Bush Nominates Pace to Serve as Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
April 23, 2005 6:14AM EST

By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
April 22, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - President Bush Friday announced the nomination of Gen. Richard Pace, a Marine, to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bush said Pace will be the first Marine to hold the position if the Senate confirms him.

Outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers retires on Sept. 30 after serving four years as chairman.

"As my most senior military advisor, General Myers has helped prepare military forces so they can meet the threats of this new century. This is a huge task, even in peacetime," said Bush, who praised Myers, under which Pace served as deputy.

"Dick Myers did it while defending America from one of the most determined and vicious enemies we have ever faced," said the president.

"On General Myers' watch, we toppled two brutal dictatorships in Afghanistan and Iraq, and liberated more than 50 million people. By removing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein we have made America safer and put a troubled region on the path of freedom and peace," said Bush.

Bush said "to the American people, 'Marine' is shorthand for 'can do."

Pace's father was an Italian immigrant, and Pace, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and grew up in New Jersey, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Pace served as rifle platoon leader in Vietnam, commanded Marines in Somalia and Marine forces in the Atlantic before becoming head of the U.S. Southern Command, Bush said.

"It tells you something about Pete Pace's devotion to his troops that under the glass on his desk at the Pentagon, he keeps a photo of Lance Corporal Guido Farinaro. He was the first Marine he lost in combat in Vietnam," said the president.

Pace described the president's nomination as "an incredible," "exhilarating and humbling" experience.

"It's exhilarating because I have the opportunity, if confirmed by the Senate, to continue the serve this great nation. It's humbling because I know the challenges ahead are formidable. But I have great faith in our ability to meet those challenges -- for both personal and professional reasons," said Pace.