know if Defense Secretary Robert Gates will come to his defense and say, yes, I have to have McChrystal.

Second, the timetable in Afghanistan. It's brutal right now. The war in the south is behind schedule. Casualties are up. McChrystal has promised a progress report in about seven months, the end of the year, about whether this strategy is working. Is there even time to bring in someone new?

And what about the bottom line, the troops themselves? Are they supporting the strategy? Right now we get an awful lot of reports that troops have concerns about this counterinsurgency strategy, that they feel it is tying one hand behind their back about being able to engage in combat against the insurgents. So even after all this time, there's still a selling job to be done with the troops out on the front line.

Some of the issues that the president may have to consider in making his decision, but it will come down to whether President Obama feels he has the trust and confidence in General McChrystal to be able to continue to command the war or whether all of this is a fatal distraction.

ROBERTS: Barbara, you've been talking to your sources at the Pentagon. You very often hear one thing behind closed doors and something else in public. Has the military leadership spoken publicly at all about this?

STARR: The silence is deafening. It is a real indicator I think of the stress and tension everyone feels in the Pentagon about this. We had a statement yesterday from Defense Secretary Robert gates that failed to endorse General McChrystal, simply reflected General McChrystal's apology. We have not heard from Admiral Mike Mullen or General David Petraeus publicly, John.

ROBERTS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning, thanks. CHETRY: So General McChrystal may soon be out of a job, but this morning we do want to take a look at how he became the man that president Obama selected to run the war in Afghanistan.

He's had a long and distinguished career. It started in 1976 when McChrystal graduated from West Point. Then he went right into Special Forces training, after that eventually becoming a Green Beret, and an army ranger.

By the time the Persian Gulf War in 1991, McChrystal was commanding the 75th ranger regiment. In 1989, he traded the battlefield for the academic world, doing fellowships at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, then at the Council on Foreign Relations here in New York City.

Then by 2003, he led the Pentagon's most sensitive areas of combat through a joint special operations command. And they had some big successes, including the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Then in 2006, they tracked and killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and this ultimately landed him in command in Afghanistan.

One dark spot though on his record was back in 2007. He was singled out in a Pentagon report for not immediately telling Pat Tillman's family that the military suspected the NFL star-turned army ranger was killed by friendly fire.

ROBERTS: It's coming up now on eight minutes after the hour. And also new this morning, cracks in the parts that secure engines to an aircraft's wing have been found on at least two 767s owned by American Airlines.

The plane's maker, Boeing, says it is concerned that the problem may exist on other airline fleets and is planning to advise all carriers to inspect their jets more often. Tests are under way to determine what might have caused those cracks.

And the small bags of complimentary in-flight peanuts may soon be a thing of the past. They Department of Transportation is considering banning the nuts to accommodate people with peanut allergies. Before any action is taken, the DOT wants your opinion. You can sound off at regulations.gov.

CHETRY: They want your opinion on that but not whether you're paying too much for an aisle seat or carry-on bags.

ROBERTS: The peanuts are a health issue, I guess.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ROBERTS: A judge in New Orleans has overturned the president's six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the gulf, but that battle is far from over. The White House plan to keep that ban in place coming up next. It's ten minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: A judge may have blocked the president's temporary ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf, but the White House isn't giving up. this is day 65 of the worst oil spill in U.S. history, and despite the setback the White House was dealt yesterday in court, the administration is insisting that a moratorium on drilling is need and appropriate.

ROBERTS: The interior secretary is promising to draw up a new, more detailed ban to satisfy the judge's concerns that the first one was arbitrary. In the meantime, the White House plans to appeal the judge's ruling even though Louisiana leaders are pleading with the president not to.

The appeals process is going to keep 33 idled rigs shut down. Chris Lawrence is live in New Orleans this morning. Chris, while this battle goes on between the president and big oil, a lot of jobs hanging in the balance in that area.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, John. Bottom line with all this is nobody's happy. The environmentalists certainly did not like the judge's ruling, and there's no way these oil companies are going to start calling their workers back with the threat of that appeal out there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: 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 weeks. And now we're dead in the water.

