WASHINGTON: Charges Dropped Against Lt. Dan Choi And Capt. James Pietrangelo

Rather than face the public scrutiny of the so-called repeal of DADT, today the government abruptly dismissed the charges against Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo moments before the trial was to get underway. Both men were charged with "failure to obey a lawful order" after handcuffing themselves to the White House fence earlier this year. Reportedly the arresting officers and Secret Service witnesses were in the courtroom ready to proceed when somebody, somewhere, intervened.

Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog has this quote from Paul Yandura, who was in the courtroom: "It's clear that they were embarrassed that we were going to expose the fiction that repeal is finished or imminent. They were embarrassed that we subpoenaed the President and were going to use his words. It's clear that civil disobedience was the winner today."