Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Pace's "involuntary" exit marks the end of the "Rumsfeld era

From TPM, here

"... Pace was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the last two years. Gates decided not to renew the general's term, despite Pace's request for another. The public rationale was that Gates wanted to avoid "very contentious" confirmation hearings. There's clearly something to this. Not only was Pace the last senior official still associated with early decisions on the war (he was the JCS vice chairman at the time of the invasion) ..."

"...But the larger import of Pace's forced retirement -- the message that many officers heard clearly, whatever Gates' intention -- is that the sorts of generals who behave as Pace did the past few years are no longer desired in the Pentagon's inner sanctum..."