Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Call to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Change is coming?
 More than 100 retired U.S. military leaders -- including the former head of the Naval Academy -- have signed a statement calling for an end to the military's "don't ask-don't tell" policy, according to a California-based think tank that supports the movement.

Retired Adm. Charles Larson, the former Naval Academy superintendent, tops the list of 104 retired general and admirals who want the government to repeal the policy, the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, announced Monday...

The center points out that Larson, a four-star admiral who supported the measure in 1993, has changed his view on the policy. "There were a lot of witch hunts and a lot of people were turned out on that basis," he is quoted as saying in a Palm Center release....

Obama has said that as president, he would seek to repeal "don't ask-don't tell," but not by signing an executive order, as President Harry Truman did when he abolished segregation the armed services in 1948.

"I would not do it that way," he said in a September 16 interview with Philadelphia Gay News.

"The reason is because I want to make sure that when we reverse 'don't ask-don't tell,' it's gone through a process and we've built a consensus or at least a clarity of ... what my expectations are, so that it works."

"I believe that the way to do it is make sure that we are working through a process, getting the Joint Chiefs of Staff clear in terms of what our priorities are going to be. That's how we were able to integrate the armed services to get women more actively involved in the armed services.

"At some point, you've got to make a decision that that's the right thing to do, but you always want to make sure that you are doing it in a way that maintains our core mission in our military."

I don't know, we were let down the last time a Dem got into the White House. What will happen this time?

1 comment:

Not Important said...

I'm hoping times are different now.