Me, Maddow and Maddow's assistant at the hearing. (Photo from Manuel Balce Ceneta via AP.)
This week’s Metro Weekly will be featuring a cover package about the future of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. “The Final Push” is my main story in the package, looking at Tuesday’s Senate hearing (attended by, among others, Rachel Maddow):
The decision of whether gays and lesbians should serve openly in the military strikes at the core of the integrity of the military itself. The top military advisor to President Barack Obama told senators on Tuesday, Feb. 2, that the integrity of the institution is harmed when soldiers are forced ”to lie about who they are” — a dramatic change from the comments of military leaders when the matter was last considered by Congress in 1993.
It was a striking moment as Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, evenly and forcefully explained to the Senate Armed Services Committee what steps the Pentagon would take to bring an end to the ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that came from the 1993 hearings.
Still, despite the statement from Mullen — supported by a similar statement from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates — many advocates pushing for repeal of the policy left Tuesday’s hearing with more questions than answers.
Read more, and be sure to check out the excellent cover illustration done by Scott Brooks over at Metro Weekly.
Also, the sidebar on the views of the local senators, “Webb Noncommittal on DADT Repeal,” is up as well.
And, for some background on the two men selected to lead the Pentagon working group looking into how to implement a repeal — Jeh Johnson, the general counsel for the Department of Defense, and Gen. Carter Ham, the commander of U.S. Army Europe — see my “Just the Facts” sidebar.
[UDPATE: Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell said today that he "fully supports" the process advanced by Adm. Mullen and Secretary Gates on Tuesday. A lot more is happening here than chipping away at the wall. This is bulldozing.]
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Chris Geidner is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who writes at Law Dork, is the senior political writer at Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications. An extended biography can be found