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

LAWRENCE (on camera): What was your first reaction?

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

LAWRENCE: 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: It's hard for us to understand as we look at Gulf of Mexico and see the oil washing into the Barataria Bay, disturbing pelicans on their nests and coming if to Pensacola and disturbing the tourism that's so critical for that region, why we couldn't have a timeout.

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

VILES: The inspection process isn't really worth the paper it is 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 is going to stay tied up in legalities. He's going to appeal, they'll hopefully block it again, then there will be another appeal.

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

SHANE GUIDRY, OPPOSES MORATORIUM: I Absolutely the industry is going to see that there is no end in sight and it is time to cut your losses.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: In explaining his decision, the judge used the rationale, are all airplanes a danger if just one is? Well, the government obviously didn't see it that way. Even though it looks bleak now, the only hope is that perhaps this decision forces both sides to come to some sort of compromise with the government, get some of the safety regulations that it wants and perhaps allow some of the rigs to start working a lot sooner than that six-month time frame -- John, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. In the meantime, everybody's still hanging in the balance waiting to see what happens with these court rulings.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

CHETRY: Chris Lawrence for us, thanks so much.

By the way, if you suffered losses in the wake of the oil spill disaster and are in the process of filing a claim with BP, we want to hear about how your experience is going. We'd love for you to tell us your story. Head to ireport.com/CNN.

ROBERTS: In just a few minutes time, we're going to be joined by BP's new disaster point man. It's managing director Bob Dudley. We'll ask him about the drilling ban in the gulf, BP's yachting CEO and how those relief wells are coming along as we enter day 65 of the disaster in the gulf.

It's 16 minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Nineteen minutes past the hour now. Voters in South Carolina giving Republican Nikki Haley a historic win in her primary runoff. After facing sex scandal allegations, attacks on her race, whispers about her religion, Haley is now the first female Republican nominee for governor in the southern state.

ROBERTS: Here with a look at her historic run so far in this morning's "America Votes 2010 Report," let's bring in our Jim Acosta. He's live from Columbia, South Carolina.

Quite a night last night and quite a race to November still ahead, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. Democrats are already out swinging. They're saying that this vicious primary fight, as they called it, damages her general election prospects for the fall. But we'll see, because she has a lot of momentum behind her. Consider the fact that she started out in the single digits in this campaign, and then went on to beat the political establishment in the state. She won last night's primary runoff for the Republican nomination for governor with 65 percent of the vote over a sitting congressman, a freshman congressman, Gresham Barrett. And Haley, who picked up a lot of conservative tea party support all over the state said that her race has national implications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALLEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA GOV. CANDIDATE: This is a really great night because South Carolina just showed the rest of the country what we're made of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And speaking of those national implications, I mean, she was basically able to do this because she had the support of people like Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Jenny Sanford, the first lady, the former first lady, depending on how you look at it, with the state of South Carolina. She is the ex-wife of the current governor, Mark Sanford, as you know, John and Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes. And you mentioned that Governor Mark Sanford, his ex-wife among those congratulating her last night. In some cases, he was described almost as her mentor.

ACOSTA: That's right. And they were both in the House last night, both at Nikki Haley's victory party. So, you know, just another indication of how colorful politics can be down here in South Carolina. Sanford, he of the Appalachian Trail, had his own embarrassing sex scandal and determined to stick in that governor's job. He has been there through all of these questions, through all of this controversy. And I asked him last night at the victory party whether or not the people of this state are tired of hearing about the personal lives of their politicians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Looking forward to private life?

GOV. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I am.

ACOSTA: Being a regular guy again, regular Joe.

SANFROD: Can't wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: He can't wait. Obviously for those reasons alone. And one last thing I want to leave you with here, just how confident are Republicans in South Carolina about the fall elections?

Look at this. Last night outside of Nikki Haley's victory party, Republican activists were selling these t-shirts. This looks familiar to you? The Greene family reunion t-shirt? It's the t-shirt worn by, yes, Alvin Greene, the Democratic contender for Jim DeMint's Senate seat here in South Carolina. He won that Democratic nomination in a surprise victory. And so Republicans are having some fun with that by selling these t-shirts. You can pick them up at a Republican event near you if you live in the state of South Carolina -- John and Kiran.

