“Freedom’s Just Another Word…”
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on May 16, 2009 at 9:30 AM in Civil Liberties & Rights, Current Affairs, Don't Ask Don't Tell, GLBT, Gay Rights, Obama's Broken Promises
One wants it for himself and scores of others*:
And one, thankfully, recently received it:
Thank heavens Roxanna Saberi is freed - she never should have been imprisoned in the first place.
And neither should Lt. Choi, and other GLBT soldiers, be imprisoned by a law based on discrimination, forcing a prison of secrecy and lies.
* The following is an Open letter Lt. Choi wrote to Obama and members of Congress:
By Lt. Daniel Choi
Special to CNNOpen Letter to President Obama and Every Member of Congress:
I have learned many lessons in the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my country. The lessons of courage, integrity, honesty and selfless service are some of the most important.
At West Point, I recited the Cadet Prayer every Sunday. It taught us to “choose the harder right over the easier wrong” and to “never be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.” The Cadet Honor Code demanded truthfulness and honesty. It imposed a zero-tolerance policy against deception, or hiding behind comfort.
Following the Honor Code never bowed to comfortable timing or popularity. Honor and integrity are 24-hour values. That is why I refuse to lie about my identity.
I have personally served for a decade under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: an immoral law and policy that forces American soldiers to deceive and lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception and lying. These values are completely opposed to anything I learned at West Point. Deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.
As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates. I demand honesty and courage from my soldiers. They should demand the same from me.
I am committed to applying the leadership lessons I learned at West Point. With 60 other LGBT West Point graduates, I helped form our organization, Knights Out, to fight for the repeal of this discriminatory law and educate cadets and soldiers after the repeal occurs. When I receive emails from deployed soldiers and veterans who feel isolated, alone, and even suicidal because the torment of rejection and discrimination, I remember my leadership training: soldiers cannot feel alone, especially in combat. Leaders must reach out. They can never diminish the fighting spirit of a soldier by tolerating discrimination and isolation. Leaders respect the honor of service. Respecting each soldier’s service is my personal promise.
The Department of the Army sent a letter discharging me on April 23rd. I will not lie to you; the letter is a slap in the face. It is a slap in the face to me. It is a slap in the face to my soldiers, peers and leaders who have demonstrated that an infantry unit can be professional enough to accept diversity, to accept capable leaders, to accept skilled soldiers.
My subordinates know I’m gay. They don’t care. They are professional.
Further, they are respectable infantrymen who work as a team. Many told me that they respect me even more because I trusted them enough to let them know the truth. Trust is the foundation of unit cohesion.
After I publicly announced that I am gay, I reported for training and led rifle marksmanship. I ordered hundreds of soldiers to fire live rounds and qualify on their weapons. I qualified on my own weapon. I showered after training and slept in an open bay with 40 other infantrymen. I cannot understand the claim that I “negatively affected good order and discipline in the New York Army National Guard.” I refuse to accept this statement as true.
As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you today: Do not fire me. Do not fire me because my soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force – we are a family and we support each other. We should not learn that honesty and courage leads to punishment and insult. Their professionalism should not be rewarded with losing their leader. I understand if you must fire me, but please do not discredit and insult my soldiers for their professionalism.
When I was commissioned I was told that I serve at the pleasure of the President. I hope I have not displeased anyone by my honesty. I love my job. I want to deploy and continue to serve with the unit I respect and admire. I want to continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.
Please do not wait to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Please do not fire me.
Very Respectfully,
Daniel W. Choi
1LT, IN
New York Army National Guard
Or any other military personnel who stand up to this immoral law. Now is the time.
Lt. Choi has been assisted by the ServiceMembers Legal Defense Network (sldn.org), an outstanding organization.
(Release: November 13)
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More and more people who voted for The one will confront him about the promises he has made and won’t keep. It is sad so many were fooled. I am so glad I never expected him to honor his promises becuase I am not as disappointed as I would be had I drank the kool aid.
I am disappointed in democrats though. I seriously expected some brave, honorable soul to step up.
Anyone? Anyone? Is there an honorable democrat around???? Step up before we lose this country.
If it wasn’t for the lemming like Dems in the congress we might be facing a better situation even with BO in the WH. There is nothing that says that they have to vote for everything he wants. They have lost touch with the country.
They have lost touch with the country
I’ts been a while
In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote:
In other words, break an unjust law - and certainly, the governmental policy of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is unjust, failing to reach even the minimum standard of “rational basis” - but don’t expect not to suffer the consequences.
Thank you for this, jbjd - perfect.
And I agree abt the Dems and lemmings, too…
What a great way using common sense. In the military they would say “there are two types of orders: legal and illegal”
It’s for us to fight “the just fight” and not “just to fight”
This is just pathetic but no surprise. Firing this linguist is their loss.
They have fired a number of Arabic linguists since the Iraqi invasion under DADT. Not just pathetic, but STUPID.
Agreed RRRA. Yes, let’s get rid of some of our best and brightest because we don’t like who they are.
Sigh.
cheers for you Amy..
Thanks Amy for sharing the video and letter of Lt. Choi. It’s a good thing he is going to fight to end the discrimination for those who honorably serve their country. The very people who elected Obama, the majority of them, are of the thinking that there should be no tolerance for intolerance, that discrimination should be a thing of the past with the election of this black man; they gave Obama a free pass and made him the poster child to represent a new way past the errors of previous generations with regards to racial and GBLT issues. Obama is such a jerk, and is no leader for anyone. It is time for those that voted for Obama to make that purpose meaningful and assert some pressure on him.
I feel less safe without this infantry officer and West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic serving in the Army.
His firing is foolish, foolish, foolish.
The man’s skills can save the lives of fellow members of the world community. He can especially help save the lives of Americans in NGO or relief work, merchant marines, soldiers or sailors on the field.
This is an outrage. Certainly Larry VIPFS can make a statement in support of the man. Lawyer him up, that would even mean perhaps a call to the ACLU. No wonder they want to renew tribunals, (anything to avoid liability in this or other courts….)
this is just one more outrage and insult to our country. I feel so sorry for this fine young officer whose greatest desire is to serve his country.
Even Jon Stewart on The Daily Show gets it, This week he had a segment mocking our govt.s decision to eliminate one our most valuable assets in the Iraqi war.
We will remember…
[...] Once again, Obama has found a way to NOT let the buck stop with him - he is proving to be quite adept at finding a way to not take a stand on stands he has previously taken. I know - it makes my head hurt, too, but that’s the reality of it. The title of this article really says it all: Obama Avoids Test on Gays in Military. Uh, yeah. You may recall that I wrote just recently about the Army Arabic linguist, Lt. Dan Choi, and his plea to Obama to not fire him from the Army (“Freedom’s Just Another Word…”). [...]
[...] This section from “Passing the Buck,” exposes the real Obama: Once again, Obama has found a way to NOT let the buck stop with him - he is proving to be quite adept at finding a way to not take a stand on stands he has previously taken. I know - it makes my head hurt, too, but that’s the reality of it. The title of this article really says it all: Obama Avoids Test on Gays in Military. Uh, yeah. You may recall that I wrote just recently about the Army Arabic linguist, Lt. Dan Choi, and his plea to Obama to not fire him from the Army (“Freedom’s Just Another Word…”). [...]