Ask, Tell

The country’s most patently ridiculous “policy” is now apparently up for review in Congress.

From a press release (Mar. 2) by the Human Rights Campaign:

WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign praised today’s bipartisan introduction of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. The measure would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gay, lesbian and bisexual troops, and allow them to serve openly in the military.

“Americans don’t care whether the person who catches Bin Laden is gay or straight; they just want him caught,” said HRC Vice President of Policy David M. Smith. “This bill would allow highly trained and patriotic troops to continue serving while freeing up resources that could be spent on things like adequate armor but that are currently being spent on enforcing an unfair policy.”

According to a recent government report, the policy has cost nearly $200 million for the replacement and training of personnel who had to be recruited when gay, lesbian and bisexual soldiers were ousted from the military. The study by the Government Accounting Office also showed that nearly 800 specialists with critical skills have been fired, including 322 linguists, 54 of whom specialized in Arabic.

[Yes, firing 54 of what? 55? linguists who specialize in Arabic because they are gay makes total sense.]