The sharp saluter on the left in the photo is being replaced because the less than straighter shooters on the right are out of range of the Democrats. General Pace has been a military man managing a civilian inspired and directed war. The motivation would be to do the most with what he had. His position is advisory and get his photo taken with the president. Secretary Gates decided to let him go so he would not have a tough time facing the Senate. The Democrats are still incensed that Pace was frank in his objections to homosexuals in the military. General Pace, a good and honorable man, is going down because of the lesser men he served. That is how it goes. Now Bush will have to hope he does not have to face Pace's book. Pace to be replaced as Joint Chiefs head
Published Saturday, June 9, 2007
By Lolita Baldor Tuscaloosa News
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON | Bitter divisions over the Iraq war, particularly on Capitol Hill, led the Bush administration to change course and replace Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a grim Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday.
Gates said that despite earlier plans to recommend Pace for a second two-year term as chairman, he instead was recommending Adm. Mike Mullen, chief of naval operations, to take over when Pace’s term expires Sept. 30. President Bush accepted the recommendation.
“I think that the events of the last several months have simply created an environment in which I think there would be a confirmation process that would not be in the best interests of the country," Gates said. “I wish it were not necessary to make a decision like this. But I think it’s a realistic appraisal of where we are."
Bush praised Pace, saying he has “relied on his unvarnished military judgment, and I value his candor, his integrity, and his friendship."
“Pete’s job has been to help ensure that America’s military forces are prepared to meet the threats of this new century," Bush said in a statement issued in Rome, where he is visiting. “This is a difficult task in a time of peace. Pete Pace has done it in a time of war -- and he has done it superbly."
Gates said he had been told by Republican and Democratic senators that a confirmation hearing for Pace would be a “backward-looking and very contentious process."
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., acknowledged such advice, saying he had gathered views from a broad range of senators. “I found that the views of many senators reflected my own," and confirmation would have focused on the past four years of war, he said.
A spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said she, too, believed it would have been a difficult renomination.
Well, duece, considering that General Pace has "has served as chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the last six years".
ReplyDeleteSo the Military options we've followed, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Syria are laid at his doorstep.
The failures and successes.
The buck may not stop at the JCS, but it certainly rests there, on the way to the Oval Office.
Funny that they've "stopped loss" enlisted men, but are dumping the Generals left and right.
About time, really. Ought to accelerate the process of retiring Generals.
Replaced by a Navy man.
Centcom, Navy
JCS, Navy
Hope for future success, not placed in the ground forces, but the Navy.
Can't wait for September, will Mr Bush try to retire General P, rather than have him testify, as to past success or failures?
While Iraqi Military Commanders direct attacks against US troops, the US Commanders talk to Iraqis about it. This from a report in the National Journal
ReplyDeleteThe uniformed miscreants include a general fired for corruption who still meets with former subordinate officers for private dinners; a senior Iraqi officer with ties to Iranian intelligence who runs a kidnapping, extortion, and murder ring on the side; and a fiercely anti-coalition commander who directs cells that plant roadside bombs aimed at U.S. forces. Multi-National Force-Iraq has issued arrest warrants for some of the officers, but others are considered virtual "untouchables" because they enjoy protection from well-placed Iraqi politicians.
"There are cases where we can't touch corrupt officers who are too insulated politically, and in those instances I try and make it an Iraqi problem, because at the end of the day this is a sovereign nation with its own rules and laws," Burton said. At first the Iraqis almost invariably insist that their hands are tied. But Burton and other U.S. commanders say that relentless pressure usually brings results: Corrupt or tainted officers are either quietly fired or, more likely, reassigned to desk jobs, the better to avoid unduly dishonoring their families or tribes.
Shame on the US Commanders, for not killing the bastards. No wonder we're not winning, and cannot win, militarily.
Trish is going to have an orgasm when she sees those medals on Peter's chest.
ReplyDeleteTurbocharged by "Chesty" Rumsfeld's magnetic charms.
We may be doomed by Global Warming if you do not remove that photo ASAP, Deuce!
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ReplyDeleteWhen the political considerations of Iraqis are given more wieght, in the White House and the Pentagon, than the lives of US Soldiers and Marines, it's time to leave those Iraqi to their own devices.
ReplyDeleteWhile replacing those that would come to such a conclusion, in DC.
Those commanders would be held to account by the higher ups, 'Rat:
ReplyDeleteTo the Huzzahs of Honest Al and the like.
