A doubting John McCain led Republican opposition Thursday to letting gays serve openly in the military, sternly clashing with the Pentagon's top leaders and warning that troops would quit in droves if Congress repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" law....
>>>A doubting John McCain led Republican opposition Thursday to letting gays serve openly in the military, sternly clashing with the Pentagon's top leaders and warning that troops would quit in droves if Congress repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" law.
In tense exchanges with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, McCain and other Republicans dismissed a Pentagon study on gays as biased and said objections by combat troops were being ignored.
Gates and Mullen defended the study, but McCain blamed politics for pushing the matter forward during wartime. He predicted that Marines and soldiers assigned combat duties, in particular, would abandon their service if they had to serve along with gays open about their sexual orientation.
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAYS_IN_MILITARY
