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General McChrystal Relieved of Command; 5.5 Earthquake in Canada

Aired June 23, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers back on CNN International.

That is a huge story right now, perhaps a turning point in this overall course of the war in Iraq (sic). General David Petraeus now heading -- excuse me -- Afghanistan. General Petraeus now heading back to Afghanistan to take charge now that Stanley McChrystal, the four-star general, has been relieved, in effect. His resignation has been accepted by the president.

Gloria Borger, our senior political analyst, has been assessing what's going on.

I interrupted you.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, that's fine. Talking about Obama and the question of whether President Obama's tough enough, which has been a political question we've all been asking these last couple of months during the oil spill.

And today, he did what many people thought he was not going to do, which is allow General McChrystal to resign, essentially fire him. And he said, "Our democracy depends on institutions that are stronger than individuals." And he clearly made a decision that his team -- it would be very difficult for the team that Candy was talking about earlier to work with somebody who had effectively gone rogue on them and not on their policy, but had very little respect for all of them for the top on down. And he did not put McChrystal in the meeting with the rest of those people because I think that would have been a very, very difficult meeting for them to have, and decided to tell him, sorry, you're relieved, before that had to happen.

BLITZER: It would have been a little awkward when he had to confront General Jones, the national security adviser, the former commandant of the Marine Corps, the NATO supreme allied commander, who is described in this article in "Rolling Stone" magazine as a clown, someone who still lives in 1985.

BORGER: Or the vice president.

BLITZER: That's right. It would have been a little awkward.

Candy, I want your perspective in a second on the president's firing, in effect, four-star generals. Hold that thought for a second. Some of our viewers are interested, John, why General David Petraeus, who is the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, has been confirmed by the Senate Armed Services Committee several times as he's gone up the military chain of command, why he needs to be confirmed yet again by the Armed Services Committee.

JOHN KING, HOST, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Imagine the president's cabinet. If the energy secretary were shifting jobs to become the Interior secretary, or the Education secretary, he would need to be confirmed again. Congress, just as it does over the domestic cabinet, has oversight and funding responsibilities over the United States military, and as such, confirmation authority over the major U.S. commands.

The major commander the president would send to NATO must be confirmed by the Senate. His commander in Iraq now, General Ray Odierno -- there will be a transition there soon -- has to be confirmed by the Senate. His major commander in Afghanistan, now to be General David Petraeus, has to be confirmed by the United States Senate because the Congress gets oversight and funding authority of the United States military.

BLITZER: I suspect that confirmation process will be rather quickly.

All right. Let's talk about presidents firing generals right now.

Never easy for any president. Perhaps one of the great examples, Harry Truman firing General MacArthur in the buildup to the Korean War.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And listen, I agree with Gloria.

This is -- I'm sure this is something the administration would much rather not have had to deal with. However, it gave this president an opportunity to respond to what has been a consistent criticism.

It hasn't been just the oil spill, but even before in the campaign, it was, how much of a leader is he? Is he strong enough? Hillary Clinton went after him about, he doesn't have the strength.

So, this was a time where he came up and said, wait a second, I'm in charge. You know, it's one of those Ronald Reagan grabbing the microphone, "I paid for this microphone" kind of moment. And the president said, I'm in charge. This hurts my team, it hurts the effort. This guy is gone.

Standing up to a four-star is a position of strength.

BORGER: But in Harry Truman firing MacArthur, it was over policy. It was different. The general wasn't listening to him.

CROWLEY: Right. BORGER: This was not a policy difference. In fact, you could argue that this was General McChrystal's policy that he sold to the president to a great degree.

This was about behavior unbecoming an officer. The president talked about it today --

CROWLEY: I think this was about a team that wouldn't be able to function with him on it.

BORGER: Right. But the president did talk today, and it was surprising a little bit, about a strict code of conduct.

