Ethics

Why Does the Right Hate the Troops?

By Ed Brayton

Retired Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis is the right wing's go-to ex-military guy on many issues. On the push to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, he's taking the amusing position that if you allow gays to serve openly, it will lead to a military draft because there will be a mass exodus of soldiers from the armed forces. You can hear him in a radio interview make this exactly claim.

Think about how insulting that is to American soldiers. He is claiming that our troops are willing to endure the most brutal conditions of searing heat in Iraq and Afghanistan, being away from their families for a year or more at a time, the risk of getting shot at or blown up by an IED, getting captured and tortured by the enemy and being involved in the most vile carnage imaginable -- but having a gay soldier in their unit will send them fleeing. Really? Seriously?

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).