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DADT BAD- Repeal Solves War and Economy
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DADT BAD- Repeal Solves War and EconomyRepeal DADT Key to Increase US Troop Levels—Key to Solve Escalating War and the Economy Korb et al 9 (Lawrence Korb, Sean E. Duggan and Laura Conley. Lawrence J. Korb is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, served as assistant secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration. Sean E. Duggan and Laura Conley are researchers at the center. “How to End Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”Christian Science Monitor. July 7, 2009. Lexis. July 20, 2010.) Last year, as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged he would work with military leaders and Congress to repeal the law that bans openly gay men and women from serving in the military. Last week, as the nation's commander in chief, he renewed his stance, declaring that "preventing patriotic Americans from serving our country weakens our national security." Yet the law commonly known as "Don't ask, don't tell," or DADT, still remains in effect. As a consequence, more than 275 service members have been discharged on the basis of this discriminatory, outmoded, and counterproductive policy since President Obama took office and an estimated 2,000 have left the service voluntarily this year because of the policy. In addition, DADT has deterred untold others who want to defend their country from serving. Since its enactment more than 16 years ago, DADT has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,000 patriotic and highly qualified men and women. This not only undermines military readiness, but costs the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars spent on training and replacing these people. At least 1,000 of these 13,000 have held "critical occupations," such as interpreters and engineers. For example, by the end of fiscal year 2003, a few months after the fall of Baghdad, the military had forced out more than 320 service members with vital language skills such as Arabic and Farsi. Meanwhile, the Army and Marine Corps have been forced to significantly lower their moral and aptitude standards to fill their ranks, including taking in people with felony convictions. Nevertheless, there is no sense of urgency within the Obama administration to repeal DADT. The president himself said on June 29 that he believes the best approach is to work with Congress and the Defense Department to change the law. But the Pentagon's leader, Secretary Robert Gates said, "The president and I feel like we've got a lot on our plates right now and let's push that one down the road a little bit." Yet as President Clinton's experience in 1993 demonstrates, any delay can allow those who oppose repealing DADT to seize the momentum. As President Truman found out when he tried to integrate the armed forces, or President Nixon when he tried to end the draft, the Pentagon and their supporters on the Hill will resist these changes. Unlike 16 years ago, the US is waging two wars and "Don't ask, don't tell" is no longer supported by the majority of the American people. The percentage of Americans that support allowing gay people to serve openly has risen from 44 percent in 1993 to 75 percent last year, according to Washington Post-ABC News polls.. While a 2006 Zogby International poll of returning Iraq and Afghanistan service members found that only 26 percent agreed that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve in the military, 73 percent were personally comfortable around gays and lesbians. There is also no credible evidence supporting the underlying arguments for retaining the law - namely that it would undermine unit cohesion and military effectiveness. In fact, government studies over the past 50 years demonstrate just the opposite. Moreover, 24 other countries, including our closest allies, such as Britain, Israel, and Canada, allow openly gay people to serve. In fact, the British, whose military is most similar in design and function to our own, found that six months after they were forced to change their policy by the European Court of Human Rights, sexual orientation became a nonissue. In other words, allowing openly gay men and women to serve proved more difficult in theory than in practice. Even an architect of "Don't ask, don't tell," Rear Adm. John Hutson, has acknowledged that the policy was "based on nothing" but "our own prejudices and our own fears." DADT BAD- No Effect on ReadinessRepealing DADT Doesn’t Affect Readiness-Only a Question of Conservative Morality The Washington Times 10 (Rowan Scarborough, staff writer, Some on right not opposed, Pg. 1. Lexis. March 1, 2010, accessed 7/20) Conservative groups have begun to mobilize to stop President Obama plan's to open the military to acknowledged gays, as some prominent right-leaning Washington figures are breaking with the movement and siding with the White House. The Military Culture Coalition made its debut as an alliance Feb. 18 in a joint Washington news conference to announce a campaign to retain a 1993 law that bans open homosexuals in the ranks based on combat-readiness concerns. "The 15 findings of fact in the 1993 law, emphasizing morale, unit cohesion and readiness remain valid today," said Elaine Donnelly, who runs the Livonia, Mich.-based Center for Military Readiness. "Repeal and replacement with the proposed 'LGBT Law' for the military, implementing the agenda of lesbian, gay,bisexual and transgendered groups who endorsed President Obama's campaign, would make military life even more difficult and dangerous." The coalition includes conservative grass-roots organizations, such as Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the American Conservative Union and Concerned Women for America. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, said these groups have no interest in the military and are involved in this debate merely because they don't like homosexuals. "I don't think they're really motivated by concern for unit cohesion and military readiness," said Mr. Belkin, whose organization at the University of California at Santa Barbara has conducted studies promoting open gays in the military. "I think they're motivated by moral concerns and a distaste for homosexuality. Most of those groups don't make any bones about that." He also noted the coalition's press release, saying it put the group at odds with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and several of his predecessors who have made statements varyingly critical of the current policy. "It was a little funny for me to see them put a rainbow-colored question mark over the Pentagon because it's not our side that is questioning Chairman Mullen, Chairman [Colin L.] Powell, Chairman [John] Shalikashvili and Chairman [William] Crowe. So I really don't think it's about military readiness for these groups," he said. Adm. Mullen, the late Adm. Crowe, and Gen. Shalikashvili have voiced support for overturning the ban, while Gen. Powell has said he wants the law reviewed. Conservatives have largely been silent on the issue of gays in the military since winning the battle in 1993, when they joined like-minded Democrats and Republicans to block President Clinton's bid to remove outright the services' ban on homosexuality. They took it one step further, writing into law a prohibition that merely had been a regulation; "don't ask, don't tell" was a compromise regulation on how to implement the ban. This time around, conservatives do not seem as unified or enthused. Groups against the ban, such as the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, have kept a drumbeat of publicity casting the prohibition as unfair discrimination. The mainstream media generally support their goals. And public opinion polls have shown a growing majority supporting gays in the military. The prospect of major social change for the all-volunteer force has not captured conservative talk radio, which is focused on Mr. Obama's economic and health care agenda. For example, Bill O'Reilly, host of the Fox News Channel's most-watched prime-time show, said Mr. Obama's call for ending the ban this year is not an issue. Influential conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer sided with Mr. Obama on Fox's "Special Report" program in February. "I think it is a good idea, and I think the administration's approach, which is a gradual approach, is the right one, which is to study how to do it over a year and then to implement it over years," he said. "The mores in the country have changed, certainly in the last 16 years, and certainly among the young. I think it's a form of discrimination that's sort of outlived itself." Former Vice President Dick Cheney, a hero to conservatives for criticizing Mr. Obama's counterterrorism policies, all but endorsed ending the ban on ABC News last month. "I think society has moved on," said Mr. Cheney, who enforced the ban as President George H.W. Bush's defense secretary. "I think it's partly a generational question. I'm reluctant to second-guess the military in this regard, because they're the ones that got to make the judgment in how these policies affect the militarycapability of our units." Mr. Cheney said "that first requirement you have to look at all the time is whether or not they're capable of achieving their mission and does the policy change - i.e., putting gays in the force affect their ability to perform their mission. And when the chiefs come forward and say we can do it, it strikes me that it's time to reconsider the policy, and I think Admiral Mullen said that." Adm. Mullen told Congress last month that he supports repealing the ban, but the chiefs of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps withheld support during congressional testimony last week. They said they want to await the results of a study ordered by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on how to integrate open gays and its impact on the force. The Marine Corps and Army chief expressed deep reservations about ending the ban. "I think the current policy works," Gen. James T. Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. "My best military advice to this committee, to the secretary, to the president, would be to keep the law such as it is." Said Ms. Donnelly, "The other chiefs are coming forward and are not following the keynote testimony of Adm. Mullen. Our side now is only just starting to get visible. The other side has been out there all along. Now that the hearings are being held, there is a new dynamic." Some of the issues that social conservatives are raising: Will military chaplains be called on to perform ceremonies that violate their beliefs? Will there be mandatory sensitivity training? What will children be taught about homosexuality in the armed forces schools system? "If our military is now forced to affirm homosexual behavior, it will for the first time in history espouse amilitary policy that is completely at odds with the morality expressed by many of its chaplains," the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal rights group, said in a Feb. 18 letter to Mr. Gates. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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