I saw former NATO Commander US Gen. John Sheehan’s remarks made a couple weeks ago during a Congressional hearing on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  I was surprised it didn’t receive more media attention when he said it:

Sheehan claimed that Dutch leaders, including the former chief of staff of the Dutch army General Henk van den Breemen, had told him that the presence of gay soldiers had contributed to the fall of the enclave which led to the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

When I saw the original testimony, I was flabbergasted and wondered who on Capitol Hill had vetted this guy.  Then again, he was NATO Commander.

Sheehan has since apologized, under threat of lawsuit by Dutch groups.

“To be clear, the failure on the ground in Srebrenica was in no way the fault of the individual soldiers,” states Sheehan’s letter, dated Monday and addressed to the now retired Van den Breemen.

“I am sorry that my recent public recollection of those discussions of 15 years ago inaccurately reflected your thinking on some specific social issues in the military.”

What is it with NATO Commanders and their grasp of reality.  Sheehan, Wesley Clark, and Alexander Haig.  All three seem to have been a few cards short of a full deck, no?

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Chalk one up for a Bush appointee in the Obama Administration:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday approved new rules that will make it harder to discharge gays from the military, calling the changes a matter of “common sense and common decency.”

Gates announced new guidelines for how the Pentagon carries out the 1993 law banning gays from serving openly in the military — rules which essentially put higher-ranking officers in charge of discharge proceedings and impose tougher requirements for evidence used against gays.

The new guidelines go into effect immediately and will apply to cases already open.

Here’s something which shows just how reprehensible the ban has been:

To discourage the use of overheard statements or hearsay, from now on any evidence given in third-party outings must be given under oath, Gates said. Cases of third-party outings also have included instances in which male troops have turned in women who rejected their romantic advances or jilted partners in relationship have turned in a former lover.

So, up until now, someone cold ruin a military career based on an accusation not made under oath?  So, people may well have used a bad law to get at rivals.

“Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow with the Palm Center, which supports a repeal of the ban, said it is unclear how much of an impact the new guidelines would have because regulations already restrict third-party allegations.”

Still, this does seem a step in the right direction, toward repeal of the ban.

First, a major hat tip to the folks at the leftie blog, Think Progress, for posting the video embedded below.  General David Petraeus, them man widely admired on the right, the man who, we believe, was the real man of the year in 2007 and who, I believe, would make a fine presidential candidate in two years time, now says “the time has come to consider a change to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,”

The good general is exactly right that this should be done in a “thoughtful and deliberative manner,” not the willy-nilly manner in which the the Clinton Administration tried to enact it..

According to the folks at Think Progress:  ”This week, the Pentagon’s Office of the General Counsel is also expected to release the results of its 45-day review of how Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell could be implemented in a fairer manner.” Seems the process has been pretty deliberative so far.  Let’s hope it leads to repeal before the year is out.

One of the smartest moves this Administration has made has been to delegate to the 2000 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee the task of introducing the bill to repeal Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.  And yesterday, that good man introduced legislation to that effect:

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, legislation that would lift the ban and prohibit discrimination against gay service members. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said he expects his panel to take up the measure in May as part of the annual defense authorization bill.

Given the respect the soon-to-be senior Senator from the Nutmeg State enjoys in military circles, advocates for repeal (including yours truly) could better make the argument that repeal won’t compromise military readiness or unit cohesion.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it was a smart move to put Lieberman at the forefront of this effort.

Now, let’s hope that where there’s a will, there will be a way.  And that the superextended vote on health care won’t sap the energy out of Congres from moving forward on repeal.

As I hope my regular posts on repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t (DADT) have made clear, I believe now is the time to move forward on repeal.  Yet, I understand obstacles may emerge.  Right now, it appears that with pressure from the president’s base, he is beginning to budge, yet there are signs that he might not be up to the challenge.

Earlier today, Glenn Reynolds linked a post saying that the White House won’t commit to repeal of DADT.  At the same time, that prolific blogger also took note of a poll showing that 69% support letting gays serve openly in military — including 62% of Republicans.  That poll is consistent with a Gallup poll last year finding that 58% of conservatives thought gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military.

But, we’re hearing some concerns from top military brass:

The top officers of the U.S. Army and Air Force told lawmakers Tuesday that they should go slow in repealing the military’s ban on openly gay service members, parting ways with the nation’s senior uniformed officer who testified earlier that it was “the right thing to do.”

“I do have serious concerns about the impact of repeal of the law on a force that’s fully engaged in two wars and has been at war for 8 1/2 years,” Army Gen. George Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We just don’t know the impacts on readiness and military effectiveness.”

