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Gates And Mullen Tell Congress To Wait On DADT Repeal
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, and President Obama
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen are urging Congress not to take action on Don't Ask, Don't Tell until after the Department of Defense completes its review of the policy. The review is due in December.
Roll Call (sub. req.) reports today that Gates, in a letter to House Armed Services Committee Chair Ike Skelton (D-MO), said he would "strongly oppose" legislation offered before the review is finished, and said such a move would send a "very damaging message" to troops.
"I hope Congress will not do so, as it would send a very damaging message to our men and women in uniform that in essence their views, concerns, and perspectives do not matter on an issue with such a direct impact and consequence for them and their families," he said. The letter was co-signed by Mullen.
Gay rights groups have pushed the White House and congressional Democrats to include repeal language in this summer's defense authorization bill, which sets the military's budget. Skelton, who supports repeal, had written to Gates asking for his input.
Some gay advocacy groups have accused the Obama administration of dragging its feet on repeal.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell prohibits openly gay men and women from serving in the military. Last month, Gates announced that the military would change the way the policy is enforced, imposing higher restrictions on who can begin discharge procedures against a servicemember among other changes.
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Rainyday
April 30, 2010 8:32 PM
The military does not give orders to civilians in this country, It is the other way around.
All who are still enforcing this heinous injustice to our troops are the DISHONORABLE soliders..
the honorable ones are being discharged.
PS. OBAMA is the CIC, he and only he could sign a STOP-LOSS order on this injustice, any day he get brave enough to do so.
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a Mary Queen of Scott
April 30, 2010 8:34 PM
Who the hell is the commander-in-chief, anyway??? I am so sick of this back and forth bullshit. Did they need a survey to desegregate in the 40's??? DADT was passed thru a Defense Authorization. They need to repeal the damn thing and the officers need to carry out their orders. period. Repeal it now and take a year to transition if they want, but repeal the damn thing NOW!
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oleeb
May 1, 2010 3:23 AM in reply to a Mary Queen of Scott
No, we didn't need a survey to integrate in the 40's. We had a real leader in Harry Truman who signed an executive order making it so and it was so. Obama has it within his power to act boldly aa Harry Truman did, but he hasn't the balls to do so.
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oleeb
May 1, 2010 3:21 AM
Gee, they suddenly are now worried about the views of the grunts on DADT? And oh what a coincidence that the review will be done just after the midterm elections. But remember, it isn't a political delay, it's to take into account the views of the men and women directly impacted. What a fucking joke!
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AdAbsurdum
May 1, 2010 11:33 AM in reply to oleeb
making it so and it was so
Oleeb, have been reading the King James version of the Bible lately? :)
Seriously though, I'm with you on this one. This does smack of election year politics.
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hollywood
May 1, 2010 7:44 PM in reply to oleeb
Jesus oleeb, I would rather Obama do things the smart way than let the bigots have another "issue" to beat us all over the head with in November. It is just smart to get where you want to go without hitting as much traffic along the way as you can. I do it all the time in LA.
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oleeb
May 2, 2010 3:40 PM in reply to hollywood
They'll have that issue available to them regardless. It only gives them the issue for a longer period of time to keep delaying.
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SkepticalCidada
May 1, 2010 2:04 PM
Thus ends the dysfunctional relationship between the gay community and its supposed "fierce advocate" Barack the Backstabber.
Let's recall the lie from the State of the Union Address in January: "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."
We now know, of course, that within days, the White House secretly told HRC that the president had no intention of repealing DADT this year.
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JohnTEQP
May 2, 2010 5:44 PM
Obama is taking his time for one simple reason: he does not want to fail. Clinton assumed that he could dictate to the military that they allow gay members to serve openly. He wasn't just wrong, he was strategically, and tragically wrong. He provoked such a serious backlash that we ended up with the mess that we have today. There is no guarantee that the repeal of DADT will pass Congress this summer. Obama does not have the ability to force Congress to do so. Great and flowery speeches will mean basically zilch in this effort. The best possible argument that Obama can use to persuade Congress to repeal DADT is to demonstrate that repeal has the support of the military's leadership. Clinton, in retrospect, was impulsive and did not plan for how to deal with the opposition. Obama is taking the exact opposite of Clinton's approach - being very careful, working closely with the military, and taking account of the opposition - because he wants the exact opposite of Clinton's results. At the end of the day, there is a simple reason Obama is taking so long to repeal DADT - he does not want to fail.
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Alan in SF
May 2, 2010 7:57 PM
How about if we stop expelling gays from the military until the review is completed?
While it maybe true that the commander in chief doesn't take orders from generals, it is even more true that Obama does take orders from Republicans.
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Tosh
May 23, 2010 3:15 PM
Thus ends the dysfunctional relationship between the gay community and its supposed "fierce advocate" Barack the Backstabber.
Let's recall the lie from the State of the Union Address in January: "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are."
We now know, of course, that within days, the White House secretly told HRC that the president had no intention of repealing DADT this year.
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