Joint Chiefs Chairman 'Very Positive' After Meeting With Obama [View All]

[SHRED]

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Wow...pretty good for a Marxist/Leftist/Socialist/Communist/Muslim that is out to destroy the military.
:sarcasm:

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Joint Chiefs Chairman 'Very Positive' After Meeting With Obama
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 30, 2008


Barack Obama joined Gen. David H. Petraeus in a helicopter tour of Iraq in July. While some in the military are uneasy about the president-elect's lack of experience in uniform, top officers say he might have a better relationship with his forces than has President Bush. They are particularly hopeful that he will be more realistic about their capabilities.

Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went unarmed into his first meeting with the new commander in chief -- no aides, no PowerPoint presentation, no briefing books. Summoned nine days ago to President-elect Barack Obama's Chicago transition office, Mullen showed up with just a pad, a pen and a desire to take the measure of his incoming boss.

There was little talk of exiting Iraq or beefing up the U.S. force in Afghanistan; the one-on-one, 45-minute conversation ranged from the personal to the philosophical. Mullen came away with what he wanted: a view of the next president as a non-ideological pragmatist who was willing to both listen and lead. After the meeting, the chairman "felt very good, very positive," according to Mullen spokesman Capt. John Kirby.

~SNIP~

"Open and serious debate versus ideological certitude will be a great relief to the military leaders," said retired Maj. Gen. William L. Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations. Senior officers are aware that few in their ranks voiced misgivings over the Iraq war, but they counter that they were not encouraged to do so by the Bush White House or the Pentagon under Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"The joke was that when you leave a meeting, everybody is supposed to drink the Kool-Aid," Nash said. "In the Bush administration, you had to drink the Kool-Aid before you got to go to the meeting."

MORE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR2008112901912.html?hpid%3Dtopnews⊂=AR


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