McCain, Forbes endorse 'don't ask, don't tell'

By WILLIAM C. MANN

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON --- The Clinton administration's policy barring open homosexuals from military service works and should be preserved, Republican candidates Sen. John McCain and Steve Forbes said Sunday. Both Democrats running for president have disowned the policy.

McCain, a former naval officer and prisoner of war in Vietnam, said he would have senior officers review the policy but added: "I support the policy. I believe that it's working."

The administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy bans gays only if they make their homosexuality public. The policy was developed as a compromise between the military's pre-1990s position of barring all homosexuals and President Clinton's original plan to remove restrictions on gay or lesbian service.

The position of Vice President Al Gore, a Vietnam veteran, and his Democratic opponent Bill Bradley is that people who can be firefighters, police officers and members of Congress should have open access to military service as well. Gay activists who met with Clinton last week said the president told them the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was a failure.

Both McCain, R-Ariz., and publisher Forbes said those civilian jobs can't be compared to the armed forces.

"The U.S. military is a very unique culture. People live very close together under very difficult conditions," McCain said on CNN's "Late Edition."

He quoted Gen. Colin Powell, chief of staff during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and that war's commander on the ground, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, as saying the Clinton policy works toward preserving unit cohesion.

On "Fox News Sunday," Forbes said: "The military is not an institution for social engineering. It has a very real role of protecting us. It operates in very special circumstances, and therefore a president must take heed of leaders such as Gen. Powell and Gen. Schwarzkopf who say that you cannot have open gays in the military."

The Republican front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, also has endorsed the Clinton policy.

"The 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, despite problems with it --- as there is with every policy that has to do with personnel --- is working," McCain said. "In the context of a political campaign," he said, "to change an administration position without consulting our military leaders I think is not the proper approach to this very difficult and sensitive issue."

In Burlington, Vt., where McCain spoke from on CNN, he met and appeared to impress dozens of veterans Sunday.

"I think he speaks from the heart," said Peter Fyles, of St. Albans, Vt., a 1980 graduate of McCain's alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy. "He's a no-nonsense candidate, and I appreciate the fact that he will listen even if someone doesn't agree with him."

Another veteran, George Jaeger, of New Haven, Conn., told McCain they served together 30 years ago.

Jaeger said he heard what he came for from the candidate. "We came because he is the only candidate who is passionately addressing issues that are glaringly obvious," Jaeger said.

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