mike mullen.. [applause] [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause] [military orders] ♪ ♪ [applae] >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain staing for the benediction. >> let us pray. eternal god, we thank you for the gift of a move -- admiral mullen, his wife debra, and the contribution to each branch of our armed forces and especially this great nation. may be blessed with your gift of counsel and discernment as they continue on the road of further service to their family, community, and nation. we ask your celestial blessing upon the general martin dempsey, his wife, and their family. be with them as he begins his new role. help them to bear the awesome responsibilities which are placed around -- un him. guard him as he believes admiral mullen, and stand sentinel for each of us night and day. finally, has become to the lore -- caller: of this ceremony, may you continue to bless us and -- as we come to the end of the ceremony, may continue to bless us and keep us. mid-of sunshine warm up on your face, and the rain

official,viewing admiral mike mullen.opy by the host, the honorable leon panetta, secretary of defense -- accompanied by the host. and general martin e. dempsey. >> present. ♪ [band plays] the president of the united states. ["hail to the chief" plays] ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the invocation. plays] [military orders] >> let us pray. eternal father, we praise you and thank you it's subtle presence -- your eternal presence touches us this morning. thank you for your leadership, guidance, and direction that admiral mullen has given to this great nation. we thank you for having stood next to this great leader as led hundreds of thousands of our most treasured puncher man and woma through two major conflicts. we ask you for a special blessing, a blessing upon admiral mullen. such service has meant sacrifices, chief of which has been the long separations from home, family, and friends. we rejoice with him on this day. we pray that the lord will be with him. life has advance the well-being of soldiers, co

that is the story of mike mullen. that's the story of america and the spirit that we celebrate today. if there is a threat to register his olestra's career, it is his sense of stewardship. the understanding that as leaders, our time at the helm is but a moment in the life of our nation. the humility which says the institution and people entrusted to our care look to us, yet they did not belong to us. the sense of responsibility we have to pass them safer and stronger to those who follow. as you look back to your four years as chairman and your four decades in uniform, be assured -- our military is stronger and our nation is more secure because of the service that you have rendered. [applause] today we have renewed american leadership in the world. we have strengthened our alliances including nato. we all leading again in asia and we forged a new treaty russia. every american can be grateful to admiral mullen, as am i, is critical role in these achievements. today we see the remarkable achievements of our 9/11 generati

a change of command ceremony this past week, president obama had nothing but praise for admiral mike mullenst retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. admiral mullen has been speaking out a lot this week too as we hear in our cover story from cbs news national security correspondent david martin. >> my guest tonight, he is the chairman of the joint chief of staff. please welcome back to the program admiral mike mullen. >> reporter: you wouldn't think the nation's highest ranking military officer would be a regular on the daily show. but in his final days as chairman, he's back for a third appearance. >> do you have plans for relaxation? what do you do? >> my plan is to take a long winter's nap. >> reporter: last summer mullen recruited stewart to visit the troops in afghanistan. >> i was surprised-- and i know you have a lot of respect for the fighting men and women-- i was surprised when we landed in khandahar that you forced them to carry you around on a litter. >> well actually that usually only happens once a trip. >> reporter: what do you get out of coming on this program? >> i g

. >> a retirement ceremony has been held for admiral mike mullen. his recent comments about the network and their alleged link havekistan's intelligence sparked controversy. a charge the government denies. >> the afghan insurgents leader, one of america's deadliest enemies, allegedly supported by its ally, pakistan. the taliban faction branded an agency bykistan's spy america's top military official last week. that claim has been denied again at a gathering of grim-faced pakistani leaders. they called for talks with the militants, not the crackdown washington is demanding. despite the denials, pakistan's former national security adviser told us that the group is on pakistan the soil and the tribal belt. >> today, it is a hotbed. everybody who is anybody in the terrorist field is there. there is military. yet they have a fair amount of freedom of action. >> the army has hunted down the other militant groups in this remote tribal terrain, but not the network. old friends to could protect is lama died -- islamabad interest in the post-war afghanistan.

