Gays responsible for Srebrenica massacre

[Josquius]

I think we can all compromise: ban bad gays like Mart from the military, or at worst make them cooks and drivers, and let the good ones serve as frontline soldiers.

I'm with you on the cooks. But...letting gays drive?.....hmm.....

Being gay is a choice.

Yes, but being homosexual isn't. 

I swear it's like we go down a list of topics to rehash at regular interval. 




G.

Is that the actual distinction gay people make or is it just you?
As I agree totally but can never properly explain it. Being gay is a choice, wanting to be though, isn't.

[Razgovory]

Grallon would you save a bunch of Muslims if you could?

The cute ones certainly.




G.

Well that's good enough for me.  We should draft grallon.

[Martinus]

Dutch fury at US general's gay theory over Srebrenica

Some 8,000 people were killed at Srebrenica in 1995

Dutch officials have rejected a retired US general's claim that its forces failed at Srebrenica because of poor morale over openly gay soldiers.

A defence ministry spokesman dismissed as "complete nonsense" the remarks by John Sheehan, a former Nato commander.

Gen Sheehan had been speaking at a US Senate hearing on allowing gay people to serve openly in the US military.

He said Dutch leaders had told him that the presence of gay soldiers had contributed to the Bosnian massacre.

Srebrenica was a UN safe haven under the protection of Dutch peacekeepers when, in 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the town, killing some 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Gen Sheehan said the former chief of staff of the Dutch army had told him that the presence of openly gay soldiers in the Dutch peacekeeping force were seen as "part of the problem" which contributed to the fall of Srebrenica.

He argued that since the end of the Cold War, European militaries had changed and he concluded "there was no longer a need for an active combat capability".

'Totally off-target'

This "socialisation" process, Gen Sheehan said, "included open homosexuality" and led to "a focus on peacekeeping operations because they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back".

Gen Sheehan is a former Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic

"It is astonishing that a man of his stature can utter such complete nonsense," Dutch defence ministry spokesman Roger van de Wetering said in response.

"The Srebrenica massacre and the involvement of UN soldiers was extensively investigated by the Netherlands, international organisations and the United Nations.

"Never was there in any way concluded that the sexual orientation of soldiers played a role."

The Dutch ambassador to the US, Renee Jones-Bos, added in a statement on the embassy's website that she "couldn't disagree more" with the claims by the former general, who retired from the military in 1997.

In the US Senate itself, Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told Gen Sheehan he was "totally off-target".

Several countries - including Britain, Canada, Australia and Israel - allow openly gay people to serve in the armed services.

[DGuller]

I wonder if Israel would've still lost Gaza if they didn't have gays in the military.

[Martinus]

That's not the first time gays in the military are linked to a massacre. See: razing of Thebes by Alexander.

[Razgovory]

That's not the first time gays in the military are linked to a massacre. See: razing of Thebes by Alexander.

Or Ernst Rohm and the Third Reich.

[Syt]

In other burning news: are gays responsible for Martinus?

[Grallon]

Is that the actual distinction gay people make or is it just you?
As I agree totally but can never properly explain it. Being gay is a choice, wanting to be though, isn't.

It's a distinction I make a point of stressing - even though the label is a shortcut often used for convenience sake.  But being a shortcut it's simplistic and reductive; it presents one aspect of whoever it's applied to as his/her defining characteristic.  Much like saying 'he's black' focuses on one thing to the immediate exclusion of any other traits.  He's first black than a lawyer or chef or kind or etc...

More later on the dimension of choice.




G.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

It's a disease and AIDS is its cure.

that's not working very well as it's killing a lot of straight people also.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

BTW "gay" or whatever other word you want to use is a choice for some of us.

I don't live a "gay" or "straight" lifestyle.  I live a life. It may have some style (those who know me would say I have great style) but it is neither definably gay or staright or any other word that debases it as being wholly concerned with who I sleep with.

To my mind anyone who bases their entire existence on which gender you prefer have sex with is a sad little person.

Currently when I feel up for sex it's dudes, only because it's simpler. less ritual, and planning. MY lifestyle is Lazy-sexual? :p

nope, I'm a person before I'm any sort of LGBT typology. I make a point also not to lump others' sexuality into large assumptive categories based solely on who they fuck. who you fuck has very little bearing on your job (unless you are a hooker) or even your hobbies, to my mind.

[crazy canuck]

I make a point also not to lump others' sexuality into large assumptive categories based solely on who they fuck. who you fuck has very little bearing on your job (unless you are a hooker) or even your hobbies, to my mind.

Its a good point Buddha.  I suspect the reason people go on about sexuality so much here is because Marti often raises the issue in such idiotic ways.

[Malthus]

When I read the thread title, I had a horrible mental picture of a horde of battle-crazed gays rampaging through the Balkans. 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

When I read the thread title, I had a horrible mental picture of a horde of battle-crazed gays rampaging through the Balkans. 

tiaras askew, feather boas blowing in the wind. HOTT :p

[BuddhaRhubarb]

I make a point also not to lump others' sexuality into large assumptive categories based solely on who they fuck. who you fuck has very little bearing on your job (unless you are a hooker) or even your hobbies, to my mind.

Its a good point Buddha.  I suspect the reason people go on about sexuality so much here is because Marti often raises the issue in such idiotic ways.

yeah that's likely right. everyone loves to play with marti's fragile brain. It's hard to resist I'd imagine for many. :p

[The Brain]

That's not the first time gays in the military are linked to a massacre. See: razing of Thebes by Alexander.

Or Ernst Rohm and the Third Reich.