Mullen: I’ll give the new President the “best advice I can”

This is the first administration transition during wartime in forty years, and traditionally, a crisis will occur during that period, said Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

Mullen said he believes it’s critical to pursue all the issues in the CJCS Guidance memorandum, which includes defending vital National interests in the broader Middle East; Resetting, Reconstituting, and Revitalizing our Forces; and properly balancing our global strategic risk. In addition to these issues, he said, there is a whole range of other global concerns such as tensions in Eurasia and Africa, and the impact of the economic crisis.

The Joint Staff has done a lot of work to prepare, he said, and he’s comfortable they are meeting the goals of the transition to the new administration [of Barack Obama]. We serve one leader, he said, and that’s the sitting Commander in Chief.

During the question and answer period, Mullen said he assumes the pirates that captured the super oil tanker off the coast of Saudi Arabia on Saturday, November 15, will ask for a ransom. The piracy does not seem to be connected to al-Qaeda or terrorism, he said.

Dismantling the forces in Iraq is “very doable” but it’s not the sort of thing we can do overnight, Mullen said. In regards to “we have to be out by 2011,” Mullen said it’s in his view that three years is a long time, and conditions can change. We will continue to have discussions with them [the Iraqis], he said, and clearly it’s theoretically possible to pull the troops out by 2011 but conditions would dictate the outcome. We have 150,000 troops in Iraq right now, and a lot of equipment, Mullen said, and clearly we want to be able to withdraw the troops safely.

It is his understanding, Mullen continued, that the Status of Forces Agreement troop withdrawal specifics is in regard to American troops, and does include removal from certain cities by the year 2009. Using Baghdad as an example, Mullen said they’ve been improving security and are attempting to turn one city over at a time [to the Iraqis].

Upon being directly questioned and asked for a yes or no answer, Mullen simply answered “yes” to the specifics of the SOFA agreement: yes, American troops have to be out of Iraq by 2011 regardless of conditions.

As for the timetable of “16 months” (the policy stated by President-Elect Obama), Mullen said that he looks forward to the discussion he will have with Obama, and will give him the “best advice I can.” He continued, saying, “I will not pre-state” what that conversation will entail.