Rumsfeld's Claim That Pentagon Would Never Lie Seen as Untrue; Scholars See Broad Pattern of Deception From Missile Defense to Gays in Military.

Byline: Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- After Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said in a press conference yesterday that the U.S. military had never lied and would not lie in the future, scholars who study the military responded today that the Pentagon often uses the banner of national security to mislead the general public and even to require soldiers to lie to each other.

Theodore Postol, Professor of Science, Technology and National Security Policy at MIT, and a former scientific advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations, told researchers at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara that it can be difficult to distinguish between justified and unjustified deception. "I think the problem we see a lot in the Pentagon these days," he said, "is that many people have the sense that what they are doing is for the good of the country and therefore it's …