Gates to McCain: No troop referendum needed on 'Don't ask, don't tell'

[babylonsister]

Gates to McCain: No troop referendum needed on 'Don't ask, don't tell'
By Roxana Tiron - 11/23/10 03:30 PM ET


The Pentagon shouldn't ask members of the military if they think the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law should be scrapped because that would amount to a “referendum,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a leading Senate Republican on military matters.

Gates was responding to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) concerns that a Pentagon working group was not seeking the opinion of service members on whether the ban on gays in the military should be repealed.

The Pentagon has conducted a yearlong study into the implications of repealing the Clinton-era law. McCain, a key opponent of including a repeal provision in the 2011 defense authorization bill, has criticized the way the Pentagon approached the study, saying it should focus not on how to repeal the law but whether it should be repealed at all.

“I do not believe that military policy decisions — on this or any other subject — should be made through a referendum of Servicemembers,” Gates wrote to McCain in a previously undisclosed Oct. 25 letter. The letter was first released Tuesday in an online post on the Wonk Room blog of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal organization that supports repealing the ban.

The Pentagon confirmed the existence of the letter.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130573-gates-no-troop-referendum-needed-on-dont-ask-dont-tell

[montanacowboy]

1. Old Man McCain

will not like that! have to give Gates credit.

[southern_belle]

2. k & r

[Rosco T.]

3. There are times when I like Gates...

and this is one of them.

[TwilightGardener]

4. LOL--Gates just kicked McLame in the junk. And he's right--

why would military policy rely on a referendum of the servicemembers? You don't leave major defense and personnel decisions up to 18 year olds.