thedrifter
02-22-07, 02:59 PM
Pace emphasizes importance of service, integrity
Thursday, February 22, 2007
DEAN BAKER Columbian staff writer
America's top military leader became a teacher in Vancouver on Wednesday, telling high school and elementary students to prize their personal integrity and look for ways to serve this country.
"Not every person needs to serve the nation in uniform, but I think it would be best for everyone to find a way to pay back what we have in this country," said Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is President Bush's top military adviser.
Pace gave the eighth in the series of lectures honoring the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Gen. George C. Marshall. Pace addressed 1,500 high school students and 2,500 of their elders who nearly filled the 5,000-seat Hudson's Bay High School gym.
Pace, the child of Italian immigrants and a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, gave the students three keys to a good life: Make a difference by following your dream; check your moral compass; and hold on to your good name and integrity. "Have the courage to tell the truth," he said.
As an example of checking his own moral compass, he recalled the first Marine to die under his command when he was a 22-year-old lieutenant serving in Vietnam. The man, Lance Cpl. Guido Farinaro, of Bethpage, N.Y., was killed by a sniper from a village near Hue, Pace said.
"I was so angry that I called in an air strike on the whole village," he said. But a sergeant gave him a questioning look, and so he called off the strike. Then the platoon went into the village.
"It was filled with nothing but women and children," he said. From that experience, he learned to be careful, sure and moral in his decisions. And he keeps Farinaro's photo on his desk in the Pentagon to remind him, he said.
Visiting a fifth-grade class at Marshall Elementary School after the lecture, Pace was greeted by a sea of flag-waving children. He told them he believes the war in Iraq is "about protecting our freedom here, and helping Iraq to have some of what we have here.
"That's my opinion, and others believe differently," he said. "What is really important is that you listen, watch the news, and think for yourself."
In an news conference for student journalists and later during the lecture, Pace offered a three-pronged international strategy for winning in Iraq. The three necessary ingredients are security, governance and economic opportunity, he said.
By adding 21,500 U.S. troops and training 328,000 Iraqi troops, the United States is fighting hard to establish security, the general said. But Iraq's government must become stable, and the international community must help provide economic opportunity.
All three elements must be in place to stabilize Iraq, he said. He believes the strategy can work.
The war is winnable, he said, though "It is not going as well as I would have told you at this same time last year."
He said he opposes a military draft, saying volunteers are sufficient.
A half-dozen peaceful protesters silently waved anti-war signs during the speech, some of them in the gym. Police escorted them off the school grounds, threatening to arrest them, saying they violated a state law against disrupting a school assembly.
The speech wasn't interrupted.
Pace said Britain's recent announcement that it plans to pull some of its troops out of Iraq proves only that one of 18 provinces in Iraq is more secure than it was. He said Britain remains a strong U.S. ally, and that its decision to pull back doesn't mean its support for the Iraq war effort is waning.
He told the students that the bombing of the al-Askari mosque, also known as the Golden Mosque, in Samarra ignited sectarian violence in the country and dealt an enormous setback to the forces attempting to stop violence in the country. The toughest task in Iraq is providing a stable country where religious disagreement doesn't lead to killing, he said.
Following his public appearances, Pace met privately with the families of 14 Southwest Washington soldiers and Marines who have been killed in war since the United States launched its campaign in Iraq in March 2003.
"There is no way that I or anyone could possibly understand what you have suffered," he said, acknowledging the so-called "gold-star families" during his speech at Hudson's Bay. "But without your loved one's sacrifice, we would not be able to do what we do here today: assemble and share our differing opinions publicly."
The gold-star families were honored with two minutes of standing applause.
Dean Baker writes about military affairs. Reach him at 360-759-8009 or e-mail dean.baker@columbian.com
Ellie
Thursday, February 22, 2007
DEAN BAKER Columbian staff writer
America's top military leader became a teacher in Vancouver on Wednesday, telling high school and elementary students to prize their personal integrity and look for ways to serve this country.
"Not every person needs to serve the nation in uniform, but I think it would be best for everyone to find a way to pay back what we have in this country," said Marine Gen. Peter Pace, who, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is President Bush's top military adviser.
Pace gave the eighth in the series of lectures honoring the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Gen. George C. Marshall. Pace addressed 1,500 high school students and 2,500 of their elders who nearly filled the 5,000-seat Hudson's Bay High School gym.
Pace, the child of Italian immigrants and a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, gave the students three keys to a good life: Make a difference by following your dream; check your moral compass; and hold on to your good name and integrity. "Have the courage to tell the truth," he said.
As an example of checking his own moral compass, he recalled the first Marine to die under his command when he was a 22-year-old lieutenant serving in Vietnam. The man, Lance Cpl. Guido Farinaro, of Bethpage, N.Y., was killed by a sniper from a village near Hue, Pace said.
"I was so angry that I called in an air strike on the whole village," he said. But a sergeant gave him a questioning look, and so he called off the strike. Then the platoon went into the village.
"It was filled with nothing but women and children," he said. From that experience, he learned to be careful, sure and moral in his decisions. And he keeps Farinaro's photo on his desk in the Pentagon to remind him, he said.
Visiting a fifth-grade class at Marshall Elementary School after the lecture, Pace was greeted by a sea of flag-waving children. He told them he believes the war in Iraq is "about protecting our freedom here, and helping Iraq to have some of what we have here.
"That's my opinion, and others believe differently," he said. "What is really important is that you listen, watch the news, and think for yourself."
In an news conference for student journalists and later during the lecture, Pace offered a three-pronged international strategy for winning in Iraq. The three necessary ingredients are security, governance and economic opportunity, he said.
By adding 21,500 U.S. troops and training 328,000 Iraqi troops, the United States is fighting hard to establish security, the general said. But Iraq's government must become stable, and the international community must help provide economic opportunity.
All three elements must be in place to stabilize Iraq, he said. He believes the strategy can work.
The war is winnable, he said, though "It is not going as well as I would have told you at this same time last year."
He said he opposes a military draft, saying volunteers are sufficient.
A half-dozen peaceful protesters silently waved anti-war signs during the speech, some of them in the gym. Police escorted them off the school grounds, threatening to arrest them, saying they violated a state law against disrupting a school assembly.
The speech wasn't interrupted.
Pace said Britain's recent announcement that it plans to pull some of its troops out of Iraq proves only that one of 18 provinces in Iraq is more secure than it was. He said Britain remains a strong U.S. ally, and that its decision to pull back doesn't mean its support for the Iraq war effort is waning.
He told the students that the bombing of the al-Askari mosque, also known as the Golden Mosque, in Samarra ignited sectarian violence in the country and dealt an enormous setback to the forces attempting to stop violence in the country. The toughest task in Iraq is providing a stable country where religious disagreement doesn't lead to killing, he said.
Following his public appearances, Pace met privately with the families of 14 Southwest Washington soldiers and Marines who have been killed in war since the United States launched its campaign in Iraq in March 2003.
"There is no way that I or anyone could possibly understand what you have suffered," he said, acknowledging the so-called "gold-star families" during his speech at Hudson's Bay. "But without your loved one's sacrifice, we would not be able to do what we do here today: assemble and share our differing opinions publicly."
The gold-star families were honored with two minutes of standing applause.
Dean Baker writes about military affairs. Reach him at 360-759-8009 or e-mail dean.baker@columbian.com
Ellie