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Reid: Pace is Incompetent
In an ironic turn of events, Harry Reid called General Peter Pace incompetent during a conference call with some leading progressive bloggers. The Politico reported about this yesterday already, but the bloggers involved all said they did not remember Reid saying this. So, I decided to wait for more information.
We’ve got it: Reid, indeed, called Pace incompetent. The defense of those involved is now that one should look at the context in which it was said. When I look at the context I can still only conclude on thing: Reid called Pace a “yes-man†and “incompetent.â€
It was a confidential conference, so most bloggers didn’t tape it. One seemingly did. From the transcript…
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13 Responses to “Reid: Pace is Incompetent”
Reid’s language is harsh. And unwise. Naturally, his political opponants will have a field day.
But among those complaining about Reid, who is defending Pace’s competence?
He probably shouldn’t have said it- but its probably true. The reason Pace was fired was that Gates knew he faced a very difficult confirmation hearing in the Senate. (In other words powerful Senators on the committee had indicated they would not be supporting his reconfirmation to the JCS.)
This is the weirdest controversy ever. To me it looks more like he was calling Gonzales incompetent — something that Reid could clarify (whose face was he talking to?) — but more to the point, that isn’t exactly a controversial opinion, outside of the fake outrage of the easily-spun media. It’s not like he called Mother Teresa a whore.
Pace most definitely was a yes man for Rumsfeld, at a time when disasterous decisions and failing policies were in place in Iraq. There was a lot of resentment in the Senate because talking to Pace was just like talking to Rumsfeld -they could get no independent answers from him.
In an administration where over and over, uber-loyalty has trumped competence and reason, it is critical to have someone at the top who is willing to give an independent assessment of conditions on the ground. Pace lost a lot of respect on Capitol Hill for refusing to do so. But, as I said before, since Pace was already out, there was no need for Reid to add fuel to the fire.
If the incompetence label was supposedly “earned” by not standing up to Rumsfeld, what was the date of Rumsfeld’s departure from SecDef and what was the date Reid last cast a vote to support him as Head of the Joint Chiefs? If I am recollecting dates correctly, it would seem ‘umble ‘arry really does not have courage for his convictions.
We do not know if Pace was a yes man or not. He could have strongly disagreed in private but not shown it in public. His job was not to go public and bad mouth his boss(es).
There is also a difference between yes man and incompetent. I wonder what Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will do with a White House staffer who goes public and publicly disagrees with his boss? I assume that they will not be called courageous and very competent.
CasualObserver–
According to the Wikipedia, Pace was nominated to be Chairman on April 22, 2005, testified before the Armed Services Comittee on June 29, 2005, and was sworn as Chairman on September 30, 2005.
Rumsfeld somewhat famously announced his resignation on the day after election day, 2006.
Hope that helps!
Oh no!
Did someone hurt Pace’s feelings? Someone get that man a handkerchief.
“[Rumsfeld] leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country” – Gen. Pace
Of course Pace was a yes man and therefore one can reasonably conclude, incompetent. Even an average American could see he was a yes man. I wrote a piece a long time ago titled, “Blame the General’s for Iraq too!” on Nov. 23, 2006 and, “Who lost the Iraq war? Finally some backbone!” written on Nov. 6th, 2006.
The American public is way ahead of the politicians on this and we all now know the truth, as so many former Generals have spoken out.
Go read Tom Rick’s Fiasco. Even his fellow generals were aware he was being picked for his Yes-Man qualities. And don’t forget, this is the guy who, on memorial day, during a speech to commemorate those who gave their lives for their country, got the number of American dead in Iraq completely wrong.
Apparantly Sec. Gates agrees with Reid. But is calling a general a “yes man” really an insult these days?
Colin Powell is still quite popular and there has been no bigger “yes man” in US military history.
And of course there’s this.
If you work under an incompetent Sec Def like Rumsfeld was who mismanaged the war, and you don’t speak up- it makes you a party to that incompetence.
Pace probably saw that speaking out would lead to career suicide- like what happened to General Shinseki. He chose to put career advancement over voicing any disagreement he might have had with Rumsfeld, while many others in the military were speaking out. In doing so, he shares the blame for our failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.