Senator McCain would have the military conduct it's business by referendum. He has repeatedly insisted that the military should ask service members whether DADT should be repealed. He forgets that Truman integrated the Armed Forces during the Korean War and didn't take a poll of the service members to do it. He forgets that the military is not asked if they are comfortable going to war. He forgets that the military is directed by civilian authority and the Commander in Chief. He forgets that he apparently was a soldier himself and I seriously doubt if there was an opinion poll prior to going into Vietnam.
That word "forget" keeps coming up. Considering he has pretty much reversed his position on DADT I have to wonder if he has a memory problem.
In response to McCain's ludicrous suggestion that the military troops make decisions by some kind of consensus Gates said:
I can't think of a single precedent in America history of doing a referendum of the American Armed Forces on a policy issue. Are you going to ask them if they want 15-month tours? Are you going to ask them if they want to be part of the surge in Iraq? That's not the way our civilian-led military has ever worked in our entire history . . . I think in effect doing a referendum of the members of the Armed Forces on a policy matter is a very dangerous path.
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