Colin Powell doesn't want to know


sorabji.com: Are you stupid?: Colin Powell doesn't want to know
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).

By semillama on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 10:50 am:

    from an interview at teenink.com:

    "[Maria asks] Even though there's not much of a problem with racism and religious tolerance in my school, there's definitely one when it comes to homophobia. Do you think racism, religious discrimination and discrimination against homosexuals should be treated equally?

    (Powell answer)
    I think any form of discrimination has to be looked at. As you know, the military has the policy, "Don't ask, don't tell," so that somebody who is openly homosexual does not serve. I'm an advocate of that policy, I helped put that policy in place and I'm accused, therefore, of supporting homophobia.

    But I think it's a different matter with respect to the military because you're essentially told who you're going to live with, who you're going to sleep next to, and it's a different set of circumstances in a military environment.

    Out of a military environment, in a school, I think any act that suggests someone should be discriminated against or in some way stigmatized because of their racial background, ethnic background or sexual preference is not appropriate.

    Here in the State Department, sexual preference makes no difference; we have gay ambassadors and employees throughout the Department. I don't know who they are and it's none of my business, as long as they do their jobs."

    So, ok. Does he really mean saying that the soldiers who are specifically trained to withstand intense combat situations where people are TRYING TO KILL THEM, are incapable of controlling their sexual urges? I mean, these guys go through training to handle all sorts of extreme environments, but throw a gay man in the picture and everything goes to hell? I suppose if you think that all gay men are RAVENOUS SEX FIENDS WHO NEED SEX EVERY HOUR ON THE HOUR, maybe you can support that.

    Of course, that's BIGOTRY, Mr. Powell. and it's hypocrisy as well.


By Spider on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 11:12 am:

    Well, I think he's implying that the threat that open homosexuality allegedly poses in a military environment is not that gay men can't be good soldiers but that other people won't want to serve with (and share close quarters with) someone they know to be gay. Supposedly, it threatens unit cohesion and all that.

    I can see how that would be true. Men can be funny that way.


By Spider on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 11:42 am:

    Correction: Big gung-ho masculine soldier guys can be funny that way.

    For what it's worth, one of my uncles was in the Army for 25 years and had a long-term relationship with another male officer while he was there and was never caught. "Don't ask, don't tell" was in full effect.


By Antigone on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 11:58 am:

    Well, that's officers. It's widely known that all officers are gay and the enlisted are straight.


By semillama on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 12:03 pm:

    funny how a few words can make a difference:

    "Well, I think he's implying that the threat that (RACE MIXING) (WOMEN) allegedly poses in a military environment is not that (BLACK) men (WOMEN) can't be good soldiers but that other people won't want to serve with (and share close quarters with) someone they know to be (BLACK)(A WOMAN). Supposedly, it threatens unit cohesion and all that.

    I can see how that would be true. (WHITE) Men can be funny that way."

    See how that argument is exactly how they argued for segregation in the military? It's especially ironic when it's a black man advocating the anti-homosexual policy. He might as well come out and say the truth: "The military culture has to be dragged kicking and screaming out of its comfortable home in the land of senseless bigotry."


By Spider on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 12:04 pm:

    Fair enough.


By patrick on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 01:01 pm:

    its bullshit and one of the biggest sell-outs of Clinton's term.


By patrick on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 01:04 pm:

    my gay uncle has an e-pal in the Australian army...a Captain in some sort of intelligence service and is fully out in the open.

    to paraphrase why he can serve at such a highlevel and be openly gay "we're a bit more progressive and relaxed about these things we as a nation realize that the problem is not homosexuals but rather the bigotry of the others thats the problem. Being open and in the military forces others to deal with it and in the end, grow the fuck up."


By Platypus on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 04:40 pm:

    Homosexuals perform better on average than heterosexuals in the United States military.

    (Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military)


By Rowlf on Friday, March 14, 2003 - 05:15 pm:

    I dont want none o them gay folk round me while i'm killin kids...


By spunkyDingo on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 10:53 am:

    MSNBC.COM’S TESTS were conducted over a two-day period at Sargat, an alleged terrorist training camp a mile from the Iraq-Iran border. The camp, set back in an isolated valley and surrounded by snowcapped peaks, was home to the radical Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, which counts among its some 700 followers scores of al-Qaida fighters.
    In a Feb. 5 speech to the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell showed a satellite photo of the Sargat camp and described Ansar al-Islam as “teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other poisons.” U.S. officials have repeated the allegations in recent weeks.
    In an operation timed to coincide with the war on Iraq, U.S. special operations forces have targeted Ansar al-Islam’s militants in northern Iraq. Hundreds of Islamists, including al-Qaida fighters who took refuge in northern Iraq after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, have been killed.
    Although U.S. officials for months have leveled charges that the Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaida militants were producing poisons in northern Iraq, it wasn’t until this week that specialist American teams were able to gain access to the Sargat camp to test for traces of biological and chemical weapons.
    Experts believe the Islamic group was producing the substances in the camp as both toxins can be created from everyday products and simple procedures.


    NO THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES?
    NO LINK BETWEEN IRAQ AND TERRORISM?


    Ooops, I forgot.
    It was PLANTED right?


By Antigone on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 11:48 pm:

    Nothing in that statement actually said that anything was found, only that tests were performed.

    What were the results?


By spunkyDingo on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 00:03 pm:


By semillama on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 00:10 pm:

    And wasn't that camp in the section of IRAQ that WASN"T UNDER HUSSEIN'S CONTROL?


By Antigone on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 00:59 pm:

    Correct. From the same article:

    "The territory of northern Iraq where the traces of ricin were detected is not under the control of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein."

    Couldn't read that far, spunk? Did you intentionally post incomplete information, or did you stop reading when you read something that supported your beliefs?


By spunkyDingo on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 01:34 pm:

    Actually, I stopped reading it where I stopped posting. There was an ad underneath that paragraph, so I thought that it was the end of the article.

    How about the mustard gas and sarin found in the Euphraties?


By Nate on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 01:39 pm:

    "Homosexuals perform better on average than heterosexuals in the United States military.

    (Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military)"

    there is no way anyone has the least bit of statistical evidence of this. not over a significant sample set.

    yet, it just seems to be common sense.

    so- liberal oppression anyone?






By Antigone on Friday, April 4, 2003 - 01:46 pm:

    I didn't know it was common sense, at least until you started whining about it. Now it makes perfect sense! :)


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