And talking out of school, perhaps, about the president of the United States, your commander-in-chief, is probably not one to endear yourself to the president of the United States. And it's the president's duty, as he said, to ensure that the mission succeeds.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Once this article came out, if the president had not relieved him of his duty, he would have been wildly seen as a wimp, as a weak leader. Today he came out on fire. He was strong. He was tough. And he made it clear he was not going to accept this kind of behavior.

KING: I think you're exactly right, both within the military and within the political community in Washington.

Yesterday, senior Republicans all held their fire. They said this is a decision up to the president of the United States. Let's hope we don't get distracted in Afghanistan. That's what they said publicly.

Privately, they were all saying let's see if he has a spine. And let's see if he stands up here.

Washington's a political town. And this is a note I got this morning from a retired military general with a lot of experience on the combat field and in diplomacy who essentially said here, you can't have a double standard. "Even if he were to let all those other staff members go and kept General McChrystal," he said, "the president's credibility with the troops would be shot."

That was a key moment for the president today, making clear, I'm in charge here, reluctant decision, but I have to let him go.

Wolf, one other quick footnote.

I was just checking with somebody, can General Petraeus do both jobs? And I was told, yes, he can do both jobs, but he won't do both jobs. They have made the decision that he will step down as the Central Command commanding general just to focus on this Afghan assignment, obviously a reflection of how important this is.

BLITZER: It's about as critical a moment right now because the war itself is not going all that great right now. They need some help, and General Petraeus will head back. And as the president says, at great personal sacrifice, having to go back, leave his family, and go back to Kabul right now.

That's not going to be easy. But he's a patriot.

Here's a little clip of what the president of the United States just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: War is bigger than any one man or one woman, whether a private, a general or a president. And as difficult as it is to lose General McChrystal, I believe that it is the right decision for our national security.

The conduct represented in the recently published article does not meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general. It undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Barbara, how is this going to play at the Pentagon, where you are?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You know, Wolf, I think that people at the Pentagon will view this as the key thing the president has said directly to the U.S. military, this notion of war not being bigger -- no man is bigger than the war.

Let's look at it this way -- these very popular, very public generals -- Petraeus, McChrystal, in the first Gulf War, General Schwarzkopf -- these people become iconic figures in American culture and society. We look for heroes, if you will.

General McChrystal, said to be last year really the most capable, the only guy that could do the job, long distinguished career in Special Operations, operating in the shadows. That may have been part of his problem here.

He spent so many years doing that, then coming on to the international stage like this, coming out, having to become a very public figure, having every word that he uttered watched, speaking so often publicly, not something stylistically General McChrystal did very often in his career. He went years -- even those of us who covered him and knew him well, he went years without speaking publicly when he had some of these Special Operations jobs.

General Petraeus, the same issue that General Petraeus will have to avoid. Hugely popular, known across the world stage, everybody watching everything he says.

But General Petraeus, of course, has been through this in Iraq already. He knows. He's comfortable. He's a very politically savvy in-fighter, both in Pentagon circles and on Capitol Hill, and on the world stage. He will have a very different style. He will not be giving interviews to "Rolling Stone."

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Yes. You know, "Rolling Stone" magazine, who would have thought, has an article entitled "The Runaway General," and it leads within only a day or so to the resignation of General Stanley McChrystal.

I'll be curious also, Barbara, to see if other heads roll as a result of this, if any of General McChrystal's majors and colonels and other top advisers who were involved and quoted not by name in this article, whether they go. We know one civilian contractor who helped in media relations, he's already resigned.

But I assume there will be some others who will join General McChrystal right now in retirement.

STARR: Yes. Let's talk about that for a second, Wolf.

There are some very senior key people around General McChrystal, part of that "Team America" that was described in the article. These are men that have been with him for years through the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is very unlikely that they will stay on with General Petraeus. They may decide to retire. They may get reassigned to other jobs in the military.

There are some fundamental military challenges still to be decided here. General McChrystal handpicked his chief of intelligence in Afghanistan. That is a man named General Michael Flynn. Not someone well known to the American public, but perhaps one of the most key intelligence officials right now in Afghanistan hunting the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Very close to General McChrystal. Will General Petraeus feel comfortable keeping him on, or will he make a change in the intelligence structure which is so vital to this counterinsurgency strategy?

