McCain flays gays-in-military study

A doubting John McCain led Republican opposition yesterday to letting gays serve openly in the military, sternly clashing with the Pentagon's top leaders and warning that troops would quit in droves if Congress repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" law.

In tense exchanges with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, McCain and other Republicans dismissed a Pentagon study on gays as biased and said objections by combat troops were being ignored.

Gates and Mullen defended the study, but McCain blamed politics for pushing the matter forward during wartime. He predicted that Marines and soldiers assigned combat duties, in particular, would abandon their service if they had to serve along with gays open about their sexual orientation.

McCain, a Republican from Arizona, also said the study was flawed because it asked troops what impact repeal would have, instead of whether they wanted the law repealed at all. The study found that two-thirds of troops predicted few problems, but those who did were mostly assigned to combat roles.

"We send these young people into combat," said McCain. "We think they're mature enough to fight and die. I think they're mature enough to make a judgment on who they want to serve with and the impact on their battle effectiveness."

Gates shot back that asking troops if they want to serve alongside gays would amount to issuing a referendum on a policy decision that should be made by Congress or the courts. The goal of the study, he said, was to find out if it could be done without hurting the military's ability to fight.

"Are you going to ask them if they want 15-month tours? You going to ask them if they want to be part of the surge in Iraq? That's not the way our civilian-led military has ever worked in our entire history," Gates said.

McCain, a four-term Republican and former Navy pilot who endured a harrowing ordeal as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, has taken a higher profile on socially divisive issues since losing the 2008 presidential race to Barack Obama. He has even differed with his wife, Cindy, who in a recent online video opposed the military policy and accused the government of treating gays like "second-class citizens."

Frowning and lecturing Gates and other top officials who tried to defend the Obama administration's effort to repeal the gay ban, McCain scoffed at their contention that the concerns of combat troops could be addressed through time and training.

His opposition foreshadows this month's Senate debate on a bill to overturn the 1993 "don't ask, don't tell" law banning gays from serving openly in the armed forces.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, has promised a Senate vote. But Republicans have blocked previous attempts on procedural grounds. Further hurting chances of repeal is an agreement among the Senate GOP not to vote on any bill this month before addressing tax cuts and spending.

Throughout yesterday's hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain was openly dismissive of Gates and Mullen, appearing angry and even suggesting at one point that the two leaders had failed personally because their 10-month study didn't directly ask troops whether they supported the law.

"Every great leader I've ever known always consulted subordinates for their views," McCain said.

Mullen took particular exception to suggestions by McCain that the Joint Chiefs chairman's opinion was less valuable because he wasn't directly commanding troops from the Pentagon.

"You do not have to agree with me on this issue," Mullen said. "But don't think . . . that I haven't carefully considered the impact of the advice I give on those who will have to live with the decisions."