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Friday, June 11, 2010
Betrayal of the Chiefs
In a May 30 interview with Fox News Sunday, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was equivocal about legislation to repeal the current law making homosexuals ineligible for military service that he had put on track for passage with his own Senate testimony. On February 2 Mullen admitted that the proposed new law would cause problems. Neither he nor Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has named a single advantage of repeal to the military, but the politically-correct admiral nevertheless is personally for it. For Secretary Gates, the president’s stated views (and political promises) are the sole justification for "moving out."
On April 30 Adm. Mullen and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates co-signed a strong letter asking Congress to take no action until after the Pentagon working group produces its report. On May 27, however, the American Forces Press Service described Mullen as "comfortable" with the power that would be placed in his hands if the "Repeal Deal" passed.
Speaking on Fox News shortly after the House and Senate votes, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney reported, "the service chiefs are furious." On June 2 Rowan Scarborough wrote a widely-circulated column describing events that left the chiefs feeling betrayed by Chairman Mullen and members of Congress who rushed to repeal the law:
Military Chiefs Split With Mullen on Gays.
A senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Fox News that "Some troops feel double-crossed because they had been told that nothing would happen quickly and were assured that the Pentagon would take their individual concerns into account." Sen. James Webb said on CNN, "I believe we had a process in place and to pre-empt it in some ways showed a disrespect for the people in the military."
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has no operational authority, is responsible to convey the professional advice of the service chiefs to the president. Instead, Adm. Mike Mullen has been promoting the president's view down the chain of command---in complete defiance of the stated opinions of the four military service chiefs. And he did this even though he admitted in February that he does not know what repeal would mean.
On the House side, Republicans defended the law and the right of military personnel to be heard before the vote was taken. House Ranking Member Rep. "Buck" McKeon presented a laudable statement, recommending "no" votes on both the Murphy Amendment and the full defense bill if the legislation were adopted. Others who took to the floor to defend the law included Rep. Mike Pence, (IN), Jack Kingston (GA), Steve Buyer (IN), Tom Rooney (FL), Duncan Hunter (CA), Todd Akin (MO).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed that votes for the repeal legislation would make our military more "American." On the contrary, forced implementation of Rep. Murphy's proposed LGBT Law, whether by legislation or executive order, now or later, will Europeanize our military and force it to emulate policies that assign highest priority to social goals at the expense of military necessity. All of this was done just in time for President Obama's Proclamation of "LGBT Equality Month."
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