Neo Art
18-06-2007, 14:00
Marine General Peter Pace, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was recently replaced by the Bush administration has come out and said that the administration had asked him to voluntarily resign, prior to his replacement.
The reason he refused? Because he didn't want to damage troop morale by creating the image of a commanding officer walking away from a war.
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"
Source (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/15/pace.joint.chiefs.ap/index.html)
This is, however, exactly what the Bush administration wanted him to do. The same Bush administration that attacked Senator Reid for his comments earlier.
So, for those of you at home keeping score, a senator who has has no constitutional command of the military, a man who is not, and never has been in the military or served in any military position, giving his opinion that objectives have failed in Iraq, horribly damaging for troop morale, and according to some neocons, an act of treason.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the nation, short of the Commander in Chief himself, one who weilds extreme authority, throwing in the towel and walking away from a war? Eh, not so much.
The reason he refused? Because he didn't want to damage troop morale by creating the image of a commanding officer walking away from a war.
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"
Source (http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/15/pace.joint.chiefs.ap/index.html)
This is, however, exactly what the Bush administration wanted him to do. The same Bush administration that attacked Senator Reid for his comments earlier.
So, for those of you at home keeping score, a senator who has has no constitutional command of the military, a man who is not, and never has been in the military or served in any military position, giving his opinion that objectives have failed in Iraq, horribly damaging for troop morale, and according to some neocons, an act of treason.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the nation, short of the Commander in Chief himself, one who weilds extreme authority, throwing in the towel and walking away from a war? Eh, not so much.