THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the United States Marines Corps has said that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the American armed forces could result in deaths on the battlefield.General James Amos, said he oppoosed the campaign pledge by President Barack Obama to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly homosexual service members.
He said: "Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives. That's the currency of this fight. I don't want to lose any Marines to the distraction.
"I don't want to have any Marines that I'm visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Centre near Washington] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction."
Democrats in Congress are attempting to lift the ban but have thus far not attracted enough Republican support.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, has said that if Congress does not repeal the law, the courts will probably overturn it instead, giving the military much less flexibility in terms of implementation and management. Read on and comment >>> Toby Harnden, Washington | Wednesday, December 15, 2010
