Friday morning on CNN’s “Starting Point,” anchor Soledad O’Brien hosted a panel to discuss Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s decision to lift the ban on women on women in combat. One guest, who was arguing vociferously against equality for military women, got a surprise when O’Brien got him to agree with writings that were used to argue against racial integration of the military.

Panelist Kingsley Browne, author of the book Co-Ed Combat: The New Evidence that Women Shouldn’t Fight the Nation’s Wars, said that he believes that women are inherently weaker than men, and that their inclusion on the field of battle will erode “unit cohesion,” the same rhetorical shiv that was used by opponents of LGBT personnel being allowed to serve openly in the military.