BLITZER: All right.

I want to go to Capitol Hill. Dana Bash, our senior congressional correspondent, is getting reaction.

Also some new information, Dana, about the confirmation process. The Senate Armed Services Committee is going to have to approve General Petraeus for this new command position.

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I just spoke in the hallway here to the chairman of that committee, Carl Levin, who, first of all, said that this was a reasonable decision that the president made to get rid of General McChrystal, but also told me that he spoke with the president and he promised the president he would move as quickly as possible. He even wants to have these hearings early next week. He told me early next week to confirm General David Petraeus and get him in place as the new commander of forces in Afghanistan.

And with regard to General Petraeus, as I'm sure you and all my colleagues have been talking about, there's no question that the reaction here is as expected from Democrats and Republicans. And that is, a bit of a sigh of relief that he is the one who they're putting in charge.

Senator Levin told me that he is somebody who has solidity with regard to not just understanding policy and how to command such an effort, but also has the support of the troops, which in talking to many of these members of Congress who have been very, very worried about this over the past 24 hours, that is one of the things I've heard among the most, and that is the concern that what General McChrystal did had a major trickle-down effect within the command structure, and the troops who are on the field, on the ground in Afghanistan. So they think that this particular move with General Petraeus certainly will help.

I will tell you that the ranking Republicans, John McCain, is going to speak to reporters in just a few minutes outside of his office, which is just down the hall from where I am. So, after he does that on camera, we'll get back to you.

But off camera, he's already been talking about the fact that he and other Republicans hope that with General Petraeus in command, that in terms of the policy, that they do their best to convince President Obama to do away with the date certain to begin to draw down troops in Afghanistan. And that, of course, is July of next year.

We'll hear more from Senator McCain in a few minutes -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And if the confirmation hearings are next week before the Senate Armed Services Committee, they'll be fascinating hearings involving General Petraeus, at the same time that the Senate Judiciary Committee will have the confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan --

BASH: Great point.

BLITZER: -- as the U.S. Supreme Court justice.

We're getting reaction already from Kabul, from the government of Afghanistan.

Atia Abawi is on the scene for us.

What's the immediate reaction from Afghan officials, Atia?

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're still trying to get a hold of President Karzai and his press folks, but they're not answering their phones at the moment. But I did talk to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, General Mohammed Zahir Azimi (ph), and he says that both McChrystal and Petraeus are from one group, they are both behind the strategy that has recently taken place in Afghanistan, and they support the decision by President Obama to put Petraeus in McChrystal's position.

But he also said that he's not happy to see General McChrystal go. General McChrystal was a friend of theirs, and he was a partner when it comes to the strategy here in Afghanistan -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Atia, we're going to be checking back with you. Stand by.

Gloria, there's no doubt that the president, in this statement, did not deviate from a very tough, robust stature as far as the U.S. war in Afghanistan is concerned. The United States strategy, he says, will not change because General McChrystal has resigned. The U.S. strategy will go forth. "The U.S. will fight and crush the Taliban and al Qaeda so that the Afghani people will live," he says, "in freedom, and that these elements will not pose any threat to the United States."

BORGER: He made it very clear when he said this is a change in personnel, it is not a change in policy. And I think when we see these hearings next week, you're going to have that debate revived at the congressional hearings, ,and they're going to ask Petraeus, particularly the Democrats who are --

BLITZER: Skeptical.

BORGER: -- skeptical, to say the least, about the July 2011 beginning of the pulling out of the troops. They're going to ask him whether that's real, how quickly it's going to be.

Now, you know, there is a built-in review of this plan in December anyway. So you're going to have to have that review within the administration. But the hearings are going to perhaps make that happen a little sooner than we anticipated.

BLITZER: And the interesting thing, Candy, is that the criticism the president, in defending this Afghan strategy, the criticism he's going to get is not so much from Republicans, but from some fellow Democrats who just want the U.S. to get out of there. This is a no- win situation, cut the losses, or quagmire, and come home.

