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.
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.