Washington – Adm. Michael Mullen, President Bush’s nominee to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel Tuesday that the war in Iraq is taking a heavy toll on the U.S. military, warning that American forces are “not unbreakable” and stressing the need to “plan for an eventual drawdown” of troops.
Appearing at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mullen, 60, acknowledged that the increase in U.S. forces cannot continue past April 2008 under the military’s current force structure. He also cautioned that Iraqi political reconciliation is not keeping pace with security improvements.
Unless the Iraqi government takes advantage of the “breathing space” U.S. forces are providing, Mullen said, “no amount of troops in no amount of time will make much of a difference.”
Testifying alongside Mullen was Marine Gen. James Cartwright, 57, the nominee to become vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He currently heads the U.S. Strategic Command.
In written responses to committee questions, Mullen warned that “there is no purely military solution in Iraq” and that the country’s politicians “need to view politics and democracy as more than just majority rule, winner-take-all, or a zero-sum game.”
Absent that, he said, the United States will be forced to re-evaluate its strategy.
Mullen and Cartwright were nominated in June to succeed Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the current Joint Chiefs chairman, and Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr., the vice chairman.
