Peter Pace, Rehire Fired “Gay” Arabic/Farsi Translators
By NoQuarter on March 13, 2007 at 1:33 PM in Uncategorized
Gen. Pace, you can take a big step to make up for your insensitive remarks by doing the practical thing: Resupply our armed forces with the Arabic/Farsi linguists it desperately needs — including decorated sergeant Bleu Copas, who volunteered out of patriotism after 9/11 and who was fired despite having the indispensible task of “helping translate intercepted messages from possible terrorists.” First, from Keith Olbermann’s Countdown newsletter today:
Senior aides to the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that Marine Gen. Peter Pace won’t apologize for calling homosexuality immoral - an opinion that gay advocacy groups deplored. “General Pace’s comments are outrageous, insensitive and disrespectful to the 65,000 lesbian and gay troops now serving in our armed forces,” the advocacy group Servicemembers Legal Defense Network said in a statement on its Web site. (MSNBC)
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has only six (6) fluent Arabic speakers out of 33 who speak Arabic. Yet, despite the Bush administration’s lip-service to a need for more Arabic speakers, the U.S. military has fired over two dozen linguists for being gay: 20 were Arabic linguists, 6 were Farsi linquists.
From The Carpetbagger Report’s “Actually, Bush can ’snap his fingers’ and get Arabic speakers“:
… Bleu Copas, a decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was thrown out of the military under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Copas, who joined the Army after the 9/11 attacks out of a sense of duty, was responsible for helping translate intercepted messages from possible terrorists, but he was thrown out anyway.
The Daily Show’s Jason Jones sat down with Paul Cameron, one of the nation’s leading anti-gay activists, said, “I think the country, on the aggregate, is safer without Bleu in the military.” Asked why, Cameron explained, “Guys don’t want to think about other guys, other fellas, ogling them in the shower or whatever.”
Jones responded, “I know I’d rather die in a terrorist attack than suffer through an uncomfortable shower with a gay.” Cameron grudgingly responded, “Yes.”
Condi got put in the “hot seat” by Congressman Gary Ackerman, reports CactusPat’s blog at Democrats.com. From “Will Condi Rice Hire A Platoon of Lesbians?“:
… Last week Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) sliced and diced the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy by suggesting Condoliar Rice hire the gay linguists dismissed by the Pentagon during a congressional hearing on the ‘08 State Dept. budget. Ackerman said. “…For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are against terrorists, but they’re very brave with the terrorists…. If the terrorists ever got a hold of this information, they’d get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad….”
[...]
Rice Pressed On Fired Gay Linguists
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 7, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Washington) Condoleezza Rice got a grilling Wednesday when she bemoaned “the foreign language deficit that we have” and how much the government needs Farsi and Arabic speakers during an appearance on Capitol Hill.
Rice was appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee justifying the State Department’s proposed budget increases.
After she complained several times that the department was facing a problem finding translators an exasperated Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) asked why the department had not hired any of the translators fired by the Pentagon because they are gay and lesbian. …
Last December, I wrote about the lack of Arab speakers in the F.B.I.:
You may have seen NBC correspondent Lisa Myer’s special report on the lack of knowledge within the FBI about terrorism and terrorists — essentially, “ignorance of the enemy.” For example, John Lewis, until recently the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counterterrorism, didn’t know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis, or that there was “any relationship between the first World Trade Center bombing and the 9/11 attacks.” Myers’ report also reveals that “only 33 of the FBI’s 12,000 agents have even a limited proficiency in Arabic.”
The only conclusion? The Bush administration simply isn’t serious about catching terrorists.
The only thing they’re serious about is appeasing their fundy ‘winger cronies.
You are so right, Susan. It is mind-boggling that the top military guy has nothing better to do than insult gays in uniform. Given the mindset of his kind, they would have the nerve to push openly gay service people out and increase the shortage of troops–just like in these circles a gay Arab-speaker is not employed in spite of the incredible lack of Arab speakers in the intelligence agencies and elsewhere in government.
But commitment to equal rights and fairness are lacking in these circles as is common sense.
I was appalled this morning when I read the Washington Post’s lead editorial in support of the administration’s Iraq policy and in stark opposition to Speaker Pelosi’s Iraq plan. The Post’s editorial writers and the administration ignore completely what the majority of Americans and Iraqis want. That much for their understanding of democracy.
