 "Photo:")
Congressman Marty Meehan - Massachusetts Fifth District and Chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations - spoke on Monday at Boston College Law School about his recent trip to Iraq, the country's military readiness, and his effort to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Meehan began by outlining his long-standing opposition to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which was the result of a compromise during the Clinton administration. "We let 350 linguists go because of their sexual orientation," said Meehan. "It wasn't a popular issue, for me it was a moral issue … The American people are in favor of lifting the ban and are in favor of ending the discrimination."
As Chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Meehan has attempted to expose the truth behind the policy and show how it is at odds with national security interests as well as its discriminatory nature. He holds up the fact that he had such a hard time finding a speaker to debate him on the issue as evidence of the changing nature of public opinion.
"People don't want to talk about the issue anymore, that's how we know we've won. When we tried to have a debate at the Kennedy School, we could not get anyone to debate the other side. Society is changing."
Moving on to the Iraq issue, Meehan explained that he had visited Iraq in 2003, 2005, and again recently in 2007-with each trip the situation was "progressively worse." Meehan did acknowledge that, "regardless of weapons of mass destruction, Iraqis were glad that Saddam was gone in 2003."
Due to the failure to provide the basic necessities of life and "win the hearts and minds" of the Iraqis, the situation in Iraq has deteriorated over the course of the last four years. In 2005, Meehan released his White Paper titled, "Iraq: Light at the End of the Tunnel," which described the need for the redeployment of American troops. At the time, it was attacked for being defeatist, but the thinking on Iraq has moved more toward phased redeployment, showing Meehan to be a visionary.
Meehan severely criticized the Bush administration for incompetence in the lead-up to the Iraq invasion. "They used 9/11 to get us into Iraq. They used it without thinking about the consequences of it every step of the way - being wrong about the intelligence, manipulating the intelligence."
Going further, Meehan criticized the conduct of the war, especially the poor treatment of veterans. "There is example, after example, after example, of the United States government not giving a damn about the people it is serving," Meehan said. "We have a whole new generation of veterans that are returning with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and our Veterans Affairs system is not equipped to deal with it. Why does it happen? Because we don't take care of people in the military the way we say we do."
In regard to Iran and North Korea, Meehan encouraged discussion to find diplomatic solutions to the disputes. "This idea of the sable-rattling is counterproductive," Meehan said. "I'm not sure it was a good idea to refer to the "Axis of Evil." We should be looking to engage wherever we can - it doesn't make us look weak."
When asked about what students can do to bring about changes in the current policies, Meehan encouraged more student organizations as well as more letter writing to pressure Congressmen. In addition, Democrats need to formulate a cohesive alternative and "step up to the plate."
In his 15 years in Congress, Meehan has been a national leader in campaign finance reform and fighting big tobacco, was the source of the "Military Readiness Act" to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and received an award from the Human Rights Campaign.
Be the first to comment on this article!