BR comments in BF in the text W Post 12/ 2/2010 Pentagon leaders meet on 'don't ask, don't tell' study
By Ed O'Keefe Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a leading Republican critic of ending the "don't ask, don't tell" law, dismissed a new Pentagon report on the issue Thursday and said Congress should not vote to change military personnel policy during a time of war. "We are at war and our men and women overseas do not need any more distractions. This issue should be addressed at the appropriate time. That time is not now," McCain said Tuesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. The panel heard from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and the co-authors of the report released Tuesday, Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham. Concerns expressed by troops in the report about ending the ban on gays in the military "do not present an insurmountable barrier" to successfully ending the law, Gates said. [ someone who obviously is clueless about any psychological research concerning homosexual pathology whatsoever ] Despite those assurances, McCain said more time is needed to consider whether the military should change the law. The Pentagon studied the issue for 10 months, but "The members of this committee received it 36 hours ago, and my staff and I are still going through it and analyzing it carefully," McCain said. He once again voiced his disagreement with the scope of the report, saying it failed to study whether the law should be repealed. "Unfortunately, that key issue was not the focus of this study," he said. Further, he worried that a study sent to troops last summer only accounts for 6 percent of the total armed forces. [ all the while as pro-homosexuals have represented the study as "proving" the position taken by the Obama White House , in other words, a classic example of a stacked deck ] "I find it hard to view that as a fully-representative sample set," McCain said. Mullen acknowledged some of McCain's concerns, noting that some troops quoted in the report worry about having to bunk or shower with openly gay troops. [ which is anything but a trivial issue ] "We'll deal with that," Mullen said. "But I believe and history tells us that most of them will put aside personal proclivities for something larger than themselves and for each other." [ this kind of comment is a complete outrage."Proclivities" equates Bible-based Christian values in clear opposition to homosexuality as if it was a form of irrational prejudice ] "There are some for whom this debate is all about gray areas," Mullen said. "There is no gray area here. We treat each other with respect, or we find another place to work. Period. That's why I also believe leadership will prove vital." [ translation, more immoral anti-Christian crap from Obama ] Emerging as the Pentagon's most forceful, emotional proponent for ending the law, Mullen said current policy "doesn't make any sense to me," because it requires troops to lie about their identity while serving for a military that values integrity. Gates pressed senators to act this month to end the ban, warning that, "Those that choose not to act legislatively are rolling the dice that this policy will not be abruptly overturned by the courts." [ all the more reason for Congress to act to do something about a de facto tyranny on the part of unelected judges who could care less about any values except those of the political Left. But to be candid, I seriously doubt if the new Republican House is any more informed about this issue than any previous House or Senate, a level of ignorance that is not tolerated for any other issue in government ] Johnson said repeal of the law should be handled by political leaders and not federal judges, noting that the Pentagon was forced to shift course on the policy twice in the span of eight days by two federal court rulings. "This legal uncertainty is not going away any time soon," he said, because a legal challenge brought by the Log Cabin Republicans remains under consideration by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.[ exactly why aren't the so-called "Log Cabins" kicked out of the party ? ] The clock is ticking on legislative efforts to end the law. With three weeks left before Christmas, it is unclear whether the Senate will consider the defense policy bill that includes language ending the ban. First, Senate leadership is expected to introduce legislation addressing the _expiration of tax cuts_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/30/AR2010113003494.html) , a government spending plan and possibly a nuclear disarmament _treaty with Russia._ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/01/AR2010120101013.html) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
