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'Decision Day' for General Stanley McChrystal; Oil Gushing Freely Again Into Gulf; Floating Animal Hospital; Bullish on BP; McChrystal's Job Judgment Day; Push For More Black Male Teachers; USA Advances at World Cup; What's Hot
Aired June 23, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen.
Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.
Judge Maday for General Stanley McChrystal. The president's top man in Afghanistan meets with the Commander in Chief. The big question, will the general be fired?
A teacher's critical choice making a huge impact on young lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a need for more African-American males in the classroom to fill those voids so that our students can see that on a daily basis, so that all of the intellectuals aren't just in the medical field.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: What the push for more black male teachers meant for one young man.
You're online right now, and we are, too. Ines Ferre is following top stories trending on the Internet -- Ines.
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tony.
Top on CNN.com right now, well, you can sing in the shower, but not in public. That's the message that one proposed ordinance in a South Carolina town is sending.
And also, we're following your comments on General McChrystal online.
HARRIS: All right, Ines. Thank you.
Let's get started with our lead story.
We are waiting to learn the fate of a man calling the shots for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal, he was summoned to the White House today to answer for disparaging remarks about President Obama and his top officials. We know the meeting wrapped up an hour ago, and President Obama is right now meeting with his national security advisers.
We have live reports from the White House, the Pentagon, and from Afghanistan.
First, to our White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.
Suzanne, you aptly called this "Decision Day" last hour. What are you learning? What's the update here?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Tony, there's still a lot of questions about what kind of decisions have been made. I can tell you what's happening behind the scenes at the White House. I just got an e-mail from a White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, who said that the meeting started, and it started about 11:55 or so, and that is the meeting in the Situation Room, the president, the vice president, his national security team.
What is interesting to note here, Tony, that is we did see General McChrystal leave the White House after a meeting that took place face-to-face with the president in the Oval Office for about 32 minutes. We have not seen the general return.
And so we are all wondering what that means. We don't necessarily know what that means yet.
We do know, however, that we will get an update from the president, who will go before the cameras to explain all of this, to explain what happened, what took place in the Oval Office with his meeting with General McChrystal, whether or not General McChrystal keeps his job, who, perhaps, could replace him, and looking forward to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
A little behind the scenes, Tony. I had a chance -- you know, some of us are camped outside of Gibbs' office to see what is going on. About 15 minutes ago, he was in his office, he was leaving his office, I quickly asked him -- I said, you know, "You got anything for me, any update?" He said, "Nothing. Nothing."
And everybody knew what he was talking about. It was the World Cup game, U.S. versus Algeria, which is on at the White House, and has got everybody glued to their TV sets. So, that's the other big question. As we know, you know, the U.S. has since scored.
But he then said, "I'm going into the Situation Room." So at that point, it was about 15 minutes ago. He was in the Situation Room.
And so that meeting has begun, and we will get a -- clearly, a readout after that meeting and what has taken place.
HARRIS: All right.
At the White House, Suzanne Malveaux for us.
Suzanne, appreciate it. Thank you.
Now for the military impact. Let's get to our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
And Barbara, Stanley McChrystal met with Secretary Gates earlier. Anything come out of that meeting?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We don't know, Tony. That meeting was the first taking place much earlier this morning.
Here at the Pentagon, Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also attended that meeting. We saw General McChrystal here in the Pentagon hallways after that. He had not anything to say. Everyone here is waiting for the same thing, to hear from the president of the United States about whether he is firing or keeping on this vital wartime commander in it Afghanistan.
The military, I think, it is fair to say, wants to see a decision, wants it made, and to move on, and move ahead as rapidly as possible one way or the other. The major military concern, of course, is that this not become a distraction in the war.
Troops are on the line in southern Afghanistan, especially where casualties are up, violence is up, and the war is going more slowly than planned. So, nobody is looking for a distraction at this point. Everybody wants to get on with it, one way or the other -- Tony.
HARRIS: And Barbara, if you would, maybe you could walk us through the possible replacements should General McChrystal be relieved of his command.
STARR: Well, should it come to that, a lot of people are talking about a short list of candidates. I think it very much remains to be seen.
Some of the names you hear, we'll show you: General Mattis, Marine. But he's a very plainspoken person in public. They may not be looking for that right now.
General Allen, deputy -- he is the deputy to General Petraeus.
General David Rodriguez, he is essentially the number two general in Afghanistan right now running the day-to-day combat operations. He could hit the ground running, if you will. So that is certainly a possibility.
