WASHINGTON, DC — Anita K. Blair — who was replaced as executive director of a congressional committee investigating the Air Force Academy sex scandal — has been wrongly portrayed by her critics.
Despite the fact that committee chairwoman Tillie Fowler stressed that she needed an executive director who could work full time, feminists quickly crowed that the replacement was due to their clout.
Blair, a former president and founder of the Independent Women’s Forum, has been characterized by feminist groups in an Associated Press report as “opposing the integration of women in the military.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
While at IWF, Blair advocated the separation of sexes in basic training so that each group could respond to appropriate standards. She strongly believed that military careers should be open to women, and she recognized the great contributions that women make to the defense of our country.
Blair is a woman lacking in prejudice who has always said that she wants as her epitaph, “Get the facts, get the facts, get the facts.” She would have been a tremendous asset to the committee.
The work of the committee will suffer without Blair’s expertise in matters of military issues and her sensible, fair-minded approach to solving problems.