Army dismisses gay Arabic linguist

[deadparrot]

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.

Bleu Copas, 30, told The Associated Press he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

"I knew the policy going in," Copas said in an interview on the campus of East Tennessee State University, where he is pursuing a master's degree in counseling and working as a student adviser. "I knew it was going to be difficult."

An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 — less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060727/ap_on_re_us/gays_military

[Buzz Clik]

1. Holy shit. Like we don't need Arab linguists desperately.

Can anyone help these people find their asses?

[tanyev]

3. It is shameful.

But the GAO also noted that nearly 800 dismissed gay or lesbian service members had critical abilities, including 300 with important language skills. Fifty-five were proficient in Arabic, including Copas, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in California.

[AndyA]

10. If they'd pull their false morality out of them, they'd be able to find

their asses. They show them to others all the time, you'd think they'd know where they were... :eyes:

[pokercat999]

16. Osama probably sent the email, easier than combat.

[JackDragna]

21. Oh, come on. You're being unreasonable.

Why, I myself have learned to speak Farsi by watching videos of Osama broadcast on Fox News. Typical liberal propaganda here. :)

[ThomCat]

2. When is the military going to figure out that they can't afford this?

They're scraping the bottom of the barrel to get straight people to enlist, and they're kicking out skilled people because they're afraid of gay sex.

By what possible reasoning are the world, most unskilled straight people better or more valuable than these people they are kicking out?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. It's costing them about 3 people a day.

Over 10,000 total
$364 million

And guess what? With the exception of Turkey, our allies all allow openly gay soldiers to serve. Our soldiers can fight next to foreign gays but not American gays.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. Oh yeah, and what are you doing out of the lounge today?

[ThomCat]

6. Oh sue me.

:P

You're right. I'm going. :)

[mom cat]

14. You can't use logic on these people. They are still in the

pre-logical/magical thinking stages of development.

[rodeodance]

7. discharge papers,--state the reason for discharge (being gay).

Copas now carries the discharge papers, which mention his awards and citations, so he can document his military service for prospective employers. But the papers also give the reason for his dismissal.

He plans to appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records.

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, established in 1993, prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of service members, but requires discharges of those who openly acknowledge being gay.

The policy is becoming "a very effective weapon of vengeance in the armed forces" said Steve Ralls, a spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based watchdog organization that counseled Copas and is working to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[rodeodance]

9. an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.

......More than 11,000 service members have been dismissed under the policy, including 726 last year — an 11 percent jump from 2004 and the first increase since 2001.

That's less than a half-percent of the more than 2 million soldiers, sailors and Marines dismissed for all reasons since 1993, according to the General Accountability Office.

But the GAO also noted that nearly 800 dismissed gay or lesbian service members had critical abilities, including 300 with important language skills. Fifty-five were proficient in Arabic, including Copas, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute in California.

Discharging and replacing them has cost the
Pentagon nearly $369 million, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

[saigon68]

15. Well don't Fucking join the corrupt homophobic military

When you are used up and injured

They will drop you like a lead weight and then the VA will continue to Abuse You.


But if you have a life fantasy to kill a few rag-heads --by all means "join"

[Minnesota Libra]

8. Excuse me??!! I thought we needed Arabic linguists???? What am I.....

.....missing in this picture???

I'm going to say something and PLEASE read this in its entirety rather than jump to premature conclusions. Thank you.

The "Don't ask don't tell" thing is bad enough, I'm sure we all agree on that. In my view a person's sexual persuasion shouldn't ever be an issue unless there is a "sexual harassment" issue. Then the sexual harassment gets dealt with - not their sexual preference. Do we all understand that distinction??

On the other hand, if the Military was truly worried:eyes: enough to keep the "don't ask don't tell" issue in place don't you think someone :banghead: somewhere should have had the brains to think this through, BEFORE shooting themselves in the collective foot? Someone :spank: should have had brains enough to say something to the affect of, "Oh, and btw everybody, we are in desperate need of Arabic linguists these days. So if we are lucky enough to come across any Arabic linguists who just happen to be gay, they are NOT, I repeat NOT, to be dismissed from the Military. Got it?? Whatever you hear about them, just ignore it."

Imagine how much easier it would be to understand the Arab/Muslim issues and the Hebrew/Jewish issues if we had plenty of Arabic linguists on the job??? What part of - we are going to pay for this for decades to come - didn't anyone pick up on????

Forgive me for ranting on and on but this just seems so ungodly stupid.:banghead:

[dolo amber]

11. There is a poll...

"Should the military have dismissed Bleu Copas?"

Yes - 15%
No - 85%

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14057198/

[BigDDem]

12. We have a surplus of

Arabic language specialist, right?

[Cha]

13. Stupid! Someone had

a homophobic bug up their ass.

[daleo]

17. No Arab linguists => less understanding of Arabs => less chance of peace

This makes sense, from a war mongering point of view.

[MadMaddie]

18. They spent a long time to investigate this but when it comes

to real possible crimes they drag their feet....the military has been on a gay "witch" hunt intensely since the repugs got into power....

So if the gay soldiar doesn't tell and someone anonomously outs him (that's asking right)



<snip>
eight-month Army investigation
<snip>

[anotherdrew]

19. AGAIN? isn't this the third or forth?

didn't I read somewhere that they were NOT discharging combat soldiers for this? but linguist are ok to discharge.

[MaineDem]

20. Read what the right wing said:

This from a FR-wanna be site here in Maine:
"Although he claims he never told anyone he was gay, obviously people knew he was gay somehow. Some people you can tell right away if they are gay, but some you can't at all. A lot of gay people have that look, you know what I mean? He doesn't look gay, so he must have talked about it at some point."

[IndianaGreen]

22. Thank you Clinton for "don't ask, don't tell"!

You could have done what Harry Truman did when he desegregated the military by just signing an executive order eliminating the ban on gays serving in uniform, but you chose instead to listen to homophobe pukes like Sam Nunn and John Warner.

Thank you also for DOMA, asshole!