12
Op-Ed
Q-NOTES • JANUARY 18 . 2002
Fifteen Ten
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1510 Central Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28205
704.342.9005
website: www. 1510-antiques.com
email: info@ 1510-antiques.com
•Joe Bums
(704) 608-0926 Ceil
(704) 401-2903 Office
jbums@heienadainsrca]ty.»in
Trey Williams
Cell (704) 968-8594
Office (704) 401-2903
twilltan»@helena(knisreaJ ty.com
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Charlotte, NJC 28216
Military policy wastes
valuable talent
by Keith Taylor
Before long, Congress or the Commander
in Chief will find a way to do away with one
of the dumbest military ideas of modern
times.
The ridiculous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,
Don’t Harass, Don’t Pursue” policy will go.
Then, any further resistance to gays serv
ing openly in the military will fall by the
wayside.
If it’s up to the current President, it’ll be
done quietly. He’ll have to dance adroitly
around the problem to avoid offending many
of the people who spent so much time and
money putting him in the office in the first
place. And just wait until you see him try to
sell the idea to the brass hats at the top of the
military masthead.
But either our resolve to win the war on
terrorism or our aversion to gays serving their
own country has got to give.
Our President tells us he will do anything
to prevail in our war on terrorism. If he means
it, he’d better ask the functionaries at the
Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA,
to stop kicking out some of our most promis
ing translators.
That’s what happened recently when the
Army discharged several gay linguists. They
were not just any linguists — they were study
ing the critical languages of Arabic and Korean.
But they got caught or confessed to being
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gay, violating the latest understanding of the
9-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t
Harass, Don’t Pursue” rule.
Out they went and, one presumes, thou
sands more intercepted conversations will be
added to the thousands waiting to be read.
If only we could get the terrorists to wait a
while, we could counter their next move,
if we want to learn about our enemies, we
have to use folks who can learn the language,
regardless of their sexual orientation.
Why not just bring them into the tent long
enough to solve the problem, then ease them
out? After all, we’re told that their presence is
prejudicial to good morale and good order, at
least when they aren’t needed.
Believe it or not, that’s exactly what has
been happening. About 10 years ago, Randy
Shilts wrote Conduct Unbecoming, a book about
gays in the military.
According to Shilts, the National Security
Agency fired two gay Arab linguists.
Then, at the onset of Operation Desert
Storm, the agency pleaded with them to
return. They refused.
Let me suggest that the current Republican
President take a cue from a former Republican
President, but one considered every bit as
conservative. Speaking in October 2001,
Gerald Ford supported a new federal law ban
ning workplace discrimination against gays.
“That is a step in the right direction. 1 have
a long-standing record in favor of legislation to
do away with discrimination," he said. The
government must decide that it cannot have it
both ways. It-also must rid itself of the notion
that one’s sexual preference (sic.) is a reflec
tion of one’s courage.
Baron Friedrich Von Steuben, hero of the
American Revolution, was gay, according to
Shilts’ book.
So was Mark Bingham, the rugby player
who, on September 11,2001, helped overpow
er the terrorists aboard United Flight 93 and
crashed the airliner into the Pennsylvania
countryside.
That flight was headed back toward
Washington and, possibly, the White House.
The writer is retired after 23 years as a Navy
enlisted man. and officer in the field of cryptology.
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