February 2, 2010
DADT, Rachel Maddow, Lt Col Fehrenbach, Sen McCain, Secy Gates, Adm Mullen, questioning, McCain clips
West Point grad, Arab linguist and 2-tour Iraq veteran, Lt Dan Choi speaks with Contessa Brewer. He’s dressed in street clothes but evidently has not been discharged yet – though they kept him from returning with his unit to Iraq.
LT CHOI:
There seems to be a lot of don’t do anything. When you’re talking about the questions, when John McCain and the Secretary of Defense are talking about the question of ‘how’. There is not a question of how. We have to end this now. It’s about are you going to force our soldiers, who are willing to risk their lives to protect us, are you going to tell them that they have to lie.
He says some people are reacting to their own fears not the servicemembers’.
Our soldiers don’t act based on fear and fear alone. I think we need to respect our soldiers….Our soldiers are professional, they’re disciplined, they’re ready for it.
Choi says it would “take a matter of seconds” for gays to be integrated into the military (where they are already) not years.
To me, this isn’t a policy issue. For me, this is about my career. This is my life, this is my job that they’re talking about, and they’re going to fire me just because I stayed true to the West Point Honor Code. I don’t think we need to wait another year. I don’t think we need to wait another second to live up to our American values. Do not lie – do not tolerate those who lie.
