kinda hard to run your mouth about folks who've never served now, ain't it???

Pace: Murtha's Comments About Iraq Hurt Troop Morale
Thursday, January 05, 2006

WASHINGTON — A Democratic congressman's remarks about the military are damaging to troop morale and the Army's efforts to rebound from a recruiting slump, the nation's top general said Thursday.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked at a Pentagon news conference to comment on remarks by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Marine Corps veteran who has become a leading voice in Congress advocating an early withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Murtha told ABC News this week that if he were eligible to join the military he would not, nor would he expect others to join.

"That's damaging to recruiting," Pace said. "It's damaging to morale of the troops who are deployed and it's damaging to the morale of their families who believe in what they are doing to serve this country."

Pace called the news conference to discuss his weeklong trip to Iraq and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region. He said he found good troop morale and a "quiet confidence" that U.S. efforts in Iraq were on the right track.

In commenting on Murtha's remarks, Pace praised the congressman's record but criticized his remarks.

"When a respected leader like Mr. Murtha, who has spent 37 extremely honorable years as a Marine, fought in two wars, has served the country extremely well in the Congress of the United States — when a respected individual like that says what he said, and 18- and 19-year-olds look to their leadership to determine how they are expected to act, they can get the wrong message," Pace said.

Pace also predicted that the Saddam Hussein loyalists and other Iraqis who comprise the great bulk of the insurgency will increasingly give up, now that Iraq has approved its own constitution and held elections.

Pace said he believes the violence, which flared anew Thursday on one of the bloodiest days in Iraq in months, will abate as more Iraqis become convinced that the December elections will produce a representative government that will improve their lives.

"As they see their own government providing a way ahead that all of their citizens can understand as progress for their country, that those who are fighting against the government right now who are Iraqis will more and more lay down their arms and decide to become part of the future of Iraq and not the past," Pace said.

In describing the continuing violence, Pace pointedly referred to terrorists and the Al Qaeda network, rather than the anti-government Iraqis who are believed to comprise more than 90 percent of the insurgency.

"I do believe that over the course of the coming year that violence will subside," he said.

General Pace sez "Murtha, you're a dumbass!"



Semper Fi.

Pace will probably get his ass handed to him by the powers that be, he didn't toe the PC line....

But I'm glad he had the balls to say it....

Put the two of them side by side and then ask, "Which one of these would you follow?  Which would you trust?"

Pace sounded pretty gracious.

I still think Pace should have really cut loose.  If he gets fired?  Well he can write a book and then really let go.

Pace should have asked the press:

"Where was all the coverage about the Iraqi elections???????????????"

Quoted: "Which one of these would you follow?  Which would you trust?"

Pace




Murtha

In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots."

Quoted: Pace will probably get his ass handed to him by the powers that be, he didn't toe the PC line.... But I'm glad he had the balls to say it....

Breer Fox don't throw me in that briar patch...

If they fire him he gets rich.

From a personal economic point of view getting fired over this would be the best thing that could happen to him.

actually, both these guys are good decent men with distinguished marine corps careers. murtha just let his vietnam experiences (before AND after the war) get in his way and ran off at the mouth. peter pace is very politic in words and deeds and would never "let loose" even if it wouldn't get him fired. i know cuz he was my boss at one time!

Quoted: In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots."

More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate.
Can someone post a pic of the VP Admiral?

Quoted: Quoted: In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots." More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate. Can someone post a pic of the VP Admiral?

Don't even start on that guy.  
He died last year and he epitomized the tale of "First man in, last man out".
Admiral Stockdale looked bad on TV and he couldn't hear because his North Vietnamese captors repeatedly broke his eardrums while unsuccessfully torturing him.

That douchebag Murtha isn't fit to scrub the tiremarks from the streets after Admiral Stockdale's funeral procession had passed.

Quoted: Quoted: In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots." More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate. Can someone post a pic of the VP Admiral?

you're not 1/1000th the man Admiral Stockdale was.

You might want to post cheap shots about a Congressional Medal of Honor winner on DU.

what a scumbag

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots." More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate. Can someone post a pic of the VP Admiral? you're not 1/1000th the man Admiral Stockdale was. You might want to post cheap shots about a Congressional Medal of Honor winner on DU. what a scumbag

Lighten up.

What exactly did he say bad about Stockdale… please point it out because I missed it.

He just said he looked like somebody…

tag

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots." More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate. Can someone post a pic of the VP Admiral? you're not 1/1000th the man Admiral Stockdale was. You might want to post cheap shots about a Congressional Medal of Honor winner on DU. what a scumbag Lighten up. What exactly did he say bad about Stockdale… please point it out because I missed it. He just said he looked like somebody…

Comparing him to the "Addled Admiral" in Hotshots and putting his rank in parentheses is enough for me.  

Screw that guy and screw you if you don't like it.  

Quoted: Comparing him to the "Addled Admiral" in Hotshots and putting his rank in parentheses is enough for me.   Screw that guy and screw you if you don't like it.

Screw you tooooooo.

In MTUSA’s post I saw “More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate.” I saw nothing comparing him to an "Addled Admiral" and neither did you because it was not there. What he said was Murtha looked like Stockdale nothing more. His rank in parentheses means he was a… Admiral.

Quoted: Quoted: Comparing him to the "Addled Admiral" in Hotshots and putting his rank in parentheses is enough for me.   Screw that guy and screw you if you don't like it.   Screw you tooooooo. In MTUSA’s post I saw “More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate.” I saw nothing comparing him to an "Addled Admiral" and neither did you because it was not there. What he said was Murtha looked like Stockdale nothing more. His rank in parentheses means he was a… Admiral.

Those aren't parentheses, you Microsoft apologist, those are quotes.  In the way that MTUSA used them, they are sometimes called "scare quotes" and typically indicate sarcasm or diminishment.  This is a common grammatical construction known to anyone with even a halfway decent high-school education.  I recall that I was taught this in ninth grade.

It's like Reuters calling suicide bombers "terrorists" instead of terrorists, something that has frequently been commented upon by James Taranto of the WSJ.

That said, lighten up, people.  I'm betting that MTUSA didn't know Stockdale's record.  I didn't myself until he passed away and I read his obituary.  Back in 1992, the media downplayed Stockdale's record in favor of making him look goofy in order to hurt Perot, and not everybody got the memo.  That said, if MT did know, he deserves the spanking, IMHO.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: In that picture Murtha reminds me of the addled admiral in "Hot Shots." More like Ross Perot's  "Admiral"  running mate. Can someone post a pic of the VP Admiral? you're not 1/1000th the man Admiral Stockdale was. You might want to post cheap shots about a Congressional Medal of Honor winner on DU. what a scumbag hr

I met Admiral Stockdale in 1990 at a coffee shop in Coronado. I was visiting my friend, a HMCS Phase three instructor at Coronado. I will forever remember what it felt like to stand in the presence of greatness.

You guys sound like you think Murtha doesn't realize what he's doing.  At this point Democrats, who have been hammering Bush over Iraq for years, want and need Iraq to be a disaster and a defeat.  If everything turns out well and Bush is vindicated by history and truly accomplishes something great, what are they going to look like by their opposition and undermining of America's efforts there?  The closest thing I can think of is the pro-secessionist Copperheads from the Civil War.