WASHINGTON Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Thursday that he told liberal bloggers last week that he thinks outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace is "incompetent."
Reid also disparaged Army Gen.
David Petraeus, head of Multinational Forces in
Iraq.
But Reid, whose comments to bloggers first appeared in The Politico, also told reporters: "I think we should just drop it."
Reid's admission came as reporters peppered him with questions about Pace and Petraeus, overshadowing a Capitol Hill press conference designed to highlight Democratic attempts to improve fuel economy and energy efficiency.
Reid said he told Pace face-to-face recently that he had performed poorly as an adviser on the conduct of the Iraq war.
"I believe that General Pace would not be if he had come forward to be reappointed the chairman of the Joints Chiefs. It wouldn't have happened and I'm not going to get into what I said or didn't say. There is a long list of people including Senators (Carl) Levin and (Jack) Reed and others who have talked about General Pace long before I did. I think we should just drop it. The fact is, he's not going to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, for which I'm happy," Reid said.