Brigitte, I wish i’d thought also, in that piece, of the need for FAIRNESS and EQUAL RIGHTS — not just for gays — but also for Arabs, Iranians, and others in the Middle East. Because, besides the need to be able to parse terrorists’ communiques, there is also a desperate need simply to communicate better with those in the Middle East. How can the U.S.Embassy effectively communicate if it only has 6 fluent Arabic speakers?
Smintheus sent this along to me:
Lost in Babylon
[QUOTE] The lack of Arabic translators in Iraq appears to stem from a Bush Administration decision to outsource translation services to private contractors. Called “linguistic support,” these companies, two of the largest of which are Titan Corporation and DynCorp International, have received billions of dollars to provide language interpreters to the Iraq reconstruction effort. But many of the supposed “translators” sent to Iraq were untrained, had poor language skills, or couldn’t speak Arabic at all. In many cases the contractors appear to have conducted no screenings or interviews with prospective translators…
What happened to [the translator who could not speak any Arabic]?
They did not send him home. MZM had given orders to keep him in place because the contract worked as such that there were 22 slots, so we had to provide a piece of paper with 22 names on it, and we had to prove that these were 22 people around somewhere doing something. And there were no questions asked. There was no review. They didn’t want to pull him out of there because he was a body. [END QUOTE]
http://www.radaronline.com/features/2007/03/failure_to_communicate_1.php
Sorry. OT. But get a load of this! ABC reporting on the spurious information gleaned from Curveball.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/03/exclusive_curve.html
they were fired because this government does not like what they are telling them.
please go back and look at why Valerie was outed, why her company was a problem. why would you get rid of a major percentage of your staff that could interpret the languages in the region? why would you want to destroy your intelligence gathering capability?
can we not cloud it up that the whole goal was to destroy the CIA’s ability to gather intelligence on a region they want to own? They destroyed the CIA in the region with the outing of Brewster Jennings, they had political hacks do it on orders from the shooter and turd, does anyone doubt this any more?
we can’t keep thinking that this was not all planned to the minutiae
OT,
I’m hesitant to buy into the fact that this…chaos, is all orchestrated by the Bush administration.
That Bush and his minions caused it is without doubt, but that it is carefully planned and expected…that would take a degree of serious genius which neither of the two buffoons in the Whitehouse have yet to display.
I think the whole thing is spiraling out of control, and like Slim Picken’s in Dr. Strangelove, Bush and Cheney have no other option other than to yahoo as they ride the bomb down.
Susan, did Pace make these comments about gays in the military while in uniform or out of uniform?
I could not care less about gays in the military, and neither should you.
Instead, if you want to focus on morality, here’s a starter list:
Cut-and-run Halliburton
Shotgun Cheney
WMD in Iraq
Flag-draped coffins of soldiers
New Orleans
One-half million dead people
Anthrax letters
Stolen elections
I’m so sick of this gay horses**t; not gays, just this horses**t taking the focus off the real immoral stuff going on.
And Sheerahkahn: What the hell is your problem? I cannot believe how you focus on the gnats of the elephant’s ass.
I’ve never heard a reasonable explanation for:
Assuming sex while on duty is against the rules, which I’m sure it is for either sex of any orientation, why does anyone give a rats ass what a soldier does while off duty? …as long as he’s not selling secrets to foreign enemies.
Every answer I’ve ever heard amounts to ’some guys are just uptight about it’.
“And Sheerahkahn: What the hell is your problem? I cannot believe how you focus on the gnats of the elephant’s ass.”
Crackers,
There are those, like you, who rightly point out that morality has far more facets than what Bush and his crew like to point, too.
I, on the otherhand, have already dismissed Bush and his crew’s viewpoint on morality as being…well…basically bankrupt. Therefore, I tend to ignore their…”Moralistic” prounouncements.
However, there are things I glean that would indicate certain changes in procedures and forms that occur in government, and in regards to implementation of policy.
If Pace was in uniform, it could signal a policy shift, if he’s not in uniform when he made the statement then it indicates to me that it’s not a policy shift, but rather a play to the base. A few others things come to mind, but hopefully that allows you to understand that I look for things that seem irrelevant to you but speaks volumes to me.
Hopefully, that answers your question about what my…issues are.
i am in complete agreement with general Peter Pace.
Gays in the military are an abomination and should be put on the front line asap.
