Posted on 06/15/2007 10:02:30 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Pace says he refused to quit voluntarily
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 11 minutes ago
In his first public comments on the Bush administration's surprise decision to replace him as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace disclosed that he had turned down an offer to voluntarily retire rather than be forced out.
To quit in wartime, he said, would be letting down the troops.
Pace, responding to a question from the audience after he spoke at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday evening, said he first heard that his expected nomination for a second two-year term was in jeopardy in mid-May. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on June 8 announced Pace was being replaced.
"One thing that was discussed was whether or not I should just voluntarily retire and take the issue off the table," Pace said, according to a transcript released Friday by his office at the Pentagon.
"I said I could not do that for one very fundamental reason," which is that no soldier or Marine in Iraq should "think — ever — that his chairman, whoever that person is, could have stayed in the battle and voluntarily walked off the battlefield.
"That is unacceptable as a leadership thing, in my mind," he added.
Pace, whose current term ends Oct. 1, said he intended to remain on the job until then. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen has been announced as Bush's choice to succeed Pace, who is the first Marine ever to hold the military's top post.
A Vietnam veteran, Pace has served in uniform for 40 years. That experience colored his decision to refuse to quit voluntarily.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
They've been wrapped in a tortilla and served up as a fajita.
General Pace is obviously a man of character - such men can never be too abundant in any organization. However, just to be fair to Gates, the only thing I remmber him saying is that he intended to renominate Pace and was warned the democrats were going to make a circus (my interprestation) of it. I think Gates was between a hard place and a rock when you think of the damage that the RATS would have done to this man’s reputation and the effect on morale for the whole armed forces to see yet another demonstration of the RATS contempt for our fighting men and women. Sometimes, there are no good choices.
How about a Thompson/Pace ticket?
Bout time we took this government back from the morons running Washington in both parties!
Bush is now flying his true colors.
I’ve never seen Bush go to bat for his subordinates...Good ones anyway.
There are exceptions, see Murtha.
Sometimes I wonder if by voting for Bush I secretly elected John Kerrey...
Not all the time, but sometimes.
...which was eaten by the Chihuahua at Taco Bell.
Pace is lucky. Bush is just betraying him. Scooter Libby is going to jail, while El Jorge worries about his “legacy”.
I think 6+yrs of Bush hating has finally gotten to the POTUS. He is unravelling.
When he announced the decision last Friday, Gates said that after consulting with members of the Senate he concluded that sticking with Pace would risk a Senate confirmation struggle focusing on the Iraq War.
These people will not be appeased. Giving into them is stupid. There is no way to avert this fight.
“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.” —Joseph Story
certainly cheney must have been have torqued!
“Fire Gates, and replace him with Pace.
This is pathetic.”
Fire Gates? Bush is Gates’ boss.
That is who my request was made to. Bush should fire Gates and replace him with Pace.
You're aiming too low. Fred will need a running mate.
Thompson/Pace 2008
Generals who make public comments in the press about their careers and their superiors by law- are the kind that should be fired. Buh Bye General Pace. See you on the Bush-bashing talking head circuit, I’m sure.
Pace for President. Impeach Bush, Gonzales and Gates now. Restore real men with honor to this government.
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