For years, the military brass has been almost uniformly opposed to ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Yesterday, however, Defense Secretary Robert Gates released a report that "overturning the law known as "don't ask, don't tell" might cause some disruption at first but would not create any widespread or long-lasting problems." The study goes on to indicate that a wide majority of troops "do not care if the ban is lifted."
On the one hand, we could applaud the military brass for catching up with the times. The repeal of this hideous law is long overdue. A person's sexual orientation absolutely should have nothing to do with whether or not an individual is fit to serve in the armed forces.
On the other hand, I distrust almost ANYTHING coming out of Washington DC these days. Whenever I hear something halfway positive, I immediately try to figure out what is going on behind the scenes. Experience has taught me that it is not atypical at all for a seemingly progressive measure or initiative to serve more nefarious purposes.
Initially, I wondered if recruitment might be down. With two unpopular wars going on, maybe the armed forces are facing a manpower shortage. However, after searching around the internet, I've found that recent recruitment targets are being met (though the targets have been lowered lately to make them easier to meet).
On first blush then, the recruitment angle would appear not to be the issue...unless the Obama administration is thinking about starting another war! If this is the case, then we need a lot more soldiers and axing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law would be a great place to start.
We already know from WikiLeaks that there are a lot of folks -- both in this country and abroad -- who desperately want the US to attack Iran. Add to this the brewing tempest on the Korean Peninsula and now we have two possible theaters for US aggression. Heck, we could even throw in places like Somalia too!
With so many potential targets to attack, we will need to ramp up the numbers of military personnel significantly. From this perspective, now is a good time to end a policy that discourages certain members of the US populace from signing up.
What do you think?
On the one hand, we could applaud the military brass for catching up with the times. The repeal of this hideous law is long overdue. A person's sexual orientation absolutely should have nothing to do with whether or not an individual is fit to serve in the armed forces.
On the other hand, I distrust almost ANYTHING coming out of Washington DC these days. Whenever I hear something halfway positive, I immediately try to figure out what is going on behind the scenes. Experience has taught me that it is not atypical at all for a seemingly progressive measure or initiative to serve more nefarious purposes.
Initially, I wondered if recruitment might be down. With two unpopular wars going on, maybe the armed forces are facing a manpower shortage. However, after searching around the internet, I've found that recent recruitment targets are being met (though the targets have been lowered lately to make them easier to meet).
On first blush then, the recruitment angle would appear not to be the issue...unless the Obama administration is thinking about starting another war! If this is the case, then we need a lot more soldiers and axing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law would be a great place to start.
We already know from WikiLeaks that there are a lot of folks -- both in this country and abroad -- who desperately want the US to attack Iran. Add to this the brewing tempest on the Korean Peninsula and now we have two possible theaters for US aggression. Heck, we could even throw in places like Somalia too!
With so many potential targets to attack, we will need to ramp up the numbers of military personnel significantly. From this perspective, now is a good time to end a policy that discourages certain members of the US populace from signing up.
What do you think?
Don't worry. The government will break before, another war is begun. Or should I say, immediately after. we have such financial crises brewing right now that will bring down the entire government if they don't get a freakin' clue and reign in spending. given that military is over half the budget already, we just don't have the funds, unless we're going to be another serf-country to the IMF, like just happened to Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about that. War is good for the economy. Remember that WWII is what brought us out of the Great Depression.
ReplyDeleteBesides, we can't run out of money. All the fed has to do (like recently) is to create wads of it out of thin air.
Methinks they are are all crooked as snakes and in cahoots to destroy the world, but we gots to keep calling them out at every turn and maybe, just maybe, if we keep after them, there'll be something left to rebuild with when they finish the job someday.
ReplyDelete