Congress can no more order the Pentagon to fully accomplish the seamless integration of gay and lesbian Americans into the nation’s armed services by a date certain that it can command it to capture Osama bin Laden by Christmas.

But it can make it clear what the nation’s objectives are, and make it clear that no foot-dragging will be tolerated.

Congress, the Defense Department and the White House are now engaged in a multi-directional tug-of-war, not over the strategy of repealing the Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on openly gay people serving in the U. S. military but over the tactics to be used to get there. Which is the way it should be.

Banning gay Americans from serving only in the military has always been an exercise in denial, as there have always been gay soldiers and always will be. And “don’t ask, don’t tell,” as such Pentagon straight arrows as Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm.Michael Mullen rightly have pointed out, serves no military purpose or point of honor when it forces otherwise good and worthy soldiers and officers to lie about their basic natures.

In recent days, conservative Democrats such as Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia have signed onto a compromise that would kick the can back and forth a couple of more times before making the new rule final. But repeal votes indeed have been taken— the House voted to repeal the policy Friday, and the Senate Armed Services Committee did the same, although the full Senate is not expected to act on the measure for months.

While those politically-driven votes have muddied the issue and probably—and unfortunately—have compromised the consultation process within the military, what is clear is that the American people seemingly are ahead of their leaders. Again. Recent polls show that the level of support for welcoming open gays into the military ranges anywhere from 57 percent to 75 percent.

But people who answer polls don’t have to deal with the details in practice. There is concern that people who can be ordered to jump out of airplanes or crawl through mine-fields cannot be expected to accept open gays and lesbians among their comrades just because they are told to.

Of course, some people thought it wasn’t a good idea for President Harry S. Truman— who acted by executivefiat— to integrate blacks into the armed services. Many were worried that such a radical move would cause too much disruption and bad feelings among the ranks.

The direction in which the military has been heading seems reasonable. The compromise as it is now before the Senate is to order an end to don’t ask, don’t tell, but don’t implement the changes until the military has had a chance to finish its ongoing internal review of how such a thing would be managed. That’s supposed to take until the end of the year. Congress would then have another 60 days to review the Pentagon’s review and, if it contained nothing new, push the change through once and for all.

Such an open process should help make the inevitable end of don’t ask don’t tell more acceptable to the nation and to the armed services personnel who are going to have to live with it, and that’s the process that should prevail once the full Senate debates are over and the bill reconciliations are done. After 13 years of talk, it doesn’t seem so bad to wait another few months to make this necessary change the law of the land.