But How Does He Feel About Wars Of Aggression?
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff, Marine General Peter Pace :
"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts....I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."A genuinely bizarre comment from a man who apparently has no problems with the brutal occupation of Iraq, where tens of thousands of civilians die each year the war continues.
Surely there is no greater act of immorality in the world than to launch of pre-emptive war of aggression against a (basically) defenceless country and civilian population.
It is beyond troubling that the these words, these definitions of what constitutes an immoral act, come straight from the mind of one of the most powerful military leaders in the world today.
Because the US military has a strict policy against self-declared gay people serving in its forces, a federal government audit revealed in 2005 that at least 10,000 troops have been discharged due to their sexual preferences.
This figure includes more than 50 people specialising in Arabic languages, and is one of the primary reasons why the US forces in Iraq have had such monumental problems communicating with Iraq Army and police allies in the war zone in the past three years.
The only reason why there is such a reluctance within the US military to accept gay people as they are is due to the religious beliefs, or "family values", of so many aging, senior ranking military and government officials, including the president himself.
Retired Army general John Shalikashvili, and former Joint Chiefs chairman, was once anti-gays in the military, like General Peter Pace. That is, until he actually met with gay servicemen.
"These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers."
Opinions towards openly gay troops within the Iraq and Afghanistan serving ranks of the US military have changed dramatically in the past decade :
Despite the lowered recruitment 'targets', the US military is having a hell of a time making up the numbers it needs to keep up with the Bush Co. expansion of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars....a new Zogby poll, commissioned by the Michael D. Palm Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara, of 545 U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three quarters said they were comfortable around gay men and lesbians; 37 percent opposed allowing gays to serve openly; 26 percent said they should be allowed, and 37 percent were unsure or neutral.
Of those who said they were certain that a member of their unit was gay or lesbian, two-thirds did not believe it hurt morale...
This is why Americans with felony criminal records, including drug, violence and alcohol-related convictions, and recognised members of Chicago and LA gangs, are now allowed to join the military. You can be a former drug-dealing gang banger and the US military will spend more than a million dollar training you to kill more effectively, but only if you're not openly gay.
Bush Co. and the bizarrely out of touch, and religious-centric, senior ranks of the US military, may soon reach a point where the only way they can continue to expand their wars will be by allowing the serving ranks of the armed ranks to include openly gay service people.
And that would be an irony even beyond that of a man who regards homosexuality as "immoral" but appears to have no problem with the invasion and deadly occupation of sovereign nations who posed no immediate threat to the United States.
Claim : 65,000 Gay And Lesbian Troops Now Serving In US Armed Forces
Gay Advocates Demand Apology From Peter Pace Over "Immoral" Comments
Disgusting Treatment Of War Veterans At Army Hospital Claims Third Scalp
Pace Doesn't Believe Iranian Government Is Arming Insurgents In Iraq
