Friday June 15, 2007, 12:35 pm
Being a retired Senior NCO who actually worked for General Pace under the Joint Armed Forces Task Force at the Pentagon, I can tell you he is just another "sacrificial Lamb". Why do I say this? General Pace is a logical and free thinking man. Do not let the Marine uniform make you think he is simply a robot. He does not want to support the Bush initiatives to invade Iran and thus, he is going to be replaced by a Navy man. Come on people, this is going global. The last time we had a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs being a navy man it was Admiral Crowe. We invaded Panama, then after that, he was replaced with an Infantry General in the form of Collin Powell. Need I say that an Admiral would mean you would need someone more out of the loop in terms of ground war experience so they will follow the President's orders.
We have not had a major Naval confrontation to speak of since WWII. In a ground war, you want a man who knows ground tactics. It would help if he were a puppet. General Pace, and I am saying this from knowing the man, is not a puppet. So, Bush simply replaces him. He has a long list of "retired Generals" and Senior NCO's, (me being one of them), who have been put out to pasture so he could put puppets in place.
Sound familiar? Hitler did the very same thing, as did Stalin. General Pace is a good man, regardless of who his boss currently is....
This is my official opinion: Retired Command Sgt Major, Daniel Luke Diaz.

Friday June 15, 2007, 12:48 pm
Performing just as we expect a Dictator to.Congress has greatly let us all down,treading water,capitulating to the Whitehouse.Hopefully,we don't lose our gains come 2008.

Friday June 15, 2007, 1:03 pm
noted

Friday June 15, 2007, 1:19 pm
Thanks Rooibos. Noted

Friday June 15, 2007, 2:33 pm
All - thank you for your valuable comments. I, too, found it interesting that this man was ousted and the circumstances around his "disposal" as compared with that of Donald Rumsfeld. I have to wonder now if Bush realizes that he's likely made yet another political enemy who just may expose more information about life inside The Regime!

Friday June 15, 2007, 5:23 pm
i suport all you alls wonderful news storys.
lisa

Friday June 15, 2007, 6:35 pm
The President’s Plan is Not Working

This week, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid sent a letter to President Bush calling on him to listen to the American people and bring an end to the war in Iraq. They began the letter stating:

Last November, the American people overwhelming made clear their desire to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. Yet, at the start of this year, you announced a substantial escalation of our military presence in Iraq. This so-called “surge” was clearly at odds with past experiences in Iraq, the wishes of the American people, and the advice of many senior military leaders, including General Douglas Lute, your “war czar” nominee. Nevertheless, you proceeded to call up thousands of additional National Guardsmen and Reservists, extend the tours of tens of thousands of brave troops already in Iraq, and plunge our forces even deeper into Iraq’s civil war.

As many had foreseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results. The increase in U.S. forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation. It has not enhanced America’s national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on U.S. forces have increased. In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for U.S. troops.

It is clear that the President’s plan is not working. The escalation of troops has failed to produce the intended results, and violence remains high. According to a Pentagon report released this week, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for U.S. troops. The former head of the US training operation in Iraq, General Dempsey, said recently that after years of effort and a massive expenditure of resources training Iraqi security forces, Iraqi units remain uneven in their quality and reliability.

Congress will again send the President legislation to limit the U.S. mission in Iraq; begin the phased redeployment of U.S. forces; and bring the war to a responsible end. We hope the President will work with us to give our troops a strategy that winds down the war and is worthy of their sacrifice.

Read Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid’s Letter to President Bush>>



Honoring Our Veterans With the Care They Deserve

Today, the House passed legislation that gives the largest increase in funding for veterans’ health in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration. American veterans are our heroes, and we must honor them as such.

This legislation funds more than 1,100 VA claims processors to reduce the backlog that some measured to be over 400,000. It also increases funding to address the VA’s repair and maintenance needs to prevent a Walter Reed type scandal from occurring again. Our bill also funds new initiatives to treat post traumatic stress disorder and mental health and substance abuse; programs to assist America’s homeless veterans; and improves medical facilities and medical research.

Action on veterans’ health care funding could not come at a more important time - a military report released yesterday, found there are significant problems in the military health care system and a rise in veterans suffering from mental disorders. More than one-third of the 230,000 new veterans who have applied for medical assistance from the Veterans’ Affairs Department suffer from one or more mental disorders. This bill provides $600 million more than the President’s request for mental health, PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. It also makes five polytrauma centers and three Centers of Excellence for Mental Health and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) fully operational this year to care for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, including those with TBI.

Watch Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Chairman Chet Edwards, and Rep. Nancy Boyda on the legislation>>

Learn more about the legislation>>



Strengthening Gun Background Check Legislation

This week, the House passed legislation to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background System, marking the first gun violence prevention legislation passed in the House in over a decade. This week’s legislation improves our nation’s background check system, authorizing funding and taking practical steps to encourage states to provide timely and accurate information on individuals who are barred under current law from acquiring guns.

The tragic Virginia Tech shooting reminded us that there is an urgent national need to improve the background check system to keep guns out of the hands of those barred from buying them. When gun violence takes away lives, we all suffer as a nation.

Watch video from the House floor debate in The Gavel>>

Read Speaker Pelosi’s statement on this legislation>>



Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Reflects Commitment By Democrats to Protect American People

This week, the House passed H.R. 2638, the 2008 Homeland Security Appropriations Act, reflecting the commitment by Democrats to protect the American people. The bill funds the hiring of 3,000 new border patrol agents, rejects the cuts President Bush sought in the training and equipping of first responders, and improves aviation and port security. It also includes strong accountability measures to make certain that taxpayer dollars will be spent wisely and that contracts will be competitively bid.

President Bush – whose war in Iraq has weakened our military and made our country less secure, and who has never made homeland security the priority it needs to be – has threatened to veto the bill. House Democrats hope the clear bipartisan majority voting for the bill will encourage him to withdraw his misguided veto threat and adopt homeland security policies more in touch with the wishes of the American people.

Friday June 15, 2007, 11:56 pm
This president doesn't care about the will of the people. Everywhere he goes he makes enemies. Hopefully, the rest of the world can see what 72% of the American people have discovered. General Pace shouldn't go quietly and whoever said he was a "sacrificial lamb" was right on. This will go down as the worst, most dishonest, arrogant, bullying administration in the history of our country. I think it is time to give a Democrat a chance to run this country. I am truely fed up with the lies and deceit coming from Bush etal.

Saturday June 16, 2007, 5:12 pm
And we thought Nixon was bad...