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Pace's Exit: "The Rumsfeld Years Are Over"

Mary Walsh is a producer for CBS News based at the Pentagon.


(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
General Peter Pace has been a surprisingly emotional Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He's been known to break down in tears speaking of Guy Farinaro, the first Marine to die under his command when Pace was a young lieutenant in Vietnam.

Yet Pace has been unflinching in his prosecution of the war in Iraq. Loyal to a fault, his critics say, arguing that someone with a more critical eye would have pushed for strategic adjustments long ago, most especially a larger Army and Marine Corps.

With General Pace leaving the chairmanship, you can finally say the Rumsfeld years are over. There has long been speculation that Defense Secretary Gates would decide to go with a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Now it appears Congress has forced that to happen.

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