The Weekly Dish

Gay ’marriage’ poll

I always was intrigued and somewhat perplexed by online polls on evangelical Web sites that showed opposition to the unprecedented attempt to ban gay “marriage” by amending the Constitution of the United States. I don’t trust online polls, so I figured they’d been hijacked (as some often are).

But along comes a real and comprehensive poll of over 1,600 evangelicals that finds a majority opposed to amending the Constitution to ban civil marriage for gays.

The poll was commissioned by PBS and U.S. News & World Report. Fifty-two percent of evangelicals said they preferred the matter to be handled by the states. So they are conservatives after all. Moreover, 48 percent of evangelicals said that support for marriage rights for gays would not disqualify a candidate from their vote. According to the Baltimore Sun, “John Green, a professor of political science at the University of Akron and a leading authority on evangelicals, attributed their opposition to a strong belief in federalism and a reluctance — shared with many Americans — to tamper with the Constitution.”

So the president’s endorsement of this extreme measure has succeeded in alienating large sections of moderate opinion and failing to sway even a majority of the evangelical base. The genius of Karl Rove strikes again.

The James Yee case

Very few incidents have made me as angry as the disgraceful, foul and malicious attempt by the U.S. military to accuse Capt. James J. Yee, the Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, of treason and espionage. They had no solid evidence, but, at the time, I worried that the story might be true. I feel terrible for leaping to that tentative conclusion. But it got worse.

When the espionage charges fell apart, the military then tried to frame Capt. Yee for adultery and for downloading porn from the Internet, dragging his family into the entire affair. It recalled to me the way the military trashes and defames the lives of honorable gay service members. Wednesday, all the charges were dropped. You might not have noticed because the story was buried in most newspapers, unlike the original charges.

What I want to know is: Who is going to be discharged for this horrendous miscarriage of justice? Who in the military will be held responsible? This incident is particularly noxious at a time when we need to reassure patriotic Muslim Americans that they are not going to come under clouds of suspicion for their faith or their identity — especially Muslims who are actually serving this country in uniform. This story is a travesty of justice and fairness. And no one really seems to care.

A soldier’s e-mail

Here’s an e-mail from a soldier I first corresponded with when he was a cadet at West Point. He’s legit — and his e-mail is worth reprinting, I think. I’m not endorsing everything he says, but it’s worth hearing what a very bright and committed young soldier is going through right now:

“Troop strength — I think we have consistently underestimated the number of troops it would take to pacify Iraq. Gen Shinseki’s original estimates were much closer to the mark. The fact that the 1st Armored Division (my unit) has now been extended for at least 4 months shows there aren’t enough troops — in order to deal with a fairly minor uprising we had to break the one-year-boots-on-ground pledge. If we had had a strategic reserve, this would not be necessary. However, the dirty secret is that there aren’t any more troops to be had — at least not the active-duty armor/infantry brigades and divisions required to fight a tough enemy. Furthermore, the frenetic destruction that occurred after the fall of Baghdad set us way back in terms of reconstruction — more troops could have limited if not prevented the extensive looting.

“Sadir et al. — Although his uprising is seen as a ominous sign for the coalition, it does have an upside. His poorly trained and poorly equipped rag-bad militia is being chewed up by our army. His defeat and eventual marginalization will serve the coalition well. After one year of occupation, I think many Iraqis have come to see the army as rather toothless — we get blown up by roadside bombs or mortars and yet we continue to rebuild schools, enforce the laws, train police etc. Now because of Fallujah and what has been going on in Baghdad, our potency and resolve are on full display. My task force alone has killed many insurgents in the last two weeks — something that was not happening before. By confronting us in a conventional way, Sadir et al. are playing to our military strengths — and it isn’t going well for them.”

No it isn’t. But the delicate situation in Iraq isn’t close to being resolved. But if it is, we will be forever indebted to the bravery and calm of young men like this.