SECDEF Robert Gates has decided to release that DADT “study” to Congress on November 30 instead of December 1st, citing a need to accomodate the Senate Armed Services Committee's desire for time to review and hold hearings on the contents. From the Armed Forces Press Service:
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia, Nov. 21, 2010 – The report of a working group he created to research the ramifications for the Defense Department if the law banning gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military is repealed will be released to Congress and the public Nov. 30, Defense Department officials announced here today.
Gates formed the working group in February, appointing Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, and Jeh C. Johnson, DOD’s general counsel, to lead the effort.
“Secretary Gates is pushing all involved in the Comprehensive Review Working Group's report to have it ready for public release on Nov. 30 in order to accommodate the desire of the Senate Armed Services Committee to hold hearings as soon as possible,” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said. “Frankly, Dec. 1 was already an aggressive deadline by which to complete the report, incorporate the views of service secretaries and chiefs and for the secretary to make a recommendation on the way ahead, but he has further compressed the timeline in order to support Congress' wish to consider repeal before they adjourn.
“Now,” Morrell continued, “the secretary has instructed his staff, without cutting any corners, to have everything ready a day sooner because he wants to ensure members of the Armed Services Committee are able to read and consider the complex, lengthy report before holding hearings with its authors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
A whole day. Wow. Let's not forget that President Obama, the Commander-in-Chief, allegedly started consulting upper-level brass on how to study repeal in March 2009. I'm just curious as to why it took a whole year to formulate a series of biased, derogatory questions at a taxpayer cost of .4 million. Well, at least the entire “study” will be released a day early so John McCain can have his hearings. I can't wait for that dog and pony show.
Let's keep in mind the political warfare perpetuated against LGB troops by Republicans, and I don't just mean John McCain. Back in March, during the House Armed Services Committee hearings on DADT, Republican Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson accused the Pentagon of having a biased study in favor of repeal, and relying “too heavily” on the 1993 Rand study which showed that repeal of the ban on openly LGB servicemembers would have no impact. He actually used the phrase, “cook the books to the President's desires.” It's already been leaked that the Pentagon study is favorable to repeal. John McCain has said that the fact that the study was leaked invalidated the results, and he wants a do-over (presumably, as many do-overs as it takes to get the results he wants). The next talking point will be that the study was biased in favor of repeal. In fact, that talking point has already been around for a while.
As we say in the Navy, “Stand by.” The next act in the three-ring repeal circus is about to begin.
