Srebrenica:Massacre Gay's Fault

[darkeyes]

A retired American general has blamed the massacre at Screbrenica on low morale caused at least in part by the presence of gays in the Dutch Army.. needless to say the Dutch have done their nut over this claim.. I don't have the time to elaborate but we can see from what he thinks, that the granting of equal rights to gay and bisexual people in the US military is a long way from being cut and dried..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8575717.stm

[TwylaTwobits]

Sheehan is apparently an idiot.

"The Dutch ambassador to the US, Renee Jones-Bos, added in a statement on the embassy's website that she "couldn't disagree more" with the claims by the former general, who retired from the military in 1997.

In the US Senate itself, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Gen Sheehan he was "totally off-target". "

At least some have already stepped up to plate to say so in our government.

[tenni]

Much like the US healthcare situation, I look at this as it is something that the US will have to figure out. I'm increasingly concerned about the retro attitude of my own government on several social issues. Good luck with your social issues US people and may you catch up with the rest of the Western world rather than the West being dragged back to more repressive eras.

[FalconAngel]

I read about this.

Turns out that the "former General" that he mentions in his statements does not exist. The name given by him, if only a mispronunciation of the name, is not a former general; he is still serving as an active duty officer and that general has stated that he has never said any such thing.

The real problem, as I see it from the perspective of having served in our military, is that they are encouraging the creation of security risks that would not otherwise exist.
Here's the why and how of it:

In the military, during the Cold War, the worry was all about security "don't let the Reds know". That meant that anything that a Soviet spy could find on a service member that they could use as blackmail to gain classified information, the military was concerned about it.

The military has the highest concern for 3 things above even the mission; Opsec, datasec and comsec. All security for classified operations, information and communications.

Until the past 15 years or so, being gay was an issue in a large part of the country and even still, throughout the military to this day.

If they allow GLBT to serve openly, there is no reason to fear sexuality as a reason for the kind of security threat where a spy could use a person's sexuality as a reason to extort classified information from them.

[MarieDelta]

I read about this...

If they allow GLBT to serve openly, there is no reason to fear sexuality as a reason for the kind of security threat where a spy could use a person's sexuality as a reason to extort classified information from them.

Amen!