DADT is dead #20

Last December, the repeal of DADT passed the Senate by a vote of 63-31 -- better than 2:1. That vote far exceeded expectations for such a momentous correction of a controversial wrong.

Although we might have wished it to go into effect immediately, Obama wisely gave the military the time it felt it needed to plan for an orderly transition and to prepare officers and troops for the change. They are nearing completion of that task.

The House Republicans, however, newly giddy with control of its committees and hoping to prove it was a huge mistake, held a hearing by the House Armed Services Committee into how it's going. The hearing was led by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) -- the same Joe Wilson who yelled "You lie !!" at Obama during his State of the Union address.

They are desperately trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Pentagon officials who had been called to testify reported that the transition is going very well. But our Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) demanded to know how much this was costing. The answer: $10,000 for training materials.

Scott was incredulous: "If something was done at D.O.D. for $10,000, I would like to know what it was." He then said that a soldier in his district was choosing not to reenlist because of this "social policy" -- and what a loss this was to the government because "hundreds of thousands of dollars" had been spent training this soldier to disarm I.E.D.'s.

This cost argument was effectively countered by Democratic Rep. Charlie Pingree (D-ME) with this fact: Between 2004 and 2009 alone, the cost of purging gays from the military amounted to $193,000,000. Multiply that times 2 1/2 (for the full 17 years DADT was in effect), and you get about $650,000,000.

So $10,000 for training materials is a pretty good bargain to stop the hemorrhaging of hundreds of millions -- to say nothing of the human and personal costs which can't be counted in dollars.

A member of the Log Cabin Republicans (gay caucus) commented:

As expected, the repeal process is moving forward smoothly, with deliberation and purpose, and Log Cabin Republicans are pleased to hear that the Department of Defense considers midsummer to be an achievable timeline for certification. The message from today’s House Armed Services Committee hearing is that military leadership is confident about the progress being made toward repeal implementation, that open service will not impact our ability to fight and win wars, and with leadership, professionalism, discipline and respect, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will end.”

Despite the April Fool's Day schedule of the hearings, they were real; and despite conservatives' attempt to find fault, it looks like this is a done deal.

DADT IS TRULY, FINALLY, DEAD !!!

Ralph