Colin Powell now says gays should be able to serve openly in military
Washington Post
By Karen DeYoung
February 4, 2010
Retired Army Gen. Colin L. Powell, whose opposition to allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military helped lead to adoption of the "don’t ask, don’t tell" legislation 17 years ago, said Wednesday that he now thinks the restrictive law should be repealed.
"Attitudes and circumstances have changed," Powell said. "It’s been a whole generation" since the legislation was adopted, and there is increased "acceptance of gays and lesbians in society," he said. "Society is always reflected in the military. It’s where we get our soldiers from."
At the same time, he said, "we’ve had a lot of experience watching what other nations have done." Of 28 NATO member countries, a small minority prohibit or restrict service based on sexual orientation…
Over time, Colin Powell has drifted our way. In the Bush 2000 period, he was associated with the Vulcans, the Bush campaign’s foreign policy advisors. As Secretary of State, he was loyal, but we thought of him as a voice of sanity until February 25, 2003 when he gave a speech to the UN that shouldn’t have ever been given. He was replaced for Bush’s second term. He supported Obama in 2008. Now he supports repealing DADT. He even evoked the wrath of Dick Cheney along the way. But there’s something else. Colin Powell knows stuff. No matter how much he was marginalized in the Bush Administration, he definitely knows stuff. Will he ever feel guilty enough to become a real "whistle-blower?" I sincerely hope so…
The marginalization part is key. I could believe that he was used and abused by the clowns who had been given the keys to the store by a duped populace, that he trusted his chain of command because that’s just the kind of guy he is.