The next one, General Martin Dempsey, very popular Army general, very plainspoken, but a very no-nonsense kind of guy.
Another one people talk about, it would be a very neutral choice, Admiral Jim Stavridis. He is the top U.S. officer at NATO. In fact, the top commander of NATO at the moment, very well-liked, very known within the NATO alliance, which is important. But he's a ground combat officer, he's a Navy admiral.
But we must emphasize, of course, we have to wait and see what the president decides to do.
HARRIS: You know what? When we get a little more time, maybe we can make this happen a little later this hour.
Barbara, I would really like to talk to you about what you hear from your sources as to how the operation, the strategy, is working in Afghanistan. Let's try to make that happen this hour.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon for us.
Thank you, Barbara.
Should the general get his marching orders? That seems to be the question of the day. And you are certainly weighing in.
You can leave your comments for us at CNN.com/Tony. You can also go on to Facebook and Twitter. We will have some of your comments later this hour.
Were there warning signs of disaster on the Deepwater Horizon? One rig worker says there were weeks before the explosion. He is speaking out, only to CNN.
But right now, let's get to a briefing in Washington, D.C. The administration's point man, he is the point man on the disaster in the Gulf, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, with the daily briefing.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: -- which did 16,668 barrels, and the Q4000, which actually flared after natural gas and oil of 10,429 barrels.
I want to tell you, however, though, we had an incident earlier today where they noticed that there was some kind of a gas rising through the vent that carries the warm water down that prohibits hydrates from forming. Our of an abundance of caution, the Discoverer Enterprise removed the containment cap with the riser pipe and moved away until they could assess the condition.
They have indicated that the problem was a remotely-operated vehicle that had been around the lower marine riser package, had bumped into one of those vents that allows the excess oil to come out. It actually closed it, thereby creating pressure in it, and the backflow potentially up the water vent.
They are checking the containment cap right now. If there are no hydrates in the containment cap, they will attempt to reinstall the containment cap and begin producing later on in the day. If there are hydrates, they will probably have to rerun the pipeline, and that will take a considerable amount longer.
A couple of other updates. As I have told you over the last couple of days, we're in the process of installing free-standing riser pipes that will allow us to go to a new mooring (ph) facility and increase production as we move into the month of July. The first free-standing riser pipe has been installed. They were testing it for pressure leaks today. And they will look at putting an anchoring system down.
We are looking towards potentially next Tuesday bringing an additional production vessel on line. That will get us to the previously-briefed 53,000 barrel-a-day capacity. That's notwithstanding the removal of the containment cap today for the issue that I just talked about.
On a more somber note, we had two deaths reported on people who were involved in this response earlier today. One was an accident regarding a swimming pool -- a swimming event, and another one was a Vessel of Opportunity operator in Gulf Shores, Mississippi.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families. We know this is a devastating thing to happen, and we understand that the Gulf Shores Police Department is following up on the death of the Vessel of Opportunity operator.
With that, I'm pleased today to present a co-presenter with me, previously identified, Jordan Barab, who's the deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA. We've got a number of questions over the last few weeks about worker safety and exposure of workers to various types of hazards out there. I thought it would be very informative for everybody to hear from the source itself about what we are doing together.
A few weeks ago, we signed an MOU between the Department of Labor and OSHA, and the national incident commander laid out how we would work together moving forward, and it's been a strong team moving. And I would like to introduce Mr. Barab right now.
Thank you.
JORDAN BARAB, DEP. ASSIST. SECRETARY OF LABOR, OSHA: Thank you, Admiral.
I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about what OSHA has been doing, and how we have been working with the National Incident Command --
HARRIS: All right. Just a couple of -- man, some real developments here from the admiral, Thad Allen.
First of all, you heard two deaths, two new deaths, associated with the oil response effort. And you can see for yourself here in these pictures the -- because of another accident.
The containment cap is now off of that wellhead. And you can see what is happening there. You've got free-flowing oil spewing again, unchecked by the cap.
We're going to get an update on this, and we're going to try to raise Chris Lawrence. He's in New Orleans, on this. And Chad Myers, as well. Let's take a quick break.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: I've got to tell you, a difficult day in the Gulf on day 65, to say the least.
We just heard the briefing from the government's point man on this Gulf oil disaster, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen.
Let's get to Chris Lawrence, who is our man in New Orleans.
