DADT repeal language

[t0dd]

http://pamshouseblend.com/diary/16230/dadt-repeal-legislation-language

The House and Senate will pass legislation this year that provides that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be considered repealed if and when the following happens:

1. The Secretary of Defense receives the "study."
2. The President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs certify that:
- They have considered the recommendations in the study
- DOD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations needed to implement a repeal
- The implementation of the repeal is consistent with the standards of military readiness, military effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention.

Current policy will remain in place until the above conditions are satisfied. And if the above conditions are never satisfied, the current DADT policy will remain in place.

There is nothing in the legislation that says the repeal must happen.

Here is the language: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31900842/dadtlanguage

[foxfeet]

1. I'm just overwhelmed by the fierce advocacy.

:eyes:

[QC]

2. This is a particularly cynical bit of theater, isn't it? n/t

[jonnyblitz]

4. DADT IS OVER!!!11

:eyes:

[QC]

5. I think we are seeing some premature exultation here. n/t

[Unvanguard]

3. That isn't the point of the legislation, because that isn't the stumbling block to repealing it.

The President and the Secretary of Defense have already said that DADT needs to go. The fundamental barrier to getting rid of it has always been the statute itself: the worry about delaying repeal until after the review was that November would sufficiently change the situation in Congress to make repeal impossible. With this compromise, that problem disappears.

At this point, if the legislation passes, the only remaining worry is that the military leadership has been playing a double game, and has no intention to go along with this--but it's hard to believe that after what Gates and Mullen said at the hearings.

I don't think we ought particularly to give the White House credit for this--they did not encourage it, and could reasonably be said to have discouraged it--but the Democrats in Congress who pushed for this, even without administration support, deserve credit. Assuming there are no problems getting it through Congress, there is every reason to expect that the policy will be history soon after the military's completion of its review.

[joeybee12]

6. President Obama, one question...

How fucking stupid do you think we are???????????????????

[sui generis]

7. another question

why did you have your Budget officer deliver this? I guess I'm just not connecting the dots from Leader of the Free world to budget office tackling DADT.

What a sham.

[joeybee12]

8. Yeah, it's not like Obama's been busy dealing with the oil spill...

...other than still pushing drilling...geesh...disgusting that we have to be fighting a Dem president on just about everything.

[dsc]

10. because it is being put in the defense budget

[sui generis]

12. a partial truth is not the whole truth

it would be much more leader-like if our fierce advocate took a no-nonsense stand, but any "stand" he's made thus far has turned on discretion, and not enforcement.

Our lives are not discretionary, and neither should the law/ruling/guideline be discretionary.

[dsc]

13. I certainly don't claim he has been anything like a fierce advocate here

but it does make sense for his budget chief to be in charge of this particular negotiation.

[tbyg52]

15. Very. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

9. And there it is

[nichomachus]

11. In the business world, this is called

"paralysis by analysis."

They will study it until they can get Sarah or Mitt in office -- then they'll all have a good laugh and throw it in the trash.

[cecilfirefox]

14. There may be nothing in the legislation mandating repeal...

However, I believe that at the end of this review that Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen, and the President will sit down, look at how to implement repeal, meet concerns on both sides, and allow people to serve openly without persecution. There is no doubt in my mind that if this is passed and signed into law that DADT will come to an end at the conclusion of the study.

This is a good thing people, let's not shoot ourselves in the foot for no purpose other than to make a point. If John Boehner becomes Speaker of the House(God and Goddess forbid) this will never even come to the floor if all the military brass supported a repeal.

- Cecil