Someday people are going to look back at the no gays in the military rules and just shake their heads in disbelief.
Like the majority of the civilized world does now. Its time that our shoulders know that gays are fighting next to them at this very moment.
Our most precious gay citizens who are fighting in the military deserve to not be forced into a closet imposed on them by an ignorant military rule.
DonPato
GayPuertoVallarta
All of this talk of morality from the brass is truly laughable from anyone who has been in the military. Sex and drugs and rock’n'roll has been the consolation of every enlisted man forever…and a good number of the officers too. The pathetic Navy officer/astronaut who drove across the country in diapers to attack her sexual rival is just the tip of a very huge iceberg.
And the best thing about a war is all the black market money deals that can be made. Bales of $100. bills. Yeah! This has been going on since Alexander went to India. Peter Pace’s pucker factor may be a little high, but he would have to be blind,deaf and dumb not to acknowledge all the stuff that goes on.
I guess his line in the sand is gays…they are just not manly enough.
It will be interesting to see what they do with the former gay porn star and man whore, Matt Sanchez, of recent fame with Ann Coulter at the wingnut convention. He’s a marine.
And I’d still like to know who Jeff Gannon was visiting on those night visits to the White House.
John
Thanks Peter Pace for taking the heat over RIGHTLY condemning homosexuality. Our politicians and our public has been far too quiet on this subject and it’s about time that someone in a leadership position grew a backbone and called homosexuality what it is - an ABOMINATION!We as a society DO NOT have to accept every type of deviant behavior because they cloak themselves under “equal rights”. That’s right, I am saying thet we as a society should be very DISCRIMINATING in the lifestyles and people we choose to accept.
hahahaha “Bob”- geesh. really.
Really?
well, good luck. Care to define what “we as a society” means?
Suggest you read this:
http://tinyurl.com/2uzsmk
though, I suspect you, whoever you are, never would. too bad.
A good friend once pointed out to me, on a day when I was venting great frustration and horror at the inroads crazed right wing evangelicals and like religious fanatical ilk were making in our political (read: power structure) systems, and how frigthening I found it. Why wasn’t he more alarmed?
What he said really hit a nerve and helped me put it all in perspect…on my outcry as to the DANGER of these people, he asked, “But don’t you see? They are wildly reacting to the reality they know but don’t want to, and refuse, to face. THEY are the soon-to-be extinct. They are outnumbered, and inevitably dated. They are LOSING. They are losing psychically, in a deep sense, they are losing and they KNOW it, on every front. What you see, and are rightly upset about, is their last gasping breath. They, too, will soon pass.”
He’s a dear friend, and the son of a [Pentecostal} Preacher Man.
And, he’s right. So- troll all you want, believe deeply and act out…but your limited viewpoint, lack of thinking, and inability to really see that ANY person who charges into war cares not about something as minute as sexual desire and expression (in whatever form), and most about surviving, is what blinds you to the obvious truth about this post.
But, “we as a society”, don’t think about that at all as we mill empty-eyed and empty-headed through the mall, do we? Why, like Babs Bush, would we cloud and trouble our “Beautiful Minds” with such trivialties?
Couldn’t agree more with Crackers. I’m sick of the Gay horse**** too. Furthermore, Peter Pace is an Italian-American and a Catholic. That means he was raised with some values. I’m so glad he didn’t feel the need to compromise those values with an apology.
I have to wonder if Peter Pace’s statement is directed (indirectly) more at the Iraqis than Americans.
Regardless of what anyone says here, or anywhere else is America, stories from Iraq lead me to think that homophobia is probably higher over there. It may have occurred to some in the military that denouncing something such as homosexuality which many Islamic people also denounce, might create some small amount of common ground among Islamic clerics. Obviously, by itself, it wouldn’t be expected to win anyone’s hearts and minds, but a one yard gain at first and ten is better than zero.
All of this still fails to explain the ‘homosexuality is immoral’ argument. When Jesus was asked what were the most important commandments, he instead answered with something different to explain their justification. Love God, love others as yourself - the golden rule. In so many words he said, don’t be an asshole.
Would any rabid homophobe reading this care to explain how homosexuality qualifies as being an asshole, and therefore immoral by somehow harming others? I myself don’t like a lot of things that others do to themselves and with each other, but if it’s not harming me, why should I care?
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