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Lt. Gen. Thomas W. Kelly, the Pentagon's witty and acerbic spokesman on the Persian Gulf war, retired Friday after 34 years in the Army.
Gen. Colin Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the 58-year-old Kelly was an "authentic American folk hero" who had shown the world a "reassuringly human and feeling Pentagon" during the war against Iraq.
The retirement ceremony in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes combined high praise for the retiring three-star general with the quick wit Kelly came to be known for during his nationally televised wartime briefings.
"We weren't sure that he'd be able to fit us in," Powell...