Pace’s disconcerting Memorial Day mistakes

May 28, 2007

Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared on the CBS Early Show this morning in honor of Memorial Day. In an interview with Harry Smith, Pace paid tribute to the sacrifices of the troops and their families, but there was one exchange that was disappointing. (via Raw Story)

Smith: Almost 1,000 men and women have died in Iraq since last Memorial Day, and you know what the polls say in terms of support for this war. A lot of Americans are wondering this morning if their sacrifice is worth it. What would you say to that?

Pace: Well, I have great faith in the American people’s sense of balance and understanding. I think when we think about each individual death, as we should, for that family, it’s a total loss. When you take a look at the life of a nation and all that’s required to keep us free, you know we had more than 3,000 Americans murdered on 11 September, 2001. The number who have died, sacrificed themselves since that time is approaching that number. And we should pay great respect and thanks to them for allowing us to live free, and I think that when Americans think about that, they’ll understand that freedom is not free.

There has to be a better answer to this question. First, when Americans question whether the mission in Iraq is worth the fatalities, the attacks of 9/11 are hardly relevant. If any war supporter can help justify the current policy without mentioning 9/11, our discourse and policy debates would be far more productive.

Second, the number of Americans killed in Iraq is not “approaching” the 9/11 death toll; it surpassed the 9/11 death toll quite a while ago.

It was disappointing to see Pace try and connect two unrelated tragedies, but it was even more disheartening that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn’t know how many Americans have been killed in Iraq.

Denial disables, and collective denial, as that we are witnessing among the WH crowd, corrodes any hope we have to truly understand what is going on in Iraq. Things this WH crew are in denial about: no link between Saddam and al Qaeda, no WMDs, no recruiting for jihads in Iraq prior to our blunderous military moves, no diplomacy – causing isolation and failure, no plan B, not enough Arabic translators, no sectarian violence. And, the list could be lengthened by others who have more time to compile such utter failure.

Yes, on this Memorial Day I will be spending my time morning the soldiers who have fought and died defending our way of life at the same time I morn for the fallen soldiers in Iraq who have been sacrificed by a commander-in-chief and his VP who don’t understand the first thing about fighting and dying for our nation. -Kevo

  • And once again, these types of heinous mistakes will never be discussed or corrected over and again outside of blogs.

  • The Chickenhawk-in-Chief speaks!

    “On this Day of Memory, we mourn brave citizens who laid their lives down for our freedom. They lived and died as Americans. May we always honor them. May we always embrace them. And may we always be faithful to who they were and what they fought for. Thank you for having me. May God bless you and may God continue to bless our country.” (Source: whitehouse.gov)

    God’s continued blessing seems more like a never ending nightmare.

    Dear God,

    If you exist, please go to Washington, D.C. and pick up the trash you left behind. The sooner the better. The stench coming from it is overwhelming.

    Thanks in advance,
    The Loyal Opposition

  • According to some Marines I know who are in position to know what they’re talking about, General Pace is a “combat Marine” only by having a “combat command” (that didn’t see much combat) for the bare minimum time to qualify as a “combat command.” He’s been a staff weenie who was always “political” ever since. In other words, Chesty Puller or David Shoup he’s not and never will be. Staff weenies never “get it” when it comes to sacrifice, other than to mouth the platitudes du jour.

    Unfortunately, the Chesty Pullers and the David Shoups need not apply for higher command in the Imperial Legions that are what the American Military has become over the past 60 years.

  • For the 9/11 death toll to come close to our military losses in Iraq, you have to include a lot of deaths not officially attributed to the terrorist attack.

    The official list of victims grew by one this week after the city agreed to include a New York attorney who died of lung disease months after the attack, confusing Sept. 11 family members about what distinguished this death from the scores of others attributed to the aftermath.

    The city medical examiner’s office said Thursday that Felicia Dunn-Jones’ death was the only Sept. 11-related fatality it has been asked to review and definitively link to the twin towers’ collapse. In the future, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said, the medical examiner will review any case if a family makes such a request.

    “We certainly never turn anybody down,” she said.

