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Mike Mullen, US Chief of Naval Operations is nominated to be a chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates nominated on Friday Chief of Naval Operations Mike Mullen, to replace Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the country's top military officer.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mullen will become the 17th Joint Chiefs chairman.

Pace, 61, was the first Marine to have held the military's top job and Mullen will be fourth admiral to hold the job.

Mullen, 60, a 1968 graduate of the Naval Academy, became the Navy chief July 22, 2005.

From 2004 to May 2005, he served as commander, US Naval Forces Europe and Joint Forces, Naples.

As a flag officer, Mullen served as director of the Navy's Surface Warfare Division, deputy chief of naval operations for resources, requirements and assessments, and vice chief of naval operations from 2003 to 2004.

Gates told a press conference at Pentagon that he had originally wanted Pace to stay for two more years after his current term expires Sept. 30, but a second thought made him to decide for a change.

Because of the controversial nature of the war, he said, it will be very difficult for Pace to pass the Senate confirmation process if he is nominated again.

"It would be a backward looking and very contentious process," Gates explained.

He said Mullen has the "vision, strategic insight and integrity to lead America's armed forces."

Gates insisted that the change was not because of problems with how the Iraq war has gone.

But he seemed to contradict himself when he said that a Pace renomination will draw attention on what happened in the past six years, the period Pace served on the joint chiefs as vice chair and chair.

Gates was not directly asked if anti-gay comments Pace made earlier this year were a factor. But analysts said that likely played a role as well.

The defense secretary also announced that James E. Cartwright, now commander of Strategic Command, will become the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, replacing Edmund G. Giambastiani, Jr., who has said he will retire.

Giambastiani had been in line for the top job but Gates said he would have some of the same problems as Pace since he too could come under criticism for the US military strategy in Iraq.

US media reported that members of the Senate Armed Services Committee had made it clear that Pace would have been challenged if he is renominated.

US analysts said changing the military leadership is the "phase two" of the Bush administration's attempt to clean house at the Pentagon after Donald Rumsfeld was forced to resign as defense secretary last November.

Some Pentagon and military officials have quietly criticized Pace for not standing up to Rumsfeld and being what they considered blindly supportive of the former secretary.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2007)