CROWLEY: It's true. And there are more and more of them.

And the problem is that at the beginning, they had a new president, he had a new strategy, and they sort of said, OK, we're on board. And now they're going, whoa. You know? So there's -- in the end --

BORGER: But it's not going well.

CROWLEY: It's going -- Gates said on a Sunday show last Sunday, wait a second, it's too early to judge this, we don't know there's -- he thinks the reporting is off base in terms of, oh, my goodness, it's terrible. But I have to tell you, there are some pretty lousy reports coming out of Afghanistan from some great journalists.

BLITZER: As we heard General McChrystal himself say, that the battle in Marjah right now is a bleeding ulcer.

BORGER: Right.

CROWLEY: Right.

BLITZER: That's not exactly, John, a vote of confidence that things are going in the right direction.

KING: No. And Secretary Gates has told his team and has told everyone involved in this, we must be able to show progress to the American people and to the Congress by the end of the year. If we can't, the trap door will open and we will lose support. Secretary Gates has been very clear to his people, we must be able to show demonstrable progress by the end of the year.

To your point earlier, Wolf, about presidents firing generals, this president, just a little over a year ago, a year and a month ago, fired the general who was in charge in Afghanistan. He just did it again today. There are some who say one of the problems -- no one disagrees with those choices, or those who were part of implementing them don't disagree with them -- say part of the issue here is when you have a change in leadership, even if you have good leaders, it takes some time.

One more very quick point.

The president sent a message today not just to General McChrystal, who is now off the scene. He said, "Now it is the time for all of us to come together."

In this article, and in the debate about Afghan strategy, there have been, in the last year, memos leaked from the ambassador in Afghanistan. Who leaked them? We don't know. Where he questions the strategy.

We know the vice president questioned this strategy at the beginning. There are times that some of his friends say some things in Washington that some people at the Pentagon might be coming from the vice president. The president was sending a clear signal to everyone involved, yell at me, debate with me, don't do it in public.

BLITZER: A good point.

And once again, the headline, General David Petraeus, once he's confirmed by the Senate, will become the next U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, the NATO commander. This at a time of difficulties in Afghanistan, when several of those NATO allies are beginning to pull out, remove their forces under some controversy.

General Stanley McChrystal, he resigned. The president accepted with regret his resignation as a result of the quotes in this "Rolling Stone" magazine article which has caused such a firestorm over the past 24 to 48 hours. John King, on "JOHN KING USA," later today, is going to have a lot more. I'll be back in "THE SITUATION ROOM," 5:00 p.m. Eastern, for much more on this story.

Thanks very much for watching up until now.

Let's resume our coverage with T.J. at the CNN Center -- T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right, guys. Thank you.

And we're going to take a quick break here.

When we come back, we'll tell you about another breaking story we're keeping an eye on, an earthquake in Canada.

Stay here. We're right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

Getting word of an earthquake.

Please tell us where. Up north.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Up north. Here's Ottawa right there. So, we're talking about really on the Ottawa and on the Quebec line. But 19,000 people felt very strong shaking here not that far from that epicenter right there, as you see.

Now, this is about 30 miles from Ottawa, north of there. And people in Ottawa felt the shaking.

But get this -- 3.6 million people actually felt the shaking all the way down even from parts of New York, all the way down even into Ohio. So, yes, it shook a lot of the area, but the big story really would be around the Ottawa area and north of there.

That's where any damage would occur. A 5.5 is not a big quake.

HOLMES: OK. That was my question.

MYERS: But it is not very deep.

HOLMES: OK.

MYERS: And when you talk about the depth of an earthquake, that's something else.

We talk about the death of an earthquake, because if an earthquake is 100 miles down into the rock, there's a lot of padding before the shake gets to the surface where we live. Now, it shook a lot down below, sure. But it's that padding that makes an earthquake not so important. This one was only just about 10 miles from the surface, so there was quite a bit of shaking here, even at 5.5. HOLMES: So, you could have an 8.0 that's way down, that's not that big of a deal. But you have one that doesn't seem that strong close to the surface --

MYERS: An 8.0 at 400 miles will rattle a lot of things, but it doesn't make the tsunami like an 8.0 that would make something significant under the water at five to 10 miles.

