Obviously, I agree it's very comprehensive and should inform the decision that Congress makes in voting on the question.
I appreciate that. Our committees are going to continue to work together.
I just want to ask a quick question about the working group on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'
When you think about the havoc that could be unleashed in a country like ours, it's profoundly unsettling.
You don't surge for 1 year and then begin leaving, regardless of whether you've achieved your objectives, or not.
Our Afghan friends are worried that we will leave and the Taliban will cut their heads off.
This has been one of the great chapters in the proud history of the American military.
One of the things I think was implicit in what Senator McCain said, and I certainly share this hope, is that we can work together to determi...
look, our closest military allies in the world, the Brits, have a policy by which homosexuals serve openly, and they have a great record.
I also believe it's unconscionable, when the Commander in Chief and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have both said we should repeal a polic...
It's not a question of 'whether,' but a question of 'how' we are going to implement a repeal.
the British military is a great military, and great allies of ours, notwithstanding their policy on homosexuals serving openly.
If we can't get this repealed--and I hope we can--at a minimum, I hope we can suspend the discharges under these circumstances.
To me, that's vitally important in this kind of a pluralistic and diverse democracy that we have.
We probably have lost 13,000 or more Americans who are willing to serve, and that, to me, is a real loss of military effectiveness.
When you know somebody personally, you're much less likely to fear them, and I think that most discrimination is based on fear.
I'm in favor of repeal, and there's no doubt about that.
That strikes me as unconscionable and unfair, and I hope we can repeal this policy promptly.
