Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper is ABC News' Senior White House Correspondent based in the network's Washington bureau. He writes about politics and popular culture and covers a range of national stories.
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Not enough Arabic speakers?
December 07, 2006 1:33 PM
Iraq Survey Group RECOMMENDATION NUMBER 73 is that U.S. government afford "the highest possible priority to professional language proficiency and cultural training, in general and specifically for U.S. officers and personnel about to be assigned to Iraq."
REBUTTED White House spokesman Tony Snow: "You don't snap your fingers and have the Arabic speakers you need overnight."
Actually, AS JUSTIN ROOD POINTS OUT it's worked the other way….at least in the case of Arabic-speaking Army Sgt Bleu Copas, who was suspected of being gay because of his participation in community theater, and was discharged after that suspicion led him to admit he's gay.
In August, Sunday GMA secured an exclusive TV interview with Copas, who said the policy against openly gay soldiers hurts the war on terror.
Dot-com story can be READ BY CLICKING HERE …or you can watch the FREE VIDEO HERE.
-- jt
December 7, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (3)
And if unit cohesion is the problem, then ban homophobes from the military.
Posted by: DKNY | Dec 7, 2006 3:35:10 PM
Despite Tony Snow's facile comments, it would behoove this administration to use wisely the resources it has, instead of frittering them away on witch hunts. The old argument about "unit cohesion" that you mentioned in your dot-com piece, Jake, was also used when it was proposed after WWII that the Armed Services be racially integrated. It was a canard then, as it is now. The truly sad thing about this incident is that here's someone who could be of great value in gathering intelligence, and he's the object of discrimination. His talents and skills are lying fallow, going to waste. As a gay man myself, I heartily second DKNY's comments.
Posted by: chuck | Dec 7, 2006 3:18:15 PM
Does anyone still need convincing that discriminating against homosexuals is wrong in many different ways?
Posted by: DKNY | Dec 7, 2006 1:51:40 PM
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