captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening, everyone, and happy july fourth. we re finding all sorts of ways to celebrate our country, each other and our way of life. patriotism and lots of outings and adventures centered on food, family and sun. just a few hours from now, communities will be lighting up the skies with fireworks like these from philadelphia last night. but rarely on a july 4th has the country been as deeply challenged as it is today from the expanding gulf oil disaster to the troubled mission in afghanistan and a jarring reminder just tonight of the dangers still confronting americans in iraq. we ve got it all covered with richard engel in kabul. reporter: good evening, lester. after so much grumbling from the troops about the rules of engagement being too strict that it s too difficult for american troops to fire back on the taliban, today, general petraeus issued a letter, telling the soldiers to go and fight. he wrote this of course c
captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a wednesday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m meredith vieira. all eyes are on the white house this morning and that face-to-face meeting between president obama and general stanley mcchrystal. what seems to be ironic, general mcchrystal was put in charge in afghanistan in part because he wasn t afraid to speak his mind. but now it s his words that could come back to haunt him. the controversy is over disparaging remarks about president obama and top administration officials made by general mcchrystal and his staff in a rolling stone article. this is all playing out at a very critical time, just a year before the president wants to start pulling troops out of afghanistan. so how big of a disruption would it be to fire the general right now? just ahead, we ll talk about that with retired general barry mccaffrey who is now an nbc news military analyst. also ahead, a new ilhouse interv
captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a wednesday morning. i m matt lauer. and i m meredith vieira. all eyes are on the white house this morning and that face-to-face meeting between president obama and general stanley mcchrystal. what seems to be ironic, general mcchrystal was put in charge in afghanistan in part because he wasn t afraid to speak his mind. but now it s his words that could come back to haunt him. the controversy is over disparaging remarks about president obama and top administration officials made by general mcchrystal and his staff in a rolling stone article. this is all playing out at a very critical time, just a year before the president wants to start pulling troops out of afghanistan. so how big of a disruption would it be to fire the general right now? just ahead, we ll talk about that with retired general barry mccaffrey who is now an nbc news military analyst. also ahead, a new jailhouse inte