The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace — who recently revealed he hadn’t a clue about how many of his own U.S. troops were killed in Iraq or how many had died on 9/11 — is being replaced by order of Sec. of Defense Robert Gates, according to news reports this morning.
Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson speculates the final straw was Pace’s letter of support sent to the Judge in the Scooter Libby case:
Pace’s letter, sent to Judge Reggie Walton on Libby’s behalf, notes that “He impressed me as a team player.” The letter is posted in full here by The Smoking Gun.
Jon Soltz, an Iraq war vet and Chairman of VoteVets.org, the largest political group of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, concurs with Johnson’s assessment. “General Pace grossly overstepped his bounds and poorly represented the military with his political actions and misguided statements,” according to a Soltz in a statement sent to The BRAD BLOG. “The straw that broke the camel’s back, for us, was his defense of a convicted felon, Scooter Libby, when it was entirely improper for him to do so, as a top leader in the military, who must remain non-partisan.”
Johnson concludes: “I believe that Perfect Peter has dishonored himself and dishonored the Marine Corps by his conduct–his weak, vacillating leadership and his craven pandering to political masters….Peter has been more willing than others to sell his soul for political expediency. He leaves in September. Good riddance.”
Pace should have been booted a long time ago. He was just another Bush “yes man” and this was obvious from day one! He, like Bush, has done a grave diservice to our country.
He was replaced for one reason and it had nothing to do with knowing how many troops have died, thinking gays are yucky or an I love Libby letter. They did not want him in front of Congress during his conformation answering tough questions about shitty decisions he was forced to implement.
Maybe now that he is retiring, he will be allowed to explain some of his actions, though I doubt it.
Wow, saying something about Mr. Libby’s conviction and sentencing is just so INCREDIBLY political and contrary to how a general on the ground during a war is supposed to conduct themselves.
So what can we conclude from this? Well, we know he’s not so stupid that he didn’t know all of the consequences it would have. So he KNEW it would force them to get him out of there. So he either (1) wanted to be gotten out of there, or (2) someone made it worth his while, by offering him something in return for doing what he did. Or both. Scooter was loyal to Bush and Cheney. The ultra-rich conservatives who are behind and friendly with Bush and Cheney and Scooter are certainly rich enough to reward Pace for weighing in on the case, and sacrificing his military career.
So look for Pace to take a very lucrative job in the very near future. And look for a lot more crap like this to happen.
This may not seem related at first, but hear me out:
Did you notice how in the Republican debates there seemed to be a consensus that a pardon for Scooter Libby would be just fine, particularly since “there was no underlying crime committed”? Giuliani said this, and so did Romney. And incredibly, nobody said anything about obstruction of justice being a real crime.
And you’ll notice that Blitzer didn’t challenge any of this, so the MSM is playing along. I think they have all been told that they will be rewarded and supported for taking these positions.
Case in point wrt the MSM playing along: I found it incredible that Blitzer allowed Romney to rewrite history by claiming that the weapons inspectors had been forced out of Iraq by Saddam. We all can remember, or look it up, that in fact, the weapons inspectors were called home by Bush in the run-up to the war. You’d think that Romney might have been just a little nervous about floating a new LIE like that in a forum where anyone could have made huge news by calling him out on it. Could it be that none of the other candidates DID call him out on it because they have all been told that they will only get the big rewards if they play along with these made-up-memes? Why else would they have ALL stood mute, when they could have pounced and made Romney look like a fool. I think we have to admit they all at least knew that the fix was in on this.
And why would the mainstream media play along, unless they were part of the deal? How could Wolf Blitzer have been so unbelievably incompetent or complicit as to allow these falsehoods to play out before his very eyes, when he knows better? He was at CNN *reporting* on the pull-out of the weapons inspectors. Clearly he knew better. Maybe he’d like to keep his job? Maybe he knows that if he makes anyone look bad, his career will be ruined?
When unbelievable stuff like this happens again and again, it becomes obvious at some point that there are forces at play causing things to spin this way.
Some words from Watergate come to mind: “Follow the money”.
John Dowd
I suppose the clothes don’t make a bushie. It is something inside that warps comprehension.