This ain't not trogdylytic confict, you know.
This is PC Non-Warfare of the kind that turns Trish on so.
I was there when she expressed her delight after LRC Kurilla was almost mortally wounded by a caught and released noble purple fingered Freedom Fighter!
ReplyDeleteMan, non-war is COOL!
Just call up Dubai, and ask Halliburton.
Have you learne NOSING, Rat? (ht Mat)
ReplyDeleteSynergy and Symmetry is what this is about:
As it is on the Border, so shall it be in Iraq:
Foreigners Rule!
"LTC and Learned"
ReplyDelete"a fiercely anti-coalition commander who directs cells that plant roadside bombs aimed at U.S. forces. ...
ReplyDelete...
"There are cases where we can't touch corrupt officers who are too insulated politically, and in those instances I try and make it an Iraqi problem, because at the end of the day this is a sovereign nation with its own rules and laws,"
As is Mexico!
ReplyDeleteGet with the Program!
XENOPHOBE.
Tell me:
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you want what's best for this country?
W wants to know.
Because I'm not worried about my soul, are you about yours?
ReplyDeleteGeorge obviously is, about his, or it'd not be a part of his sales package.
He saus he's savin' America's soul, when it is the state of his own, that's on his mind.
With all the problems facing the US, why this?
ReplyDeleteBUSH CALLS FOR ACTION OVER KOSOVO
The two leaders had lunch together in Rome
US President George W Bush has said a plan for Kosovo's UN-backed independence should take effect now, despite Russian and Serbian opposition.
Mr Bush was speaking after holding talks with the Italian Prime Minister Romani Prodi, during a visit to Rome.
Mr Bush said he discussed Kosovo with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G8 summit, and it was "time to bring this issue to its head"
Huh?
If there is going to be a "Caspian Alliance" of despotic powers, Iran, Russia, few of the 'stans, might as well bring it to a head.
ReplyDeleteSooner rather than later, many have advised. Maybe we're setting the Stage, preparing to draw a line in the sand.
Naval power is now on the bridge, in positions of Leadership of the US Military.
We've begun to change course, it's just that for a variety of different reasons, no one wants to admit it.
I've heard that if you cannot solve a problem, exand its' scope.
ReplyDeleteThe Ship of State sails on.
What on earth could Russia have in common with Iran? You'll have to expand on that one DR. The only thing I can think of is enmity towards the US. That hardly measures up to the potential diificulties facing a resurgent Islam in Russian neighbors.
ReplyDeleteNuclear reactors being built in Iran, by Russians.
ReplyDeleteBoth are "Oil Powers", interested in increasing the security premium component of the price of crude.
As does Mr Chavez.
Both the Russians and Iranians believe the US is streeeeeched to the military limits. As must the Turks, to a degree.
All, as elijah reminds US, the US expands it's military footprint to Russia's doorstep.
The Russians feel threatened, and is looking for allies, too.
The offer to put the US in Azerbaijan a great info war move.
Will there be street protests in the Czech Republic, can Putin oraganize that, through proxies?
Peter Pace is an android.
ReplyDeleteLook to the Crimean War (1854–1856)for past examples of the Russians working with mussulmen to be the premier foreign power in the region.
ReplyDeleteThe Russians often in the past have allied themselves with some mussulmen, while battling others.
Russians have not seen the mussulmen as monolithic, historicly. At least not behaved so.
The Chechen War, while building Iranian nuclear capability concurrently, a current example of Russian tracking two courses at once, with regards mussulmen.
Most of Russia's mussulmen are Sunni, important as another factor to be wieghed in it's relations with Iran.
Who has supplied the military equipment to the Iranians, who continues to, but the Russians.
ReplyDeleteIf we then superimpose the reports that Mr Putin is emulating Imperial Russia as his design template, rather than the Soviet model, the Crimea becomes a ever more apt reference, to predict possible Russian behaviour in the Region.
ReplyDeleteI once read that Russian combat engineers Bn had entered Lebanon, independent of the UN Command.
ReplyDeleteNever read that they left.
Don't we have a single ID system with a database that tracks who comes in and who leaves.
ReplyDeleteLevantland Defense.
Here, at the Bar?
ReplyDeleteOnly duece or whit would be privy to that, me thinks.
Deuce and Whit are in the privy.:)
ReplyDeleteWe have no tell policy here at the EB.
ReplyDelete