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 ...
Sad......what has happened to Bush....I thought he had a set.
Semper Fi!
damn good man and Marine! Troops are going to miss him!!
Fire Gates, and replace him with Pace.
This is pathetic.
That is one hell of a Marine. The country should be sad to see him leave.
Mass confusion in the Bush disadministration!.........
Wishing that Bush had the mettle of a Marine!
Our military needs more leaders like General Pace.
Good for him. Pace should tell the politicians to stuff it, then run for office.
And our country needs more leaders like President Reagan!
I read somewhere....can’t remember where that he was being fired over his biblical viewpoints of homosexuality, I pray that this is not the case. This person has integrity. Which most in DC lack.
Thank YOU Gen. Pace.......we will not forget you.
In his remarks in Norfolk, Pace said Gates had accurately portrayed what transpired.
"He brought me in the office and sat me down and said `Pete, this is what's happening. I want to re-nominate you. I want you to know that this is what I'm beginning to hear, this is what I'm going to go do, this is how I'm going to go do it.'"
"He went out and did exactly what he said on television, and exactly what he's been saying in his interviews, which is he went out and pulsed various members of Congress and he heard back from them the things that he said that he heard," Pace said.
Pace concurring that what Gates had heard from Congress was true.
IMO it is true that a contentious hearing in Congress was the last thing needed. The Chairman needs to be devoting 100% of his attention to the WOT, especially during the sensitive surge period.
Oh he does.
But as you know when Jello warms,.......
Never thought I’d say this: Bush is an asshole.
Bush fights like hell for Shamnesty and lets Pace and Libby fall on their swords. W's a real class act.
We forced out a man with this attitude?
Sheesh.
Pace should move to a state where some RINO is and file for a Senate seat.
“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.
That he was asked by the Bush administration to walk away shows their brand of leadership. Completely disgusting to treat a Marine this way. But, that’s the nature of politicians and how they don’t measure up to a Marine.
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