Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace had his say before he left the spotlight today.

In a parting shot to Bush administration opponents and antiwar protesters, newly retired Marine Gen. Peter Pace on Monday scolded Americans who use the war debate to try to debase the efforts of military leaders and civilian decision-makers.

Delivering his last speech as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pace said he is proud to live in a country in which military leaders are required to answer difficult questions from the press and Congress, but when that conversation turns belligerent and destructive, the foundation of democracy is lost.

“Our democracy is strengthened by divergent views and dialogue about those views when that dialogue is conducted in a civil manner, in a gentlemanly way, in a way that allows people to argue on the merits of what they believe and to understand that what they believe is part of the answer and if they have the willingness to cooperate to find the right answer for our country,” he said during a Pentagon ceremony held at nearby Fort Myers.

“And what worries me is that in some instances right now we have individuals who are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution. They are more interested in letting their personal venom come forward instead of talking about how do we get from where we are to where we need to be,” the general continued….

…”I just want everyone to understand that this dialogue is not about ‘Can we vote our way out of a war.’ We have an enemy who has declared war on us. We are in a war. They want to stop us from living the way we want to live our lives.

“So the dialogue is not about ‘Are we in a war’ but how and where and when to best fight that war to preserve our freedom and to preserve our way of life and to do so with the least damage to our own society and the least damage to those who we’re fighting against so we can put the pieces back together on the end of this. We will prevail. There’s no doubt about that.”

Well said, sir! Because of partisanship we have lost a great military leader.