Marines must protect freedoms, Mullen says

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen speaks to Marines during an all-hands call at Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 1. Mullen spent time answering questions ranging from dining facility food to deployment dwell time.


Marines must protect freedoms, Mullen says
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Apr 2, 2008 16:11:04 EDT

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs gave a roomful of Marines an impromptu election-year civics lesson Tuesday.

Answering questions from about 600 young Marines at an “all-hands” meeting at a Camp Lejeune field house, Adm. Mike Mullen said the military must understand both the need to unconditionally support the nation’s political leaders — no matter which party they represent — and the importance of a free press.

Most Marines stood and asked their questions without giving their name or rank. One asked what could be done about media reports such as a recent Frontline news program on the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqis in Hadithah, Iraq, that he said portrayed Marines as “cold-blooded killers.”

Four enlisted Marines and four officers were said to be involved; charges against three of the enlisted Marines have been dropped.

Mullen, on a two-day trip from the Pentagon to Army, Air Force and Marine Corps bases in North Carolina, defended the media as he underlined the importance of ethical behavior in combat — even under the most trying circumstances.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/military_mullen_marines_040208w/