The native of Poland held the top military job at the Pentagon in the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1997, when the general retired from the Army. He spent his later years living near Fort Lewis, Wash., and worked as a visiting professor at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.
Clinton pointed out that Shalikashvili made the recommendations that sent US troops into harm’s way in Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and a host of other world hotspots that had proliferated since the end of the Cold War. “He never minced words, he never postured or pulled punches, he never shied away from tough issues or tough calls, and most important, he never shied away from doing what he believed was the right thing,’’ Clinton said.
In a farewell interview in 1997, General Shalikashvili said US military and civilian authorities need to cooperate more when they decide to get involved in such trouble spots, because so much of what the military is asked to do involves humanitarian or peacekeeping operations.
For example, he said, the military might need assistance from the Justice Department to help set up police forces, or advice from the State Department on economic aid.
“We know the agencies, but who is responsible for coordinating it, bringing it all in at the right time?’’ he said. “Haiti, Bosnia, Rwanda, even Somalia, showed us these things go forward from the first day, and there is no coordinator.’’
General Shalikashvili was head of the Joint Chiefs when the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ policy on gays in the military was adopted. He had argued that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would hurt troop morale and undermine the cohesion of combat units. Years later, though, he said that he changed his mind on the issue after meeting with gay servicemen.
“These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers,’’ General Shalikashvili wrote in a 2007 New York Times opinion piece.