Across Capitol Hill, Air Force Gen. Norton Schwartz echoed that sentiment. He told the House Armed Services Committee it was his “strong conviction” that “this is not the time to perturb the force that is at the moment stretched by demand in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Given that some generals have concerns about the plan, we see once again the wisdom of the Administration’s go-slow approach, studying the issue to find a means to implement repeal without impacting military morale or unit cohesion. (more…)

As yet another example that while Democrats in today’s Washington may be out of the loop on any number of issues, at least they do get it in when it comes to repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT).

Our pal James Kirchick reports that Joe Lieberman will become the “chief sponsor” of legislation to repeal DADT:

Next week, the Connecticut senator will announce that he’s taking the lead on repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the 1993 law that prohibits gay people from serving openly in the armed forces. Since implementation of the statute nearly 20 years ago, the military has discharged some 14,000 qualified men and women, many of them serving in critical jobs like Arabic and Persian translation.

Nice to have a man well-regarded by the military at the forefront of this effort.

Seventeen years ago, when then-President Bill Clinton tried to repeal the then-ban on gays serving in the military, few military leaders were at te forefront of the effort for repeal.  The issue was one of “social justice” and not military effectiveness.

Today, by contrast, the President is wisely working with the top military brass to repeal the ban which Clinton and the then-Democratic Congress codified in 1993.  Leaders of our military are now talking about howto repeal the ban while maintaining unit cohesion and morale.  They seem favorably disposed to the idea.  It seems it is now the moment to repeal the ban.

The latest to appear to be leaning toward repeal is perhaps the greatest military leader still on active duty in our armed forces, General David Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command.

Saying he supports the “year-long review process which will determine if the ban on gay and lesbian troops serving openly in the military should be lifted“, while appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, he added that he has served with gay people:

“We have experienced certainly in the FBI and the CIA… I know. I’ve served in combat with individuals who were gay and who were lesbian in combat situations, and frankly, over time, you say, ‘How is his shooting?,’ or, ‘How is her analysis?’”

And that’s the way it should be–whether or not gay people can do what the military requires of them while contributing to the work of their units.

I have praised John Aravosis before for leading the boycott of the Democratic National Committee in order to spur the White House to act on gay issues.  Now, he’s doing something else I support, asking people to “contact the Human Rights Campaign on behalf of the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell‘”:

Publicly demand that President Obama take the lead in getting DADT repealed this year.

1) That means the President needs to state publicly that he wants Congress to repeal DADT this year; and

2) The President needs to take the lead in working with Congress to make sure the repeal happens.

If you’re a member or donor to HRC, tell them, and ask to speak to Members Services:

HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160
TTY: (202) 216-1572
Toll-Free: (800) 777-4723

HRC Web site comment page.

Given HRC’s resources, this appears to be a smart move, having the well-funded Washington group deploy on behalf of DADT repeal.  That said, I wonder at the competence of their officials.  The folks at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) have shown a much better understanding of the way Washington works.

That said, if HRC could direct their efforts toward DADT repeal, it could make a difference.

Like us, Little Miss Attilla was not surprised that former Vice President Cheney favors lifting the ban on gays serving openly in our armed forces:

This is the guy whose daughter-in-law was the first same-sex partner at official state dinners in any Presidential administration.

Of course Cheney thinks that the change should be considered as soon as the military authorities figure out how to implement a new approach. And given the fact that the Israelis and the British have managed it, there’s really no reason we can’t.

Nice to see a lot of the bloggers and blogresses on the right coming out against DADT.

(H/t:  Instapundit.)

Hm.. I thought the eeeevil torture advocate was supposed to be against us.

Oh that’s right, he’s got a long history of supporting homosexuals (including his daughter). One wonders whenever this great man will get any sort of credit or respect from the gay “community”. Probably the day after its leadership is wrested away from the angry Leftist mob currently in charge. Dream on, huh?

-Nick (ColoradoPatriot, from HQ)

Do hope gay leaders/activists acknowledge this good man for saying so in a public forum After all, as Vice President, he earned little praise for distinguishing himself from then-President George W. Bush on the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week”,

[f]ormer Vice President Dick Cheney, who served as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, expressed support for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which President Barack Obama has asked Congress to work on this year.

“Society has moved on,”  he said.  Pointing out that Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff favors repeal, he said he’s “reluctant to second guess military in this regard,” Cheney said

the first requirement you have to look at all the time whether [military units are] capable of achieving their mission and does the policy change, i.e., putting gays in the force, affect the ability to perform their mission.  When the chiefs come forward and say we think we can do it, then it’s strikes me that it’s time to reconsider the policy.

Nice to see that he frames the issue exactly as it should be framed–one of military effectiveness.  Let’s hope more people take note of Cheney’s position on the issue.

UPDATE:  (Somewhat related):  ”Cheney ‘a complete supporter’ of Obama Afghanistan Strategy.”

According to a CBS News/ New York Times poll, the wording of the question makes a significant difference:

In the poll, 59 percent say they now support allowing “homosexuals” to serve in the U.S. military, including 34 percent who say they strongly favor that. Ten percent say they somewhat oppose it and 19 percent say they strongly oppose it.

