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Editorials
Monday, February 7, 2000Pentagon reaction
to harassment of gaysEARLY in his first term, President Clinton was forced to backtrack on his effort to eliminate discrimination against homosexuals in the military and adopted a compromise "don't ask, don't tell, don't harass" policy. The policy has been criticized as ineffective and both of the Democratic presidential contenders, Al Gore and Bill Bradley, have called for its abolition. Clinton himself has acknowledged that the policy is not working satisfactorily.The issue: The Pentagon has ordered all armed forces personnel to undergo training to prevent harassment of gays.
The baseball-bat murder of a gay private at Fort Campbell, Ky., last July prompted Defense Secretary William Cohen to order all of the armed services to prepare training programs to prevent harassment of homosexual service personnel. Cohen also asked the armed forces chiefs to send letters to commanders emphasizing that threats and harassment of gays will not be tolerated.
The Pentagon has now ordered that every member of the armed forces, from generals to privates, undergo anti-harassment training. A Pentagon spokesman explained, "What this does is try to make the training more regular and to emphasize, from the top down, that this is a priority of all the services and to make this emphasis stronger and clearer than it was before."
The New York Times reported that the training sessions will run about an hour and will feature a slide presentation describing what is and what is not allowed. The services also plan to use video presentations, role-playing exercises and pamphlets.
Although the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is several years old, the armed forces had never previously made it a subject for training of all personnel. Nor had the Pentagon sent out messages ordering full compliance. Apparently the policy wasn't fully understood, because harassment of gays has continued.
Michelle Benecke, co-director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, welcomed the new program but said it was a shame that it took the murder of a private to spur the Pentagon to introduce it.
In view of the controversial nature of the policy, it should have been obvious that extensive efforts were needed to explain it to all personnel and obtain their compliance.
This new educational effort should help, but even so the policy falls short. Full acceptance of gays is the only realistic policy, and eventually it must be adopted.
Austrian rightists
THERE is a temptation to compare the ascendancy of an extreme right-wing party in Austria with the electoral success of the Nazis in the 1930s before Hitler seized total power and plunged the world into war. But the odds against Joerg Haider becoming another Hitler are astronomical. Austria in 2000 is not Germany in 1933, nor is Haider such a fearsome creature as Hitler was.
Haider's Freedom Party captured 27 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in 1999. When the Social Democrats, who had led Austrian governments for 30 years, failed to forge a new coalition with the conservative People's Party, Haider's party could not be excluded from the government, but will not head it. Haider himself did not take a cabinet post, instead remaining a provincial governor.
In the past Haider praised some of Hitler's policies and Austrians who served in the Nazi special forces. He has retracted those statements and apologized for them, but many of his opponents do not believe he is sincere.
The response to the new government has been strongly hostile. Israel withdrew its ambassador. Austria's partners in the European Union planned to ostracize it. The United States was also critical. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United States was temporarily recalling its ambassador from Vienna for consultations. She added, "We have decided to limit our contacts with the new government and we will see whether further actions are necessary to advance our support for democratic values."
Before approving the new government, Austrian President Thomas Kestil extracted a pledge from Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and Haider to uphold democratic values and examine Austria's history during the Nazi era. During the induction Kestil made no attempt to conceal his disapproval.
Austria weathered an earlier controversy related to the Hitler era when Kurt Waldheim, the former United Nations secretary-general, was elected president in 1986. As a German army officer in World War II, he was accused of having given the orders that led to the massacre of Yugoslav partisans.
That was a much more shocking case than Haider, but the West survived Waldheim, as it will Haider.
The current affair is another embarrassment, revealing a disturbing tolerance of neo-Nazism in portions of the Austrian electorate.
Western governments are expressing their disapproval, which is entirely appropriate. But the democratic process sometimes produces unwelcome results. There is no reason to panic over this one.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
