Friday, June 15, 2007

Throwing Pace Overboard

I have not wanted to write this post. I really wanted to believe that the Bush administration had not sunk to this level. But, even the man in the middle says that he was asked to voluntarily retire. He said no way and that makes Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff a hero and defense secretary Robert Gates the spineless bureaucrat that many of us feared when he was appointed to his post the day after the November 2006 election.
If you do not remember that, President Bush threw then defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld under the bus. Without coming out and saying so, the Bush administration blamed Mr. Rumsfeld and his handling of the war effort as the primary reason that congress fell back into Democrat hands. Well, that was not the primary reason. There were many. But, Mr. Rumsfeld can not be blamed totally for the war in the Iraq theatre. After all, he was the head of a department, took the advice of those on the field and presented that to the president. See, there is a lot a blame, if we want to do that, to go around. That should not have happened. Maybe Mr. Rumsfeld should have had a plan b and c. Again, not all his fault. There is the man at the top, President Bush. After Mr. Rumsfeld "resigned" President Bush named Robert Gates as his replacement. Mr. Gates is probably a nice guy, but he a bureaucrat. He has no idea about the defense department. He had no background in fighting the current war we are in, the War Against Terror. A wiser choice would have been to appoint just re-elected Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn) to the post.
In between then and now, Gen. Pace made very personal comments about homosexuality and never said anything against the current policy of "don't ask, don't tell" which allows gays and lesbians to serve in the armed forces. Gen. Pace was very clear that the comments were his own point of view, yet the Chicago Tribune emphasized his view about homosexuality and that may have been the begining of the end.
But I have to say, the powers to be are spinning it really good. They are saying that they did not want a bruising battle in the senate because there would be intense questioning about the war in the Iraq theatre. As a sidebar, they noted the comments about homosexuality may also come into the hearings. SO WHAT?! If the Bush administration and defense secretary Gates are so frightened of intense questioning and yes, the possibility of Gen. Pace not getting senate approval, then how will the continue this long struggle against Jihaddists?
In reality, Mr. Gates should go. Gen. Pace, on a bad day, is a better man and leader than Mr. Gates will ever be.
Gen. Pace, I believe, said it best when he said that he was "offered" to resign or not be reappointed. Gen. Pace said that he could not resign because that would be a slap in the face to those serving in Iraq and in the United States armed forces. No, Gen. Pace, you gave Mr. Gates a nice backhand.
It is the continuation of so many missteps that the Bush administration is making. It is getting harder and harder to defend some of these actions. By not standing up to the senate and let it ride, the administration shows weakness. Rather than wasting time on the "comprehensive immigration reform" bill-scam, he should have stood up for Gen. Pace and not the bureaucrat Mr. Gates.
I hope that things turn around in the Bush administration soon because these are not good signs and those on the other side always smell blood and pounce. Mr. Bush should never give them that opportunity, but he has in this struggle and it may be profound in the overall War Against Terror.

1 comment:

Pat Jenkins said...

64 i may have to disagree with you on some things with this one. i don't think the administration used rummy as a sacrificial lamb, they had many an opportunity to lay any "failure" at his feet and did not. matter of fact bush defended him when even some in the party wanted his head. his resignation was an attempt to save him from the dem congress who would have done everything in their power to disgrace him and his work. he had to leave!! now to your points of gates and pace. the administration hands are tied in this respect, obviously the (D)congress is vocal on it's opposition of the war. so i think they, the admin., is trying to give them as little to be critical about as possible. the difficulty in that is you will never silence a critic, and they will be forever chasing their one tail to please congress.