With his ramrod-straight Marine bearing, close-cropped hair, and warm smile, Gen. Peter Pace steps out of his armored black SUV looking like he belongs on a recruiting poster.

In the 39 years since he graduated from the US Naval Academy, General Pace has seen it all: from Vietnam, to Korea, to Somalia, to duty now as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At a Monitor-sponsored lunch with reporters Thursday, Pace offered a passionate argument for the US military's mission in Iraq, stressed the nation's capacity to handle a threat from North Korea, and defended his performance as America's top military officer.

Pace's polished performance was in contrast to the controversy surrounding remarks by Britain's army chief, Gen. Richard Dannatt, who said Thursday that British troops should be withdrawn from Iraq "soon." After triggering a storm of controversy in Britain, Dannatt gave interviews Friday saying that he meant a phased withdrawal over two or three years.

When Pace was asked why Americans should not be dismayed at the results on the ground in Iraq, he said the enemy has "a 100 year plan according to the map they published about a year and half ago. So anybody looking for a quick win in the war on terrorism probably hasn't read the enemy's published intent."

He argued that "if we were not in Iraq right now and if we were in Afghanistan ... the center of gravity would be in Afghanistan. And that is where the fight would be taking place. And I do believe that if we left both Iraq and Afghanistan that the fight would be taking place here in the United States because that is what they have said is their objective.... I believe the American people get the fact that this is fundamentally a threat to the survival of our nation and that we are going to do what we need to do to protect our children and our grandchildren. That does not mean we should not be learning from what we are doing on the battlefield."

The military alone cannot solve the problem of sectarian violence in Iraq, Pace said. "What has been less satisfactory is the difficulty in stopping the sectarian violence. Because fundamentally, you cannot have enough individuals under arms 24/7 on every street corner in Iraq to stop the hatred killings if someone wants to go out and do a hatred killing. And that is where the government's part comes in and where the political dialogue comes in and where the agreements and the guarantees come in amongst the various factions. So there is a lot you can do on the military side. You cannot lose this militarily, but it is not going to be 'won' militarily, either."

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