ROBERTS: Never a dull moment in South Carolina politics. Jim Acosta, thanks.

CHETRY: Well, whenever you're away from your TV, you can still get D.C.'s biggest headlines from the best political team on television. Head to CNNpolitics.com.

ROBERTS: In just a few minutes, we're going to be joined by BP's new disaster point man, managing director Bob Dudley. We'll ask him about taking over responsibility for the oil spill in the gulf and just how much oil they're capturing these days. They hit a new record yesterday.

Twenty-three minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour. Bob Dudley may just have the -- been handed the toughest job in America right now. He is the managing director of BP. At least was until this morning. He's just been asked to take over every aspect of the company's response to the oil spill in the gulf. It's going to be quite a challenge. He'll have to contain disasters on two fronts because this is not just an environmental nightmare, it's also a public relations catastrophe for BP.

Bob Dudley joins us live from Houston this morning. Mr. Dudley, you've just been officially appointed president and chief executive officer of BP's Gulf Coast Restoration Organization. You will report to Tony Hayward who remains CEO of the overall company. But in terms of handling this oil spill, now that you're in charge, what are you going to do differently than Tony Hayward was?

BOB DUDLEY, BP'S MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAS & ASIA: Well, the first thing we're going to do, John, is we had a temporary organization set up across the Gulf Coast. We're going to make that permanent. We're going to work it so that we push more and more of BP's resources through the unified command structure with the Coast Guard in New Orleans. We're just going to make sure that the transfer of the claims process to Ken Feinberg as an independent leader of that occurs moves smoothly. In the meantime, we're going to continue to write the checks, pay the claims and make sure that we're there for a long time, many years, not only after the well is stopped but the clean-up. This is the first step on that.

ROBERTS: You know, over the last 65 days, there have been some famous gaffes made by BP executives. There was Tony Hayward saying that he was like -- he would like his life back. There was him going yachting over the weekend. Carl-Henric Svanberg, the chairman of the board, said he cares about the, quote, "small people" affected by this. You know, some people are getting a sense that BP is tone deaf to what's going on there in the gulf. Is it? Has it been?

DUDLEY: Well, both of those men are, one, deeply disturbed by what's happened in the gulf, and fully committed to making sure that BP meets all of its commitments not only now but for years to come. They may have said the wrong things. The chairman's native language is not English and he meant "small businesses" and that's been taken and run with. But they are fully committed to this as BP's response to what is a tremendous disaster. And I think that response, quite frankly, is unusual, to put aside $20 billion to make sure those claims are paid for years to come and restore the gulf. So this is the right thing to do.

ROBERTS: And what about you, Mr. Dudley? You know, you're there in Houston. You're an American. It puts an American face on BP's handling of this disaster. You have not, to the best of my knowledge, made any kind of gaffe in the way that Tony Hayward and Svanberg have. Will you be able to better handle this from a PR perspective for the company?

DUDLEY: Well, my concern, John, is not the PR aspect of it. Communicate, make sure people know what we're doing, see the tremendous amount of resources and response we have. My job mainly is to listen very, very closely to the governors, people along the Gulf Coast, in Washington, and make sure that we respond as quickly as we can to people like Thad Allen, make sure we get the resources there, stop the well and we'll clean it up. This is a long effort. Make sure we meet the financial obligations.

ROBERTS: You collected over a 24-hour period the other day 26,000 barrels of oil from Macondo well. That would represent a new high. On a percentage basis of what's coming out of the well, do you have any idea of how much you're capturing now?

DUDLEY: Well, no one knows what that well is actually producing and flowing right now. We have the estimates now. I think the government estimates are between 35,000 and higher, 60,000. We don't know. We know we're capturing a significant amount of the oil though and want to keep doing that and get it in place, to keep doing that until we drill these penetrations of the relief wells in August. ROBERTS: Right. As you know, the government is going to appeal the ruling handed down by a judge in Louisiana yesterday on this six- month moratorium. At the same time Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, says that he is going to issue a new moratorium in the next day or two. I'd like to get your take on that, because BP, Steve Westwell, your chief of staff, at a meeting in London yesterday seemed to suggest that the moratorium was unnecessary. But if a drilling rig like the Deepwater Horizon can go through all of the safety checks, pass, and then still blow out the way it did, is it safe to be drilling at those depths?

