Excerpts from:
Equality
at the front line: Pentagon is set to lift ban on women in combat roles
by
Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker,
New
York Times, 25 January 2013
[U.S.]
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is lifting the military’s
official ban on women [soldiers] in combat, which will open up
hundreds of thousands of additional front-line jobs to them, senior
defense officials said Wednesday.
The
groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 Pentagon rule that restricts
women from artillery, armor, infantry and other such combat roles, even
though in reality women have frequently found themselves in combat in
Iraq and Afghanistan; according to the Pentagon, hundreds of thousands
of women have deployed in those conflicts. As of last year,
more than 800 women [soldiers] had been wounded in the two wars and
more than 130 had died. […] The decision clearly
fits into the broad and ambitious liberal agenda, especially around
matters of equal opportunity, that
President
Obama laid out this week in his Inaugural Address.
New York Times, 24 January 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/us/pentagon-says-it-is-lifting-ban-on-women-in-combat.html?pagewanted=print
Excerpts
from:
Women
troops on march towards frontline combat
Armed forces set to follow US example by 2017
by
Deborah Haynes, The Times, 25 January 2013
Women
in the British military are likely to be allowed to serve in combat
units after a ground-breaking decision by the United States to lift a
ban on frontline female fighters.
Britain
must review its policy of preventing female soldiers from applying for
certain jobs within four years. […] Jim
Murphy, the [Labour Party’s] Shadow Defence
Secretary (*) , urged the [Conservative Party] Government to
review Britain’s ban on women participating in the sharpest
end of warfare. […] “We in Britain must
maximise everyone’s talent and courage for our military and
so should look again at UK policy” [said Mr Murphy.] Women
soldiers, sailors and aircrew already undertake a wide range of tasks
that put them in the line of fire, including as medics, intelligence
officers and fighter pilots. They will also soon serve on submarines.
The Times, 25 January 2013
Related
Independent Media Articles:
Obama’s
inauguration, rhetoric versus reality. “I the people still
believe in war”
What does this new ‘liberal vision’ actually mean?
by
Richard Becker,
Global Research, 23 January 2013
Inaugural
hypocrisy
by
Stephen Lendman,
Steve Lendman Blog, 23 January
2013
UK
tabloid: First British woman soldier to kill an enemy fighter
by
Cem Ertür,
Indybay, 10 December 2011
