| SHARED SACRIFICE PROGRESSIVE POLITICS AND CULTURE 14 MAY 2009 |
PRESIDENT OBAMA SURRENDERS TO FEAR ON DON'T ASK DON'T TELL
14 May 2009
by Gary S. Barkley
In allowing the firing of Army National Guard linguist Lt. Dan Choi based on Lt. Choi's self-identification as gay, Barack Obama is
going to continue in the Bush Administration tradition of weakening our national defense in the name of fear. But unlike the myriad
ways that George W. Bush manipulated fear to get what he wanted, Barack Obama is doing what most elected Democrats do: He’s
surrendering to it.
But he’s not surrendering to some undefined phantom threat from an unknown enemy; he’s surrendering to the fear of what his
political opponents will say about his policies. I realize Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the law (10 USC 654 to be exact) and only Congress
can change that. But Obama has at his disposal a title the Constitution bestowed upon the office he now occupies: Commander-in-
Chief. He has the unequivocal authority to order military commanders to stop discharge proceedings on this issue. And if anyone
questioned or objected to that, he could respond in one of two ways: 1) He could remind them that anyone who questioned Bush in
military matters was vilified as a traitor or 2) he can remind everyone that we are at war on two fronts and it is his job as Commander-
in-Chief to ensure that we have every able-bodied person willing to fight out there doing it. I personally would like to see the use of
both of those arguments against anyone objecting to a refusal to discharge gay people, but take your pick.
But, again, I can’t imagine seeing a Democrat stand up to his political opponents on controversial issues; I can’t imagine it because it
has been so long since I’ve actually seen it happen. Obama implicitly accepts the standard GOP charge that Democrats are weak
on national security, and if he breaks with Bush on all policies (forget that he has decided to essentially stay the course in Iraq and
double down on Bush’s bets in Afghanistan), he will be vilified by the GOP as being weak on terror. And we all know what
Democrats do when you throw that phrase in their face. They surrender.
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a direct threat to our national security. During Bush’s reign of terror, the American military discharged nearly
5 dozen linguists trained in Arabic because they are gay. Just think about that for a minute: Almost 60 people trained in the
language of our enemies no longer at their desks translating and interpreting intelligence data because some political fringe
elements object who they are. This is not acceptable on so many levels, but let’s just focuses on our national defense for a
moment.
Those who want to keep gays from serving openly say that to allow them to do so would be little more than social engineering and
would hurt unit morale. In fact, those wishing to keep gays out are the ones who are trying to socially engineer. Gays are already in
the military and always have been. These artificial policies restricting their service are the tools of social engineering.
Concerning morale: I know that it is rude of me to point out this fact, but I’m afraid they have painted me into a corner. Most of the
people who readily use the unit morale argument have never been in a military unit, so they really don’t know the interpersonal
dynamics of a unit in a combat zone. Despite being forced to point that out, I would also like to say that I am not the least bit sorry
for destroying their credibility on that issue—having served personally in a combat zone, as a gay officer.
Generational dynamics have changed, and young soldiers simply don’t care if the solider next to him/her is gay. The only "straight"
they care about is that their comrades can shoot straight. It's time for the shrinking minority on this issue to stop getting their way by
intimidating Democrats by claiming they are weak on terror. And in order to do that, Democrats actually have to stop being weak on
terror; stop surrendering to the right on everything military. If we accept the necessity to protect this country from those who are
determined to do us harm, we need everyone who is able and willing to defend us up on that wall doing it. And that means having
gay people up there too. In order to get that done, the Democrats in the White House and in Congress need to grow some stones.
Former First Lieutenant Gary S. Barkley served a tour in Iraq. He is a political commentator and activist living in Salt Lake City, is co-
producer of Shared Sacrifice Media and co-host of a weekly Blog Talk Radio show, as well as the author of Shared Sacrifice: Don't
Ask Don't Tell and the Global War on Terror. He is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
14 May 2009
by Gary S. Barkley
In allowing the firing of Army National Guard linguist Lt. Dan Choi based on Lt. Choi's self-identification as gay, Barack Obama is
going to continue in the Bush Administration tradition of weakening our national defense in the name of fear. But unlike the myriad
ways that George W. Bush manipulated fear to get what he wanted, Barack Obama is doing what most elected Democrats do: He’s
surrendering to it.