The readers and writers of this blog show their bias and ignorance when they can relate only to those who share their views. Gen Pace served honorably and I have the highest respect for the man. I share his views on homosexuals and am glad he had the courage to express his views and convinctions. Semper Fi.
I saw Gen. Pace extremely flustered and grappling for just the right words in a hearing chaired by Chris Shays Repub about Pentagon waste to the tune of 1.2 trillion dollars. New flak jackets were being sold over EBay and old ones sent to the troops. Enough equipment to set up a bioterroism lab.The sting operation that uncovered that was done by the GAO with a phony credit card. Another trillion or so went missing since then. So anybody that supports this administration….unarmored humvees and old worn out flak jackets ..improper training…does not care about our troops. Semper fi my eye
I think the firing is an ominous sign for a military attack upon Iran and John Dowd’s comment above suports this theory.
Much like the removal of other Generals that disagreed with the President, such as GEN Anthoney Zinni (who was the administration’s ambassador to the Middle East at the time), GEN Batiste, & GEN Eric Shinseki, Gen Pace did not agree with Bushco attacking Iran or a longterm commitment to Iraq.
leveymg’s DailyKos diary explains:
This pattern is getting very familiar. If a General does not agree with the upcoming plans and decisions of Bushco, they are replaced with someone who will.
What it shows is that they now realize we were right in our posts here some time ago (years, months ?) that while we limelighted in the neoCon sun of bushie shit, the Iranians empowered a plan that had them sending in trained exiles to take over the overthrown government of Sadaam.
This was an american backed coup that was stealth. We posted it here on bradblog.
The Sunni structure which Sadaam supported as an offset to the shia realm backed by Iran was thrown down by the US invasion. Immediately before the US could grasp it, the Shia elements that had been trained in Iran moved into position.
Bremer, drunk on MSM bushit champaign, was delighted and drunken by the pulling down of some statues.
Meanwhile the exhiled shia rushed back into Iraq and placed themselves where they had been trained to.
Bremer finalized the Iranian Shia triumph by purging the Sunni ranks (the baathists) and by killing Sadaam et. al.
Now a world war II timeframe later (4 fucking years or so), they begin to arm the Sunni. How stupid?
Retarded fucking knee jerk by fucking jerk retards drunk on the lust for oil.
Now Turkey and Saudi Arabia are also tempted to enter into this “don’t shit where you eat” madness.
Nuff said?
General Peter Pace: Clash with President Bush over evidence of insurrection his undoing
____________________________
Evidence of a significant insurrection and seditious conspiracy against the laws of the United States was this week presented to General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Armed Forces. (See: Insurrection).
General Pace and his Joint Chiefs of Staff were urgently requested to address and terminate the progress of the treacherous conspiracy in terms of their Constitutional and Statutory dictates. (See: Letter). The Joint Chiefs have taken an Oath of Office to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. Previously, the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government failed to quell the conspiracy against the laws of the country.
It is believed that a fierce clash between President Bush and General Pace over whether to address or conceal the illegal conspiracy led to the sudden announcement of Gen. Pace’s imminent retirement after only two years in office. The White House on the other hand, offers the soft and obsequious pretext: Gen. Pace’s confirmation hearings at the US Senate will be too “contentious”.
General Pace is not the only senior official to lose his job after clashes with President Bush over the question of the very same seditious conspiracy. Mr. Roscoe C. Howard, former US Attorney for Washington D.C., was fired at the insistence of President Bush who was, at the time, under criminal investigation by Mr. Howard for violations of the criminal statutes in the proceedings of civil case no. 1:03-02496(EGS), US District Court for D.C., (a case dealing with the very insurrection under discussion).
The acute dilemma for General Pace and the Joint Chiefs of Staff is whether to honor their oath and take decisive action against the seditious conspirators, which includes their Commander in Chief; or, whether to simply ignore and conceal the profound evidence presented to them, and thereby adhere to the enemies of the state, giving them aid and comfort ““ an offense classified as treason. (18USC2381).
Statement Released By:
Anthony P. Keyter
6200 Soundview Drive, R201,
Gig Harbor, Washington 98335, USA.
Phone (253) 853-3859. Fax (253) 851-1108