Family advocates say gay activists have exploited the retired general who served as the nation's senior military officer when the "don't ask, don't tell" policy governing homosexuals serving in the armed forces was established.
Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff during the Clinton administration, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed that that he no longer opposes allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
That's a far cry from his views of more than a decade ago, when he argued that allowing homosexuals to be overt would hurt troop morale.
Military analyst and retired Army Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis said the general's flip-flop appears to be motivated, at least in part, by lobbying from homosexual activists who may be trying to take advantage of Shalikashvili as he recovers from a stroke.
"I just believe he’s being used by those that want to use this as a political mechanism to pry open the military and to use it for their own social experimentation," Maginnis said.
Retired Air Force Col. Bill Spencer said no matter what has motivated the general's about-face, he is missing the big picture.
"Our military is supposed to fight and win our nations wars," he told Family News in Focus. "What best constitutes that fighting force? Those are the questions I would hope that the leaders in our country would be asking, not what social construct can we engage to make our fighting forces socially acceptable?"
Maginnis agreed.
"Certainly not at a time of war," he said, "where we have all sorts of problems, is it time to reintroduce a very contentious social issue."
