Lawyers Advise Wait to Lift DADT

The Associated Press is reporting it has obtained an internal memo in which lawyers are recommending holding off on an internal Pentagon effort which could lead to the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." The delay would push a decision by Congress to the middle of the next presidential election campaign.

Other advisers at the Pentagon have suggested lifting the ban sooner rather than later, saying it "would not cause unmanageable problems or divisions among the uniformed military."

Reads the article: '''Now is not the time,' the in-house legal counsel for Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote recently in a memorandum obtained by The Associated Press. 'The importance of winning the wars we are in, along with the stress on the force, our body of knowledge and the number of unknowns, demand that we act with deliberation.'''

Mullen received the conflicting advice this month about whether to move quickly to lift the 1993 ban, and it is not clear what he will recommend to President Barack Obama. Although allowing gays to serve openly in the military was one of Obama's campaign promises, the issue was put on the back burner during his first year in office. Some liberal supporters and several congressional Democrats are pushing for action.

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