The Marine Corps commandant said on Wednesday that the ability of US troops to fight and win wars must trump other concerns as the US considers whether to let gays serve openly in the military.
In testimony before a House committee, General James Conway said he supports a Pentagon assessment to determine how to lift the ban. But he also suggested that civil rights ultimately would have to take a back seat if it meant tampering with the military’s ability to protect the country.
“That’s what they have been built to do under the current construct and I would argue that we’ve done a pretty good job bringing that to pass,” he told the House Armed Services Committee.
“My concern would be that somehow that central purpose or focus were to become secondary to the discussion,” he said.
Conway is seen as the most resistant among the service chiefs to efforts under way in Congress and the Pentagon to repeal the 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. But his testimony indicates that he won’t stand in the way as US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates undertakes a comprehensive study on how to lift the ban without hurting the force.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to change the policy, saying it unfairly punishes patriots who want to serve their country.
Congress would have to agree, and it’s unclear whether Democrats would have enough votes to pass the legislation.
The opinion of the service chiefs, and Conway’s in particular, is expected to factor heavily into the debate.
It is Conway’s job to ensure that young recruits are prepared to deploy to dangerous and remote regions of the world. Because Marines frequently represent the military’s first line of attack and are dropped behind enemy lines, unit cohesion and morale are considered vital to their ability to succeed.
In 1993, opponents of then-US president Bill Clinton’s proposal to lift the ban on gays argued successfully that it might hurt military effectiveness. Facing resistance in Congress, Clinton settled for “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which allowed gays to serve as long as they kept their sexual orientation a secret.
Conway’s concerns have been echoed by other service chiefs.
On Tuesday, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz said they had serious concerns about lifting the ban with two wars raging.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead told House lawmakers on Wednesday that he, too, wants the study to be complete before any changes are made.
“That needs to be done because only with that information can we discuss the force that we have, [and] not someone else’s,” Roughead said.
Britain, Canada, Australia and Israel allow gays to serve openly.
Other nations already allow women to serve on submarines; the Navy lifted its ban this month.
Both Conway and Roughead said they would oppose an immediate freeze on firings under “don’t ask, don’t tell” until Congress can consider broader legislation repealing the 1993 law.
Democratic Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has proposed a freeze as a way of allowing gay troops to fight without worrying that they could lose their job.
“Half measures, I think, would only be confusing in the end,” Conway said.
Christopher Preble, head of foreign studies at the Cato Institute think tank, said that the service chiefs recognize that change is inevitable, but that the military shouldn’t wait too long to determine its next move.
“The military as an institution should not find itself so out of step with the public at large that it cannot relate to the society it’s defending,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the