HOLMES: And this is what (ph) the damage you say. Are we hearing any word yet of much damage, no injuries just yet?

MYERS: No, but I would suspect that 5.5 -- there are a couple of lakes, and the towns are Pembroke, Cornwall and Lake Hauto. That area there would probably have some damage at 5.5.

We're talking about plates that fell off the wall. We're talking about, possibly, because of the rumbling and the shaking and the different kind of waves that happen with these, you can probably get an unattached -- and most of them aren't -- china cabinet to fall over. You don't want to be near that, because it's full of glass, even glass doors.

So, you have all that going for you. So, yes, there will be damage, but we don't think it's going to be that big a deal.

HOLMES: We don't seem to hear too many earthquakes out of Canada, do we?

MYERS: No. But you know what? This is a very popular area for earthquakes. This is a typical earthquake. If an earthquake would be occurring near Ottawa, this is right in the center of where we expect it.

HOLMES: All right.

Chad, we appreciate the update. Thank you so much.

Also, another big story.

It's day 65, folks, of the oil disaster. You see this oil continues now to gush into the Gulf of Mexico right now.

This picture, this live picture, looks a little different from the picture you have been seeing for quite some time. The other picture you had been seeing for a while was with the cap on top. That's what we've been seeing for the past week or so.

They did have a containment cap on top which, in fact, was collecting a whole lot of that oil. Well, the cap's not there anymore.

The reason being, they had a technical issue down there and they had to bring that cap up, they had to inspect it, check it out before they put it back on. So, right now, all the oil is going into the Gulf, none of it being collected.

Yesterday was actually the day that they collected the most oil since they put the cap on. It's now off.

Also today, some other bad news, some horrible news, really, we're getting, is that two people who were involved in this Gulf oil response have been killed. Not a lot of details we got about it. But, in fact, two people involved with the response have been killed.

We believe they were civilians and not a part of the Coast Guard, military, anything like that. But people who were actually working down there have been killed.

Not a lot of details, but we did hear from Admiral Thad Allen some details he gave us just a short time ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: You hear him refer to a Vessel of Opportunity operator. It's a reference to so many. Of course, the people who work in the Gulf Coast now, some of those shrimpers, some of those boaters who essentially can't work because of the Gulf oil.

Well, they went out and they used their own vessels to help out in the Gulf oil response. That's what's called a Vessel of Opportunity. That's what he was referring to.

So, we're hoping to get more details on really the sad news. And the bad news seems to keep coming. But sad news that two people, in fact, were killed.

The other big story you've been seeing a lot about over the past hour now, General McChrystal is out as the commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

We're going to be speaking to General Russel Honore here in just a moment about what it takes now and what it means to have this kind of a change in the middle of a war.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

HOLMES: Well, all right. Let's get back to the story about General McChrystal.

He is now out. He was the man who was in charge of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Now a new commander is in -- General Petraeus.

Let's bring in our general, Russel Honore, retired, standing by for us.

General, we've been talking to you it seems like the past couple of weeks about the response there along the Gulf. We're going to tap into your knowledge about this issue in Afghanistan.

Tell us, just how damaging can it be in the middle of a war to switch commanders?

GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, it shows we have a chain of secession, number one.

Number two, the rules that all officers take, the oath that we will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of those appointed over us, that's unconditional. And when there's a violation of that, just like General McChrystal would not accept that from a subordinate, then something needs to be done.

The other side of this, T.J., is that the president accepted General McChrystal's resignation as opposed to outright firing him. There's a distinct difference in the military to accepting a resignation by firing him.

Because if he had fired him, that could mean something down the line for General McChrystal as far as him retaining his four star and leaving with the dignity and to he and his wife Annie (ph) who have served with distinction for all these years.

