The General's Reluctant Farewell

Or Bush may have been talking more generally about the common Washington refrain that Pace allowed the Army to be "broken" by endorsing the policies of former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- who yesterday was assigned a seat in the very back row.

But if Bush was elliptical, Pace didn't conceal the involuntary nature of his departure. "I regret to give up the reins of responsibility," he told the gathering. He spoke quietly enough that it was possible to make out the occasional jeers of the demonstrators encamped outside the gate: "Arrest George Bush for war crimes!"

Clearly, Pace wasn't of a mind to do that. Instead, he offered a testimonial to the man who made the "tough, right decisions" about war. "We wish that all of America could see their president and our commander in chief making decisions after listening very carefully."

While voicing only good feelings about Bush, Pace took the liberty of going "a little bit out of my lane" to take on some unnamed "individuals" who had poisoned the war debate; left unsaid was the likelihood that these were the same individuals who forced his early retirement.

"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," Pace told the gathering.

"What worries me is that in some instances right now we have individuals who 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."

For a moment, the applause on the parade grounds drowned the jeers from the bullhorn.

For a video version of this sketch, go to www.washingtonpost.com/sketch.