And Chris, boy, a difficult day. Two deaths being reported, connected to the effort there in the Gulf. And then, as everyone can see, the containment cap is off of that wellhead as a result of some kind of an accident.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes. As I'm being told now, basically, they're checking that containment cap to see if there are hydrates. If there are no hydrates in there, they will be able to try to reattach it, reinstall it fairly quickly. But if there are, Admiral Thad Allen of the Coast Guard indicated that it could take some time to be able to reattach the containment cap.
He also talked a little bit about what may have happened. They had noticed that there was a gas rising through that vent that prevents those hydrates from forming, and what it looks like is one of the remote-operated vehicles bumped into that vent and may have now caused a problem with the containment cap. And if you remember back, those hydrates were a problem with the first dome.
HARRIS: Yes, those crystals, right? These ice crystals?
LAWRENCE: Exactly. Exactly. And the first dome didn't have the vents which would allow -- which would keep the hydrates from forming.
That's why this dome, you know, had those vents. But, apparently, this remote-operated vehicle bumped into one of the vents, and now they were starting to see some of the hydrates possibly starting to form there.
HARRIS: Yes. And also, the report of two deaths associated with the Gulf response effort there along the Gulf, as well.
Chris Lawrence for us in New Orleans.
Chris, appreciate it. Thank you.
The White House scrambling right now to rescue the president's moratorium on new deepwater drilling. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar planning a revised, beefed-up ban soon, one outlining legal justifications in greater detail. That's because a federal judge has blocked the current moratorium, calling it too generic and too punitive. The administration is also appealing the judge's ruling. The president's order stopped work at 33 exploratory wells while the Deepwater Horizon explosion is under investigation.
It sounds like a pretty great idea, boats designed as floating emergency rooms to save wildlife in the Gulf. So why aren't they being used?
We are in Pensacola with the answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Day 65 of the Gulf oil disaster. A battle over President Obama's six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling. The White House is preparing an appeal to a federal judge's injunction blocking the moratorium.
On Saturday, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will discuss the matter. They will be at the G20 Summit in Canada.
Other top stories we're following for you.
The president asking Congress for another $600 million to increase border security. The money would be used to hire 1,000 new border guards and 160 Customs agents.
In South Carolina, Nikki Haley is a step closer to becoming the state's first woman governor. Haley, an Indian-American, is the winner of the Republican runoff primary election.
More top stories for you coming up in 20 minutes.
Now to two men who have come up with a unique way to rescue wildlife in the Gulf, if only BP and the government would let them use it.
Tom Foreman now has more in this "Building up America" report.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, many, many thousands of people all across the country have come up with ideas on how to help out in this oil catastrophe, but most of them never get beyond being ideas. A few, however, have.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): In the searing heat of the Gulf, Mark Castlow and Jimbo Meador are launching an idea --
MARK CASTLOW, CO-OWNER, DRAGONFLY BOATWORKS: OK, Jimbo. I'm going to throw a line on.
FOREMAN: -- a boat designed for a desperate time.
JIMBO MEADOR, CO-OWNER, DRAGONFLY BOATWORKS: But the main purpose is to recover oiled wildlife. That's what it's designed for. FOREMAN: As co-owners of Dragonfly Boatworks, they've spent their lives on the water and were sickened by pictures of animals dying in the catastrophe. So they set out to dramatically modify a line of their boats to come to the rescue.
(on camera): And you drew this thing up on a cocktail napkin?
MEADOR: Yes. It was a quickie.
FOREMAN: Where are you in the process now?
MEADOR: We're trying to produce, like, a boat every seven days right now for this.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Completely funded by donations and on their own time, the men consulted wildlife biologists to produce what they believe is the first boat ever made specifically for this work.
(on camera): The basic problem with many boats is they just can't go into shallow marshes.
MEADOR: Right because of the --
FOREMAN: Areas where wildlife would be.
MEADOR: It draws too much water.
FOREMAN (voice-over): These boats operate in less than a foot of water, slipping up silently on injured animals. A big work table allows instant care instead of a long ride to a cleaning station first, while an adjustable shade canopy and mist nozzles lower the crushing temperatures. The boats are even wired for internet access. It's a labor of love.
CASTLOW: Really it's challenging on our business, but this is what we should be doing right now.
MEADOR: We can defend ourselves but they don't even know what's happening.
FOREMAN: The biggest trouble? They've been unable to get approval from BP and the government to put their boats to work.