But this mistake was unforgettable and it will close a chapter and General Petraeus, who is a gentleman first. He's a warrior and he's a statesman, will make a difference in Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Well General honore, how much will it matter to the men and women on the ground in Afghanistan, just from a morale standpoint? I mean the strategy, the policy is not going to change. How much will change for those men and women? What will they think about this, given that their commander is now out?

HONORE: It will remind all of those in uniform that we live by a code of conduct, that we live by a uniform code of military justice and it will remind us of that pledge and our oath that we will obey those officers appointed over us.

And as a consequence, if anything breaks that chain, we will obligated to the American people and to the constitution to give ourselves when we sign up in the Army and in the military, to obey the rules of the civilian leaders that's appointed over us.

HOLMES: General Honore, you're a military guy. Help us understand what you heard about this article and maybe you've read it as well. Do sometimes guys sitting around just talk like this and the mistake was that there was a reporter in the room?

HONORE: Well, that was a mistake. You can imagine what happened in the back of the Rose Room at CNN, the language that's sometimes is used. I've heard it. It happens in all organizations. We're all human. It happens in the White House.

But it's not for publication. This was a mistake, to have this reporter stuck with them in Paris for a couple of days. You remember, that happened while the volcano occurred. And they didn't leave. So that reporter had unfettered access.

And as far as these subordinates of the general talking about and repeating statements from the general, that's total insubordination. And that should have never happened. And hopefully this will be a chapter that will be closed.

We will all learn from it and this will be a learning moment for the military as well as for people in Washington that we've got to get on with this war. And you won't win it only militarily. We have to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

And they can totally accept this form of a democracy, this form of governance, all of that has to be fixed. And General Petraeus has his hands full as well as our national government to try and win -- that the Afghan people must accept this as a change of how they're going to live and how they're going to run their economy vice what's happening there now.

HOLMES: Well General Honore, knowing what you know about General McChrystal, I believe you have had some experience with him personally. Was this out of character, in your opinion, just hearing some of the things he said about the president, but also out of character to allow those around him to go on the way they did about the president and some of the president's inner circle?

HONORE: Totally out of character. And I think the president recognized that by accepting his resignation as opposed to firing him on the spot which he had the authority to do. And to bring him to the White House and let him have a word to speak personally to the president, totally out of character.

This guy is a warrior. He's spent more time in combat, direct combat than any general that I know that's serving to date in terms of the special operations mission. Things that go bump in the night, you get a report the next day that a significant find of Al Qaeda had occurred in Iraq or Afghanistan, he ran those special operations mission.

HOMLES: All right General Honore, we appreciate you jumping in and giving us some color about what you know about the situation just as this, when there has to be a change in commanders. We'll also- we'll be talking to you plenty about the recovery in the Gulf as you've been helping us out o that as well. General, good to see you, as always.

HONORE: Good day. HOLES: All right we will continue with the big story today, in fact, that General McChrystal is out. We're going to be talking to our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon here coming up about, more about exactly what that meeting was about or what that meeting was like, I should say between the president and General McChrystal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back. McChrystal is out, Petraeus now in. The meeting between General McChrystal and President Obama earlier today, a lot of people described it as one they would love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting.

Well, we know at least what came out of that. The president made his decision to accept the resignation of General McChrystal. So now he's being replaced in Afghanistan. Let's bring in our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara a lot of people are curious just how that meeting would go down. What do we know about how that meeting went? It only went about a half hour.

STARR: It did indeed T.J. . I've spoken to an official very close to General McChrystal who tells us the meeting, very professional, very polite. The feeling on team McChrystal was that the president had a preordained conclusion, we are told that he went into the meeting, the president, with no intention of keeping General McChrystal.

That is what we are now hearing from people very close to General McChrystal. General McChrystal went in, we are told. He explained what happened with this Rolling Stone article. Offered his resignation and we are told that at that point the president accepted his resignation.

General McChrystal going in perhaps understanding that there was no intent for him to stay on. Of course, General McChrystal going to that meeting with the president after being at the Pentagon this morning meeting with Defense Secretary Gates. So the general may have had a reading of the tea leaves, if you will.

