How can you ask a woman to be the last woman to die for a mistake?
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How can you ask a woman to be the last woman to die for a mistake?
On Monday, President Obama hailed the pioneers who in 1848 first fought for women's rights at Seneca Falls.
On Wednesday, Obama's Pentagon sent America's female troops charging up Hamburger Hill, metaphorically speaking.
Leon Panetta, the outgoing defense secretary, has decided that for the first time U.S. women troops will be eligible for front-line combat infantry or artillery jobs that have long been restricted to men -- first by tradition and after 1994 by official Pentagon policy, according to multiple news accounts.
The move will not be publically announced until Thursday and will take some time - possibly as long as three years -- to implement, but it's clearly a landmark event in the centuries-long fight for women's equality in America.
The move is also a bit of a mind-bender — effusively praised by many liberals who've also marched over the years to have fewer Americans of any gender waging front-line conflict overseas.
Timothy Lange, writing on the popular progressive blog Daily Kos, hailed the decision, noted that female soldiers have already been lauded for bravery under fire while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, but then added: "Now, if only we could engage in fewer wars for them and men in uniform to fight."
The irony, of course, is that as female enlistment in the armed forces has increased over the last couple of generations while U.S. military operations have expanded overseas, women have already engaged in combat - and died. In fact, it's estimated that roughly 20,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with more than 800 wounded and some 130 killed.
Indeed, the story of America's post 9/11 military actions are laced with tales of "womanity," of bravery like Capt. Allison Black who — despite the restrictions — navigated a AC-130H gunship to fight off the Taliban in Afghanistan, and of loss like Cpl. Jennifer Parcell, who was making security checks in Iraq's Al Anbar Province and died when one exploded a suicide vest.
In the 1970s, the notion that a woman like Parcell would die in a war was a main argument of those who led the successful fight to reject the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Now, the decision to be announced by Panetta - opening up as many as 238,000 front-line slots that were once reserved only for men - is clearly a victory for equal rights, without the capital letters. It ensures that more female soldiers and sailors will win well-deserved promotions to combat leadership roles and ultimately to top brass.
Still...
It feels kind of kind of bittersweet that this is the biggest victory for women's rights in this generation — when we've devoted such little energy to ending the rampant spirit of militarism that has sent so many men and women into conflicts that have dwarfed World War II in length — wars that polls now show a majority of Americans think weren't worth it.
Maybe the thought of someone’s daughter dying on the battlefield will make policy makers think twice before the next misadventure - but I seriously doubt it.
Ironically, it was the likely new secretary of state, Sen. John Kerry, who famously asked in 1971 after fighting in Vietnam: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Time marches on. Today, we can ask ourselves: How do you ask a woman to be the last woman to die for a mistake?
The Civil Rights legislation was passed with ALMOST ZERO VOTES FROM THE SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS WHO CONTROLLED CONGRESS! I hate to break this to you, but the GOP carried the votes! Do you people know anything about history (not the Democrat revisionist type)?— TruthTeller01- Are you familiar with Nixon's "southern strategy"?
— wokmaster - TruthTeller:
It will be healthy for the country that Republican party functioning went backwards to earlier days!!— EIK - @jeff west- Until Dems actually pass a budget during Barry's term, they have no standing in the debt ceiling debate.....— Wiseman6
- While watching the Senate hearing last night, I found it curious that the GOP Senators thought Clinton should have immediately launched a personal investigation on Benghazi the minute she learned of the deaths of 4 State employees, usurping the FBI, in order to get immediate information to the "American people" (ie; Republicans). Rand Paul called it the worst attack on Americans since 9/11/01. Yet, when 20 small children and 6 adults trying to protect them were massacred, the GOP refused to talk about Newtown for weeks, citing that we shouldn't have a national conversation until all facts are sorted out and emotions are calmer.
It's obvious that Benghazi symbolized political opportunism for the GOP during an election year and Newtown represents a potential threat to one of their main monied lobbies - the NRA. They have lost all ability to just do the right thing. It's disgusting to watch.— wokmaster - When Hillary "took responsibility" for the fiasco in Benghazi, what exactly was she responsible for? — tr88
- The Secretary of State's job is not to make arrangements for security at every U.S. consulate in the world, or to beg congress for money to provide security. Her job is to take the money she gets, and allow security to do its job. If there's a failure, she's ultimately responsible, in the "buck stops here" sort of way. — wokmaster
- So we're agreed, that she failed in her responsibility to provide security for the Embassy. Just what we need from a prospective Presidential Candidate. She did a good job at providing electric cars and a charging station at our Embassy in Paris, so that gives you a sense of her priorities. — tr88
- And Bush did such a wonderful job running from his National Guard duties. This day and age nobody is gonna have a perfect record for being President, just have to pick the better one.
— gibby58 - Republicans tried desperately to make the point that the administration was acting politically to protect themselves about events in Benghazi. All the Rs did was prove that they were acting politically to smear the administration with whatever witch hunt they could dream up.
This morning Senate and House Cleaning Staff are still working to clean the blood and drool from the Committee Rooms' dais. One or two struggling Senators and Congressmen have yet to be carted off to hospital.— wokmaster - There was no embassy. There was no consulate. No one was supposed to know what was going on in Benghazi. And we still don't - other than 4 Americans being hung out to dry while supporting another gun-running op for the gubmint. — phillycaster
- "It's obvious that Benghazi symbolized political opportunism for the GOP" Couldn't it be said that Newtown was/is a political opportunity for Democrats?
— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver - Get over it Bunch, you sniveling whimpet. You can't have your cake and eat it too!— dogman5
- The story says: "it's estimated that roughly 20,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, with more than 800 wounded and some 130 killed."
And this is EQUALITY FOR WOMEN???????????????????????— SubVet585 - As I understand it men, who are not in the infantry, can be moved to the infantry because they are soldiers first. Women must choose to do combat arms, i.e. infantry to be placed in the infantry in combat. If women are to get full combat roles, then they must fall under the same rules as their equal male peers. I am all for jot. I was shot at by women in Viet Nam.— joedog
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