Oliver North: Repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Could Be 'Very Detrimental' to Military
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 4, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: For nearly two decades gay men and women have been prohibited from serving openly in the U.S. military. Now, the policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was adopted during the Clinton administration and is now subject of debate in Washington.
Hearings on the policy were held earlier this week, during which Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated that the law is on its way to being repealed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Now, ironically, this news is being welcomed by one of the men responsible for the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the first place. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who previously served as the chair of the Joint Chiefs, he now says, quote, "Attitudes and circumstances have changed. I fully support the new approach."
But Senator McCain had a reminder for the Obama administration.
Let's take a look.
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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: You are embarking on saying it is not whether the military prepares to make the change but how we best prepare for it, without ever hearing from members of Congress. I'm happy to say that we still have a Congress of the United States that would have to pass a law to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: And joining me now with his take on all this is host of "War Stories" right here on the Fox News Channel, Ollie North.
Colonel, welcome back.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}COL. OLIVER NORTH, HOST, "WAR STORIES": Stunning assault on the all-volunteer military, the very best in the world. Barack Obama now intents to treat them like lab rats in a radical social experiment, and it can be very, very detrimental.
You know, Sean, we just — we just heard about the law. Let's put the law on the screen. Here's what the law actually says. This is Title IX — excuse me, Title X of the United States code, Section 654: "The presence in the Armed Forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability."
In other words, this isn't about rights. This isn't about fairness. It's all about national security. And apparently, Mr. Obama has forgotten it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: You know, I've got to just — all the reasons we have discussed in the past. Because I remember debating "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" when Clinton was president. But you know, we — this is what they came upon. But as the country disagreed, and so this was the, quote, "compromise."
What I don't understand politically is the president seems to be taking on everything that got Bill Clinton into trouble and created the '94 revolution that gave the Republicans and Newt Gingrich power for the first time in 40 years. Why, politically, after the health care debacle, do you now take on the other Clinton debacle? I don't get it.
NORTH: Well, first of all, this guy is in so far over his head you can't find him with sonar. And proof of that is the comment he made by the Navy Corpsman, in calling him a "corpse" man.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. I — I can't let you say that, in case somebody missed earlier. This is — no, no, he didn't say it once, didn't say it twice. Navy "corpse" man. He said three times, he referred to them — and I'm sure it was spelled right in the teleprompter. "Corpse" man. Let's roll the tape.
NORTH: Right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world. Navy Corpseman Christian Bechard (ph). Corpseman Bechard (ph) responded.
Men and women like Corpsrman Bechard (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(LAUGHTER)
NORTH: It's painful. It's painful. This is a guy who wants — I'm alive today, Sean, as you know because of U.S. Navy corpsman on the battlefield.
HANNITY: No, corpseman.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NORTH: Well, thank God he's still on active duty. Now he's treating patients over at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
Here's the problem with what's happened this week. Not only does he want the Congress to repeal the law. Secretary Gates as much as said, "I, Secretary Gates, am going to selectively enforce the law and basically impose a moratorium on discharges for those who meet the standard, as it were."
Now, here's what's next. NAMBLA members, same-sex marriages. Are chaplains in the U.S. military going to be required to perform those kinds of rituals? Do they get government housing?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In other words, all of this stuff that everybody says, "Oh, we can just take care of it because we've got the best military in the world," and we do, adds to the burden of these youngsters who are now on their ninth year of a war, back-to-back deployments, and more combat time than my dad got in World War II. That is a very serious issue, and it affects readiness and recruiting and retention, and they're ignoring it in this White House.
HANNITY: I'm going to ask you about another serious issue that came up this week. This is in light of the Christmas-Day bomber who told us, others are coming. But we only interrogated him for 50 minutes, gave him a lawyer and gave him Miranda rights.
We now know that five senior leaders in the U.S. intelligence community telling a Senate panel two days ago that, in fact, it was a certainty that terrorists will attempt another attack in the United States in the next three to six months.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But, is there a chance that one of the attackers might be the person that the Christmas-Day bomber said was coming? Is there a chance?
NORTH: Well, look anything is possible. The reality of it is, what this administration has done is it's bent so far to the left, and that's what Barack Obama has done here. It's not just on issues like giving rights, constitutional protections and civil trials to terrorists. It's all of this stuff.
As you said a few moments ago, the same kind of stuff that Bill Clinton was smart enough to back away from, but it took the election of '94 to make a difference.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And so here's my challenge. The Congress of the United States does not have to put up with this madness. They can stop it now. They control the purse strings with the Department of Justice. They control the purse strings of the Pentagon. If they want to stop this madness, they can do it.
And we ought to require that they do so, because it is, after all, our tax dollars that are being used to give these guys the civil protections and take away the protections that the Armed Forces have —
(CROSSTALK)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: Should Eric Holder have to resign?
NORTH: Well, I'm sorry that the man is — was where he is. I think as the attorney general of the United States, he has a considerable leftist ideology. It's very clear in the kinds of decisions that he's made as attorney general.
But I point out again, Congress does not have to fund this madness. They can stand up and be counted, and we, the people, would know where they stand.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: All right. Colonel Oliver North. We appreciate you. Safe home, my friend.
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