President Obama is speaking. VP Biden is right behind him.

He says relieving Gen McCrystal the right thing to do.

"War is bigger than any one man."

The Rolling Stone interview undermines the role of the military and erodes the trust that is necessary for our teams to work together.

There must be adherence to a strict code of conduct. There must be respect for the civilian command over the military.

He must do whatever is necessary to succeed in Afghanistan and defeat al Qaida. We cannot succeed without making this change.

Now is the time for all of us to come together.

We need to remember what this is all about. Our nation is at war. We face a tough task. We have a clear goal. We are going to break the Taliban's momentum. We will apply relentless pressure. That's a strategy we agreed to last fall and are carrying out in Afghanistan and Pakistan. [More...]

MSNBC:

President Barack Obama has decided to relieve Gen. Stanley McChrystal of his command over all U.S. military forces in Afghanistan, sources tell NBC News.

Obama is scheduled to make an official 1:30 p.m. EDT announcement about the general. Meantime, the Associated Press reported that Obama has chosen Gen. David Petraeus to replace McChrystal as top Afghan commander.

(Emphasis supplied.) Choosing Petraeus as the replacement is very very shrewd.

I'm not a good tea reader, but this sounds like McChrystal is out:

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal left the White House after meeting with President Obama for about 20 minutes, departing ahead of a meeting on the war in Afghanistan later Wednesday morning, but there was no immediate word on whether he would keep his job as the top American commander there.

The White House said that Mr. Obama would make a statement from the Rose Garden at 1:30 p.m.

We'll know in a few minutes.

I'm traveling again tonight.

This afternoon in the World Cup, Germany plays Ghana and Australia faces Serbia. Ghana leads the group and is assured of going through with a draw. A win of course seal the group win. Germany goes through with a win or a draw and a Serbia draw or loss by less than 8. Serbia goes through with a win or a draw and a German loss. Australia goes through with a win and a German loss. Clear?

I like Germany over Ghana and a draw between Australia and Serbia. This result would put Germany through at the top of the group but Ghana could still qualify with on tiebreakers with Serbia. The goal count would decide it.

The USA probably would prefer to face Ghana or Serbia rather than Germany in Saturday's Round of 16 game. Therefore, root for a German win.

Open Thread.

Goal by Donovan in stoppage time for USA saves our World Cup. 1-0 USA. USA wins Group C. England also qualifies.

These games will be played simultaneously but I will try and keep up with both.

First news - the USA starting lineup:

Goalkeeper: Tim Howard. Defenders: Steve Cherundolo, Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Bornstein (in for Gooch). Midfielders: Landon Donovan, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu (gets the start after fine performance as sub vs. Slovenia), Clint Dempsey. Forwards: Herculez Gomez (in for suspended Findley), Jozy Altidore.

Bornstein??? Gooch must be hurt. Gooch at 80% is better than Bornstein at 200%. Anyway, live blog on the flip.

GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!

In his interview with De Telegraaf (google translated version here), Joran Van der Sloot says he was lured to Peru from Aruba by Uruguayan/Albanian poker player Elton Garcia, who invited him to play in the tournament and paid for his trip. Why would Elton do that? [More...]

A win over Algeria today would put the USA into the round of 16. The USA is considered the better side. In the world FIFA rankings, USA is 14th and Algeria is 30th. The USA has had better results offensively than Algeria, who is yet to score a goal in its 2 World Cup games. However, USA has given up 3 goals and Algeria only 1.

Algeria looked a competent side against England and Slovenia, but neither of those teams seems especially strong to me. Algeria's Karim Ziani looked the best player on the field against England. But again, does that sya more about England than Algeria?

My view of how the USA should play this game tacticially is similar to my view of how they should have played against Slovenia. I'll repeat my advice on the flip.

The American commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has, as Barbara Morrill points out, committed contempt towards officials, in violation of Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, by speaking contemptuously of his civilian authority as quoted in an article in Rolling Stone. The NYTimes reports that McChrystal, who has issued a public apology, has been ordered back to the United States:

An angry President Obama summoned his top commander in Afghanistan to Washington on Tuesday after a magazine article portrayed the general and his staff as openly contemptuous of some senior members of the Obama administration. An administration official said the commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, would meet with President Obama and Vice President Biden at the White House on Wednesday “to explain to the Pentagon and the commander in chief his quotes in the piece,” which appears in the July 8-22 edition of Rolling Stone.

The President would be justified in dismissing McChrystal. At the very least, McChrystal should receive a public rebuke from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Speaking for me only

The Peru Penal Code and the New Code of Penal Procedure address the rights of defendants and defense counsel, provide for the insanity defense and explain the procedure for taking statements during the investigation phase of the case. For those interested in the Joran Van der Sloot case in Peru, the details may prove interesting. (For those not interested, just scroll on by.)

The full penal code is here. The new code of penal procedure is here.

Peru provides many rights to the defendant, including the right to remain silent and the right to have a lawyer present during questioning.

I'm reprinting portions below that I think are relevant to Joran Van der Sloot, both as to the insanity defense, the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer present during questioning, and the proscription against coerced confessions. [More...]

World Cup - On paper, the Mexico-Uruguay match should offer a game where both teams pull out all the stops to win this game the reason is both teams are 3 points clear of the other two teams in the group, France and South Africa, and both hold large goal differentials over these two teams (France would have to pick up 5 goals on goal differential (or 4 goals with a +4 goals scored) to qualify.)

The incentive for winning Group A is playing South Korea or Greece instead of Argentina in the Round of 16. That is a pretty big incentive.In the other early game, France has disintegrated and South Africa is simply not very good.

Mexico-Uruguay is clearly the match to watch. I like Uruguay.

Final scores -Uruguay 1 - Mexico 0, South Africa 2 - France1. Uruguay wins the group and avoids Argentina. Mexico also advances but has to face Argentina in the round of 16.

Open Thread.

The trial of former Illiniois Governor Rod Blagojoveich continues. Tuesday, his former Chief of Staff, initially indicted along with Blago, takes the stand. He's expected to testify for a few days.

Here's a copy of his plea agreement. His guidelines call for 70 - 87 months. If his cooperation against Blago goes according to plan, the Government has agreed to ask for 35 months, a fifty percent reduction off the bottom of the guideline range.

Harris will insist his only job is to tell the truth. But it's the Government's version of the truth. If he insisted the truth was that Blago didn't commit any crimes, the Government would say that's not the truth, and he wouldn't get the reduction.

It's testimony purchased with promises of leniency. Freedom is a commodity far more precious than money. It's a practice that renders our system morally bankrupt.