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The
Washington
Post
Opener: Should Army
secretary
report gay troops?
By Ed O’Keefe,
Keeping Tabs on the Government
Happy Thursday! Army Secretary
John M. McHugh has decided to effectively ignore the military's "don't ask,
don't tell" policy by not pursuing discharges of soldiers who recently told him
they are gay.
"What I'm trying to do is show the troops that, yes, it's okay to talk about
this," McHugh told reporters on Wednesday. "I just felt it would be
counterproductive ... to take disciplinary action against someone who spoke
openly and honestly."
As colleague Craig Whitlock reports today, McHugh has reasoned that if he hadn't
asked, they wouldn't have told.
The secretary also said that the Pentagon won't discipline a three-star who
urged members of the military and their families to lobby Congress for a repeal
of the policy. The general admits his comments were "inappropriate" and
thus won't receive a letter of reprimand. This as a former Marine general
apologized this week for criticizing the Dutch military for its inclusion of gay
troops.
Should McHugh pursue discharges against the troops he heard from? Is he
setting a bad precedent by not doing so, or just acknowledging the inevitable.
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