- “Do you know what we just saw? We just saw the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff tell the Secretary of Defense to sit down and shut up. In public. In front of reporters. This is bigger than you can imagine. Rumsfeld has lost the US military. There’s nothing left for him but to resign or get fired.“
Jim Macdonald, at lefty blog Making Light, reading way, way between the lines of a Washington Post story relating details of a Pentagon press conference with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace. Even Kos moonbat king Armando didn’t try to make that hyperbolic leap. The actual transcript (shown below), which none of the liberal commentators bothered to link to, hardly seems worthy of such liberal schadenfreude.]]>< 
I looked at the transcript and the video.
Rummy made a big boo boo and he got corrected. Normally a politically savvy general wouldn’t correct the SOD on tape, but in this case its imperative he do so considering the seriousness of the error and the mileu. Everyone took it fairly graciously, and rather than conclude it means he’s lost the military I’d say they saved our country from the consequences if they hadn’t made the correction recognizing the negative consequences for Rummy with the public correction. A tough “battlefield” decision, but the general showed his stuff.
The ultimate fallout may indeed be loss in confidence, but only time will tell – didn’t see that in the exchange or in subsequent interactions.
I’m just guessing, but you never served in the US military, right?
That interpolated “sir” in GEN Pace’s comment was deliberately insulting.
I agree with epador. I think Rummy unwittingly set himself up by the way he worded his question. I never got the impression Pace was trying to embarrass Rummy. To me it just seemed like a frank question and answer exchange that these two gentlemen would usually have in a private briefing but unfortunately it occurred in a public forum and, hence, is now available to be blown out of proportion. Now if Pace would be working for the CIA, then I would certainly believe he would take any opportunity to embarrass Rumsfeld.
I have to say this seems to me a definate example of derangement syndrome–Rumsfeld and Pace have worked closely together for five years and Rumsfeld supported Pace for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. It looks to me like Rumsfeld was trying to leave the situation as flexible as possible should a soldier find him or herself in this position but he didn’t know the specific policy and Pace corrected him. Neither seemed rattled or taken aback by the exchange which is probably pretty typical. Perhaps the deranged ones should consider that this episode demonstrates that the military is not afraid to correct Rumsfeld and that he doesn’t mind being corrected? Now isn’t that a thought?
The seriousness of Rumsfeld’s “error” some might say is that it reflects his casual approach to what he calls “abuse” and others call torture. I have linked to that Defense Link transcript link for the three separate posts. It is not only notable for Rumsfeld’s corrected “error.” This transcript and the video also possess the charm of Rumsfeld declaring there are no legitimate insurgents in Iraq as well as General Pace taking some ownership of the controversy of white phosphorus in Fallujah.
Those who will claim Pace’s comments in response to Rumsfeld are no big thing may be as mistaken as those who believe Pace told Rumsfeld to shut up. “Context” too can be a tired thing, a way to find an out for certain discomforting realities. Pace said exactly what he said: It is absolutely the responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene to stop it.
People who talk about this as if it means something else would deny that the words themselves have no meaning. The meaning here is quite clear: Soldiers have a responsibility to stop inhumane treatment when they see it.
That is no less than a reclamation of honor for the armed forces who have seen some dubious policy decisions from above that have cast a shadow on what can and cannot be done to those in our charge. Another take on this subject here
Macdonald:
When you have to correct your superior in public, over a large mistake he just made, you’d *better* put that “sir” in there.
If he *hadn’t* put in that bit of politeness, the knives would be out, and with certain tones of voice on the “sir,” there might be a tiny bit of a nudge, but it’s really just a case of an officer correcting someone up the chain.
Now, if the’d said something like “The Secretary is wrong about this. What a moron,” you might have a point.
And the President is Commander in Chief. He hasn’t “lost” that position, and he names SecDef. Be a damned ballsy person to do a revolt – that leads nowhere good for the uniformed side.
‘Sides, my little bro is an army officer, and they like Rumsfeld.
I did wonder why Gen Pace looked so miserable sitting next to Rummy a couple of weeks ago on CNN Late Edition with Blitzer. He looked as if he wanted to be 8,000 miles away. Maybe they have had a falling out.