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Pace Issues Upbeat Report as He Departs WASHINGTON — As Senate Democrats debated through the night the merits of leaving Iraq, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the security atmosphere in Iraq has undergone a "sea change." General Peter Pace brought along a reporter for the Associated Press, Robert Burns, on an unscheduled tour of Ramadi yesterday while his helicopter was grounded in a sandstorm and said he was optimistic that the troop surge that began in February and was completed in June was improving security for Iraqis. After meeting with the mayor of Ramadi and...

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – Following an incident in Baghdad today where Iraqi police engaged U.S. troops in a firefight, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Gen. Peter Pace vowed U.S. forces will “track down” the attackers. “We are going to go after these networks that are killing our soldiers and Marines regardless of where that network leads,” Pace told reporters at the Pentagon. “Sometimes it leads to Iranians, sometimes it leads to Iraqis, sometimes it leads to al Qaeda. Wherever the network takes us, we are going to track them down and deal with them.” Pace spoke about the...

Mike Mullen's Surprise Promotion By Tom Bowman CNO will carry a reputation as a pragmatist and problem-solver to the JCS Chairman’s office. When American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, Admiral Mike Mullen was talking budgets with then-Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Vern Clark. Suddenly he felt something that reminded him of an earthquake in his native California. His office down the hall was closer to the impact. It quickly filled with smoke. His staff said the plane, slicing into the Pentagon some four floors below, appeared to roll under their feet. “It was a...

I have what some might consider the macabre habit of reading the casualty reports from Iraq every day in the New York Times. This may reflect the fact that I served in the military or that I worked in the White House during Vietnam. But there’s one name that hasn’t yet appeared in the casualty reports: the name of General Peter Pace, the first Marine—and I say this with pride as a former Marine—to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Why am I looking for Pace’s name on the casualty list? His distinguished military career was recently...

American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007 - As he nominated his picks for the nation's top two military posts, President Bush said today they will succeed "two of America's finest military officers," Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani, vice chairman. Bush named Adm. Michael G. Mullen as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Marine Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright as vice chairman, subject to Senate approval. Flanked by Mullen, Cartwright and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in the White House Roosevelt Room, the...

Watched the Gates/General Pace press conference. Was totally struck by the character of Pace. I couldn’t help thinking what a strong, honorable trustworthy man he seemed. And I couldn’t help but contrast his character with the politicians in Washington. Comparing a guy like Pace to say, Joe Biden, its just no contest. Then I got depressed. It seems all the politicians (read: democrats) want to do is tear down the guys like Pace who are the real hero’s and our nations strength. Are we losing our way in this country because we are no longer allowed to admire people like...

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2007 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today he is going to stay focused on his job of providing the best military advice to the president, vice president, defense secretary and rest of the National Security Council until his term expires at the end of September. Marine Gen. Peter Pace spoke along with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at a Pentagon news conference. Reporters asked Pace about the fact that Gates did not nominate him for a second two-year term as chairman. Gates, saying he wanted to spare the military a divisive confirmation...

This e-mail from a Marine officer-turned-Arkansas farmer who fought — and was wounded twice — in the Battle of Hue (in which then-2nd Lieutenant Peter Pace also fought), one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War: ... "I think Harry Reid is a wimp, who acts like a sissy, and could not lead a platoon of Marines to the head (latrine)."

NORFOLK, Va., June 15, 2007 – Although he would never voluntarily leave the battlefield while troops are at war, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said he accepts the decision to not renominate him for a second term. On June 8, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced that he was going to recommend that President Bush nominate Adm. Michael G. Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff rather than nominate Pace for another two-year term. Pace discussed that decision process in response to a question posed following an address to students, faculty, and local military and community leaders at the...

...I will tell you the truth as I know it, and that is around the middle of May, within a day or two of the Secretary learning from certain members of Congress that there may be a problem to renominate me, he brought me in the office and sat me down and said “Pete, this is what’s happening. ...

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...

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Thursday that he told liberal bloggers last week that he thinks outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace is "incompetent." Reid acknowledged similarly disparaging Army Gen. David Petraeus, head of Multinational Forces in Iraq. But Reid, whose comments to bloggers first appeared in The Politico, also told reporters: "I think we should just drop it." Reid's admission came as reporters peppered him with questions about Pace and Petraeus, overshadowing a Capitol Hill press conference designed to highlight Democratic attempts to improve fuel economy and energy efficiency.

Washington June 8, 2007 - CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reported this evening that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Peter Pace's departure from that post may be linked to his recent comments regarding lesbian and gay military personnel. According to Starr's report, Pace's comments, along with his role in planning the war in Iraq and his support for convicted Vice Presidential advisor I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, played key roles in Congressional opposition to Pace's re-nomination. "His recent statements that he believed homosexual statements are immoral" presented a "significant problem" for Pace according to Starr. "Congressional leaders, in warning Secretary...

The Bush administration sought to avert a political fight with such Senate Democrats as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Carl Levin over Iraq and homosexuals in the military by not renominating Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace to a second term as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman. "The administration view was that this would not be helpful to protect America's security," said a defense official close to the debate. "People viewed a bruising Senate fight as not helpful in terms of public opinion, or in preparing for the interim report" expected in September from the top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H....

WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- A prominent congressional Republican has praised the service of the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has refused to reappoint Pace for a second term as chairman and is replacing him with his former deputy, Adm. Michael Mullen. However, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and a conservative candidate for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination, issued a statement Monday praising Pace's tenure. "Gen. Peter Pace is a great American hero. He has commanded...

Joint Chiefs Chairman, General Peter Pace is being retired. Were this because of an outstanding career which spans forty years, there would be some honorable mention in a handful of news stories, a retirement ceremony, and a bow of thanks for a lifetime spent serving his country. Sadly, Pace's departure is not such a scenario. No, Pace is being ungraciously sacrificed at the altar of capitulation to the anti-war movement. Given his service record, you would THINK this Administration would be a little quicker to stand by this Soldier's side, but President Bush seems more interested in standing by a...

Pace’s not being renominated has nothing to do with his performance as chairman of the JCS. It has everything to do with what he symbolizes (American leadership while fighting a difficult war in Iraq) to the usual salivating suspects on Capitol Hill. And it was clear to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and surely to President Bush, that Pace’s reconfirmation hearings would have been turned into a congressional circus: With poll-driven politicians focusing less on Pace’s performance and plans for the present and future prosecution of the war, and more on what has gone wrong in Iraq for the purposes of...

Back in July 2003, President Bush, in response to a question about stepped up attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, famously and defiantly declared, “Bring ‘em on!” Oh, how that tune has changed. Defense Secretary Robert Gates - using the old tactic of releasing controversial news just before the weekend in the hope of minimizing press coverage - announced Friday afternoon that “he will advise President Bush to replace Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (this fall), fearing that a contentious renomination hearing in the Senate would focus too heavily on six years...

In a March 12 interview with the Chicago Tribune, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made this statement: “I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.”1 Liberal Media Turn the Statement into a National Debate A media upoar ensued against the general, the first Marine to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One would think the distinguished and highly decorated...

Someone said Fox news is reporting that Pace has been fired as the services' chief of staff. Rumor has it that Cheney did the firing.