If Congress decided to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and military leaders opted to fall into line, and President Obama wanted it gone … well, then Colin Powell would be in favor of getting rid of the law. That’s as far as Powell is willing to go, since “I am not chairman of the joint chiefs of staff anymore” — but he advocates the law being put under review by congressional committees.
It’s a position he expounded on in December, which represented a change of mind from the early 1990s, when he supported the policy. (Last night on Rachel Maddow‘s show, he said he never wanted it to become law; in a 2003 interview, his described support for the policy.)
Powell is, clearly, being very careful to not to step outside the chain of command. He’s advocating for the policy to be reviewed by the proper channels, but he has not said he wants Obama, the military, or Congress to actually repeal the thing.
Is that good enough?
How about we take this to the next level?
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You might think so, until you hear from former Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander (and the first black man to hold the post), who just calls bullshit on the entire Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. “It takes the basic integrity of a person and says ‘You must forget it.’ It turns people into liars. Would you ask at this particular point for a Muslim to act like a Jew?”
All of a sudden, Powell’s position doesn’t sound so progressive.
Watch Alexander’s interview at the 3:10 mark.
Jeff Atwood
I was at the Harvard commencement in 1993 when Colin Powell gave the commencement address and received an honorary degree. Many of the graduates turned their backs on Powell. He did not show moral courage then, and he is not showing it now; he has crafted a careful strategy to distract us from his lack of moral leadership both as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Secretary of State. Don’t let him reinvent himself. He can pour all the money he wants into the Powell Family Foundation, but it will not erase his own bigotry.
RichardR
Wish Rachel had pushed Powel a little harder — “But Secretary Powell, how do you feel about this personally,” or something like that. Alexander was terrific. He’s truly an ally.
Everybody please log onto the white house website and tell the President it’s time to change this dumb law. And contact your reps in Congress. I’m also writing Defense Secretary Gates. Obama and Gates should suspend dismissals at once, pending repeal.
Casey
“I didn’t want [DADT] to happen, but Congress made it a law.”
That’s right – he wanted to uphold the ban entirely in 1993. However, I get the impression here he wants people to think just the opposite. Read Nathaniel Frank’s new book, if you haven’t already. It’s a masterpiece.
Slider
Jeff, (comment Number One) I couldn’t have said it better myself!!
The reason we have (or in strong part) DADT is in large part due to the bigotry of Powell in 1993 and his screaming that no way Gays and Lesbians should be allowed to openly serve in the military. I remember then and it still sticks me with and angers me beyond belief that if Powell had shown any moral courage that perhaps we would have had a shot at not needing DADT and had Clinton had the guts to do what President Truman did with an Executive Order in ending segregation in the military by having an Executive order to end discrimination against the GLBT community in the military and allow us to openly serve that over time the military would have seen it worked just fine.
Powell is always trying to re write history…Let’s see he really was against the Iraq War but lied to the entire world..but it really wasn’t a lie…he just really didn’t know that the information he had was wrong….really, you have to believe that.
He really was for Gays and Lesbians serving openly in the military…really, what he meant about DADT not being for it was he was against it before he was for it and then was against it…..and really why can’t we see that?
I have zero respect for the man….he helped do so much damage to our community and then some..never mind the world…do you honestly think had he resigned in 2002 and told the world that he was resigning as Secretary of State is because he was against the Iraq War that there would have been an Iraq War? He had way more credibility then Bush and the Congress ever did and he lied to the world and now claims he really didn’t know….he was lied to…and his dog ate his national security briefings that day too.
Alec
@Casey: Exactly. This is how history gets rewritten when one’s position, in hindsight, becomes an unpleasant form of bigotry. Of course, I’m not so sure it makes much of a difference now; who’d trust Powell i he said the sky was blue after the Iraq war?
Bob R
Colin Powell threatened a mutiny by military officers and said he would resign if Clinton allowed gays to serve openly. Powell himself is a beneficiary of Civil Rights legislation and affirmative action. The arguments that he and other bigots use to keep gays from serving openly in the military are almost verbatim the same sorry lies and arguments used to oppose racial integration of the military. Happily for Powell and others of his ilk, there were politicians and First Ladies (Eleanor Roosevelt) who had courage and moral fiber. All of which Powell lacks. He’s also a proven liar and generally an all around asswipe. Powell has no honor and no real moral courage. He betrayed his comrades in arms by sending them into harms way based on lies and distortions. And at the time he betrayed his comrades and his nation, he did so knowing full well he was lying to the nation and the world. He has the blood of 3000+ soldiers and Marines on his hands, plus the blood of perhaps a hundred thousand or more innocent Iraqi men, women and children. He a disgrace and a scoundrel, not even worth giving the time of day.
An Other Greek
Colin Powel is a PROVEN failure.
I have both an attention span and memory. Hello, media? WHY IS THIS MAN TREATED with such respect when he has PROVEN he is a shill for the powers that be? And when it came time to PROVE his leadership and character HE FAILS, over and over???
And don’t let me start on his son Michael who was the lead at the FCC when Rupert Murdock got his way and American LOST THEIR RIGHT TO equal representation in the media…
Let Powel go away, far away.
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Michael
RACHEL, RACHEL, luv ya but you need to better prepare!
ONCE AGAIN, Powell is simply LYING! He claims that Clinton’s Secty of Defense Les Aspin was never asked to change the policy when IN FACT nine days after being sworn in, President Clinton sent a memo to Aspin instructing him to draft an executive order to QUOTE,
“end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in determining who may serve in the Armed Forces.”
At the same time recruiters were instructed to stop asking applicants if they were gay, and pending discharges of anyone active duty were temporarily suspended.
Because of the hell and mutiny Powell and others raised, a “six month cooling off period” was agreed upon during which time they and the Antigay Industry, including Elaine Donnelly, all helped by Aspin’s incompetence and his own hostility to removing the ban, swamped Congress and the White House and any hope of real change.
And he repeated to Rachel the lie he’s told before to the effect of, “Don’t look at me. DADT was on fire when I sat down on it.” Again, let’s look at the FACTS:
1. He denounced comparing banning blacks and banning gays by saying that being gay is a choice.
2. He told Clinton he would resign as head of the Joint Chiefs if gays were admitted.
3. He told graduates at Annapolis that it would be okay for them to resign if gays were admitted.
4. “Powell, while talking cooperation with the White House, instigated behind-the-scenes opposition to the President” – “Time” magazine, July 26, 1993.
But Mr. Wonderful will be praised again for opening his heart and calling for review of how the policy’s working. Wonder if anyone every said to Lincoln, “Uh, let’s study how slavery’s working before you change anything”?
Next, RECTUM Powell will be telling us HE PERSONALLY FOUND Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq! He can’t wash his hands of the blood on them for helping get us into Iraq and he can’t wash his hands of perpetuating homohatred in the military, then AND NOW!
SHAME!!!!!
radg
Wow, go Cliff Alexander, I never knew he was so awesome!
Bill Perdue
Colin Powell is a war criminal and bigot.
If Obama appoints him to replace gates when the surge in Afghanistan succeeds only in the murder of more civilians and the unnecessary deaths of more GIs in a criminal war of aggression then he’ll give the antiwar movement a great opening to prove that Obama is also a war criminal. We already know he’s a bigot.
alan brickman
just do it!! repeal it already!!
dgz
Sec. Alexander answered every question so masterfully. First time in a long time I’ve seen someone perform that well without a teleprompter. What a thoughtful guy — glad he’s on our side.