But he’s not surrendering to some undefined phantom threat from an unknown enemy; he’s surrendering to the fear of what his
political opponents will say about his policies. I realize Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the law (10 USC 654 to be exact) and only Congress
can change that. But Obama has at his disposal a title the Constitution bestowed upon the office he now occupies: Commander-in-
Chief. He has the unequivocal authority to order military commanders to stop discharge proceedings on this issue. And if anyone
questioned or objected to that, he could respond in one of two ways: 1) He could remind them that anyone who questioned Bush in
military matters was vilified as a traitor or 2) he can remind everyone that we are at war on two fronts and it is his job as Commander-
in-Chief to ensure that we have every able-bodied person willing to fight out there doing it. I personally would like to see the use of
both of those arguments against anyone objecting to a refusal to discharge gay people, but take your pick.
But, again, I can’t imagine seeing a Democrat stand up to his political opponents on controversial issues; I can’t imagine it because it
has been so long since I’ve actually seen it happen. Obama implicitly accepts the standard GOP charge that Democrats are weak
on national security, and if he breaks with Bush on all policies (forget that he has decided to essentially stay the course in Iraq and
double down on Bush’s bets in Afghanistan), he will be vilified by the GOP as being weak on terror. And we all know what
Democrats do when you throw that phrase in their face. They surrender.
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a direct threat to our national security. During Bush’s reign of terror, the American military discharged nearly
5 dozen linguists trained in Arabic because they are gay. Just think about that for a minute: Almost 60 people trained in the
language of our enemies no longer at their desks translating and interpreting intelligence data because some political fringe
elements object who they are. This is not acceptable on so many levels, but let’s just focuses on our national defense for a
moment.
Those who want to keep gays from serving openly say that to allow them to do so would be little more than social engineering and
would hurt unit morale. In fact, those wishing to keep gays out are the ones who are trying to socially engineer. Gays are already in
the military and always have been. These artificial policies restricting their service are the tools of social engineering.
Concerning morale: I know that it is rude of me to point out this fact, but I’m afraid they have painted me into a corner. Most of the
people who readily use the unit morale argument have never been in a military unit, so they really don’t know the interpersonal
dynamics of a unit in a combat zone. Despite being forced to point that out, I would also like to say that I am not the least bit sorry
for destroying their credibility on that issue—having served personally in a combat zone, as a gay officer.
Generational dynamics have changed, and young soldiers simply don’t care if the solider next to him/her is gay. The only "straight"
they care about is that their comrades can shoot straight. It's time for the shrinking minority on this issue to stop getting their way by
intimidating Democrats by claiming they are weak on terror. And in order to do that, Democrats actually have to stop being weak on
terror; stop surrendering to the right on everything military. If we accept the necessity to protect this country from those who are
determined to do us harm, we need everyone who is able and willing to defend us up on that wall doing it. And that means having
gay people up there too. In order to get that done, the Democrats in the White House and in Congress need to grow some stones.
Former First Lieutenant Gary S. Barkley served a tour in Iraq. He is a political commentator and activist living in Salt Lake City, is co-
producer of Shared Sacrifice Media and co-host of a weekly Blog Talk Radio show, as well as the author of Shared Sacrifice: Don't
Ask Don't Tell and the Global War on Terror. He is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
| Unlike the myriad ways George W. Bush manipulated fear to get what he wanted, Barack Obama is doing what most elected Democrats do: He’s surrendering to it. |
Anti-gay groups would be in a tough
situation on this issue if Obama
actually stood up to them. The crux of
their problem is that the only credible
argument they would really have would
be that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the law.
But anti-gay groups are mostly aligned
with the right-wing and, in turn, only
with the Republican Party. The GOP
doesn’t have much credibility these
days on the issue of "rule of law," given
the wanton lawlessness which led to
war crimes under Bush’s regime.
situation on this issue if Obama
actually stood up to them. The crux of
their problem is that the only credible
argument they would really have would
be that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is the law.
But anti-gay groups are mostly aligned
with the right-wing and, in turn, only
with the Republican Party. The GOP
doesn’t have much credibility these
days on the issue of "rule of law," given
the wanton lawlessness which led to
war crimes under Bush’s regime.
Dan Choi
Couple holding hands on the CSD 2006
in Berlin. Photo by Till Krech
in Berlin. Photo by Till Krech
| Anti-gay groups would be in a tough situation if Obama actually stood up to them. |
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