A policy originally crafted to tailor to right-wing demands, and currently enforced by the civilian and military leadership of the U.S. Armed Forces, is causing our military to lose foreign language specialists, Nacy code-breakers, Army intelligence specialists and interrogators, Air Force air traffic controllers, Marine Corps counterintelligence specialists and more -- almost 9,500 soliders in all -- at a time when America is under threat from external forces.
This policy does NOTHING to keep Americans safer; to the contrary, the loss of these soldiers, many of whom performed "critical occupations", clearly makes us less safe.
It is clear that the right-wing is placing its ideology over the safety and security of the American people.
It is often the case, of couse, that the modern-day Republican Party speaks the LANGUAGE of "looking out for us", but takes ACTIONS which hurt average Americans. This is such a case, and because the cost/benefit analysis is so clear here, we need to use this example to make the larger point.
Please keep reading below the fold.
The policy referred to is, of course, the infamous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compromise which was (tragically) accepted by Bill Clinton in 1993. The force behind the policy, though -- and the force that keeps it in place today -- is the Republican Party.
The General Accounting Office will issue a report on this subject next month. Here's some of what the Boston Globe is reporting today:
More than 300 foreign language specialists considered critical in the war on terrorism have been forced out of the military in the past decade because of their sexual orientation, according to the first government study to assess both the warfighting and financial impact of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that prohibits openly gay servicemen.
According to the report, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe, a total of 9,488 soldiers have been discharged since 1993 for being gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and it has cost at least $200 million to recruit and train replacements. It said the taxpayer burden is probably much higher because the analysis did not include other costs also associated with the ban on gays and lesbians -- including the impact on the National Guard, Reserve, and Coast Guard -- or the investigation and counseling of service members believed to be gay and other administrative expenses related to removing them.
Nevertheless, critics of the policy said the report -- the government's first assessment since the policy was adopted in November 1993 -- underscores how the ban on gays and lesbians is hurting military readiness when the armed forces are already stretched thin and finding it difficult to recruit skilled personnel.
Again, the right-wing is placing THEIR ideology over OUR security. Rather than running and hiding because this is a "controversial" issue, we need to stand up and draw a line in the sand: Democrats will accept NO policy which compromises the security of our country, and that is what this policy does. We should move to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" immediately.
The primary reason that we should oppose this policy is that it is a violation of the human rights of humans who are entitled to those rights.
But the primary way we should TALK about our position is to focus on the true threat to our national security. We should argue that making some conservatives "uncomfortable" is an entirely acceptable price to pay for making our country safer. We should highlight this issue, not run from it. We should show the right-wing to be the small-minded, sex-obsessed, no common-sense fools they are. Let's use this forthcoming report to do just that!