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 ...
Don’t blame Gates. Blame Bush.
Don’t bring facts to an irrational Bush bash! It creates a disturbance in the farce!
“I am no stranger to contentious confirmations, and I do not shrink from them,” Gates said. “However, 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. ...”
Let’s hear that one more time...
“I am no stranger to contentious confirmations, and I do not shrink from them,” Gates said. “However, 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. ...”
Goodness. The hysterics is appalling. Please kindly tell me how forcing this good men to listen to traitors bloviate nonstop (and HIGHLY LIKELY not returned to his rightful position, you know us being in the minority and Communists in the majority? you still remember right?) while leaving our combat forces leaderless is going to benefit this nation or its servicemen?
I don’t know about anyone else; but I am at a loss for words with everything going on. They are getting rid of good men, good men are going to jail.
WHY?
Not to mention that this circus where the government rips itself apart in recriminations, excuse making, fact and fiction would serve as an excellent morale booster for our troops, reinspire the public’s confidence in the war on terror, and absolutely devastate the enemy will to fight.
Of course no Sinator would EVER dream of leaking classified info to make the Pres. look bad and score political points. Nope, no chance of that happening.
My opinion of the President now is almost exactly opposite of what it was a few months ago.
How can we not see what is happening! One bad decision after another from this administration since the time around the last national elections.
Democrats are almost treasonist in their conduct.
The acts from both parties goes from sad to tragic. It is about keeping power. It is about who is in control, not what is best for the country.
Everyone who ever thinks that Government is the answer to msot of our problems shall suffer a pox on their house.
I suspect that those screaming the loudest about Bush are the same ones who decided to sit out the last election to “teach the RINOs a lesson”.
bttt
Don’t worry: his “legacy” will be written by those whose favor he curries—but will never quite achieve. He’s trying to out-DemocRAT the DemocRATS, and they despise him.
Pace is a real class act. More than I can say for Gates.
I thought he had a set.
They’ve been wrapped in a tortilla and served up as a fajita.
Now that’s funny right there.
Murtha wasn't really a Marine...like Dan Rather and James Carville and he just plays one in front of America's television sets; sort of like George W. Bush played Air Guard pilot in helping an Alabama politician run for Congress when he was supposed to be drilling as one in Texas. (Besides, there are always a few rotten apples that don't get plucked from the tree of freedom the Corps protects--just ask Clayton Lonetree).
You would be thinking wrong then. I have been one of his most enthusiastic supporters—and defenders. But lately, he’s hard to defend, let alone support.
Its useful in this discussion to compare the professional soldier with the professional politician.
Both serve their country, but in very different ways.
The soldiers endures a career of arduous duty assignments, often in unpopular locales where housing is bad, and the schools worse. Politicians find themselves a tony little spot in D.C. or Montgomery County and find a way for their campaign or a lobbyist to buy it for them. They send their kids to the finest private schools in the land.
Soldiers willingly risk life and limb. If not in combat, then in the endless routine of challenging training so that they will remain eternally ready. Politicians legislate privilege and comfort for themselves and their families. They force the military to fly them hither and yon, in style, so that they don’t have to rub elbows with the peasant class. They run for the hills at the first sign of danger to their political career.
Soldiers do it for little pay and less perks. They toss the family, the dog, and their stuff into an aging van and drive across the country to get to their next duty station, staying at the budget motels and making sandwiches in the back seat to save money. Politicians stuff their pockets with money, getting rich off the public trust. They do favors for friends and relatives. They take care of those who take care of them. They come to Washington like soldiers, they leave like kings and corporate barons.
Soldiers have never failed this country, especially in battle. Politicans fail every day and even more so in troubling times. They, not soldiers failed us in Vietnam, and they, not soldiers will fail us in Iraq.
So, whom do you trust? Soldiers or Politicians?
I'm sorry but the good choice in this case was to dig in your heels and go to the mat for your people regardless of who the opposition is. General Pace wasn't afraid of the fight. I doubt any marine was afraid of the fight. The only ones afraid were in the administration. And now they think that by sacrificing General Pace the opposition is cowed and their new nominee will sail through? Think again.
Forced out by Harry and his Hooligans.
True. Not only that, but we would get Hillary Clinton's face and voice on TV day after day during hearings.
No thanks. Gates made the right decision IMO.
Do you honestly think the professional bloviators on Capitol Hill are going to miss an opportunity to diss the war, bash Bush, snark at the military, etc., just because the man in the hot seat isn’t Pace? It’ll be just as ugly for Mullen, I predict. Wait until he’s lectured ad nauseam by the likes of Carl Levin about gays in the military, the horrors of Abu Ghraib, missteps in Iraq, etc.
The Dems aren’t going to miss an opportunity to make whomever they can look bad. In fact, giving into their insane demands by firing Pace will only embolden the left further while demoralizing the right. Bush gains nothing, absolutely nothing by caving in to the likes of Levin and Kennedy. If the Commander in Chief and his SecDef are cowering in fear of hardball politics on Capitol Hill how on earth can they justify sending men and women into a hot war zone to dodge IEDs? I’m disgusted.
Save those words. Years from now, you may find them causing a profound sense of deja vu.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.