The Crusaders:
Boykin:
Quotes:
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, BROKEN ARROW, OKLA., JUNE 30, 2002
[SLIDE SHOW, PICTURE OF OSAMA BIN LADEN] “And then we began to see this face…the face of Osama bin Laden. And finally we said, ‘There’s the enemy. That’s our enemy. That’s the man that hates us. And all of those that follow him.”
[PICTURE OF PRESIDENT BUSH] “And then this man stepped forward. A man that has acknowledged that he prays in the Oval Office. A man that’s in the White House today because of a miracle. You think about how he got in the White House. You think about why he’s there today. As Mordecai said to Esther, ‘You ave been put there for such a time and place.’ And this man has been put in the White house to lead our nation in such a time as this.
“But who is that enemy? It’s not Osama bin Laden. Our enemy is a spiritual enemy because we are a nation of believers. You go back and look at our history, and you will find that we were founded on faith. Look at what the writers of our Constitution said. We are a nation of believers. We were founded on faith.”
[PICTURE OF SATAN] “And the enemy that has come against our nation is a spiritual enemy. His name is Satan. And if you do not believe that Satan is real, you are ignoring the same Bible that tells you about God. Now I’m a warrior. One day I’m going to take off this uniform and I’m still going to be a warrior. And what I’m here to do today is to recruit you to be warriors of God’s kingdom.”
GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH, SANDY, ORE., JUNE 21, 2003
CELEBRATE AMERICA EVENT
“And we ask ourselves this question, ‘Why do they hate us? Why do they hate us so much?’
Ladies and gentlemen, the answer to that is because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian. Did I say Judeo-Christian? Yes. Judeo-Christian.
“That means we’ve got a commitment to Israel. That mean’s it’s a commitment we’re never going to abandon.
“Go back and read the history books. Go back and read what the early founders of this nation said about Israel, about the Jews. John Adams wrote extensively of, he called it the Hebrews, the contributions they had made to our concepts of liberty and the importance of their contributions to the founding of this great nation.
“Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin each, independently, when asked to come up with a national symbol for this new nation, both came up with a national symbol that reflected on our Jewish heritage.
“One had Moses standing over the Red Sea with his staff and the water parting.
“The other had the Israelites coming out of bondage in the desert being led by a ball of fire. They recognized the importance of our relationship to the Jews and to Israel. Ladies and gentlemen, we will never abandon Israel, we will never walk away from our commitment to Israel because our roots are there.
Our religion came from Judaism, and therefore these radicals will hate us forever.”
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, DAYTONA, FLA., JAN. 28, 2003
“There was a man in Mogadishu named Osman Atto. You see him in the movie [“Blackhawk Down”], smoking a big cigar and talking philosophically. How many of you have seen the movie? Acting like a big shot. Well let me tell you something. That’s not what Osman Atto did. The reality was Osman Atto was Aideed’s closest ally. He was Aideed’s top lieutenant. He was a multimillionaire financier for Aideed’s clan. And we knew if that if we could capture Osman Atto and take him away, that we could destroy Aideed’s network. So we went after Osman Atto about two weeks before the battle.... We went after Osman Atto. We got into a terrible fight. And I’m sad to say a lot of Somalis were killed as we went after Osman Atto.
But we missed him by seconds. He walked out of the facility that we raided, he walked down the street and blended in with the crowd and we missed him.
“And then he went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, ‘They’ll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me.’
“Well, you know what I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol. But I prayed, Lord let us get that man.
“Three days later we went after him again, and this time we got him. Not a mark on him. We got him. We brought him back into our base there and we had a Sea Land container set up to hold prisoners in, and I said put him in there. They put him in there, there was one guard with him. I said search him, they searched him, and then I walked in with no one in there but the guard, and I looked at him and said, ‘Are you Osman Atto?’ And he said ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘Mr. Atto, you underestimated our God.’”
msnbc.com
"I am writing to you about a once in a lifetime opportunity to join a group of warriors at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg … THE PURPOSE OF THE GATHERING? It is believed by you, me and others that we must find a group of men who are warriors of FAITH, pastors who have the guts to lead this nation to Christ and revival." -- Reverend Bobby Welch, pastor of Daytona Beach, Flordia's, First Baptist Church, inviting fellow Southern Baptists to hang with the Green Berets on April 22 and 23 (2003).
It sounds huge fun. Welch promises participating clergy a Special Forces demonstration of "today's war fighting weapons" (with "live fire/real bullets"), a hand-to-hand combat demonstration, a visit to the "Shoot House" to learn how "Special Forces attack the enemy inside buildings (live fire/real bullets)" and time with Major General William Boykin, an evangelical Christian and commander of the special warfare center. This is not the first time Pastor Welch and Maj. Gen. Boykin have collaborated on a special forces / evangelical Christian motivational retreat.
