NPR 2010-12-19

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From NPR News in Washington, I’m Nora Raum.

The Senate is set to vote in about an hour on whether to overturn a ban on gays serving openly in the military. A major opponent is John McCain of Arizona, who said there's no evidence the policy has failed.

"To somehow allege¹ that it has harmed our military is not justified² by the facts."

But Senator Patty Murray of Washington said the time has come to move a step forward toward being proud of all who serve.

"For far too long, men and women with courage and commitment to serve our nation have been asked to hide the truth about who they are. Shameful³. It’s a bad policy. Today, it will end."

President Obama says the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will mean the nation will no longer be denied the service of thousands of patriotic⁴ Americans forced to leave the military, depite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay.

The Pakistani area known as the Khyber Agency remains⁵ tense today, as relatives buried dozens of suspected militants⁶ killed yesterday in a series of US drone missile strikes. From Islamabad, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that 54 people were killed in three of the attacks.

The local administration in Khyber said a cluster of attacks Friday occured in Tirah valley, a forested mountainous area. Several groups of extremists were said to be targeted, but the greatest loss was sustained by an outfit⁷ known as the Lashkar-e-Islam. The group seeks to impose strict Sharia law on Khyber Agency. Local authorities said two important commanders of the group were killed...