DUDLEY: Well, I know from BP's standpoint we want to really understand what's happened. There's a lot of almost a rush to justice on this, so we really want to understand what happened so that we can make sure it never happens again on any well that BP drills or frankly, I think anyone. The moratorium itself, we know that it's been a hardship for those rig workers who have been -- not working right now. As a goodwill gesture, we're putting aside $100 million towards them.

But in terms of the political discussion around this and the decisions, I think we're certainly going to step back and let the government decide what it wants to do.

ROBERTS: So you're not encouraging the government to lift the moratorium at this point?

DUDLEY: We're not encouraging or discouraging that. I think that's a process for the government to go through. We realized that the hardship that it's caused for oil rig workers, for one. And then two, we're going to learn and there's still a lot yet that we all need to learn about the investigation of why this accident happened.

ROBERTS: Bob Dudley, the new president and chief executive officer of BP's gulf coast restoration organization, hope to be talking to you a lot in the coming days, Mr. Dudley.

DUDLEY: Thanks, John.

CHETRY: And a look at our other top stories this morning at half past the hour.

The president is deciding the fate of his top general in Afghanistan today. He's going to be meeting with General Stanley McChrystal in just a few hours. McChrystal called back to Washington after an article was published in "Rolling Stone" magazine where he and his staff mocked the White House, among other things.

General McChrystal has apologized for poor judgment but sources tell us that he is ready to hand in his resignation if asked.

ROBERTS: American Airlines is advising other carriers to inspect their Boeing 67s more often. The reason -- mechanics say they found two cases of cracks in the parts that secure the planes' engines to the wings. Tests are being conducted right now. Boeing says it considers this a safety issue. CHETRY: And even though a federal judge has blocked his six- month ban on deepwater drilling in the gulf, the president is refusing to take "no" for an answer on the issue. The White House is in fact appealing the ruling while the Interior Department works on drafting a new ban.

And because of the appeal, 33 idle rigs are still shut down and that is still threatening thousands of jobs.

ROBERTS: Weeks before BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and burst into flames sending millions of gallons of crude spilling into the gulf and killing 11 people, Tyrone Benton may have witnessed the first sign of the catastrophe that was about to unfold.

CHETRY: Benton operated remote vehicles from that rig every day at 6:00 a.m. he sent down cameras and their job is to inspect the well, the rig, the blowout preventers and search for any signs of things unusual. Well, he talked with our Drew Griffin in a CNN exclusive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tyrone Benton may well have seen the first signs something was very, very wrong on the Deepwater Horizon.

(on camera): Did you ever get close enough to the leak to see what exactly was leaking?

TYRONE BENTON, ROV TECHNICIAN: Yes. We flew down to the pod and saw that there was an angular fitting that had a leak on it. What was connected to the angular fitting wasn't able to see, but there was an angular fitting that did have a leak.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): It was a fluid leak on one of the two pods. Those are the mechanisms that control the blowout preventer. If they don't work, the blowout preventer doesn't work. A leak, even if only a trickle, is a warning.

BENTON: Yes. It was abnormal.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Abnormal enough that you reported it to your company to Transocean, to BP?

BENTON: That's correct.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): One pod is always working, the other, says University of Texas petroleum engineer, Tad Patzek is designed as its immediate backup.

PROF. TAD PATZEK, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: I don't think that there is any discussion of that basic fact. And the basic fact is that you have to do whatever it takes to fix the -- fully the blowout preventer as soon as you can.

GRIFFIN: Patzek says the solution is to immediately close off the well, raise the blowout preventer, find out what's wrong, and fix it.

PATZEK: Anything less than that, you know, might have led, or probably led, to a major failure of the well and the results are well known.

