Congress Calls for Delay in Tomorrow’s DADT Repeal
The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), and committee member Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) have called on the Department of Defense to delay the planned repeal of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The Committee and others have complained the DoD has failed to provide any of the documentation required for the certification to the President that occurred two months ago. The documentation was supposed to cover policies and regulations implementing repeal.
Since it is evident that the department does not have final, approved policies in place, we believe it is essential that you take immediate action to delay the implementation of repeal…
The Department is not ready to implement the repeal because all the policies and regulations necessary for the transition are not yet final…
Notably, the letter calls into question the Pentagon’s original certification as required by law:
This failure to meet the committee’s requests lead us to conclude that decisions on the policies and regulations to implement repeal are not complete and that your certification and those of the others were inaccurate.
A “defense spokesman” says there is no plan to delay repeal.
Media articles in the intervening months have certainly indicated the presence of questions; in just one example, the US Navy issued and then suddenly reversed a memo regarding homosexual “marriage” and military chapels — and that came from an Admiral at the Pentagon. (The House version of the 2012 Defense Appropriations Act even has a clause prohibiting such ceremonies.)
It would seem some level of ambiguity or confusion about the environment post-DADT does exist. Congress apparently thinks policies and regulations were supposed to be in place prior to repeal to eliminate those possible misunderstandings.
I would expect, for the short term (maybe longer), some level of ambiguity and/or confusion with regard to this repeal, simply because we don’t know what we don’t know. This doesn’t mean we should delay this any longer, and we should examine issues closely as they come up.
I’d also say the Navy’s issue/memo regarding the “marriage and military chapels” is an example of “jumping-the-gun” so to speak. I have some serious issues with how this came about as well…are they not coordinating with the appropriate DoD agencies (and the JAG) before sending “memo’s” out to the field that could have a profound impact?
I also wonder why the Chairman and one other member of the HASC are the only persons wanting to delay? Are the other members not “on-board” with their chairman or are they satisfied that any more delays are an exercise in futility?
It is my considered opinion that there are a significant number of Christian Supremacists in the senior ranks of all branches of armed forces and service academies. They have gotten quite used to bashing Gays and Lesbians in God’s name. It’s almost ritualistic.
It is frightening to see the number of constitutional violations that have been occirung in the military for the past 7 years or so; all religion associated.
This powerful bloc of Dominionists have had their way for some time and this defeat is sticking in their craw.