News Release
For Immediate Release: July 22, 2011
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Late Friday Afternoon – Cowardly Way to OK Destruction of the US Military
(Harrisburg) — At 4:00 p.m. this afternoon the new Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and President Barack Obama ignored the truth and certified that our military would not be harmed by permitting homosexuals to serve openly in their ranks. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), an advocate for a strong military, noted that the timing gives every indication that the three signatories know the majority of the American people do not agree with them and were deliberately working to carry out their actions while hundreds of thousands of Americans were stuck in rush hour traffic trying to get home for the weekend.
“Americans don’t agree with the actions of these three individuals who, with the stroke of a pen, have signed the death sentence for the highly effective military that we depend upon for our nation’s security. Additionally, I believe as word of the scathing Department of Defense Inspector General report began to be picked up by conservative media these three knew they had to act before Americans became aware of the lies the December repeal vote was based upon,” commented Diane Gramley, President of the AFA of PA.
The Inspector General investigation found that legal counsel Jeh Johnson began work on the executive summary of the Pentagon Study of the troops response to possible repeal three days before the first troops took part in the survey. It also found that the 70 percent number leaked to the Washington Post last November to indicate a high percentage of troops were okay with repeal was manipulated when the Working Group combined four survey results categories to derive the 70 percent figure: Very Positively; Positively; Mixed; and No Effect and only involved one of 102 questions (page 21). The report indicates that “the primary source of the information was someone who had a strong emotional attachment to the issue of furthering a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and probably had ‘assumptions going in’ that the CRWG’s findings would ultimately reveal that repeal would not be supported by a majority of Service members” (page 20).
“Repeal has been certified and goes into effect in 60 days. During that time period Congress needs to come to the rescue of our military. Hearings need to be held into the lies that were told last fall and who told them, as well as the numbers that were manipulated and misrepresented and the real numbers from the Pentagon Study need to be presented. Sixty percent of combat troops and 67 percent of Marines say ‘no’ to repeal. How can any government official who cares for our military and our nation’s ability to defend itself ignore the concerns of our troops. Political payback should not be at the expense of our troops effectiveness, good order and discipline. Someone needs to remind Congress and the White House of that fact,” Gramley concluded.
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