Staff: Top general won't apologize for remarks on gays

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/13/gays.military/index.html

Staff: Top general won't apologize for remarks on gays

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The top U.S. military officer, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, doesn't plan to apologize for telling a newspaper that homosexuality is immoral, his senior staff told CNN on Tuesday.

Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Chicago Tribune on Monday that he supports the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay people from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

The general also compared homosexuality to adultery -- behavior that is prosecuted in the military, he said.

"My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral," Pace told the Tribune. "I believe that military members who sleep with other military members' wives are immoral in their conduct."

...

Asked if Pace would apologize, his senior staff members said the general stands by his statements as an expression of his personal opinion, and he has no intention of apologizing.

[chelsea0011]

1. No apology? It does go to show that gays and lesbians

can be dishonored and bigotry aimed at them with no apology necessary. Let the general try to use his words against blacks, Jews, Irish, and anyone else and see if he would need to apologize. He'd be fired and then he'd have to apologize.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. As Sen. McCalskill said on Ed Schultz,

I think the remarks were timed to take heat off the brass for KNOWING about the shameful treatment of wounded veterans.

That being said, it's part of the continuing misinformation campaign to make Joe Sixpack think all homosexuals are interested only in molesting others. Come on! The majority of heterosexuals who serve don't have affairs and don't rape--same thing with homosexuals.

[ccpup]

3. and if Joe Sixpack

(the beer, not the abs) is really that worried about serving with gays in the military, he should plunk down a bit of change and invest in some soap-on-a-rope for shower time. "They" can't "get you" if you don't bend over, right? :sarcasm:

[Kagemusha]

4. Personal? What the hell was "personal" about that judgment?

That was his professional opinion about the profession of arms and why his profession should not have those he has a moral disagreement serving in that profession. What the hell was "personal" about it?... he's taking his personal beliefs and saying that is how his workplace, his industry, his entire line of work, should be, and indeed, must be organized.

[leQ]

7. can you just see any one of us trying to infringe upon our industries our personal beliefs?

great post btw.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

5. How on earth did this ever come up?

Did the general just up and say it? Did someone ask his opinion? What is the context? I'd like to beleive he has more important issues to worry about than who is sleeping with whom, regardless of sexual orientation.

[Kagemusha]

6. He did an interview with the Chicago Tribune so, pretty much 'just said it'

I mean, regardless of if he was asked like that, and I don't read the Tribune, the general had no obligation to give an interview, and no obligation to answer a question like that (if he truly regarded it as his personal opinion and not his professional one as I believe to fully be the case).

[aquart]

8. Then perhaps he should consider the ministry and not the military

as a career.

[David Zephyr]

9. Abu Graib, Walter Reed, 1 Million Dead Iraqis! And Gays are "Immoral"?

Wow!

[peacetheonlyway]

10. and democrats do nothing

Gonzales openly lies to a microphone and abrubtly leaves
his own press conference and Democrats do nothing.

we need 200 people in Washington like Waxman and we need them to get mad as hell
and start learning what few bits of democracy is left to prosecute these asses....

[rodeodance]

11. AP: Pace expresses regret over gay remark--No apology.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070313/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_gays;_ylt=AhBGRIFEWBylzvb28k_DeNDMWM0F

Pace expresses regret over gay remark

By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The
Pentagon's top general expressed regret Tuesday that he called homosexuality immoral, a remark that drew a harsh condemnation from members of Congress and gay advocacy groups.



In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces.

In a statement Tuesday, he said he should have focused more in the interview on the Defense Department policy about gays — and "less on my personal moral views."

He did not offer an apology, something that had been demanded by gay rights groups.

[atreides1]

12. And yet

His personal moral views don't seem to include the concept that it's morally wrong to bomb civilian targets.

Go figure!

[AndyA]

13. Fuck you, Pace.

You want immoral?

The war in Iraq is immoral. It's the poster child for immorality.

How many innocent Iraqi people have been killed? How many CHILDREN have been killed? How many soldiers and families have had their lives RIPPED APART by this war?

You want immoral? Look in the mirror, you dumb fuck hypocrit.

Being gay harms no one. War does. You are in no position to criticize or condemn anyone.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[bdamomma]

14. you are that moral Mr. Pace, after killing so many Iraqis, you bastard.

[Eugene]

15. Not much regret. He regrets putting his views on the record, not his intolerance.

[catnhatnh]

16. I will preface this by saying I am a straight 53 yo possibly homophobic male...

...but stepping past little moral conversations about killing civillians and such,let us look at the equivelence that Peter the Less than Great espouses...being involved in a sexual relationship where at least one party has vowed to engage in a monogamous state sponsored intimate relationship with another person, after normally engaging in vows to God,and the violation of which is in fact illegal=single people having a form of sex he doesn't like....I may have my little hang ups that make me nervous around the "gay scene" but it doesn't mean I NEED to condemn those who are comfortable or welcome there....

[saltpoint]

17. Apologizing seems to elude Republicans generally and in this case,

Peter Pace particularly.

Perhaps he feels he can stand aloof from an apology even if his comment is inconsistent with the American Psychiatric Association's more contemporary perspective on homosexuality. Clinicians and the like, please help me out on this if I've misstated the case. I thought homosexuality was removed from the list of "disorders" some time ago now, and I had hoped someone in Pace's circle would alert him to the fact that people with education and training in these matters might just know more about it than he does.

And meanwhile he insulted other human beings pointlessly.

A phone call or two would have been a responsible action before he opened his mouth.

Alexander conquered the known world, more or less, by the time he was in his late 20s or early 30s. I think he died at age 32. He had female, male, and eunuch lovers. I doubt seriously if he considered his private sexual expression "immoral."

Pace should have known better, and having made the misstep, he should apologize.

[EFerrari]

18. WHO HAS CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THIS ASSHOLE?

(And yes, I AM CAPITAL LETTER PISSED!)

[scavenger]

19. If you don't bash gays

If you don't bash gays you might be considered as being gay.

Many people don't have the courage to openly express what's right or wrong without logical reasoning to back it up, so they follow their pears without any kind of reasoning at all. Its called cowardliness

[maxsolomon]

20. narcissists can't apologize

he said this in hia capacity as a government representative, not as a private citizen.

can his ass.