Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that President Obama was “very pleased” with the decision reached by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to lift a ban on women serving in combat positions, which Panetta will officially announce Thursday afternoon.
“I can tell you that the President is very pleased with the announcement that Secretary Panetta and Chairman Dempsey will be making official on this important policy change later today,” Carney said during the daily press briefing.
“The President fully supports this effort to expand opportunities for women, to serve in our armed forces. As you know, women are already serving in critical roles throughout our military, and the President believes strongly that we should continue to remove these unnecessary gender-based barriers to service.
Despite the existence of these barriers heretofore, as you know, women have fought and bled and died in Iraq and Afghanistan in uniform, and the President believes that this is a very appropriate policy change.”
