petraeus and mccrystal. we know that mccrystal was removed from being our top leader in afghanistan. he is goings to retire from the military. you have advised both of them. talk to me about your sense of what happened to general mccrystal. >> look, i think it was a very tragic series of events. i think the president had no choice but to fire general mccrystal. if we were having this conversation a few weeks ago and you said what are the problems in afghanistan, i would have given you a long list but mccrystal would not have been on the list. it was just impossible for him to be in command. i was very worried when he was fired and thinking who can possibly replace him and do a good job and the only person that i could think of that would have made me feel confident was general petraeus. i guess it worked out. it was tragic but the way it worked out it was ok. tavis: concerning all the generals that we have and to your mind you think he was the only person in that vast military who could do as good a job as m

meaning that mccrystal has said to 60 minutes that he had not talked -- he talked to mccrystal on the phone, but never met with him, even though he was in charge of afghanistan. do you remember that? >> here's what that was. obama was being portrayed as someone that was weak. now this general insulted him, i think they made a mistake. general, keep your mouth shut, no more interviews. >> was it a bad part on the part of the president? >> i think the president acted out of weakness because he wanted to appear strong. >> they brought the rolling stone forward? >> yes. >> they used it to fire the guy and they got general patraeus -- >> is that overly suspicious of them? >> here's what i think. i think they have a tendency to outsmart themselves. they have a tendency to get too cute and take things for granted. with the mccrystal thing, bringing rolling stone out, talk about it is just like talking about the seats they are going to lose in november. >> we can count on patraeus. >> they traded up by getting patraeus in, that the democrats >>> predictions, pat. > push to put hillary clinton

mccrystal..s. armed forces, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing me to be part of this memorable ceremony. i am honored to be here to congratulate general mccrystal for his immense accomplishments, wearing his uniform of the armed forces to preserve security here in the united states, and fight for piece and fleem my country, afghanistan. it's my flows deliver the highest medal awarded to him by our president and to convey the message of our minister of national defense. general mccrystal, the man and woman of my country value your leadership. and deeply appreciate your commitment. we will never forget the sacrifices you and those under your commanded you have made to make afghanistan and the world a safer place for our children. you have made a profound impact on our struggle. from ordinary villnlers to teachers, army generals, women act vilses, government officials, numerous afghans are proudly calling you a trusted and friend, and allow me to read part of his message, which clearly sp

mccrystal. it was good that he was willing to take command and this worked out well, and out from the lunch with president karzai, we were asking him if things were going well, and he told us things were going very well and there was a lot of respect for the general. one issue that was focused on, in terms of law logical people inside the villages, are whether they were in place or not in place. he has concerns about this, and -- there are no other risks over this policy. this policy that was proposed that the general believes makes a lot of sense. he wants to make certain that he has the control of these forces, these regular police inside the villages. this is kept in the ministry of the interior. that is what the plan will be. to answer your question, there is a seamless transition, and this is not over policy at all, and this is well-accepted in afghanistan. >> the general does a superb professional, and this is obvious when you are on the ground, but he also has great skills beyond the oper

. >>> general stanley mccrystal ended his 34-year career as an army officer today in an emotional retirementony in washington, d.c. musk music. >>> the four star general served as the top commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan [ inaudible ] . >> because of the few decisions that he made on the battlefield but he cherished his life as a soldier. he was forced to resign his post in afghanistan last month after making disparaging remarks about the obama administration in a magazine article. >>> in a sign of economic recovery, ford today reported a big surge in second quarter revenue and profit. the automaker said its sales from april 1st to june 30th were up $4 billion from the year before and the profits surged 13%. in california auto dealers reported today that new car sales overall jumped 23 percent in the first half of this year with the biggest gains coming in just the past three months. wall street responded to those car sales numbers finishing an up week with a winning day. the dow gained 102 appoint, the nasdaq 23. word that major european banks passed the financial stress test and a r

. >>> general stanley mccrystal ended his 34-year career as an army officer today in an emotional retirementeremony in washington, d.c. musk music. >>> the four star general served as the top commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan [ inaudible ] . >> because of the few decisions that he made on the battlefield but he cherished his life as a soldier. he was forced to resign his post in afghanistan last month after making disparaging remarks about the obama administration in a magazine article. >>> in a sign of economic recovery, ford today reported a big surge in second quarter revenue and profit. the automaker said its sales from april 1st to june 30th were up $4 billion from the year before and the profits surged 13%. in california auto dealers reported today that new car sales overall jumped 23 percent in the first half of this year with the biggest gains coming in just the past three months. wall street responded to those car sales numbers finishing an up week with a winning day. the dow gained 102 appoint, the nasdaq 23. word that major european banks passed the financial stress test and

kucinich: just a few days before his dismissal, general mccrystal wrote what has been described as a devastate regular port on his mission. he pointed out that he faced a resilient and growing insurgency with too few troops and he expected no progress in the coming months. why are we continuing to send our troops into a mission impossible? are we committing our troops -- why are we committing our troops to a situation which is certainly bound to bring about more casualties, both of our troops and innocent civilians? general petraeus is promising an escalation of the war which will put more american lives on the line and more innocent civilians killed. do we support our troops? if we do, and if we really paid attention to what's going on in afghanistan if we really supported our troops, we would bring them home. that's exactly what the barbara lee amendment is designed to do and that's why we should support it. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: i'm proud to yield time to ike skelton's partner, buck m

announced marine general james maddux would proceed, not with standing the rolling stone, it led mccrystal to leave the night afghanistan was the right one as was his decision to replace general petraeus. the u.s. needs lifestyle changes according to the imf. what do you think? caller: good morning, peter. well, i think congress can easily avoid debt simply by ordering the u.s. treasury to pay for goods and other things that congress needs nover permit incurring debt on which interest acostume lates. an important point is that any delay by the u.s. treasury to issue money to pay down our federal debt results in the accumulation of more interest on the debt and the need to eventually issue even more money to pay down the debt. host: that all said, how does that affect our lifestyle? caller: well, when the interest on the debt, we aren't getting anything from that. debt can be easily avoided. host: ok. thank you for calling in. want to show you some of the local papers that have some national stories with national implications playing out. this is the boston globe, as you know, that the a ju

kucinich: just a few days before his dismissal, general mccrystal wrote what has been described as a devastate regular port on his mission. he pointed out that he faced a resilient and growing insurgency with too few troops and he expected no progress in the coming months. why are we continuing to send our troops into a mission impossible? are we committing our troops -- why are we committing our troops to a situation which is certainly bound to bring about more casualties, both of our troops and innocent civilians? general petraeus is promising an escalation of the war which will put more american lives on the line and more innocent civilians killed. do we support our troops? if we do, and if we really paid attention to what's going on in afghistan if we really supported our troops, we would bring them home. at's exactly what the barbara lee amendment is designed to do and that's why we should support it. the speaker pro tempore: the me of the gentlemahas expired. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. lewis: i'm proud to yield time to ike skelton's partner, buck mckeon, t