Barry McCaffrey, well-known retired U.S. Army General who served under President Bill Clinton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, spoke with MSNBC’s David Shuster today. Here’s what he had to say:
Shuster: “Does there need to be another year of studying this [DADT repeal]?”
McCaffrey: “No, not at all. What they need a Congressional law that has less than fifty words in it that changes the prohibition on homosexuality… The Commanders will make this thing work. This is not going to be a problem unless we have an individual debate, topic by topic.”
“If we change the policy, there won’t be any more or less gays serving in uniform.”
“What will happen though, to tie us up in knots, is if we write extensive regulations on how to handle the issue.”
And at noon today, that is exactly what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will tell Congress we need: Yet another expensive study on the taxpayers’ dime, after having many studies done already — studies that have told the military time and time again that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will not be a problem — before they can move forward with what already exists: allowing 65,000 gays in the military.
Next up: Pentagon will study if gravity will harm unit cohesion.
More shortly.