CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre has been listening along with all of us to George W. Bush's speech to veterans. And he joins us live this morning with the Pentagon's reaction to all of this -- Jamie.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the interesting thing is that, in Governor Bush's remarks this morning, actually there was very little that the Pentagon or Defense Secretary William Cohen would take issue with. In fact, Bush, talking about wanting to build the military up, give it the kind of equipment and pay it needs; the Pentagon is for that, including pay raises. He talked about wanting to convert to a more mobile, lighter military in the future. Those kinds of plans are already under way at the Pentagon. Talked about a missile defense. The Pentagon, of course, favors a missile defense, effective missile defense, as long as it works. They want it to work before they start spending the money on it. And probably the biggest -- the most critical comment that Governor Bush made was that the U.S. ought to be peace makers around the world, but not peacekeepers everywhere. And the Pentagon and Secretary Cohen I think would agree with that sentiment as well, and they would point out that the U.S. is gradually withdrawing -- or drawing down the number of troops it has in peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. I think one of the things the Pentagon, of course, would disagree with is the general tone that Governor Bush has taken that the U.S. military has been in decline, and has sagging morale. It is true the Pentagon says that they are having recruitment and retention problems. But they say that's really a result that the booming U.S. economy and the fact that there are many, many other job out there that they have to compete with. So really some mild criticism in this go around on defense debate with presidential candidates, and not much really there for the Pentagon to object to.</s>LIN: All right, thank you very much Jamie McIntyre for that perspective.
Bush Remarks Offer Little for Pentagon Objection