Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this is a policy of the President of the United States. He determined to change the policy that has been in effect for quite a number of years, and by all accounts has been working very well. All four service chiefs favor keeping that policy. He selected Admiral Mullen. He selected Secretary Gates, who has not been an enthusiastic supporter of this change, frankly. He has gone along with the Commander in Chief who appointed him. He has indicated that we ought to have a study first--made a commitment, really, to our men and women in uniform that there would be a study first, and we are not running an objective study. So Admiral Mullen did testify he personally believed this was a change that ought to be made. But the Army Chief of Staff, General Casey; the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Roughead; Air Force Chief of Staff Schwartz; the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Conway; and now General Amos--who just testified this morning will be replacing General Conway--oppose it and believe we owe it at least to the men and women in uniform to study the impact this might have. I just believe it is not necessary to ram this through this fast before we complete a study. I oppose that.…”