But the numbers differ when the question is changed to whether Americans support “gay men and lesbians” serving in the military. When the question is asked that way, 70 percent of Americans say they support gay men and lesbians serving in the military, including 19 percent who say they somewhat favor it. Seven percent somewhat oppose it, and 12 percent strongly oppose it.

Just caught this link on Instapundit, skimmed the article, but don’t have time to offer much additional commentary, save that it confirms a lot of stuff I’ve been saying about lifting the ban on gays serving openly in our our armed forces:

ILYA SOMIN: “The Australian, British, Canadian, and Israeli armed forces are all among the best in the world. If they allow gays to serve openly with no ill effects, that strongly suggests that the US can as well.”

I have praised the way the president has been moving to repeal Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT) because he has been working with military commanders to develop a means to effect repeal without compromising the effectiveness of our armed forces.

To see that it is possible for gay people to serve openly while retaining military morale and unit cohesion, one only look at the examples of the nations which allow gays to serve openly in the military, including one nation which faces threats to its survival on an almost daily basis and has thus developed one of the world’s most effective armed services.  I’m speaking of course of Israel.

Thus, I was pleased to learn this week that this spring the Palm Center, a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara whose work of late has focused on gays in the military, will will be including officials of the Israel Defense Forces (as well as representatives of other NATO militaries) in a “Washington, D.C. summit of officials and experts from military forces that allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly“.

Dr. Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center, cited three questions raised about “twenty-five foreign forces that allow open gay service:”

Did the decision to allow open gay service undermine military readiness?  How was implementation managed?  To what extent can lessons from abroad help U.S. officials plan for an inclusive policy?

This conference can only help ease doubts among those who believe allowing gays to serve openly in the military is merely a social experiment or perhaps done to please an interest group without regard for the welfare of our armed forces. (more…)

On the same day I was finishing the second chapter of my dissertation, I was asked to write two pieces on Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.  I linked the first here.  Earlier today, Pajamas Media published the second of those pieces.  Here’s the opening.

Seventeen years ago, just days after becoming president, Bill Clinton rushed to fulfill a promise he had made several times on the campaign trail in 1992–he would repeal the ban on gays serving in the military.  At the time, the presdient could have repealed the ban with the stroke of a pen.  It was an administrative directive, not federal law.

Clinton, however, did not lay the groundwork for repeal.  His fellow Democrat, Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga), then-Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, an opponent of the ban, held hearings which upstaged the president.  Colin Powell, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Stuff, voiced his opposition.  And Clinton had Barney Frank, an openly gay Democratic Congressman, defending him.  That Massachusetts Democrat had no history of military service and was not well regarded in military circles.  He cast this issue as one of gay rights.

In the end, Frank helped craft a compromise, legislation that would come to be known as Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT).  It allowed gay people to serve provided they don’t openly declare their sexuality.  But, it also codified the ban.  No longer an administrative directive, it was no federal law.  The president would need an act of Congress to repeal it.

Now that I’ve whet your appetite, click here to read the rest.

Amidst the frenzy of activity on Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell this week, the folks at AOL asked me to write a piece on the hullabaloo and I decided to tip my hat to bloggers with whom we are often at odds, but who, this time, got one right:

While President Barack Obama’s decision to move forward with the elimination of the military’s much hated “don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy has attracted widespread coverage, the reason behind the sudden push hasn’t.

To be sure, some small efforts were made by the administration months ago toward repeal.

In October, the White House approached Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent congressman well-regarded in the military who has long opposed DADT, about developing a means to lift the ban.

The same month, Kevin Nix, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network — a group that advocates for gay members of the armed forces — welcomed the appointment of retired Marine Gen. Clifford Stanley as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness as a sign of the administration’s seriousness of purpose to move forward.

Yet, despite these and other rumblings, there was no evidence that the White House had a strategy (or timetable) to effect repeal.

Click here to read the rest.

Following the news these past two weeks, I have been pretty bullish about the Administration’s new-found commitment to repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT).  The president sent signals to Congress and directed his top defense officials to develop a strategy to repeal the ban without compromising the military’s effectiveness.

Earlier this week, Adm. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed his intentions to do just that, telling

the Senate Armed Services Committee he believed the “don’t ask” restrictions—which require gay troops to keep their sexual orientation a secret—could be eliminated without harming military morale, recruitment or readiness.

But, now via Instapundit, we learn that “White House and congressional leaders are sending contradictory signals on scrapping the Pentagon’s ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy“:

[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi on Thursday did not commit to a clear legislative timeline on “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“It would be my preference to go first with legislation,” Pelosi told reporters. “But we’ll have to examine and see what the model is for what the review is.”

