June 28, 2007
Bush Nominates New Chairman Of Joint Chiefs
President Bush officially nominated Navy Adm. Michael Mullen as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this morning.
"He was with me after the attacks of Sept. 11," Bush said, expressing confidence in Mullen's experience.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in early June that the current man in the job, Gen. Peter Pace, would not be nominated for a second stint in the post.
During a news briefing, Gates claimed that Pace wouldn't be renominated because his confirmation hearings in the Senate would be difficult and contentious -- "backward-looking instead of forward-looking," he said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Pace last week of failing to give Congress reliable assessments of the Iraq war and said he was happy to hear about the general's departure.
But Pace made comments in mid-June that suggested he disagreed with the Pentagon's assessment. He told an audience at the Joint Forces Staff College that he turned down an offer to resign voluntarily from his position.
"I said I could not do that for one very fundamental reason," which is that no soldier or Marine in Iraq should "think -- ever -- that his chairman, whoever that person is, could have stayed in the battle and voluntarily walked off the battlefield," Pace said. "That is unacceptable as a leadership thing, in my mind."
Pace also revealed that Gates was initially unhappy with the move as well, preferring to keep Pace on but realizing that congressional opposition might become an insurmountable hurdle after speaking with some senators about the matter.
Pace's two-year term ends on Oct. 1, when Mullen will take over.
Posted at 8:54 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Military, Peter Pace
Share via
