I'm not trying to excuse Webb's comments about women in the military, but

[thepurpose]

you would think the way it's being covered that he is the only republican who has ever suggest in the past that women should not be in combat. So I did a little search and a few articles written by the hypocrites on the right. Most in one place and way too numerous to post here.

"In the lull of peacetime, regulations that kept women in uniform at a safe distance from combat were lifted. We are now paying the price and being made to think that our national defense rests on the ability to deploy teenage girls and single mothers. What a disgrace." —Kate O'Beirne, author of Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports."


The Feminist Assault on the Military. By David Horowitz, National Review, 5 October 1992. Among other reasons, liberals are "advocating that women be put in combat roles because to do so would make it more difficult to commit troops to combat."

Feminism Conquers America's Armed Forces. By Robert Bork, in Slouching Towards Gomorrah (1996). "The inevitable result is that training standards are lowered."

Women GIs and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. By Kirsten Scharnberg, Chicago Tribune, 20 March 2005. "Thousands of women ... are returning home emotionally damaged by what they have seen and done. These female troops appear more prone to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, than their male counterparts. And studies indicate that many of these women suffer from more pronounced and debilitating forms of PTSD than men." Did we need a "study" to tell us this?

Female Veterans Deal with Postwar Trauma. "Experts have long known that men and women react differently to stress. For example, women are more at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a debilitating mental health condition that can be triggered by various life-threatening situations such as assault or natural disaster, as well as combat."

They shoot women, don't they? By Kathleen Parker, 29 June 2005. "Some observers wonder whether the convoy was targeted specifically because it was known to be carrying women. More buck for the bang, if you're a suicide bomber. If the goal is to undermine U.S. will and commitment to the war, the twisted mind might think, what better way than to kill their women?"

A lot more at the link.

http://www.bible-researcher.com/women/women-in-combat.html

[AtomicKitten]

1. It was some 30 years ago and he was a Republican at the time.

IMO when he converted into the light, it was a baptism by fire and he has a clean slate. What IS repulsive is the hypocritical Republicans trying to make hay over something they probably agree with.

[thepurpose]

2. They probably agree with? Check the link out? They most certainly agree.

[AtomicKitten]

3. effin hypocrites

thanks for the link, as disturbing as it was

[izzie]

4. As a women I have mixed feeling on it.

We know women die in wars in great numbers and I frankly think they are as good in fighting as men even if not just the same. It is really normal that Webb would think like that at his age but he did seem to get over it all as he learned more. I would think the Far Right would understand people who state they do not think like they used to think when they love Bush so.

[No Exit]

5. Yeah--that old viewpoint of his might pick him up some republican voters.

My friend (and fellow woman), I have always found the argument about "women in combat" to be one of the most ridiculous ever. I would picture myself in combat and think, "Would I WANT to be in combat?" My inner answer was always, "Hell, no!"

I have known a few men who HAD been in combat before. While they were certainly honored as survivors/veterans, I think each and every one of them would have traded his honors, etc., for the ability to go back in time and NOT ever have to be in combat.

IOW, I have never thought that being "allowed" to be in combat was a desirable thing to wish for.

So it seemed to me ridiculous that we women would be arguing in favor of "allowing" us this "privilege". Oh, I know, the symbolism is important: the idea that women are up to any task that men are up to... I was never one to argue in favor of this, but I have simply tried to LIVE this belief. I have a career in what was formerly a "male" occupation--law. I did not study for this in order to prove anything--I was just looking for something that I could do to make a living. I have a good marriage. I have on occasion taken business trips alone, and if for some reason I am inclined to, say, walk into a bar, I will do so alone, even though to this day some persons frown on women doing this. I figure, since I can do a "man's job", then I should also be able to do a leisure activity that was formerly consigned to men only.

Let me close by comparing this "privilege" to the "privilege" of getting married, and how a gay male friend expressed it: One day I walked up to a pair of gay guys (they'd been together for something like 30 years) I knew... gay marriage had been heavily in the news at the time, and I said jokingly, "So, of course we will be expecting you two to tie the knot any moment." One of them replied to me, "I believe in the right of ANY gay person to... lose everything he has in a messy divorce!" We all laughed; they stayed unmarried but continued to be partners. They said their view was that they didn't think marriage was necessarily such an enviable state, and they had no desire to be married. (I know they do not speak for all gay persons, however.)

Sometimes a "privilege" is not worth arguing about, in my opinion.

[izzie]

7. My best friend made the 'women' speech at her state house for

the women's amendment so I guess I came from your mother's age. I was always taught that we women were as smart as any man and always found that true but I sure knew your rights were not equal. I am also unsure we did a lot of good for equal rights. Women seem to get a bad whipping in courts etc. I frankly do not care if women are in the fighting but I can hardly see them going to sea in a sub. Sorry about that. Do they do it well. fighting? Sure even if it is not just the same as men. Can not be, you are another sex. Hard to get men to do it equal. Your history and body is different but I would not be up tight about them in the service. Frankly having lived in the middle of the military society for years I could do with out it. It is a true sub-culture. It has to be run by men just to see the big wigs. Since most seem to be in fear of their jobs I would think the service will stay the same for many years. Just as we all go down. The Generals will keep their rates.

[abluelady]

6. I can remember reading

the military men's wives were the biggest problem for women in the military!

Met a retired military man recently. He is a Dem who leans left more than right. I asked him about women in the military, wanting his thoughts. Forgive my ignorance, but he did something in a tank. He believes women should have all rights in the military as should gays. He did go on to say, in the tank, he and his partner shower by standing naked and pouring water on top of themselves. He said he sure doesn't mind doing that with a female, but his wife would have a fit! Could that be the root of all this anti-women in the military talk? I think I heard heterosexual military men are afraid to take showers with gay men. It sort of all is the same, isn't it? Stupid, stupid, stupid.