the language that is being used, mike mullen talking about a network that is an arm of the isi. hillary clinton demanding that the government dismantle taliban safe havens. >> that is not a very responsible statement. implies that he is talking about the command and army level and that they are complicity with the taliban. that is a very big accusation. >> you cooperated and worked with the u.s.. and number of al qaeda figures were captured during your tenure. this was the same time that the network amerced and started conducting attacks using pakistani soil. why were you able to stop this? >> the network was quite unknown in my time. >> january, 2000 none, they were responsible for an attack on a hotel, on the indian embassy. >> we held elections and that was the end of my tenure. many times after 2001 when night and the active forces, we had operations several times. >> they were not very successful, were they? >> they were successful. >> you said in a speech that you are 500% sure that you did not know the whereabouts of osama bin laden. a new bbc documentary as the former he

capture or kill order in april of 2010 made the announcement at a retirement ceremony for admiral mike mullen. >> bin laden is dead. al-awlaki is dead. >>> >> reporter: al-awlaki had alleged ties to the christmas day underwear bomber -- bomber and he exchanged more than 20 e- mails with the ft. hood shooter. also killed today, 25-year-old samir kahn of charlotte, north carolina, al-awlaki's web master and publisher of an online al-qaeda magazine showing recruits how to make bombs. >> this has been a bad year for terrorists. >> reporter: on the steps of the pentagon defense secretary leon pa net a thanked yemen's government and intelligence -- panetta thanked yemen's government and intelligence service. >> the yemen government has cooperated with the u.s. states going back frankly before some of the turmoil that we've seen there, the relationship in sharing intelligence. >> reporter: the yemen president arrived back in his country from saudi arabia this weekend after narrowly escaping a terror attack that nearly killed him. al-awlaki had nearly been killed several times before, warplanes narro

military have taken admiral mike mullen around the world many times over-- meeting with troops in twoones; attending elaborate military ceremonies in china; coordinating disaster aid in earthquake-stricken haiti. but mullen's greatest role was in helping wind down the war in iraq and expand the war in afghanistan. at his senate confirmation hearing in 2007, he expressed characteristic candor about iraq. >> based on the political... lack of political reconciliation at the government level, obviously-- although i spoke earlier about some of it going on at the local level, which i think is important-- i would be concerned about whether we'd be winning or not. >> holman: on afghanistan, mullen played a bigger role, saying the u.s. needed to refocus its energies there and in the region. when president obama asked for an afghan war review, mullen stuck by commanders in the field who demanded resources for a counterinsurgency approach. david ignatius of the "washington post" has traveled to the region frequently with the admiral. >> there is this view that the white house has that mullen and

. >>> coming up next >>> after an extraordinary 47 years in uniform, admiral mike mullen last week retired as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, replaced by army general marty dempsey. history will remember mullen as a straight-talking leader of enormous integrity who focused on strategic trends, whether highlighting the national debt as a top security issue or tirelessly working towards success in iraq, afghanistan and elsewhere. he regularly visited pakistan to persuade its leaders to better fight extremists and had the guts to publicly criticize them for failing to do so. mullen was effective because he was nonparochial and unemotional about the challenges facing the nation. he was also always a visible and articulate spokesman who carried moral authority with the american public, tirelessly using his bully pulpit to remind all the long-time moral obligation to care for troops physically and emotionally scared by war. he remembers his dual role as joint military adviser to the president, but the voice of 2.7 million men and women in uniform. when he concluded it was time to allow ga

two months ago, the economy was the top concern when joint chiefs chairman mike mullen visited soldiers and marines in afghanistan. instead of asking about the war, they were more worried about budget cuts and losing their jobs. >> we're going to have to tighten our belts, prioritize, make some hard decisions. >> reporter: there is a dramatic disconnect between american servicemembers and the rest of the country. 8 out of 10 of the veterans believe the american public has no idea of the problems they face in the service. and only 25% of civilians surveyed said they even pay any attention to the wars. after ten years of war, senior military officials here are not surprised by the negative responses in this survey and point out that nearly 90% of the veterans are still proud of their military service. 82% would still recommend that others enlist. brian? >> interesting numbers. jim miklaszewski from the pentagon. jim, thanks. >>> one piece of political news just out tonight. as soon as chris christie said he was not running for president at that news conference yesterday, questions swung a

nation of osama bin laden the state of the alliance has gone from bad to worse admiral mike mullen one of the most pro pakistan officials in washington has referred to the country as the epicenter of world terrorism but his most recent remarks have added fuel to the fire. choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy the government of pakistan and most especially the pakistani army and. jeopardizes not only the prospect of our strategic partnership but pakistan's opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional in floor in his speech to the senate mullen accused pakistan's intelligence agency isiah of colluding with kani insurgent groups the u.s. has long been aware of the fact that pakistan may be assisting insurgents but mall in statement is the first of its kind it's cost furious reactions in pakistan where authorities have denounced the claims and pointed to the country's own bosses and the war on terror thirty thousand pakistanis it is well known that for doing that the bombing and consequent disposal of it was back on the intelligence and security agen

in its war on terror and the stories that pakistan has been playing both sides or mike mullen chairman of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff had stirred the pot once again claiming pakistan supported militant groups in attacks against americans and afghanistan but this past friday the u.s. appeared to back away from the public accusations saying it is not clear on the exact relationship between the i.s.i. and the commies but these same questions are being raised over and over again and in an increasingly public setting so with the u.s. want to extend the war into pakistan so on to things that the u.s. has a lot to lose militarily and economically it would not happen a million agrees saying the u.s. cannot afford another war we are on the brink of an economic collapse matter said judging from the u.s. track record yes we would go to war with pakistan and there will be consequences the military industrial complex in america will not care because there is no profit in peace most of the comments we received word of on the same economic lines can the u.s. afford another war or is it just that w

