Is “don’t ask, don’t tell” dead?

According to USA Today, Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the suspension of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is in response to the October 12 decision of a central California federal judge that ruled the law implemented under President Clinton in 1993 was unconstitutional.

Judge Virginia Phillips on Tuesday denied a government request to delay her order. The Justice Department said the Obama administration will appeal to the appellate court in San Francisco.

A Pentagon memo signed by Clifford Stanley, undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness, said gay recruits can begin the process to join but should be told what could happen later because “a certain amount of uncertainty now exists about the future of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law. During the process, they (recruiters) will say, ‘You have to be mindful that this could be overturned.’” he told the paper.

The Marine Corps also weighed in, issuing a directive to recruiters Tuesday that said, “Homosexual conduct, by itself, is not currently considered a bar to accession.”

Advocates for repealing the policy warned gays interested in serving to be careful. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network commented, “If you come out now, it can be used against you in the future by the Pentagon.”

General James Conway, commandant of the Marine Corps, has said most Marines oppose reversing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which permits gays to serve as long as they are not open about their homosexuality.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a task force to investigate the consequences of repealing the policy. Results are due December 1.

A new policy regarding privately-owned firearms is now in effect at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. Army reports.

All resident service people and their families must now report any personally-owned firearms. Those residing temporarily on the base are required to do the same.

Servicemembers living or residing temporarily on the base must also report to the Directorate of Emergency Service any sale, purchase, trade, gift, exchange or any action that changes ownership of a privately-owned firearm. Those servicemembers residing in the barracks must report and stow their personal firearms in their unit’s arms room.

The new policy took effect on Dec. 15 and “applies to all III Corps and Fort Hood servicemembers, major subordinate units, tenant activities and family members across Fort Hood,” Fort Hood reports.

On Nov. 5, U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan open-fired in Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. He was shot by a civilian officer and is now charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

Private Jhanner Tello, 29, died in Baghdad on Dec. 10 as a result of injuries sustained during a non-combat incident, according to a Fort Hood news release.

Tello, who was from Los Angeles, joined the military in 2005 as a helicopter repairman. He was then assigned to the 3rd Aviation Support Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade and 1st Cavalry Division. He had been at Fort Hood since Nov. 2005.

In Oct. 2006 Tello was deployed to Iraq. He returned from duty in Jan. 2008, but was deployed for a second round of duty this April through to his death last week.

Tello is a highly decorated soldier. He was awarded, among other medals, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.

The circumstances surrounding his death are currently under investigation.

Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly went on a deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, has been charged by a military court with 13 counts of premeditated murder, capital offenses under military law.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command told reporters Thursday that additional charges may be pending.

Hasan is now officially the defendant in the killing of 12 soldiers and a civilian employee on November 5. He was wounded by a heroic civilian police officer who took three shots, herself.

According to the US Army, 43 soldiers and civilians were injured in the November 5 shooting rampage at Ft. Hood Texas.

Of those, 34 were injured from gunshot wounds. Fifteen remained in the hospital today, and 19 have been released. Three are still in intensive care. Twelve are in recovery rooms.

The US Army Criminal Investigation Command announced Monday night that it was looking for any military of civilian personnel or any vehicles that may have left the scene of the Building 42003 massacre scene at Fort Hood, Texas.

CID would not speculate but said it was looking for anyone who “may have inadvertently left the scene” of the November 5 shooting that left 13 people dead.

“The above mentioned individuals will greatly assist the Fort Hood office of the U.S. Army CID and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in their bullet
trajectory analysis of the scene to ensure the comprehensiveness of the ongoing investigations,” the Army said in a statement.

Here is the US Army’s list of victims of the shooting rampage November 5.

Twelve soldiers and one civilian employee were killed.

Lt. Col. Juanita L. Warman, 55, of Havre De Grace, Md. She was assigned to the 1908th Medical Company, Independence, Mo.

Maj. Libardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Va. He was assigned to the 467th Medical Detachment, Madison, Wis.

Capt. John P. Gaffaney, 54, of San Diego, Calif. He was assigned to the 1908th Medical Company, Independence, Mo.

Capt. Russell Seager, 51, of Racine, Wis. He was assigned to the 467th Medical Company, Madison, Wis.

Staff Sgt. Justin Decrow, 32, of Plymouth, Ind. He was assigned to the 16th Signal Company, 62nd Signal Battalion, 11th Signal Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas.

Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis. She was assigned to the 467th Medical Company, Madison, Wis.

Spc. Jason Hunt, 22, of Tillman, Okla. He was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn. He was assigned to the 510th Engineer Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas.

