DADT repeal a ‘radical social experiment’

Oliver North, the former Marine implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal and current Fox News host, says allowing gays to serve openly in the military will lead to same-sex marriages in the military and the admission of pedophiles to the armed forces.

In an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity Thursday, North discussed what he sees as the implications of repealing the 17-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

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“Now, here’s what’s next. NAMBLA members, same-sex marriages,” North said, referring to the North American Man-Boy Love Association, a group that advocates for pedophilia. “Are chaplains in the US military going to be required to perform those kinds of rituals? Do they [pedophiles and homosexuals] get government housing?”

North, who hosts Fox’s War Stories, told Hannity that the effort to repeal DADT amounts to a “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.”

Citing the legal statute that forbids gays from serving openly in the military, North said that repealing DADT “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.”

But “those claims are heavily undermined by the fact that other countries allow gay men and lesbians to serve in the military, and many have said it has not created problems,” reports media watchdog MediaMatters.

Writing at ThinkProgress, Igor Volsky says, “The irony of a convicted felon who lied about diverting proceeds from arms sales to a rebel group in Nicaragua supporting a policy that forces gay and lesbian servicemen to lie about their sexual orientation was lost on both Hannity and North.”

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Volsky also criticized Hannity and North for not mentioning that Adm. Mike Mullen has voiced his support for repealing the anti-gay law. That “would have forced North to condemn [Mullen] for treating the troops ‘like lab rats in a radical social experiment.'”

The following video was broadcast on Fox News’ Hannity, Feb. 4, 2010, and uploaded to the Web by ThinkProgress.