After we made half a dozen calls, the unified command center admitted that juggling all the offers of help has been a problem.
MEADOR: It's most frustrating thing I've ever been involved in.
FOREMAN (on camera): Do you think you can overcome all of that and actually get these boats working on the water?
CASTLOW: Yes, we will.
MEADOR: Yes, we will.
CASTLOW: We will do it. MEADOR: We will do it.
FOREMAN (voice-over): So the dragonfly team says they will keep turning out their innovative boats confident, in time, they will prove to be lifesavers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: The guys have some big-name, big-money supporters behind them, including the famous Gulf Coast singer Jimmy Buffett. Now if they can just get those boats in the water -- Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Fingers crossed. Thank you, Tom.
We are digging deeper on our top story. General Stanley McChrystal, the man in command in Afghanistan, what will his uncertain future mean for the U.S. military operation there?
We are going to Kabul to find some answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. The man calling the shots for U.S. troops in Afghanistan may be out of a job. We are waiting to hear if General Stanley McChrystal has been fired for disparaging remarks about President Obama and his top officials.
Afghanistan's president has made it clear he wants McChrystal to stay in command, but Hamid Karzai doesn't get to make that decision.
Our Atia Abawi is in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Atia, great to see you, as always.
What is General McChrystal's relationship with Karzai and the Afghan government? How would you describe it?
ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a very strong relationship, Tony. When you look at President Karzai's relationship with the Obama administration, it's not a strong relationship. When you look at his relationship with even U.S. Ambassador Eikenberry, it used to be a strong relationship until those cables from Ambassador Eikenberry was leaked saying that he didn't find President Karzai a suitable partner when it comes to the war effort.
But General McChrystal, President Karzai have built a very strong relationship in this last year, the last several months, going down to (INAUDIBLE), or council meetings, and places such as Kandahar, trying to win the support of the Afghan people. President Karzai making it very clear, saying that General McChrystal is the best commander for the war in Afghanistan.
And the Ministry of Defense here also speaking up and saying that General McChrystal is a man of integrity. He's a man that has helped them, and help build the relationship between the Afghan forces and the international forces -- Tony. HARRIS: How will it change -- Atia, how will a change in leadership, if it happens -- big "if," right? -- affect U.S. policy there? Any way to know?
ABAWI: Well, what will likely happen, Tony, is that the strategy that General McChrystal put in place with the counterinsurgency strategy will still be in effect. His tactical directives will still be in effect.
Life will go on, the mission will go on. But it's really the symbolism that we're looking at here.
You have a president of Afghanistan, you have his Ministry of Defense, that back this general, calling him the best commander for the war in Afghanistan. And, then, if General McChrystal does leave, whether it be by his own resignation, or President Obama letting him go, that's going to be a symbol of failure and a disconnect between the two governments. And also, we should note that it's going to be a symbol for victory when it comes to the Taliban and the insurgency.
HARRIS: Well, but I'm curious about the overall strategy and its effectiveness. The people that you talk to, your sources, the military personnel that you talk to, U.S., NATO, Afghan, is this strategy working? And maybe we can use as a case study Marjah.
ABAWI: Well, that's a fantastic question, Tony, because when you really look at it, it really depends on how you're looking at it. Is it working on the timetable that's put up in front of them, in front of the military, the NATO commanders here? No. It's not working on the timetable.
Marjah, at first, when they went in, they wanted it to be a success story. It's not the success story that they're hoping for.
But many people say give it time. But when I talked to the Marines on the ground that I was embedded with in Marjah, they're saying they're going out on patrols now. The civilians don't like them anymore. They're throwing stones at them. The Taliban are regaining strength.
So, no, in that way, it is not working. The Kandahar operation that we expected this summer is being pushed ahead, saying that they're not ready for it just yet.
But that also being said, Tony, you have to look at Afghanistan. Is been eight years, nearly nine years. The trust of the Afghan people in NATO's mission is not there anymore.
And what General McChrystal's strategy was trying to do was bring that trust back. But trust isn't gained easily. It will take time. It has been working in some places and not in others, particularly in the south, where it's the most volatile part of the war -- Tony.
HARRIS: Oh, boy. Just absolutely fascinating stuff.
Atia Abawi for us in Kabul, Afghanistan. Atia, good to see you.
We have been asking all morning if you think General Stanley McChrystal should lose his job for those scathing comments made to "Rolling Stone" magazine.
Ines Ferre has been reading your comments on this matter.
