2014-10-31-db-Dempsey5.JPG

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, giving a speech at the Syracuse University Law School. The university has an Institute for Veterans and Military Families program and the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

(Dick Blume | dblume@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Speaking at Syracuse University this morning, Gen. Martin Dempsey was free and loose with jokes.

The nation's highest ranking military officer began with one about himself and his wife, Deanie Dempsey, a Le Moyne College graduate. "Did you ever in your wildest dreams think we'd be here and I'd be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?"

"You're not in my wildest dreams," was the punchline.

Yusuf Soule, a Muslim man who is the city of Syracuse schools' on-campus coordinator at Syracuse University, asks a question of Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at Dempsey's speech at Syracuse University Law School on Friday, Oct. 31, 2014.

But during a Q&A after his speech, when a long-bearded Muslim man stood up, Dempsey shot a quip that stung and shocked. "Are you Taliban?" he asked before the man could speak. "Just kidding," he said.

Yusuf Soule, the questioner, didn't hear Dempsey's quip, or know about it until asked by a reporter. Even then, Soule, director of the Syracuse's North Side Learning Center, wasn't bothered by it.

"He's a funny guy," said Soule, a Binghamton native who converted to Islam in 1999. "I hear things like that all the time. Airports are the worst."

But the dean of Hendricks Chapel at SU, the Rev. Tiffany Steinwert, approached Soule and offered him an apology on behalf of the university.

Dempsey sprinkled off-the-cuff quips throughout his talk about leadership and national defense issues.

Soule's question was about the difficulty and importance of meeting people face-to-face. Dempsey stressed the importance of that, wrapped up his presentation and was driven away from SU's Dineen Hall in a black SUV.

Soule had to leave, too, for midday prayers.

Contact Dave Tobin anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3277