Pfc. Aaron Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah. He was assigned to the 510th Engineer Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas.

Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolinbrook, Ill. He was assigned to the 510th Engineer Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas.

Spc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn. He was assigned to the Forward Support Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas.

Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago, Ill. She was assigned to the 15th Combat Support Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas.

Chief Warrant Officer retired Michael Cahill of Cameron, Texas. He was a civilian employee on Fort Hood.

Born in Framingham, Brian Mahoney wanted to be an actor since he was a kid, but his family couldn’t afford formal theater training. He joined the US Army, hoping to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, but the army made him a Cobra pilot and sent him to Germany. It was there that he first saw “Top Gun.”

Mahoney was Detective Duffy in “The Boondock Saints,” playing one of a trio of bumbling Boston police officers.

Mahoney admits he started out late in the game, but he’s catching up. He told us that he’s appearing in a scene with Matt Damon in “The Adjustment Bureau,” which is filming right now.

Mahoney sat down with Blast recently to talk about the career and his role in the sequel, “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.”

BLAST: What can we expect from Detective Duffy this time around?

BRIAN MAHONEY: I get to move around a lot more this time around. There’s more action with me involved.

BLAST: What’s it like re-uniting with the cast 10 years later?

BM: It was great. Sean (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Norm (Norman Reedus) are the coolest guys. It was especially special getting back with Bob Marley, and I think that translates onscreen.

Cliff Collins, who is an Oscar winner, is so good! I was so excited to work with him. I even prepared by taking some Irish dancing lessons for a scene to prepare. I never needed to actually dance, but I was ready!

BLAST: Coming from a military background to a film career is an interesting career change. You are going tell us about the transition in the book that you’re writing, “A Cobra Pilot in Hollywood.” What can you tell us here?

BM: Well, in the army it’s a whole “think, don’t feel” concept, and this was embedded in me for ten whole years. So when I made that transition into acting, it was instantly “feel, don’t think.” It was “you need to FEEL this scene.” This was so new to me, and a total challenge. So I’ll be touching on that a lot.

BLAST: You’re from Framingham originally — do you come back often?

BM: Oh yes, we do quite a bit. My wife is also from Gardner so we enjoy coming back to Massachusetts.

BLAST: For the October 30 release, what would you like to tell fans?

BM: Thank you. Thank you for all the replies all over the world we’ve received. So much has happened and we need to set some things straight, so I’m looking forward to that. Troy deserves this he really does. There was a documentary called “Overnight” that really hit Troy hard. It was hurtful, and stabbed him in the back. He deserves this comeback.

According to this blog, nothing has happened in world news for three weeks. That’s my bad. First off, I just want to say sorry for not posting in almost a month. I was swamped with school work, finals and assignments to end off the year. But now I’m in the clear so I can again devote some time every day to writing for Blast.

Again, my bad.

Instead of reviewing what has happened in the past few weeks, let’s just skip ahead to now. There is one particular story that I want to tell you about. I saw it this afternoon and it sort of stood out from the rest.

According to the Wall Street Journal, after a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah today, President Obama told reporters he has left open the possibility of pursuing legal action against those in the CIA who created the policies that, in large part, led to torture and extreme methods of interrogation during the war.

He does stand by his promise to not pursue any course of legal action against those who actually executed the torture (the Jack Bauers). Obama did however make a clear distinction between the contractors and those who formulated the policy behind which the contractors operated.

The president told reporters that the Department of Justice is looking into memos from Bush’s term that green lit extreme interrogation. He also added that he doesn’t want to “prejudge” what is in the memos based solely on the character (or lack thereof) of our previous president.

He also spoke of a bipartisan committee that may be established to examine the use of torture and other extreme interrogation since 9/11. He said that talks during open congressional hearings (which is the way that these issues are currently addressed) tend to break down over partisan banter, and that it would be more “sensible” to start a committee of ““independent participants who are above reproach” to examine these issues.

However, he made it clear that he does no fully endorse the idea.

The president released the interrogation memos last week, in a decision he says was one of his hardest as president to date. Former VP Dick Cheney and other republicans have called this release a “breach of national security.”

I like the idea of a bipartisan tribunal. Its members would of course need to be carefully chosen however talks would never be interrupted or broken down over political differences. This issue is a moral one, an ethical one, not a political one. The ethics and morals of U.S. Army tactics overseas must be examined and open congressional hearings just aren’t the way to do that effectively. The committee’s creation would ensure ethics are at the forefront of the debate, and whether you’re red or blue would never be an issue.