I hope everyone around the country -- and I know we're seeing it in parts all over the world -- but I hope everyone is weighing in.
Are you getting a lot of activity?
FERRE: Oh, yes, tons on Twitter, on Facebook, on CNN.
So, let's start with some of your tweets.
Here's Leotia (ph), who says, "McChrystal should be fired as an officer in the military. You don't speak out against the commander- in-chief." He is too Hollywood," she says.
Then, also, RickAVoiceover says, "Thousands follow his orders without question, and he spills the beans to a 'Rolling Stone' reporter? Let him go."
We also have got some on CNN, on our blog.
"He should stay," says Allison. "The only way that this is hurting our troops is by pulling the general to Washington."
And Tony, this last one on Facebook, Madelin says, "Everyone knows he won't get fired. It's just a talk."
Tony.
HARRIS: Wow. All right.
So, we want to keep the conversation going. How do we do that? Facebook, Twitter, the blogs?
FERRE: Yes, CNN.com/Tony. TonyHarrisCNN, that's at Twitter. Also Facebook.
HARRIS: Do you have a Twitter handle?
FERRE: I do. I do. IFerre.
HARRIS: Well, can we put that up? Can we create a full screen for you so --
FERRE: Yes, we will. We'll put them all up.
HARRIS: OK. Ines, appreciate it. Thank you.
You know, its stock is down, but not out. We will show you why so many analysts are suddenly bullish on BP. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Let's see here. We want to get you to cnnmoney.com because, of course, that is the best financial news Web site on the web. Three hours into the trading day now and you can see we are in negative territory, trading down 19 points.
I've got to tell you, big oil is praising, right now, a federal judge's decision to lift a six-month moratorium on deep water drilling in the Gulf. And on Wall Street, that could be one more reason for analysts to recommend BP stock to investors. Cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow is in New York.
Poppy, great to see you.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good to see you.
HARRIS: What are analysts saying about BP stock here?
HARLOW: They love it. You know, it's amazing. You look at this stock. Let me show you what BP has done since that April 20th rig explosion. Its stock has fallen 50 percent.
HARRIS: Look at that.
HARLOW: Fifty percent, Tony. It's up today when the broader market is down. Of the 14 analysts that were surveyed by Thompson Financial, none of them rate BP stock a sell. Even now you've got eight of them saying buy it, and six of them saying hold it, don't do anything.
So we wanted to know, why is that? Why do people recommend to investors, look, you should maybe buy this stock? Here's why. There's a lot of things that make BP a very strong company. We're going to go through them for you.
First of all, this company has $6.8 billion of cash on hand.
HARRIS: Boy.
HARLOW: That means it has very deep pockets.
HARRIS: Yes.
HARLOW: It could do anything it wants with that money. They suspected their dividend. They announced that last week. That gives them $10.5 billion more cash on hand in their pockets per year, which, again, they can do whatever they want with.
You look at the company in terms of the oil reserves that they have. As of last year, the latest numbers they -- that we have, BP had 10.5 billion barrels of oil on reserve. Times that by about $80, where crude is trading, $80 billion.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes.
HARLOW: And also they said, we're going to sell assets. We're going to sell about $10 billion in assets over the next year.
On top of that, Tony, we've talked a lot about this. Let's look at the profits that this company made. $17 billion last year. In the first quarter of this year, they made $6 billion.
So the big question is, BP is facing a major, major hurdle. It's unprecedented. At the same time, they've got a lot, a lot of money. This is something you should look at if you hold on to BP stock right now and you're thinking of selling it. Look at all of these analysts, 14 analysts, none of them say sell the company.
The big question in the end, what are they going to have to pay out? The range is 11 hundred a hundred million -- a billion dollars that they could have to pay out.
HARRIS: My goodness.
HARLOW: Something to look at, though, Tony, when you talk about how do I handle this company if I have it in my portfolio.
Tony.
HARRIS: Poppy, that's a lot of money. That's a lot of billions you're talking --
HARLOW: A lot of -- it's a lot of money.
HARRIS: All right, Poppy Harlow in New York for us. Good to see you, Poppy. It's been awhile.
HARLOW: You got it.