216.239.57.104
Whose god is 'real' and 'bigger'?
By Ehsan Ahrari Asia Times 10/21/03
The man in charge of hunting down Osama bin Laden has bin Laden's exact frame of reference regarding the "enemies" of his religion, and about the mega-conflict that has intensified since September 11. That man's name is William "Jerry" Boykin.
Boykin holds the rank of lieutenant-general, and also serves as deputy under-secretary of defense for intelligence. According to published reports, he is a much-decorated veteran, and was twice wounded during covert operations.
Boykin's comments caught the attention of the international media when he expressed his evangelical Christian views regarding Islam, Muslims and the global "war on terrorism" once too often. According to one source, Boykin "believes that Islam is an idolatrous, sacrilegious religion against which we [the United States] are waging a holy war". If Boykin's views were stated to an audience with a slight modification (ie, by altering the name of the religion and without identifying the source), the listener could confidently relate those comments to those of bin Laden.
As an evangelical Christian, Boykin believes - according to a statement that he made to a religious audience - that radical Islamists hate the US "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian ... and the enemy is a guy named Satan". Bin Laden made very similar statements describing why the US "hates" Islam, and why Muslims should cooperate with him in his fight against the "super-Infidel". Bin Laden regularly couches the current conflict as being between Islam and the "Judeo-Christian" West.
Boykin has dropped other pearls of wisdom as well. Discussing the US military entanglement with one of Somalia's warlords, Osman Atto, in the early 1990s, he described it to a religious audience as a contest between two gods, and added, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Last year, Boykin also stated, "We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God, have been raised for such a time as this." There is also an entity called the Army of God in Lebanon that is popularly known by its Arabic name, Hezbollah (translation: Army of God). The US officially labels it a terrorist group. However, I am sure Boykin is not referring to that army.
It is also interesting to note what Boykin thinks of his commander-in-chief, President George W Bush. Last June, Boykin observed, Bush "is in the White House because God has put him there". One wonders what grudge God held against Bush's opponent, Al Gore, in the last presidential election.
Thinking about Boykin's supercilious worldview, I am reminded of another episode when Bush, soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks, stated that he was on a "crusade" against bin Laden. But he soon apologized for that phraseology when his aides made clear to him the implications of that phrase for the Muslim world. Ever since then, his administration has maintained the correct posture of insisting that America's fight is not with Islam or with Muslims.
One is tempted to dismiss Boykin's blather as an utterly lopsided view of a religious extremist or fundamentalist. But come to think of it, America's "war on terrorism" is also being fought against that very similar frame of mind from the Muslim side. More to the point, the man behind that chatter is also a US government official, who deals with Muslim leaders and seeks their cooperation in this "war against terrorism".
What is bizarre is that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on October 16, dismissed Boykin's religious drivel as his exercise of freedom of expression in a democracy. But wait a minute. Boykin also represents the US government abroad. In that capacity, is he also expressing the real views of the Bush administration? I am sure Rumsfeld would hasten to say no, but that question is already being asked in the Muslim world: "Whose god is real, and whose god is bigger?" Bin Laden has been answering those questions all along. His answers are very similar to the utterances made by Boykin. Or, is it the other way around?
Given the worldwide press coverage to his unmistakable denigration of Islam, Boykin was squirming. On October 18, he asserted that his comments were "misconstrued". Then he said, "For those who have been offended, I offer a sincere apology." Regarding his statement that God had installed Bush in the White House, Boykin's latest amendment was that God "had done the same for Bill Clinton and other presidents".
Despite his flimsy explanations and apologies, there is little doubt that damage to US interests has been done. Adel al-Jubair, an advisor to the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, called Boykin's comments "outrageous" and "certainly unbecoming of a senior government official."
Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, in an interview on October 19, reiterated her boss' position that the US is not at war with Islam. However, she did not answer the question whether Bush would condemn Boykin's statements made in and out of uniform, in churches and elsewhere. At the same time, there is no anticipated move to remove him from his current sensitive post.
A number of newspapers in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq reported Boykin's earlier remarks without comment. One can ignore Boykin's lack of knowledge about Islam as a private person. But there is no excuse for using his public position and visibility to spread hatred and disinformation about a great religion, such as describing Islam as an "idolatrous" religion, which goes against its very grain as a monotheistic faith. Equally important, this certainly is not the time to raise questions about whose god is "real" or whose god is "bigger".
Ehsan Ahrari, PhD, is an Alexandria, Virginia, US-based independent strategic analyst.
atimes.com |
