Discrimination Hurts National Security

Since the start of the Iraq war, and very public scandals about Bush/Rumsfeld's less than stellar administration of deploying troops to war (see: lack of equipment, over-extension, lack of support upon their return for post traumatic stress disorder, no clear mission, no real re-deployment plan, etc), the U.S. armed forces have had more than a difficult time meeting recruitment needs. In fact, 2005 was the worst in 26 years.

Specifically since we've been told how the battle has changed since 9/11, new strategies in terms of intelligence gathering have quickly emerged.

Agreed.

Obviously, this includes underscoring the importance of cultural and linguistic specialists who are incredibly crucial in terms of our ability to quickly translate information from Arabic and other common Middle Eastern language into usable data in good old fashioned English, and perhaps even further downsized into something Bush might be able to comprehend.

Given the fact that less than 1% of U.S. citizens raised in English-only households are bilingual, finding Americans who both speak Arabic or Farsi are willing to join the military these days is the intelligence gathering equivalent of a small jackpot.

So what have we done with over 800 of these linguistic gems? Threw their faggoty asses out of course!

A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified. Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 -- less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country. Copas now carries the discharge papers, which mention his awards and citations, so he can document his military service for prospective employers. But the papers also give the reason for his dismissal.

More than 11,000 service members have been dismissed under the policy, including 726 last year -- an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.

Read on...

It should be noted that one William J. Clinton shares as much blame for the military's ridiculous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as anyone else involved in its creation back in the early 90's, and while I support a lot of what Clinton did in terms of Civil Rights and for our country as a whole, this piece of legislation is beyond a black mark on his record as far as I'm concerned.

Considering the amount of military men and women we've lost to this policy in a time of acute need, I hope Clinton reflects back on his pen stroke for DADT with regret and shame.