HARRIS: The Obama administration plans to issue a new moratorium on deep water oil drilling. That's after a federal judge blocked the first one. The government is also appealing the judge's decision, which means the ban stays in effect for now. Last hour I spoke to a Louisiana businessman on how the moratorium is actually hitting home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTY THERIOT, HUEY ICE COMPANY: I sell ice in a few of the shrimp boats and they can't go out because the water is polluted with oil. And I usually sell, like, 300 blocks a day, and that's equivalent to 90,000 pounds of ice a day. And now I'm down to about 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of ice a day. And that's not doing -- you know, it's no good for me. And --
HARRIS: I gotcha. But, Marty, I'm asking whether you filed a claim.
THERIOT: Yes, I filed a claim with BP, and they got my paperwork, and we still never received any payment or any compensation for what we lost.
HARRIS: OK. Are you willing to help in the clean-up effort and earn some money for your business? THERIOT: Right. But -- yes, we have some trollers out there working for BP. That's my biggest problem. A lot of my bigger boats are working for BP, cleaning up the oil, and they're all out on the Gulf and in the inland waters, and trying to protect our shores so that oil doesn't get into our shores.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: All right. President Obama issued the deep water drilling moratorium in late May. It applies to 33 exploratory wells and does not impact thousands of others that are already up and running.
You're sending us your thoughts on General Stanley McChrystal, America's top man in Afghanistan. We will have more of them for you straight ahead. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. General Stanley McChrystal, as you know, may soon be out of a job, but this morning we want to take a look at how he became the man President Obama selected to run the war in Afghanistan. It has been a long and distinguished career, starting in 1976 when McChrystal graduated from West Point. He went right into special forces training. After that, eventually becoming a green beret and 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 in New York City. By 2003, he led the Pentagon's most sensitive operations through the Joint Special Operations Command. They had some big success, 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 him 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.
The question of the day, will General McChrystal stay or will he go? We are hearing from you in droves. Let's see, on Twitter, FaceBook, on our blog, Ines Ferre has been reading your comments.
Ines, do you have more for us?
INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, definitely.
So many people that are commending on this. Well, let's start with CNN blog. "The general should stay. He is frustrated with the Obama cabinet, as are many Americans," says Irene. Also checking out some of your tweets. Darrel says, "His actions is not how the military works. He is aware of the chain of command. Fire away!"
And then we've got some comments on Facebook. Dale says, "Fire 'em. This ain't Jack Nicholson as Colonel Jessup. This is the president you've dissed." And the next one says, Matt says, "It would be a huge mistake to fire the general at this point. Let him finish the job. Stop being so freaking sensitive people."
Those are just some of your comments that we're reading today. We've got some --
HARRIS: I want more.
FERRE: Yes, more.
HARRIS: I want more. I want more. Look, we've got some time here. We've got 20 minutes left in the program. Let's get some more going.
All right, Ines, appreciate it. Thank you.
FERRE: Yes. You too.
HARRIS: You know, fewer than 2 percent of teachers in public schools are African-American men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did have one African-American male teacher. One role model that took me under his wing and stuck with me through the rough, hard, sticky, nasty, grimy times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Why the education secretary is pushing a program to encourage educated black males to head back into the classroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Education Secretary Arne Duncan says there is a big shortage of African-American male teachers. In the third part of my "Education: The Next Generation" series, meet a young man who, because of one teacher, made a choice that changed his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM HAYES, TEACHER, NEW MISSION HIGH SCHOOL: So the introduction starts with a broad outline of the research --
HARRIS (voice-over): William Hayes can understand why most black men don't teach.
HAYES: When you're growing up, you're taught that you need to be able to provide for your family. You need to be able to support those around you. Teaching doesn't necessarily paint the picture that I can get rich.
HARRIS: So after college, William went into teaching. He cared less about money and more about having an impact.
HAYES: I have a personal investment in the community as an African-American male who's benefited from all that my culture, my community, my family has to offer. I think it's up to me to give that back.
HARRIS: Giving back to students like Salmon Mastin (ph), who, in high school, was in and out of trouble until one teacher changed the course of his life.
SALMON MASTIN: This is where my -- I was trying to be hard, you know, trying to be hood and stuff. That came into effect and the cops took me down and arrested me, put me in jail, in a holding cell.
HARRIS: That was Solomon in high school. The same high school where William Hayes achieved the goal he set after college -- give back. The two met when Solomon was at a breaking point. Something William immediately noticed.
HAYES: He was a young man who I saw had a great deal of potential, but he was kind of on a rocky roller coaster. So there was one day where he came in, and it was a terrible morning for him. He was obviously distressed and I asked him, how's it going? I introduced myself. What's going on? And at this point he was crying.
