02/09/2007
Hearings: Condi Rice Warned of "Terrorist Platoon of Lesbians"
On Wednesday, at hearings on the State Department's 2008 budget, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeatedly suggested that qualified language experts were needed at the agency, prompting this delicious exchange with Representative Gary Ackerman (D-NY).
Ackerman noted that at least 322 language specialists with skills in Arabic, Farsi, and Korean have been discharged from the U.S. Military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy began in 1993. Ackerman suggested the State Department hire back those language specialists, but not before getting in a hilarious zinger.
Ackerman: "It seems that the Defense Department has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy when it comes to homosexuals. You don't have such a prohibition in your agency, do you?"Rice: "No, we do not."
Ackerman: "Good for you. Well, it seems that the military has gone around and fired a whole bunch of people who speak foreign languages — Farsi and Arabic, etc...after they trained them in their foreign language schools for 63 weeks, and presumably they all pass all kinds of security things, and many of them told on themselves and were fired. For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are against terrorists, because they’re very brave with the terrorists. I mean, If the terrorists ever got a hold of this information, they'd get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad. The affirmative suggestion that I would make is why can’t the State Department look to pick up all those people that were fired from the military because apparently you don’t have a policy, and put these three dozen Farsi and Arabic people to work doing what you’re suggesting would cost a lot of money to train, etc., because we have them. Can we marry up those two — or maybe that’s the wrong word — can we have some kind of union of those two issues, that you might be willing to –"
Rice: "Congressman, I’m not aware of the availability of people, but I certainly will look at what we are doing right now."
You have to love the jab Ackerman gets in there about gay marriage as well.
Sharon Alexander, deputy director of policy for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), responded to the exchange:
"Considering the critical shortage of linguists in the armed forces, a platoon of Arabic-speaking lesbians may be just what the military needs. In fact, faced with the shortage of language experts, the military would do well to consider Congressman Ackerman’s point. We cannot afford to lose critical personnel because of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ There are many brave gay men and lesbians who report for duty every day, and their contributions are immeasurably important to our national security. Secretary Rice would have no trouble finding gay linguists. In fact, our government could go a long way in addressing the shortage of language expertise by doing just as Congressman Ackerman suggests. SLDN would be happy to introduce Secretary Rice to our many clients who speak Arabic but have been dismissed because of the ban."
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Posted 8:30 AM EST by Andy in Condoleezza Rice, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Iraq, Military, News | Permalink
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The video clip cuts off early...anyone have a link to the full clip?
Posted by: Ian | Feb 9, 2007 9:20:29 AM
Awesome.
Posted by: scotte | Feb 9, 2007 9:44:31 AM
That's the longest I was able to find. If anyone could find a better one, please let me know.
Posted by: andy | Feb 9, 2007 10:02:02 AM
Omg, that is awesome. I love the way Ackerman wound up for that comment, he's my new hero. The guy behind him is laughing so hard he has to put his head down. ROFL simply awesome.
Posted by: Cory | Feb 9, 2007 10:03:12 AM
Did I read too much into the way he said "good for *you*"?
Posted by: Eric | Feb 9, 2007 10:12:32 AM
I'm a linguistics major and all of this is made funnier to me by the fact that linguistics is the second gayest major (at least at my school) behind theater, in terms of percent gay participation.
Posted by: Andy | Feb 9, 2007 10:44:31 AM
This flippin' makes my day. I hereby nominate this for Best Towleroad Post of February.
Posted by: Rich | Feb 9, 2007 10:47:01 AM
I agree with Cory. Ackerman made my day, maybe my week!
More of the exchange, including Condi's response, would be most interesting. I wonder if she blushed.
Regarding the '08 election: Whoever gets elected, we know we will be moving up. I hope it's Hillary.
Posted by: jessejames | Feb 9, 2007 10:55:13 AM
HAHA! I love it!
Posted by: Je | Feb 9, 2007 11:13:03 AM
It's pure gold because it's both funny AND true. Sounds like a perfectly acceptable remedy, short of the obvious plan to get rid of DADT for good. Now if only we could convince those men and women whose careers were squashed to return to public service... it's gonna take a lot of convincing.
Maybe Chad White could be recruited to help cajole some of them back to Washington. Just a thought.
Posted by: Brian | Feb 9, 2007 11:21:26 AM
I believe Madam Secretary would benefit immeasurably if she hired some Cunning Linguists.
Posted by: Crixi Van Cheek | Feb 9, 2007 11:28:17 AM
I understand that lesbians make very cunning linguists indeed.
(sorry, couldn't resist)
Posted by: Rascal | Feb 9, 2007 11:42:31 AM
Ha! Brian beat me to it. Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one with common, groaning taste in humor.
Posted by: Rascal | Feb 9, 2007 11:43:40 AM
er... I meant Crixi. OK, I'll stop postting now.
Posted by: Rascal | Feb 9, 2007 11:44:42 AM
Bad Congressman, bad! Doesn't he know that Cunti, like all good Jews for Hitler, excuse me, Blacks for Bush, luvs her little Fagolas for Hitler, excuse me, Gays for Bush.
Her drag name would be Adolpha Eichmann.
Posted by: Leland | Feb 9, 2007 12:13:36 PM
Leland, I am saddened that you didn't work in a reference to La Reichen. I need my Friday laugh. Where have you been brother?
Posted by: rudy | Feb 9, 2007 12:17:52 PM
If Condi doesn't know what they are currently doing at Foggy Bottom in terms of hiring linguists then how can she say that they are having some sort of problem with hiring?
The DoD does not apply DADT to its civilian employees, only military personnel, so they could transfer all their linguists to the civilian side of the dept. under current law, which would require an act of Congress to repeal (enforcement is another issue).
So now that the D's control Congress and can repeal DADT, have we heard anyone suggest that they will? Concurrently, given the admin's animous towards GLBT in the military, if DADT were repealed would they come up with another way to kick them out--something they don't do on the civilian side. Everyone acts as if the admin is applying it's own policy under DADT, but Congress put it into the Code of Military Conduct in 1993, replacing an outright ban that had been simply DoD policy up to that point. Both the Clinton and Bush admins have been over-enforcing the law by "asking" when they shouldn't, essentially keeping the old ban in place. Congress could repeal the law, but I think the DoD will find practical ways to keep the ban in place, and it doesn't look good under the current Congress for a repeal, nor do they appear to be under any pressure from Democratic interest groups to do so.
To people who make long off-topic posts: please get your own blog.
Posted by: anon | Feb 9, 2007 12:31:04 PM
My first boyfriend was a former Army linguist before I met him. He was in training when he and his sex partner forgot to lock the door. Doh! Busted, out of the Army in two weeks, that's how his parents found out he was gay etc. It was a nightmare for him and he was really, really bitter about it. He loved being in the Army --apart from the sex with other soldiers!-- and was devastated by being kicked out.
And Anon's right, Rudy, get your own blog and for fuck's sake, paragraph breaks are your friend. Jeebus.
Posted by: Henry Holland | Feb 9, 2007 12:45:13 PM
Ackerman has a gay son, too!
Posted by: jmg | Feb 9, 2007 1:11:15 PM
Do not read a long post if it taxes your abilities.
Posted by: rudy | Feb 9, 2007 1:41:42 PM
Jeez, guys lay off Rudy! lol..as a long post repeat offender I empathize with him.
Maybe Andy can make us open threads for these kind of discussions and rants..and problem's solved.
Posted by: Da | Feb 9, 2007 2:11:07 PM
At least when I type it looks like I'm working.
Posted by: anon | Feb 9, 2007 6:10:33 PM