    That raises the prospect of an ever-increasing death toll nearly six years after the attacks. The count now stands at 2,750 after the inclusion of Dunn-Jones. It’s up to Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch to decide whether to reclassify any deaths.

    That number is from last Thursday. As of Saturday, the military death toll in Iraq was 3451. The General was only off by 701 – or more than 25%, going by the 9/11 count. It’s troubling that the Chairman of the JC could be so careless and so utterly wrong when discussing casualties. Is this the sort of commander we’re supposed to listen to for establishing troop levels?
    The guy can’t even count.

  • They do that on purpose. Pace knows how many have died in Iraq .. he’s connecting it to 9-11.

    The whole Republican discourse is “baffle ’em with bushshit”

  • And just how is the US death toll in Iraq helping to avenge (or whatever) the 9-11 deaths? Death on top of death? For what? We still haven’t caught bin Laden or destroyed al Qaida. Just the opposite.

    Telling lies on Memorial Day. Way to honor the troops, Pace.

    Hannah, disgusted

  • The military has been excluding civilian deaths due to car bombings in the civilian death tolls to fudge the numbers of Iraqis killed during sectarian violence. Pace must be applying the same rules to military casualties as well.

    EvilPoet posted W’s admonition that we never forget our fallen troops. Memorial Day isn’t even over and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs already forgot over a quarter of those who died under his command. It’s a damned shame.

  • It was disappointing to see Pace try and connect two unrelated tragedies, but it was even more disheartening that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff doesn’t know how many Americans have been killed in Iraq. — CB

    He probably isn’t counting homosexuals, who are immoral and had it coming to them. And he probably isn’t counting the “aliens”, who joined the army in hope of getting citizenshhip — they aren’t Amercans at all.

    Requiescat in Pace, general, and may your Peter rot, too.

  • So…it’s kind of an “eye for an eye” combined with a dash of “really, as a percentage of our population, over 3,000 deaths is nothing,” tempered, he assumed, by acknowledging that the individual families themselves feel the loss.

    Big of him, even if it was colossally stupid. Might as well have said that it’s hard for Americans to feel the pain of Iraq war deaths while they’re at the mall keeping the economy going…

  • The “stench” of today’s Memorial Day message in Jefferson, Ohio was especially troubling. The speaker at the event was an Ohio State Highway Patrol officer—who had never even served in the military, no less—because the parade committee couldn’t find a “real” veteran to espouse the Iraq = 9/11 crap. The parade—if you can even call it that; it was a wraith conpared to previous years—consisted of the die-hard color guard (no interservice marching units following behind this year—as if I should wonder why), a handful of boy scouts and girl scouts, a kids’ baton unit, and the local high school marching band that proved that “Caissons” and “Anchors Aweigh” can be played in a half-hearted manner

    But the funniest part of all—or the saddest, if you prefer it that way—was this “never-served” OHP officer going on about how “the price of freedom isn’t free.” How Bu$hylvanian of him to reinterate that phrase, given that so many who actually did serve elected to avoid the event this year….

  • “… I think that when Americans think about that, they’ll understand that freedom is not free.”

    Perhaps, but it’s too bad that this administration is intent on spending both money and lives so carelessly.

  • It is also notworthy that his parsing is straight out of Herr Karl’s script.

    General Pace isn’t a commander any more than Bush. He is a parrot who repeats the most frequently reoccurring sounds that he hears, without thought of their meaning.

  • Yeah that price of freedom isn’t free bullshit is a constant conservative talking point and is just that “bullshit.” Read “On Bullshit,” for a wonderful description of the concept. Since McKinley’s presidency we’ve had Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam and two Gulf Wars, not to mention sundry excursions into Central America and the Mid East. All of those wars were unpopular and mostly opposed by the American people. The only one of those wars which could even remotely be called a “threat to our freedoms,” (excluding the Cold War) was WWII. Germany and Japan truly did represent a threat. These were very powerful nations who both became economic jauggernauts after WWII. The others, no way they threatened our freedoms. Hell, Bush is a bigger threat to our freedom.

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