GRIFFIN: Back on board the Deepwater Horizon, several weeks before the explosion, Tyrone Benton knew he was looking at a potentially dangerous leak, that the BOP, the blowout preventer, was at possible risk for failure.

(on camera): And it was taken care of?

BENTON: It wasn't taken care of. In order to take care of it, you have to pull the whole BOP, which will shut down production. From like I said, from my understanding, they just shut down one pod and work off the other.

GRIFFIN: Tyrone, 11 people dead.

BENTON: Yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): For the better part of a day, the leak was studied, observed, measured. The most prudent course, to fix it, says Benton, was ruled out.

(on camera): And so instead --

BENTON: They went ahead and shut down that particular pod, the yellow pod, and started working off the other pod.

GRIFFIN: You likened that to shutting down one engine of a twin- engine plane.

BENTON: That's correct.

GRIFFIN: You can do it.

BENTON: Yes.

GRIFFIN: But not ideal.

BENTON: If you have to, then you can.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Day after day, says Benton, the fluid leak continued. Day after day, BP and Transocean were notified.

(on camera): You're the first person that's come forward that I know of that said, we have this problem. It was a leak. Instead of properly fixing the leak, officials from BP and Transocean decided to bypass that leak. It's hard to determine, as you said, whether or not that leak had anything to do with this, but certainly the prudent thing, the most safe thing to do would have been to pull up that blowout preventer, fix it and put it back down. Is that not correct?

BENTON: Yes, you could look at it that way, yes. GRIFFIN (voice-over): No one listened, and a few weeks later, Tyrone Benton was lying in his bunk on the Deepwater Horizon when the first explosion knocked him out of bed. The second covered him in debris as he scrambled to find his flashlight. It was pitch black.

(on camera): Panic on-board? Screaming?

BENTON: Panic, screaming, people jumping overboard. It was completely chaos. And I could hear my supervisor telling everybody "let's go, let's go, let's get on the life boats. We got to go, we got to go." And he kept his head, he kept his cool. Most of us were just panicking. We wanted to go, like right then. But we had to wait for everybody. So we sat on that rig as long as we possibly could for everyone to be accounted for.

GRIFFIN: Not everybody was accounted for.

BENTON: There is a point where you have to say, we have to go. And we made it to that point.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Of the 11 who never made it to the lifeboat, Benton says many were close friends. He's now suing BP and Transocean for emotional and physical injuries. A BP spokesman wouldn't comment on reports of a leak but did say BP is determined to get to the bottom of what caused the explosion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: John and Kiran, we also heard from Transocean, a spokesman who said that the blowout preventer on the rig was tested in the days and weeks before the explosion and that it was found to be working properly each time. But Transocean is telling us it is conducting its own internal examination, as well as cooperating with all the other investigations under way. John and Kiran?

ROBERTS: Well, despite the fact that they tested it, obviously still wasn't working the way it should have.

CHETRY: It didn't work when it was supposed to work and when they needed it to work. That's the fact without question.

ROBERTS: We really never know until they pull it up from the ocean bottom once that well is killed. But also there have been so many modifications and repairs made to it since then. I mean, will we ever really know the full story, the condition that it was in just at the time it blew up.

CHETRY: Exactly.

Well, still ahead, Stanley McChrystal, is the general in command in Afghanistan. Will he stay or go? We're going to be speaking with fellow generals, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt and General George Joulwan. Join us, next. 38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHETRY: 41 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Our top story this morning, the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan meeting with President Obama today and prepared to hand in his resignation, reportedly. General Stanley McChrystal, the man who said that he needed more troops to win the war may now lose his job after he and his inner circle slammed administration officials including vice president Joe Biden in a "Rolling Stone" profile piece.

Joining me now with more on this is Retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs, and also Retired General George Joulwan, former NATO Supreme Allied commander.

Welcome, gentlemen. Thanks for being with us this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning.

CHETRY: General Kimmitt, you've known General McChrystal for close to four decades. What is your reaction to what happened in light of this "Rolling Stone" article?

GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET.), EXEC. VP ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS COMPANY: Well, I think that the reporter caught Stan and his team in an unguarded moment away from the headquarters. I think it speaks for itself, Stan and his team have apologized to the president and to his national security team and I think we'll see today where that goes.

CHETRY: And General Joulwan, the president said yesterday that the article shows "bad judgment" is how he put it. But the question about whether or not he can retain the president's confidence, do you think after this firestorm he can continue to lead?

GEN. GEORGE JOULWAN, FMR. NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: That's going to be the key question. Does the president have confidence in him to carry out the strategy in Afghanistan. You got to remember what McChrystal needs to understand, it is just not his brilliance in Afghanistan. It's building a team. That's the Congress, that's the White House, the Pentagon. Our allies. The ambassador.

And he has used extremely poor judgment in all members of that team. So the president's got to say not just is McChrystal the right guy, can this team, this one team, one fight sort of philosophy, can that team carry out a successful strategy in Afghanistan?

CHETRY: Well, the interesting thing, General Kimmitt, the article is, you know, while there is a big firestorm around some of the comments that mostly his staff made pretty much in the article about some in the administration, it didn't seem to be a problem with any type of command in the military. It seemed to be more the civilian leadership, some of the questions about the State Department, the ambassador.

It seemed that McChrystal at least in the article was painted as somebody who was quite successful in building his team and the people that were working for him. So how is that going to play out as the president needs to make this tough decision today with all eyes on him?

KIMMITT: Well, frankly, the most sober voices in this entire discussion have been that of General McChrystal, who has apologized, and the president who has said, "let's focus on the policy. Let's focus on the troops on the ground."

That fundamentally is the question. What will be the impact on the policy going forward on our troops? What will be the impact of either keeping General McChrystal in the job or seeking another commander?

CHETRY: And General Joulwan, as we talked about before, bringing McChrystal in the first place was the first time in 50 years that a general's been replaced in an active war time, right? I mean in an active theater. And so now this would be the second time this would happen if he is indeed replaced. Does that affect what's going on on the ground in Afghanistan exactly?

JOULWAN: Of course. But I think McChrystal needs to understand, no one is irreplaceable. And what he really needs to do is to show the professionalism and maturity. My guess would be he should take a letter of resignation in with him to the president, offer to resign because of his poor judgment and his mistakes made.

Remember, he did the same thing in London. That strike won. This is strike two. Does he give him a third strike? Personally, if you weigh a lot of the mission involved in all of this, perhaps. But I would have a letter in my top right drawer of the Oval Office if he screws it up again.

CHETRY: Well, it does beg the question, General Kimmitt, as well, what does this do to the president and his stature in terms of being the commander in chief. If he keeps him on, does it take a hit at his credibility, make him look weak?

KIMMITT: Well, again, the sad part about this is there's no good outcome. He will be criticized whatever decision he makes. But, as he said yesterday, this is about our troops, this is about the policy, so I think he's -- he's planning -- he has to make a decision one way or the other.

And, at the end of the day, he is the president. He is paid to make those decisions. But, fundamentally, people will support the president in whatever decision he makes in this regard.

CHETRY: You know, when you read this article and you read others about General McChrystal, General Kimmitt, I mean, it paints a picture of somebody who's very disciplined, has clear focus, laser-like precision to detail, but also somebody who was not unwilling to sort of thumb his nose at authority.

Taking all of that and what you know about him over these decades, do you think this was an accident or do you think that this article was on purpose? KIMMITT: I don't think this article was on purpose at all. This was, as I said earlier, probably an unguarded moment, in Paris, a very short period of time that that reporter was with him. Of course, this is the part that the reporter wanted to report on.

The fact that General McChrystal came out so quickly with an apology to me indicates that he understands the gravity of the error and the gravity of the mistake.

CHETRY: General Joulwan, quickly, do you think anybody on McChrystal's staff, regardless -- I mean, let's say the president does agree to keep him on and he keeps his job, is there a shake-up of his team?

JOULWAN: I believe there should be. That's the sort of guidance that Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen need to provide to him. He needs to get some mature judgment, not just a click of his former staff. He needs to get some mature judgment in there to help him get through this crisis.

