Pace Attacks War Critics In Farewell Speech

Pace was a reluctant guest at his own retirement party. President Bush and his new defense secretary, Bob Gates, cut Pace loose rather than fight the difficult confirmation battle in the Senate needed to give him another two-year term.

The general was not happy about this -- and he used his farewell yesterday to take a parting shot at antiwar Democrats, the press and the whole uncivil bunch in Washington who "are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution."

"I can hear voices right now," the general declared, his finger in the air. He was referring not to demons in his head but to demonstrators at the base gate using a bullhorn to mar the ceremony.

"I want them to understand -- I just want everyone to understand -- that this dialogue is not about, 'Can we vote our way out of a war?' " said the man whose surname means "peace" in his father's native Italy. "We have an enemy who has declared war on us."

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