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Marines must protect freedoms, Mullen says

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.

First, Mullen described a close-quarters small-unit urban combat simulator he had recently seen at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The trainer, he said, offers scenarios meant to train Marines how to handle close-quarters, ambiguous situations such as Hadithah.

Mullen said he was struck by a squad leader’s “emphasis on ethical and moral decisions” on the spur of the moment “to either kill or not shoot.”

That training, he said, “speaks to me about the heart and soul of what the United States Marine Corps is as it executes its operations, from an ethical and a moral high ground, in the most difficult circumstances we can put you in.”

And freely reporting on events such as Hadithah, Mullen said, is a right the military is sworn to defend. He cited remarks made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in two 2007 speeches: “Two of the most important parts of our country, and of who we are as a democracy, include a free press and our Congress,” Mullen said.

“That doesn’t mean you or I or anybody else has to agree with everything that comes out in the press, or the way it seems,” Mullen said. “But clearly, fundamentally, it is a vital underpinning for who we are.”

Another questioner wanted to know whether Mullen endorses any particular presidential candidate.

“The answer is no,” Mullen said. “The United States military is an apolitical organization. You and I work for the president of the United States, whoever that is. And we carry out orders. My job, my responsibility, is to give the president my best military advice on a range of issues and a range of missions.

“I’m just as aware as you are that we’re in the midst right now of electing a new president,” Mullen continued. “And our new president, whoever he or she might be on the 20th of January ... next year will be our president. And we’re obliged to understand what our mission is and carry out orders for the next president as we are for our current president.

“I’m not backing any particular candidate, one way or another,” Mullen added. “That’s a really important piece for us as an organization to understand ... a very strong foundational piece for our democracy, particularly as we go through change — which we will, no matter who wins the next presidency.”