MASTIN: Before anything he could have said or done registered with me at all, he brought tears out of my eyes. That's when I knew, like, this -- this is something serious. And I must be -- I must be on the verge of doing something great in life, because I don't do this mess.
HARRIS: An instant connection, because both know the struggle of being a young black male.
HAYES: Where I saw pieces of myself within him, and agreed to cultivate that. What I saw in Solomon was what I see in so many of my students each day. It's that fear that, will I get out of life what I'm trying to put into it? And it's that fear that tomorrow is not necessarily promised and I don't necessarily know that I will be successful, so is there a point in trying?
HARRIS: Of the nations 3 million public school teachers, less than 2 percent are black men, 24 percent are white males and 76 percent are women.
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: When I was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, I used to go into elementary schools that did not have a single black male teacher.
HARRIS: It's one of the reasons U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan developed The Teach Campaign. It's an initiative to get more black men in front of the classroom.
DUNCAN: The nation as a whole have far too few teachers of color. How can that be a good thing for young children, especially our young boys? Historically black colleges and university, including Xavier, were established a century ago for the purpose of training a generation of black teachers. Education must be the great equalizer in America. And if you care about promoting opportunity and reducing inequality, the classroom is a great place to start.
HARRIS: Currently, schools across the country are dealing with budget cuts, layoffs and growing classrooms. Still, Secretary Duncan believes making this initiative a priority, calling black men to serve.
DUNCAN: To the men here, I'm sorry to say, please don't expect that Denzel will be playing you any time soon if you become a teacher. And the truth is, I don't want to romanticize the job of a good teacher. Teaching is hard, hard work.
HARRIS: But William says the hard work of teaching is well worth it when you see a student, like Solomon, turn his life around and find success.
MASTIN: I never thought I would be this successful. And right now, I don't even see it as success. I'm still striving and I'm, you know, I'm fighting, I'm running, I'm crawling, I'm dragging, I'm flying toward success, you know. I'm doing it all.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: So what do you think? Is placing black men in the classroom the answer to solving some of the problems in the black community, such as gang violence and fatherless homes? Here's what some of you wrote to me on our blog.
"Sometimes you have to experience being black to know what it means to be black. This is not about color. One often learns faster from someone who is on the same wavelength as you. I don't care if someone is pink, green, or purple, so long as they are qualified to do the job. For so long now, we have used things like affirmative action in this country until we as a country are about in ruins."
"And so often black males come from single-parent homes where they are raised by a mother or a grandmother, an aunt, a sister. They go to school and the only black male presence may be the custodian and on occasion a principal. Having black male teachers in the schools would give the youngster positive role models to interact with in a structured environment."
We would like to keep this conversation going with you. Send us your thoughts to my blog page. There it is, cnn.com/tony.
A last-minute goal sends team USA to the knockout round at the World Cup. We will get a live report from Jo-burg (ph).
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HARRIS: Hey, very quickly. We are getting word here that President Obama will make his statement on the fate of General Stanley McChrystal at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time from the Rose Garden. T.J. Homes joins you at the top of the hour, in for Ali Velshi, and will drive you to the president's comments. At 1:30 Eastern Time we will get the president live from the Rose Garden, and we will bring you the president's comments, obviously, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. You know, it looked hopeless for team USA in the last moments of the match against Algeria. Ninety minutes had gone by. The score, nil- nil. American fans did not want another draw. That wasn't going help at all. America needed a win. And the three points that went along with the win. And how about this? Now these are the -- there it is. There's the goal. There's the goal. The superstar delivered. Landon Donovan delivered at the critical moment. Let's get a report from soccer city. Johannesburg.
Oh, hi, Isha!
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Tony.
HARRIS: It was absolutely terrific. It was a big win.
SESAY: Well, you know, I have to say -- it was a very, very big win. And better late than never, ay, that's what I say, your boys leaving it to the dying moments of this game. It has to be said, the USA dominated for large periods of this game, but through a combination of wood (ph) work, goal keeping and poor finishing on the part of USA, they just couldn't get that goal in normal time. They did have a goal disallowed, though, Tony, on 15 minutes. Clint Dempsey finding the back of the net, but that goal was ruled off sides. It's the second time in the World Cup that the USA has had a major refereeing decision go against them.
But as you say, they pushed Algeria all the way, throwing everything they had at them. And in the dying moments of this game, Landon Donovan getting the goal. USA emerging winners of group C. England second in that group. Tony, can you believe it, because I can't?
