The Bush administration said today it will not renominate General Peter Pace as the top US military officer, avoiding a contentious debate with the Democratic-led Congress over unpopular Iraq war.
Instead, Defense Secretary Robert Gates nominated Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the current head of the US Navy, to take over from Pace, a Marine general, when his two-year term expires at the end of September.
Mr Gates paid tribute to General Pace but said after consulting with Republican and Democratic Senators, he had come to believe that Pace would face a bruising reconfirmation hearing.
"I concluded that because General Pace has served as chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the last six years, the focus of his confirmation process would have been on the past rather than the future," Mr Gates said.
"There was the very real prospect the process would be quite contentious," he told reporters.
"I have decided that at this moment in our history, the nation, our men and women in uniform and General Pace himself would not be well served by a divisive ordeal in selecting the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
"Pete Pace has been a United States Marine for more than 40 years. He has served our country with great distinction and deserves the deepest thanks of the American people for a lifetime of service to our country and for his leadership," Mr Gates said.
"I wish it were not necessary to make a decision like this. But I think it's a realistic appraisal of where we are."
Mr Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary last December after Democrats took control of the US Congress, in large part because of anger over the Iraq war.