The Navy brusquely fired the captain of the USS Enterprise yesterday, more than three years after he made lewd videos to boost morale for his crew, timing that put the military under pressure to explain why it acted only after the videos became public. Senior military officials said they were trying to determine who among Navy leaders knew about the videos when they were shown…
January 5, 2011
In a historic vote for gay rights, the Senate agreed yesterday to do away with the military's 17-year ban on openly gay troops and sent President Obama legislation to overturn the Clinton-era policy known as "don't ask, don't tell." Obama was expected to sign the bill into law this week, although changes to military policy probably won't take effect for at least several months.…
December 19, 2010
Republicans blocked a last-ditch effort in the Senate to lift the military's ban on openly gay troops yesterday, dealing a major blow to gay rights groups and making it unlikely Congress could repeal "don't ask, don't tell" any time soon. The 57-40 vote fell three short of the 60 needed to overcome procedural hurdles to lift the 17-year-old ban. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was…
December 10, 2010
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the military, sternly clashing with the Pentagon's top leaders and warning that troops would quit in droves if Congress repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" law.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…
December 3, 2010
Gay troops can serve openly in the armed forces without harming the military's ability to fight, the Pentagon's top leaders said yesterday, declaring the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" law should be scrapped and pointing to a new survey to show most troops won't mind. President Obama, citing the troop poll, urged the Senate to repeal the ban before adjourning in the next few…
December 1, 2010
When a majority of troops told the Pentagon this summer they didn't care if gays were allowed to serve openly in the military, it was in sharp contrast to the time when America's forces voiced bitter opposition to accepting racial minorities and women in the services. The survey, due out Tuesday, is expected to find pockets of resistance among combat troops to ending the ban on…
November 28, 2010
The military is accepting openly gay recruits for the first time in the nation's history, even as it tries in the courts to slow the movement to abolish its "don't ask, don't tell" policy. At least two service members discharged for being gay began the process to re-enlist after the Pentagon's announcement yesterday. Meanwhile, a federal judge in California who overturned the…
October 20, 2010
Senate Republicans yesterday blocked an effort by Democrats and the White House to lift the ban on gays from serving openly in the military, voting unanimously against advancing a major defense policy bill that included the provision. The mostly partisan vote dealt a major blow to gay rights groups who saw the legislation as their best hope, at least in the short term, for repeal…
September 22, 2010
At the height of the Iraq war, the Army routinely dismissed hundreds of soldiers for having a personality disorder when they were more likely suffering from the traumatic stresses of war, discharge data suggest. Under pressure from Congress and the public, the Army later acknowledged the problem and drastically cut the number of soldiers given the designation. But advocates for…
August 16, 2010
Afghanistan
WikiLeaks spokesman Julian Assange said yesterday his organization is preparing to release the rest of the secret Afghan war documents it has on file. The Pentagon warned that would be more damaging to security and risk more lives than the organization's initial release of some 76,000 war documents. That extraordinary disclosure, which laid bare classified military documents covering…
August 13, 2010
virginia
Estimates of the number of graves that might be affected by mix-ups at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia grew from hundreds to as many as 6,600 yesterday, as the cemetery's former superintendent blamed his staff and a lack of resources for the scandal that forced his ouster. John Metzler, who ran the historic military burial ground for 19 years, said he accepts "full responsibility"…
July 30, 2010
Gen. David Petraeus left open the possibility of recommending that President Obama delay his plans to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan next summer if the new commander can't turn around the stalemated war. "There will be an assessment at the end of this year after which undoubtedly we'll make certain tweaks, refinements, perhaps some significant changes," Petraeus told…
June 30, 2010
washington, d.c.
Gen. David Petraeus slumped at the witness table yesterday while testifying at a Senate hearing, and a spokesman said the general was likely dehydrated and jet-lagged from his travels. Petraeus, 57, revived after a few seconds and left the room under his own power. After about 20 minutes he returned to the hearing room, but Sen. Carl Levin, the panel chairman, decided to postpone…
June 16, 2010
Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday gave lukewarm support to a new White House-backed plan for a vote in Congress to immediately repeal the law that bans gays from serving openly in the military. Even though the plan would let Gates decide when to implement a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, he has said he would have preferred more time to study the issue before…
May 26, 2010
