<p>Gen Peter Pace goes</p>
<p>WASHINGTON: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates announced on Friday he was replacing General Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to avoid a divisive showdown in Congress focusing on the Iraq war.</p>
<p>I am disappointed that circumstances make this kind of a decision necessary, Gates said of the loss of Pace, who has held the countrys top military post since September 2005.</p>
<p>Gates said he had intended to name Pace to a second two-year term as chairman in September, but changed his mind after consulting members of Congress, who also already have an eye on the 2008 presidential polls.</p>
<p>I have decided that at this moment in our history, the nation, our men and women in uniform and General Pace himself would not be well served by a divisive ordeal in selecting the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he told reporters.</p>
<p>In deciding to replace Pace with Admiral Michael Mullen, who is currently the chief of naval operations, Gates also had to replace Admiral Edmund Giambastiani as vice chairman so that the top two military positions would not both be held by naval officers.</p>
<p>Giambastiani will be replaced by Marine General James Cartwright, currently the head of the US Strategic Command, which is responsible for US strategic nuclear forces. afp</p>
<p>Home | National</p>
<p>Comment: Must have made for some interesting cocktail talk at the COC party yesterday at the yard</p>
<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_jcschair_mullenup_070608w/%5B/url%5D">http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_jcschair_mullenup_070608w/</a></p>
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Saying he feared a contentious re-nomination hearing in the Senate that would focus too heavily on six years of war rather than the way ahead, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Friday that he will recommend that President Bush seek to replace Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</p>
<p>Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the current chief of naval operations, is Gates choice to replace Pace as the nations top military officer. If confirmed, he would be the fourth Navy officer to hold the position....
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<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_nextcno_070608w/%5B/url%5D">http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_nextcno_070608w/</a></p>
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With Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullens nomination to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the search will be on for his replacement.</p>
<p>Defense Secretary Robert Gates did not say who would be nominated to take the Navys top job. Nonetheless, Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command; Adm. Gary Roughead, head of Fleet Forces Command; Adm. Harry Ulrich, commander of Naval Forces Europe; Adm. Patrick Walsh, vice chief of naval operations; and Adm. Robert Willard, commander of Pacific Fleet, are some of the more obvious possibilities....
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<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_influence_070611w/%5B/url%5D">http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_influence_070611w/</a></p>
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Is the Navy coming to the rescue?</p>
<p>With Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen set to be nominated to replace Marine Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the sea service may soon occupy the two of the most prominent positions in the military. Pending Senate approval, Mullen would join Adm. William Fallon, who as head of U.S. Central Command is in charge of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as two top military advisors to President Bush. Additionally, Navy admirals now head U.S. Pacific, Southern and Special Operations commands....
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<p>Without sounding too cocky,</p>
<p>I think the following statement is pretty cool: "All five [ADMs being considered for next CNO] graduated from the Naval Academy in the 1970s."</p>
<p>It looks like 1/2 the JCS will still be USNA grads if the recommendations by the SECDEF are confirmed in the Senate!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_pacecongress_070614/%5B/url%5D">http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_pacecongress_070614/</a></p>
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A Democratic challenge to Gen. Peter Pace indicates that uniformed officers no longer are exempt from the partisan fire on Capitol Hill once reserved for civilian policymakers.</p>
<p>Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the stunning announcement June 8 that he would not recommend Pace to serve a second two-year term as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Marine Corps four-star general had not been a target previously of Democrats ire on the war, but Gates said lawmakers made it clear the confirmation process would be ugly....
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<p>I think that Gates is replacing Pace because of political reasons, which makes no sense because the joint chiefs of staff are supposed to a group of the best military minds in the country to give military insight. Replacing Pace because of political reasons will have a negative impact on the War in Iraq in the long run.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,139244,00.html?ESRC=dod.nl%5B/url%5D">http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,139244,00.html?ESRC=dod.nl</a></p>
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In his first public comments on the Bush administration's surprise decision to replace him as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace disclosed that he had turned down an offer to voluntarily retire rather than be forced out.</p>
<p>To quit in wartime, he said, would be letting down the troops.</p>
<p>Pace, responding to a question from the audience after he spoke at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday evening, said he first heard that his expected nomination for a second two-year term was in jeopardy in mid-May. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on June 8 announced Pace was being replaced....
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<p><a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/08/army_mullen_070803w/%5B/url%5D">http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/08/army_mullen_070803w/</a></p>
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If a post-surge troop presence of 15 combat brigades is kept in Iraq beyond next spring, U.S. forces will need at least three to four years to get to the Pentagons goal of two years at home for every year deployed to the war zone, the nominee for the nations top military job told the Senate on July 31.</p>
<p>Navy Adm. Mike Mullen also told the Senate Armed Services Committee, I do think we will be there for years, not months....
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