What happens now? General McChrystal, we are told, is not even going back to Afghanistan. His staff that he came with will return. They will pack things up. They will await their next moves, whether they are reassigned. They will send General McChrystal his personal items from Afghanistan. But the general is not even expected to return to Afghanistan at this point. General Petraeus, indeed, very rapidly will take over. T.J.--

HOLMES: Amazing turn of events. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon, Barbara, thank you so much for that. Stay with us. We have the "Mission Possible" coming up next for you. Going to introduce you to a woman who's a new mom and athletic trainer in Denver and now teaching women with life skills in Afghanistan. That's our "Mission Possible" going to meet her next.

(COMMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOMES: Today's "Mission Possible" as, a young mother and personal trainer, Shannon Galpin decided the only way to make a difference against gender inequality in human rights was to do something about it.

The place, this Denver mom chose to do that? Afghanistan. Shannon and the organization she founded Mountain2Mountain provided boots on the ground support to improve the lives of women and children in the region. And Shannon joins me now via Skype

From Denver, Shannon Hello, thank you for being here. How in the world do you go from a mom in Denver to making a difference in Afghanistan? Quickly, just tell me how that thought process worked.

SHANNON GALPIN, FOUNDER, MOUNTAIN2MOUNTAIN: Well, it is kind of a leap. But the honest answer is, I myself am a victim of rape and have always been passionate about women's rights. And so when I had my own young daughter five years ago, I decided to get off the couch and get over to Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Now why Afghanistan? Of course there are so many other areas around the world where there is gender inequality. But did you choose Afghanistan to make a difference?

GALPIN: Well, Afghanistan is certainly one of the top -- in terms of the worst of the worst for gender equality and women's rights. But also I think it's a place where women can be the solutions. I think there is a ripple effect that can be implemented in Afghanistan. And it's a country that certainly is of great need.

HOLMES: And ma'am help people understand as well. I'm sure you were probably the same way. So many people would like to help out in so many places around the world. But quite frankly, they just don't know what to do or how to do it or have the courage to drop everything and go. Now, what was your challenge? You essentially gave up a life in Denver to make this now our new life's work.

GALPIN: I did. I decided to literally make the leap. And it does take a big leap of faith because it's giving up the norm. It's giving up a home. It's giving up a lot. But I believe that the people that we are working to help deserve that. And they deserve the same accesses to education and to health care that my own daughter gets.

HOLMES: And tell me specifically what that help is, how you are able now to provide in Afghanistan.

GALPIN: Well, we are working in several areas. So we work to train world midwives to provide health care. We work to create jobs. And we really look at training a woman, educating a girl or a boy is just the first step.

The end result is sustainable community development and empowerment so that Afghan girls and boys can start to be the ripples of change for the next generation, so that they can-they can lead their country into a new place.

HOLMES: And Shannon how are you able to fund this whole enterprise now?

That's always the trick. Ironically, fund-raising is much tougher than actually working in Afghanistan, believe it or not. And so it's been the generosity of individual donors that's helped sustain us up to this point.

It's certainly the area where we have the greatest need is raising the funds. We have some amazing projects with the deaf community, for girls education, for training world midwives and in women's prisons.

But it all takes money. And so it's been the generosity of the American public that has helped us do this thus far.

HOLMES: And last thing, ma'am, tell me the results you have been able to see. I know the organization only been around I think it's three or four years. But tell me some of the results you've already been able to see through the fruits of your labor.

GALPIN: Well, we found a very unique situation in one community where we wanted to build a girls' school and we got a little bit of resistance. And, you know, our methodology is we work where we're wanted and where the communities support girls' education and women's rights. And we wanted to do this.

They wouldn't allow it. They wouldn't donate the land. And so, we were going to move on and we talked about our rural midwife training because they have a very high -- the highest death rates for women and babies. And when we discussed the fact that we could not do the rural midwife training in their village because not one single woman or girl that was literate, and we explained why that was a problem for the training, the elders came back to me the very next morning and said that they wanted to build a village in their community and they wanted to support that.

