NATIONAL SECURITY AUX FOLLES

[Don Davis]

Latest insanity, as reported by the Associated Press and msnbc.com, from the front lines on the war on terror:

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 admitted being 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.

ccording to the General Accountability Office … 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.



I addressed this very issue in my book, One State Two State Red State Blue State <http://redstatebluestatebook.com/>:

We lack Arab-speaking analysts

Not because we can’t afford to pay

It’s simply due

To the bureaucratic yahoos

Who fired translators that were gay

Now if this passes for National Security

Perhaps we’d be safer on Saturn’s Moons

Did they really fear

That an analyst queer

Would translate Al-Qaeda emails into show tunes

[bemildred]

1. Military bureaucrats do not let reason, logic, or military

necessity interfere with their careers.