President Bush’s choice to become Joint Chiefs chairman said Tuesday that “there does not appear to be much political progress” in Iraq and said one option would be to remove all U.S. troops unless various ethnic groups can make peace.
If the U.S. were to pull out, it should do so “expeditiously,” Navy Adm. Michael Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “By expeditiously, I mean … just bring our troops home as rapidly as possible.”
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But Mullen, whose Senate confirmation to a two-year term seems assured, said he would likely not advise President Bush to order a complete withdrawal.
“I would caution against that, at this point,” he testified. “I worry a lot about moves which would turn Iraq into a cauldron.”
He listed two other options: Continue a six-month-old troop surge or start turning over security duties to the Iraqis faster than now planned. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, is due to report next month to Congress on the surge’s progress. On the political end, there does not seem to be much chance for new successes because the Iraqi legislature is taking August off.
Mullen, the chief of naval operations, is to make a separate recommendation as a Joint Chiefs member. If confirmed by the full Senate, Mullen will be sworn in the first week in October, succeeding Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace.
Democratic leaders are pressing for a quick troop withdrawal, and some Republicans are pushing Bush to adopt a new strategy that would remove more American units from combat roles.
The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki “is sliding backwards and is failing in the partnership that was established as the predicate, the foundation for the surge concept of January 10th,” said Sen. John Warner, R-Va.
Mullen said he had hoped the troop withdrawal debate in Washington would spur the Iraqis to act, but “I’m not sure it’s had the impact some of us would expect it to have.”
He said the reinforcement of 30,000 troops, to 160,000, “is giving our operational commanders the forces they needed to execute more effective tactics and improve security.”
“That is happening,” he added. “Security is better. Not great, but better.”
Regardless, Mullen said, the surge will likely have to end next spring. To ensure stateside units are rested and replenished, not all of the 20 brigades now in Iraq will be replaced as they rotate out after 15-month tours.