CHETRY: General Joulwan, General Kimmitt, thanks for your perspective this morning. Appreciate it.

JOULWAN: Thank you.

KIMMITT: Thank you.

ROBERTS: It's now 47 minutes after the hour.

Are they Big Mac crack? Do those toys that they put in Happy Meals lure children into McDonald's and represent unfair and deceptive marketing practices? Well, one organization says yes.

And big heat means bigger storms. Our Reynolds Wolf has got your travel forecast coming right up. Stay with us.

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ROBERTS: Well, we're listening to some country, but maybe some Santana with Rob Thomas is little more apropos. It's a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun there in Atlanta, partly cloudy, 75 right now. Imagine, 75 at 8:00 in the morning.

It's going to be mostly sunny and Hot-lanta will live up to its name today. It will be 94 and very humid.

CHETRY: Yes. You better get your run in now.

Fifty minutes past the hour. Let's check in with Reynolds Wolf. Turn on the AC in Hot-lanta today.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I know. The air conditioning makes all the difference.

You know, although the calendar says we're in early summer, it really does feel like August or even September this time of year. We're already in that kind of pattern where it seems as though we have a ridge of high pressure over parts of the southeast, which is the situation, and that pushes the storm track well to the north, and that has also been the story over parts of the Great Lakes, the Upper Midwest, even across parts of the Northern Plains.

In fact, over the last 24 hours, get this, we've had 51 reports of tornadoes across 11 states. Big doings and that can happen again today. And again, the atmosphere setup is going to be just the same with this area of low pressure and we've got these impulses of energy which continue to sweep across the Western Great Lakes.

Milwaukee, this morning you're waking up to the crash and boom of thunder. Lightning can also be seen in places like Rockford. If you're in Chicago, you've got the cloud cover. The rain will soon follow, and, with that, possibly some delays eventually moving over to places like Detroit and maybe even over to, say, Columbus, Ohio, Cleveland and even into Indianapolis before all is said and done.

Again, very muggy for you along parts of the Gulf Coast. That could -- might take a little bit of an edge off the temperatures and especially in places like Houston, even into spots like, say, New Orleans. Tampa and Miami, into the 90s; 82 in Denver; and 102 in Vegas.

As we wrap things up very quickly, your delays, well, you can expect some delays in New York, mainly due to the wind but also some backups in spots like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit due to the thunderstorms. San Francisco, logistics are going to keep you on the ground from 30 to 60 minutes. All the cumulative effect because of the other delays around the nation.

All right. You're up to speed. Back to you.

ROBERTS: Reynolds, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

WOLF: You bet.

CHETRY: Well, this morning's top stories are just minutes away, including judgment Day for the top commander in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal reporting to the White House. Whether or not the four-star general will get the boot, and who might replace him.

ROBERTS: Plus, hand-to-hand combat over soccer. Yes. Actual physical contact. In soccer.

I know it's unusual. Kellerman versus Roth. America against the world. Will a win today kick-start the sport in the United States?

CHETRY: And 55 minutes after the hour, a M.A.S.H. unit for oiled birds. The idea's drawn up on a cocktail napkin to save wildlife. Our Tom Foreman on board the boat designed to do triage at sea.

Those stories and much more, coming your way at the top of the hour. It's 53 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Researchers found that most parents don't know if their preschool aged child is overweight or obese. I think the real news here is that those are the only two options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Well, you know the food police have a beef with Mickey D's. The Center for Science and the Public Interest is delivering a warning to McDonald's about toys being used to make Happy Meals more appetizing to kids. They say happy meals are unhealthy.

ROBERTS: Yes. They're putting McDonald's on notice saying drop the toys or we'll sue you. The group accuses the fast food giant of unfair and deceptive marketing practices towards children. McDonald's, of course, as you can imagine rejects the accusations.

CHETRY: They can't get a break. First, they were trying to give away the glasses but then they had to recall them because of cadmium in the paint on the Shrek glasses.

ROBERTS: That -- that definitely is a bad thing.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: But the toy, I mean, come on.

Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.

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