-Caveat Lector-
December 12, 1999--NYTimes
President Admits 'Don't Ask'
Policy Has Been a Failure
By ROBERT PEAR
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- President Clinton
said on Saturday that the official policy toward
gays in the military was "out of whack" and that
military leaders were not carrying it out as he intended
and as they promised in 1993.
Accordingly, Clinton said, the policy should be
re-examined or at least carried out in a more humane
way, to prevent the harassment of homosexuals in the
armed forces.
Clinton's comments, in a radio interview with CBS
News, echo remarks made on Tuesday by Hillary
Rodham Clinton at a political fund-raiser in New York
City. But the president did not go as far as his wife, a
candidate for the United States Senate in New York,
who said gay men and lesbians should be allowed to
serve openly in the military.
Asked today about his wife's comments, Clinton said,
"I'm quite sympathetic with what she said." After all, he
added, "that's what I said back in '93."
Clinton said he hoped the beating death of a gay soldier
at Fort Campbell, Ky., last July would "give some
sobering impetus to a re-examination about how this
policy is implemented." In the trial of the soldier
charged in the slaying, witnesses described a casual
culture in which gibes and taunts had been directed at
the victim, Pfc. Barry Winchell, for months.
The unusual public dialogue between Clinton and his
wife on gay rights seems to illustrate the nature of their
political relationship, as it has been understood for the
last seven years in Washington. On gay rights, as on
health care and some other issues, Mrs. Clinton appears
to be nudging her husband a bit to the left.
The president's initial efforts to make it easier for
homosexuals to serve in the military, in 1993, touched
off a political uproar and prompted many in Congress
to question his judgment as commander in chief.
The president later adopted the policy known as "don't
ask, don't tell." Under this policy, the military may not
inquire into a soldier's sex life unless there is clear
evidence of homosexual conduct. But gays who
volunteer this information can be discharged.
In the interview on Saturday, Clinton said, "The policy
as implemented does not work as I announced and as
the leaders of our military at that time in 1993 pledged
to implement it."
Clinton said he was working with the Pentagon now to
achieve the vision he had in mind in 1993.
"Let me remind you," he said today, "that the original
intent was that people would not be rooted out, that they
would not be questioned out, that this would be focused
on people's conduct. If they didn't violate the code of
conduct and they didn't tell, their comings and goings,
the mail they got, the associates they had -- those things
would not be sufficient to keep them out of the military,
or subject them to harassment.
"So what I'd like to do is to focus on trying to make the
policy that we announced back in '93 work the way it
was intended to, because it's out of whack, and I don't
think any serious person could say it's not."
In the interview and earlier Saturday, in speaking to a
convention of the Florida state Democratic Party in this
resort near Orlando, Clinton spoke repeatedly of the
Fort Campbell case, in which Pvt. Calvin Glover, 18,
was found guilty of killing Private Winchell, 21, with a
baseball bat. The victim had been harassed for months
by fellow soldiers, who denounced him as a
homosexual and "a faggot."
Clinton said, "I can only hope this last brutal beating
death of a gay soldier will give some sobering impetus
to a re-examination about how this policy is
implemented, and whether we can do a better job of
fulfilling its original intent."
In his remarks to Florida Democrats, Clinton expressed
anguish over the killing and the hatred that he said had
prompted it.
"Both these young men put on the uniform of our
country, and I could have sent them some place to die,"
Clinton said. "They both swore to go wherever I told
them to go, and do whatever I told them to do. I was
aching for the young man who had died, and for the
young man whose life is now destroyed, who wasn't
born hating that way; somebody had to teach him to do
that."
Kenneth Bacon, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said
Saturday, "We are as concerned as the White House
about the reports out of Fort Campbell.
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen has told all
commanders that they should look at the climate on
their bases to prevent harassment of gay and lesbian
soliders, Bacon said.
In August the Pentagon reissued the statement on the
"don't ask, don't tell" policy, reminding the military that
it focused on what gay and lesbian soliders could not
do: disclose or act upon their sexuality.
"Secretary Cohen expects the policy to be implemented
with fairness for all and no room for harassment,"
Bacon said.
Gay rights advocates say the policy is deeply flawed.
Far from making life easier for gay men and lesbians in
the armed forces, they say, it has left many to suffer in
silence and has led to an increase in discharges of gay
service members and an increase in complaints of
harassment.
Clinton said Saturday that his 1993 decision was the
best he could do in the circumstances that existed then.
"The reason I went for 'don't ask, don't tell' is that it's
all I could do," Clinton said. If he had provided more
protection to gays in the military, Clinton said,
Congress would have reversed his decision by
"overwhelming majorities."
As for Hillary Clinton's desire to let gays serve openly
in the armed forces, Clinton said, "If there's a sense in
the Congress or in the next White House that that ought
to be done, then maybe together they'll have enough
votes to do it."
In his speech to the Florida Democrats, Clinton also
discussed affirmative action, saying it "actually began
under a Republican administration, back when both
parties were really committed to civil rights."
Clinton said no one could "make a serious case that
we'd be better off if we were growing more divided by
walking away from one of the tools that helped to bring
us together as a nation."
Ward Connerly, a conservative black businessman and
opponent of affirmative action who successfully
advocated a ballot initiative on the issue in California,
has been pressing a similar campaign in Florida.
But the state Supreme Court, which must review
initiatives before they can be put before the voters,
appears likely to take so long that the question will not
be put on the Florida ballot in the 2000 elections.
Earlier today, before leaving his hotel in Disney World
here, Clinton met for about 45 minutes with Nelson
Mandela, the elder statesman of South Africa, who has
been visiting the United States.
They discussed prospects for peace in the Middle East,
among other issues, a spokesman for Clinton, Barry
Toiv, said. On Wednesday, Clinton announced that
Syria and Israel had agreed to hold peace talks in
Washington next week to try to resolve their
long-running dispute over control of the Golan Heights.
Toiv said, " Mandela believes that Clinton can play a
unique role in the Middle East," and the former
president of South Africa urged Clinton to make every
effort to achieve that potential.
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The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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