McCain Bucks the Brass

Senator McCain may oppose the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", but he shouldn't be so dismissive of the military's civilian and uniformed leaders who want it gone.

Perhaps the only thing that everyone can agree on when it comes to executive power is that the leader of the United States military is a civilian. The first clause the second section in Article II of the United States Constitution provides:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Yet, in explaining his opposition to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Senator McCain explains to Howard Kurtz: “The Marine commandant is opposed to [dropping] Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I know for a fact the other three service chiefs have serious reservations.”  Kurtz also drops this bombshell “As for their superiors, McCain casually mentions the commander in chief and defense secretary, ‘neither of which I view as a military leader.’”

This is a stunning quote.  First and foremost, it reveals a contempt for civilian control of the military that makes no sense. Senator McCain ran not once, but twice so he could be President. Second, Obama makes all final military decisions and Gates has as big a say in those decisions as anyone.  How does one think the troops feel hearing one of their own, Senator McCain, say that he doubts the president and Secretary of Defense have the capacity to make proper military decisions.

But perhaps most quixotically, it also reveals that Senator McCain is ignoring the very chain of command that logic suggests that he would revere.  In 2006, McCain famously said the “day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, 'Senator, we ought to change the policy,' then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to."  McCain points to the Marine Commandant (currently General James F. Amos) as evidence that the nation’s military leadership does not support repealing DADT.  Well, General Amos is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  But the nation’s highest ranking military officer is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, who does support repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

And then of course, there is the biggest kahuna of them all, General David Petraeus.  General Petraeus has told the Senate Armed Service Committee that “the time has come” to repeal DADT.

If Senator McCain opposes repeal, fine, but the nation’s top military leaders, BOTH civilian and uniformed, generally agree that it’s time for the policy to go.