HARRIS: Yes. Well, what do you mean you can't? Oh -- oh, yes, I see, rooting interest. I see.
All right, so here is the goal, OK?
SESAY: OK.
HARRIS: Now let me just be clear, it looks like we keep showing the off sides.
SESAY: And you see Donovan -- uh-huh.
HARRIS: All right. So this is the off sides play from earlier in the game, right? So this is waved off for off sides, Isha.
SESAY: Yes.
HARRIS: And I think we're about to finally get this --
SESAY: That's right. And it was a bad decision.
HARRIS: And here we go. Landon Donovan.
SESAY: And look at this goal. Landon Donovan with the goal. HARRIS: When are we going to see the goal? All I want to see is the goal.
SESAY: And look at the celebration.
HARRIS: Yes. Here we go. All right. These -- these are the near misses. OK, part of the story of this game were the number of opportunities that the American team had to score and failed to score.
SESAY: Absolutely.
HARRIS: Right, Isha?
SESAY: Absolutely. Yes. You can't -- you can't get away from that point. I mean, you know, Dempsey had something like six chances, six shots on goal, and he couldn't finish. He just couldn't get the back of the net. And (INAUDIBLE) was in the mix as well.
HARRIS: And that's the goal.
SESAY: I mean the -- yes, and that's the goal. I don't have a monitor where I am, so I can't see the footage you're playing out. But Landon Donovan with the goal in the dying moments of this game.
HARRIS: And let's be clear about this. Landon Donovan is the unquestioned superstar of this team. For the superstar of the team to come through in the critical moment is huge. Moving forward in terms of confidence for this team. So it gets out of group play, and who was the likely opponent moving forward, Isha, and then we've got to go?
SESAY: Well, we're looking at -- you could be facing Ghana or Germany. Let's say -- let's hope for you that you get Ghana, not Germany, or otherwise it will be good night USA.
HARRIS: Just, yes, just stop your mess. Just stop it.
All right, see you in a couple weeks, Isha. Take care and have a good time in Jo-burg.
SESAY: See you in a couple of weeks, Tony.
HARRIS: All right. Ines Ferre is here tracking what's online for us, as always.
And take it away because I'm going to long in the segment.
FERRE: Yes. And, well, the World Cup is really online. I mean if you check it out, you can go to cnn.com/worldcup and you've got all this interactive stuff, Tony.
HARRIS: Terrific.
FERRE: People are tweeting about this. You know, they're just so amazed at all these tweets that are going on here.
HARRIS: Yes. FERRE: We can see Isha actually wrote a tweet.
HARRIS: Did she really?
FERRE: "I thought my producer, Brent's, heart was going to explode when the U.S. got that late goal.
HARRIS: Oh, that's good. That's good.
FERRE: Yes. And Donovan scores. USA joins England in last 16. Talk about last-minute drama. So this is what folks are talking about right now, the World Cup.
HARRIS: All right. I'm so long. Time management, a real issue for me.
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: More of your tweets and your e-mails and messages on General Stanley McChrystal. Once again, 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the president will make his comments on the fate of the top commander in Afghanistan. T.J. Holmes joining me at the top of the hour. Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK, once again, just want to give you another reminder. President Obama is going to make remarks on the fate of General Stanley McChrystal. Scheduled again for 1:30 Eastern Time here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Of course we will bring you those comments live.
And let's do this. Do we have time for blog responses? Tweets? We do. All right.
Ines, are we loaded up here? If not, we can take a quick break.
FERRE: There we go, yes.
HARRIS: CNN.
FERRE: Yes.
HARRIS: All right.
FERRE: This one's from Irene. "The general should say. He's just frustrated with the Obama cabinet, as are many Americans." I think that we have newer ones loaded.
HARRIS: Can we go to FaceBook.
FERRE: Let's just check it out.
HARRIS: This from Dale, "Fire 'em."
FERRE: "Fire 'em. This ain't --
HARRIS: This is from just a moment ago. Let me see if I can get you a new one. And that's --
FERRE: We just put up new ones just a second ago. Actually, and, Tony, people can go to cnn.com/tony and they can put in their comments as well. And we had some more comments.
HARRIS: Right. All right. We'll do that in just a moment.
FERRE: New comments in that area.
HARRIS: Let's get to a break. We're coming close to the top of the hour. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Boy, an important hour coming right now. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with T.J. Holmes, in for Ali Velshi.
T.J.
