NBC News:
NBC News Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reports tonight that in the wake of controversial videos that recently came to light, U.S. Navy Captain Owen Honors will be temporarily relieved of his command of the aircraft carrier Enterprise as early as tomorrow, pending the Navy's formal investigation.
Miklaszewski (on tape): This is what landed Capt. Honors in all this trouble -- a series of raunchy videos, laced with profanity and gay bashing, produced aboard the Enteprise four to five years ago when he was the ship's executive officer, second in command.
Honors (on tape): Well I guess we won't be showing this to the kids at home.
Miklaszewski (on tape): Not only did Honors condone the videos, he took center stage -- appearing in one edited shot as three different people.
Honors (on tape): Finally, let's get to my favorite topic, and foreign to the gay kid over there, chicks in the shower.
Miklaszewski (on tape): In flips-flops and a shower cap, Honors plays to the camera -- revealing both men, and women supposedly showering together. In another segment Honors unleashes a barrage of hard-core profanity. At one point, Honors and others engage in simulated sex acts -- unconcerned that any of his crew, men or women, may be offended.
While videos like this are not uncommon in the military -- Navy officials say THESE videos have crossed a line -- calling them "clearly inappropriate" and "not acceptable in today's Navy."
Navy investigators also want to find out how Honors was promoted to the top commander of the Enterprise, even after these videos were first discovered four years ago.
Here's the video that caused the problems. I'm curious what you think of it. I was expecting something far worse than what I just watched. I'm glad the Obama administration, and the Pentagon in particular, is taking this issue seriously, and I'm not thrilled about the use of the word f-g, or the mocking of the one guy as supposedly gay, but overall I expected something far more offensive. You?