Now, while she may claim she’s waiting for the Pentagon to review this, we can more readily translate her remarks as, “We’re kicking this can down the road.”

Other Democrats, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) do have some plans to pursue full or partial repeal.  While it’s nice to see Mrs. Pelosi so concerned about the Pentagon review, perhaps she should consider legislation for repeal to kick in once the Pentagon has produced  plan for its smooth implementation, an implementation that would not compromise morale or readiness.

Until recently, I had been quite critical of President Obama’s apparent inaction on his campaign promise to repeal Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT), but now I’m beginning to see evidence that the way he may well be handling this issue better than he’s handled any other policy issue since taking office.  And that’s not hyperbole.

Shortly after his inauguration now more than seventeen years ago, the then-new President Bill Clinton rushed to repeal the ban on gays serving in the military, something he could (then) have done with the stroke of a pen.  But, he barely consulted the military brass, if at all nor did he secure the support of key Democrats in Congress, like Sam Nunn, then-Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.  Controversy ensued and DADT was the result.

The incumbent has taken a different tack.  Instead of rushing ahead, as if speed were needed to fulfill a promise to an interest group, Obama has instructed his top defense officials to develop a plan to repeal the ban while preserving the morale and readiness of our armed forces:

“We have received our orders from the commander in chief, and we are moving out accordingly,” [Defense Secretary Robert M]. Gates told the committee. “However, we can also take this process only so far, as the ultimate decision rests with you, the Congress.”

Any change in the policy would not come any time soon, the two officials made clear. Both Admiral Mullen and Mr. Gates told the committee that there would be a Pentagon review, taking up to a year, to study how to implement any change before they expected Congress to act on a repeal.

Look, I wish the Administration had set the process in motion last year. But, the key thing is that he is doing it now and going about it the right way. He’s showing that he understands it’s not just an issue of gay rights, but more importantly one involving national security.  You can just ask our armed forces to change a policy, no matter how wrong-headed that policy is, willy-nilly.

As Commander in Chief, as Chief Executive, he tells the officials responsible for administering a policy that he’d like to change it and asks them to implement the change so as not to impede the smooth operation of their organization.  A very conservative method of promoting change.

Let’s hope we see it in other departments.

The author of the legislation to repeal the ban “is a little-known Democratic congressman named Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran“.  Smart move having not only a veteran introduce repeal, but one who has recently served in the military, thus aware how lifting the ban would affect the morale of troops serving today:

Mr. Murphy is trying to build support for repealing the ban by couching his argument in financial and national-security terms. He says the Pentagon has spent more than $1.3 billion training service members who were later discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” provisions and prosecuting troops accused of violating the provisions.

He also argues that the military, already waging manpower-intensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, shouldn’t kick out troops who are otherwise willing and able to serve. More than 13,500 troops have been discharged under the law since 1994, including at least 428 in 2009, according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group that opposes the ban.

Sounds like the right way to argue for repeal, by making it a national security issue.  We may well see repeal sometime this year.

This is one promise I hope the president keeps.  Now, to get him to act on that “net spending cut” he promised . .

It looks like President Obama has indeed laid the groundwork for repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.  A friend e-mailed me a post from the lefty blog Think Progress that details steps the Administration is taking to make it easier for gay people to serve openly in the military:

In a Senate hearing tomorrow, the first in 17 years on the issue, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen “will unveil the Pentagon’s initial plans for carrying out a repeal, which requires an act of Congress.” Gates and Mullen are “not expected to offer a specific legislative proposal to repeal the law, but rather to detail some of the preliminary steps that need to be taken inside the military in advance of formulating a legislative plan.” “A special investigation into how the ban can be repealed without hurting the morale or readiness of the troops was expected to be announced” at the hearing tomorrow, a process that could “take the better part of this year to complete.” In the meantime, a senior Pentagon official tells CNN that Gates will discuss at the hearing options for more “humanely” implementing the current ban.

While the Administration still hasn’t developed a legislative path forward, we do at least see efforts to mitigate the impact of the ban.  A step forward, to be sure, but not the full measure of progress we need.

Importantly, Gates and Mullen are taking the steps that should have been taken seventeen years ago when Bill Clinton rushed to repeal the ban on gays serving in the military.  They should investigate how to repeal the ban while ensuring the morale and readiness of our troops.

That investigation should help bring Republicans like incoming Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown on board (given his recent interview with Barbara Walters) and perhaps even John McCain, given his interview with the Washington Blade during the 2008 presidential campaign.  Thus, the investigation should make it easier for Congress to vote on repeal.  Socially moderate, pro-military Republicans are more likely to favor repeal when they have solid evidence from our military commanders that lifting the ban will not hurt troop morale.

Kudos to the folks at Think Progress for such a thorough report on efforts to repeal the ban as well as the effect of this unnecessary policy and the resistance to change.  Their post merits your attention.