Obama Invokes 'State Secrets' Claim To Dismiss Lawsuit Against Targeting Of U.S. Citizen
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Obama, as president and Commander-in-Chief, can end DADT with an executive order (A group of experts in military law concluded Obama can end DADT with the stroke of a pen: http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/Executive%20Order%20on%20Gay%20Troops%20-%20final.pdf ) while Congress works on ending it through legislation, and while individuals and groups go about ending it through the courts (the Log Cabin Republicans lawsuit has taken 6 years to get to last week's decision in the federal court).
There's no reason all can't happen simultaneously, and should. One of the many benefits of an executive order ending DADT is that its implementation begins to knock down the fallacies that exist about gay men and women serving in the military. It gets people used to it.
It also refocuses attention where I think it always should have been: The purpose of our military and our true state of preparedness.
How is it that this nation that allegedly stands as a beacon for individual liberty and universal justice can justify separating any competent professional soldiers from service for their sexual orientation in this time of war?
Do you remember this?:
==According to the February 2005 GAO report, seven hundred fifty-seven (about 8 percent) of these separated servicemembers held critical occupations ("voice interceptor," "data processing technician," or "interpreter/translator"), as defined by the services. Also, 322 members (about 3 percent) had some skills in an important foreign language such as Arabic, Farsi, and Korean. Government Accountability Office, February 2005. http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05299.html ==
It makes this criminal:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/afghanistan-whistleblower-claims-us-interpreters-speak-afghan-languages/story?id=11578169
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