HOLMES: Well --

GALPIN: It's a matter of showing them that there's a need and there's a purpose. And when half of their community is underutilized, you know, they can't go forward as a viable, sustainable community.

HOLMES: Well, Shannon Galpin, the name of the organization is Mountain2Mountain -- it's an absolute pleasure to talk to you today on days we see so much horrible news coming out of all areas of the world. It's nice to talk to somebody like you on "Mission Possible" that's making a difference. Shannon, thank you so much for your time and good luck the rest of the way, all right?

GALPIN: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

HOLMES: All right. We're going to turn to a story about saving wildlife now from the oil. A Florida man has created boats designed as floating emergency rooms to save birds in the Gulf. But they're not being used. Why?

We're going to Florida for some answers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's a big idea, drawn up on day two of the Gulf oil spill that could save the wildlife in the Gulf, if only BP and the government would allow it.

Our Tom Foreman is in Apalachicola, Florida, with today's "Building Up America" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (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, let me throw a light on.

FOREMAN: -- a boat designed for a desperate time.

JIM 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?

CASTLOW: Yes. It was a quickie.

(LAUGHTER)

FOREMAN: Where are you in the process now?

CASTLOW: 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 for many boats is they can't go into shallow marshes --

MEADOR: Right, because of the --

FOREMAN: -- areas where the wildlife might 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 -- I mean, 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 a half dozen calls, the unified command center admitted that juggling all the offers of help has been a problem.

MEADOR: It's the 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.

MEADOR: Yes, we will.

CASTLOW: Yes.

MEADOR: Yes, we will.

CASTLOW: 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: Those words, most frustrating thing I've ever heard of. We've heard from people all up and down the Gulf with good ideas on how to help, but one thing that sets this idea apart, it looks simple. But having spent a lot of times around things like this over the years, T.J., this actually really could work.

They really are producing these. They just need some help in getting them onto the water. If they can get BP and the government to get together on that, they think they can make a very big difference.

And, in fact, T.J., I'm not so certain that this design might not be something that we'll see for years and years, especially in marshlands and shallow-water areas where this kind of help is needed. It's an excellent example of people building up even in very hard times -- T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, and it's a story unfortunately we're hearing a lot of, people with great ideas that they just can't get permission to use.

Tom Foreman, "Building Up America" -- great story. Good to see you. Thanks so much.

Generals and their stars. That's all part of today's "Wordplay." Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, time for a little bit of "Wordplay." And playing off General McChrystal today in Washington, today's word: flag officer, also known as a general officer, also generals and admirals.

And through all services, there are only around 900 active flag officers and only 30 or so at the highest level. The highest level for the Navy is admiral. In the Army, it's the four-star general. There's a place for five-star general. There hasn't been one of those, however, since the 1950s.

Generals have to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

General McChrystal became a flag officer in January of 2001 when he was promoted to colonel -- oh, from colonel, I should say, to brigadier general, also known as a one-star general. He made major general three years later, lieutenant general in '06. Finally, four- star general last year when he took over command of the U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan.

And today, that four-star general stepped down from that role as head of forces in Afghanistan.

Well, coming up, were you watching the World Cup in the office today? I was. Good news for the U.S., but just barely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And we were just a couple of minutes away from embarrassment at the World Cup today. The U.S. needed to win their game against Algeria to advance to the next stage of the World Cup, at risk of being kicked out of the first round.

Let's show you what happened. We had gone through the whole game, 90 minutes. This was in stoppage time and the U.S. scores. Landon Donovan, pretty much, probably the most recognizable player on the team, he's been around for quite some time, scores this goal.

But, again, this was in stoppage time. If you know anything about soccer, you play the full 90 minutes, the refs decide how much more time needs to go on in extra time.

In that extra time, the U.S. scores, the U.S. wins. The U.S. advances. They actually win their group. They came in first; England, second.

That's it for now. That's your World Cup update.

Rick, you've got an update on all kinds of stuff today.