“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”; is Still Asinine Despite John McCain

“No matter how I look at the issue…I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens…For me, it comes down to integrity — theirs as individuals and ours as an institution.”

– Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee

Last Tuesday, Admiral Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave game-changing testimony to Congress strongly supporting President Obama’s effort to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). Then, this morning, Colin Powell — the man who made DADT possible — announced his opposition to this discriminatory policy. “Attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said. “It’s been a whole generation” since the legislation was adopted, and there is increased “acceptance of gays and lesbians in society,” he said. “Society is always reflected in the military. It’s where we get our soldiers from.”

“If the chiefs and commanders are comfortable with moving to change the policy,” Powell said, “then I support it.”

Obviously, John McCain and his Republican colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee are not listening to Colin Powell, a man McCain says he admires “as much as any man in the world.” Or to Admiral Mullen or Secretary Gates — both originally appointed by George W. Bush. John McCain is flip-flopping on the stance he took in 2006 to follow the lead of our nation’s top military brass on DADT.

Now John McCain says, “This successful policy has been in effect for over 15 years, and it is well understood and predominantly supported by our military at all levels. We have the best trained, best equipped, and most professional force in the history of our country, and the men and women in uniform are performing heroically in two wars. At a time when our Armed Forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy.”

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton an mandates the discharge of openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual service members. Nearly 14,000 service members have been fired for forced out under the law since its implementation in 1994, including 800 people with specialties such as Arabic language expertise.

Hmmm.  If we’re fighting two wars seems like you’d want to retain ALL the soldiers that you could.  Instead, the Pentagon issues stop loss orders and Baltimore Sun wrote that there was “a significant increase in the number of recruits with what the Army terms ‘serious criminal misconduct’ in their background” — a category that included “aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats.” From 2004 to 2005, the number of those recruits rose by more than 54%, while alcohol and illegal drug waivers, reversing a four-year decline, increased by more than 13%.

“I have served with homosexuals since 1968,” Mullen said, adding that the current policy creates a dissonance with the integrity of the military as an institution.  “Putting individuals in a position where they wonder ‘Is today going to be the day?’ and devaluing them in that regard, just is inconsistent with us as an institution,” he said.

“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ contradicts the military honor code requiring those in uniform to tell the truth,” said Lt. Dan Choi, a spokesperson for the Courage Campaign. A West Point alumnus, Choi is a high-profile Arabic language expert whose discharge is currently pending under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

So what can you do?   Sign the letter calling for inclusion of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal in the defense budget bill.  Click here or on the picture!