Well, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has demonstrated a willingness to shake things up a bit.
MSNBC reports, “Pentagon sources are telling NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski that Defense Secretary Gates has replaced Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with Adm. Mike Mullen. He is currently the Navy’s chief naval officer.”
Pace’s recent tenure has been marked by more political controversies than military ones. Just a few weeks ago, for example, Pace seemed unsure how many U.S. troops had died in Iraq, which raised eyebrows around Washington.
Shortly before this, Pace showed questionable judgment writing a letter to Judge Reggie Walton, praising Scooter Libby. “He impressed me as a team player when addressing issues and with his selfless approach to wide-ranging responsibilities,” Pace said, adding, “From my perspective dealing with Mr. Libby on national security issues, he served the United States Government extremely well.” (It seemed like an odd compliment given Libby’s crime — lying about leaking the name of a covert CIA agent.)
And in March, Pace argued that gays should be excluded from military service because the Armed Forces “should not condone immoral acts.”
For that matter, his rhetoric on Iraq hasn’t been reassuring, either.
During a White House meeting last week, a group of governors asked President Bush and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about their backup plan for Iraq. What would the administration do if its new strategy didn’t work?
The conclusion they took away, the governors later said, was that there is no Plan B. “I’m a Marine,” Pace told them, “and Marines don’t talk about failure. They talk about victory.”
Pace had a simple way of summarizing the administration’s position, Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.) recalled. “Plan B was to make Plan A work.”
Apparently, it’ll soon be someone else’s job to make Plan A work.