Dec 19, 2007
End of DADT?
60 Minutes had a fascinating story this week on the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The arguments put forth by defenders seemed--to put it mildly--a stretch.
This analysis doubtless will come as news to the British forces who have spent the last five years in southern Iraq. More to the point, the IDF has allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly for almost 15 years.
Somehow, claims that their forces aren't able to handle situations that"require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability" or that the Israeli government shows"little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places" do not strike me as arguments most people would associate with the IDF.
Unless proponents of DADT can come up with better arguments than they did to Lesley Stahl, it's hard to see the policy much outlasting the Bush administration.
The most intriguing came from Congressman Duncan Hunter, former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Asked by Lesley Stahl about how a military necessity for the policy could be justified given that most western European nations allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, Hunter replied,
We aren't the Brits. We're not the Europeans. We're not the Swedes . . . The Fallujahs of the world, the Ramadis of the world that require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability - those are the places the Americans go. The other countries tend to go to the so-called peacekeeper zones, where they have fewer fire fights and less contact with the enemy. And the European nations show little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places.
This analysis doubtless will come as news to the British forces who have spent the last five years in southern Iraq. More to the point, the IDF has allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly for almost 15 years.
Somehow, claims that their forces aren't able to handle situations that"require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability" or that the Israeli government shows"little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places" do not strike me as arguments most people would associate with the IDF.
Unless proponents of DADT can come up with better arguments than they did to Lesley Stahl, it's hard to see the policy much outlasting the Bush administration.