. >> chris: president obama and just retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen talking significance of killing one of the world's most wanted terrorist. >> brit hume fox news analysis. mara liasson national public record. and bill kristol from the weekly standard. and juan williams. two years after searching and intelligence and special forces got their man. drone strikes taking down this guy. anwar al-awlaki, american born cleric that was so effective in recruiting the jihadist. big victory in the war on terror. >> it is a victory. for the al-qaida leader who step in bin laden's role in a smaller capacity. this is your guy. i think credit is owed to everyone involved in this from the president on down. part of what is interesting about one of the problems against terrorist is the nature television. powerful weapons and large numbers of men and they are able to do with smaller cal ber weaponry and crude methods and deadly effectiveness because of the fact people are willing to give their lives. we have a response to the that. the drone attacks you don't hear them coming

. >> and the chairman of the joint joint chiefs of staff who has now departed admiral mike mullen as you reported a week or so ago said in his farewell message essentially that the raids on the embassy, our embassy in kabul and our headquarters, our military headquarters in the afghan capital were directly the haqqani network who did it was exactly complicit with the isi pakistan intelligence. in other words, pakistan declared war in essence or undeclared war on the united states. they let loose this violence but now the. >> bill: what does obama do though? he has got to do something. >> the president at 3:00 this afternoon, the president said wait a second, admiral mullen maybe -- he didn't use these words, these are my words, exaggerated what the little bit. the president said there isn't the swedges to draw the exact -- backed away a little bit. >> bill: doesn't like that. >> the president and hillary clinton and incoming chairman of the joint chiefs try to seem to be cooling things with pakistan. give them face-saving device where they can -- we ought to tell the folks that this

. >>> we are back with admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, on one of hisn office. admiral, there are a lot of people who look at the situation in afghanistan. and we're doing better, but there are still problems. but they say why can't we just get out or why can't we draw down substantially. you notice even the republican presidential candidates don't seem to have much enthusiasm for this campaign. what do you say to people when they say, why can't we go to the biden plan? 30,000, 40,000 troops, you can do special ops. why do we need to be trying to bring peace to helmand and kandahar? >> right now we're on the president obama plan, and we'll stay with that. and from my perspective, the reason we're there is to make sure that we can achieve the principal goal which is ensure that afghanistan can never become a safe haven for a terrorist organization like al qaeda. that border region between the two countries is the epicenter of terrorism. in pakistan, you have a country that is very challenged from an economic standpoint, who has a growing internal terrori

. >> chris: president obama and just retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen talking about the significance of killing one of the world's most wanted terrorists. and it is time for our sunday group, brit hume, fox news senior political analyst. mara liasson of national public radio. bill kristol from the weekly standard. and fox news political analyst, juan williams. well, after two years of searching, u.s. intelligence and special forces finally got their man. drone strikes friday taking down this guy, anwar al-awlaki, the american born cleric who was so effective in recruiting jihaddists over the internet. brit, how big a victory in the war on terror? >> i think it is big. if you are looking around the world for an al-qaeda leader who steps into bin laden's role although perhapses in a some what smaller capacity this is your guy. i think credit is owed to everyone involved in this from the president on down. part of what is interesting about it is one of the problems of the whole struggle against terrorists has been the asymmetrical nature of this. they are able to

late last month, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen laid out the charge bluntly and publicly. >> the haqqani network for one acts as a veritable arm of pakistan's internal services intelligence agency. in choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of pakistan and, most especially, the pakistani army and i.s.i. jeopardizes not only the process of our strategic partnership, but pakistan's opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence. >> reporter: long preoccupied with its arch-rival to the east, india. pakistan has wanted afghanistan to the west to remain weak and non-threatening and many have viewed islamic extremists as an instrument to ensure that. the question in washington: how to divert pakistan to a different course? >> we have to adopt a harder line towards pakistan. we can begin by conditioning the billions and billions of mil and military and also economic assistance to pakistan. >> reporter: peter tomsen, who was u.s. special envoy to afghanistan 20 years ago, says it's time to face the fact th