Posted on 02/02/2010 11:15:04 AM PST by Red Steel
WASHINGTON -- The military's top uniformed officer on Tuesday made an impassioned plea for allowing gays to serve openly in uniform, telling a Senate panel it was a matter of integrity and that it is wrong to force people to "lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens."
The comments by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, set the stage for the military's yearlong study into how the ban can repealed without causing a major upheaval to the fighting forces.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, appearing with Mullen before the Armed Services Committee, announced plans to loosen enforcement rules involving the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that has been in effect since 1993.
President Barack Obama has called for a repeal of the policy, a move that require congressional action. If he succeeds, it would mark the biggest shake up to military personnel policies since President Harry S. Truman's 1948 executive order integrating the services.
"No matter how I look at the issue," Mullen said, "I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens." Noting that he was speaking for himself and not for the other service chiefs, Mullen added: "For me, it comes down to integrity - theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."
Sen. John McCain, the ranking Republican on the panel, publicly bristled at the Pentagon's decision to the study, saying he is "deeply disappointed" and calling the assessment "clearly biased" because it presumes the law should be changed.
Has this policy been ideal? No, it has not," McCain said. "But it has been effective."
Several other Republicans
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
So the Navy wants homos - and this is a surprise? Semper Fi
Easy to say General Mullen when you don’t have to bunk or shower with these individuals.
Freakin’ idiot. Spend time as an enlisted and tell me how much you like having gays with you. The quarters are too close.
No, homosexuality is what is wrong. Facilitating the practice of homosexuality is wrong. Adm. Mike Mullen is wrong.
So - Mike Mullen agrees with Congressman Joe Sestak. Who knew?
you cannot defend your fellow citizens when you are preoccupied with having swordfights in the showers.
Eww, I just grossed myself out.
This article reeks of leftist politics. No military man in his rigfht mind would approve of gutting the military, which is exactly what this amounts to.
I urge everyone to call their Senator and Congressional Representative TODAY!! Everyone I know in the military is outraged at Obama’s attempt to inject active homosexuality into the barracks and showers of the armed forces. Here we go again with another Dem idiot trying to social engineer the military.
“Easy to say General Mullen when you don’t have to bunk or shower with these individuals.”
Exactly.
What happened to the rights of “straights” to privacy?
But forcing people to accept this societal abomination is just honky dory? The military has lost its bearings. It is adopting self destructive polices and behaviors.
“Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,” Casey said
I fear too many of our higher-ranking officers appear to have been selected for their PC-compatibility rather than for their military competence. . .
No matter his rank, I’ll always think of him as a Rear Admiral.
“Noting that he was speaking for himself and not for the other service chiefs, Mullen ...”
If the ban is lifted homosexuals will flock to the military and overrun it and have the full force of military law behind them, the military will be theirs.
Man, this guy is such a suck up it's disgusting. Between him and Gates I don't see who has the stones to defend the military from the "I loathe the military" democrat powers that be.
Nothing new there, at least not since the Clinton years.
I thought Admiral Mike Mullen was a loser when Bush was President. His response to the Chinese submarine that come up in the middle of the fleet was typical.
It’s obvious why Obama chose to promote him.
It ought to be intresting keeping up with HIV exposure in the ranks.
Title: In The Navy
Artist: Village People Lyrics
Where can you find pleasure
Search the world for treasure
Learn science technology
Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true
On the land or on the sea
Where can you learn to fly
Play in sports and skin dive
Study oceanography
Sign of for the big band
Or sit in the grandstand
When your team and others meet
In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now, people, make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can’t you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)
They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit
If you like adventure
Don’t you wait to enter
The recruiting office fast
Don’t you hesitate
There is no need to wait
They’re signing up new seamen fast
Maybe you are too young
To join up today
Bout don’t you worry ‘bout a thing
For I’m sure there will be
Always a good navy
Protecting the land and sea
In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now, people, make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can’t you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)
They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit
Who me?
They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit
But, but but I’m afraid of water.
Hey, hey look
Man, I get seasick even watchin’ it on TV!
They want you, they want you in the navy
Oh my goodness.
What am I gonna do in a submarine?
They want you, they want you in the navy
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