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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (12864)	10/18/2003 6:43:12 AM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 793620

Opinions are never "settled". The President has different priorities and responsibilities than a citizen who is also a general. And he should have the freedom to express those opinions in religious organizational settings. Expressing an opinion to a group of religious people, doesn't threaten our military goals as a nation unless a wanten PC press blows it out of proportion and decides it should. Miltary people do have lives outside the venue of their work, even generals.

To: Lane3 who wrote (12864)	10/18/2003 7:37:27 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793620

Editiorial from tomorrow's Post. With God on Our Side Sunday, October 19, 2003; Page B06 LT. GEN. WILLIAM G. "Jerry" Boykin is a highly decorated covert military operations veteran and Army officer. Today he serves as deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, in charge of a new Pentagon office that focuses on finding high-profile targets such as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Gen. Boykin has made numerous appearances before church groups during the past few years in which he has portrayed the war against terrorism in starkly religious terms. For Gen. Boykin, terrorism is a conflict in which "the enemy is a guy named Satan," George W. Bush is a president "appointed by God," and Islamic extremists hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation." Christians worship "a real God," while others revere "an idol." Gen. Boykin, displaying aerial photos of Somalia that show unexplained black slashes in the sky, told one group, "Whether you understand it or not, it is a demonic spirit over the city of Mogadishu." Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that "at first blush" it doesn't seem that Gen. Boykin has violated any military rules. That may be, but he displayed abominable judgment. Gen. Boykin is entitled not only to have religious views but to express them publicly. Yet to watch videos in which the general, with his chest full of medals, describes God's plan for President Bush can only induce queasiness about his blending of religious and military affairs. It's a far cry from the bland comparison Gen. Myers offered: wearing his uniform to the National Prayer Breakfast. Gen. Boykin's description of "a demonic presence in [Mogadishu] that God revealed to me as the enemy" is weird, and not a little scary. This is the person who's assessing the intelligence that's going to help us find Saddam Hussein? Just as troubling is Gen. Boykin's offensive assessment of Islam. He argues that his reference to idol worship refers to Somali warlord Osman Ato's "worship of money and power." A reading of the speech text undercuts that explanation, so we'll quote at some length for readers to judge: "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." Gen. Boykin says that when Mr. Ato was captured three days later, the general went into Ato's cell and delivered a message: "Mr. Ato, you underestimated our God." This is emphatically not what the United States needs. Statements such as this feed the conviction of many in the Islamic world that the fight against terrorism is also a battle against Islam. Mr. Bush has sporadically tried to convince the Islamic world that is not true; Gen. Boykin's comments aren't only impolitic and tone-deaf but they also undermine that effort. But Gen. Boykin doesn't seem to get it; he issued a statement Friday with the usual pro forma apology "for those who have been offended" -- and a reiteration of his view of the United States as a "Christian nation." The response, so far, from Gen. Myers and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, has been disappointing. Gen. Myers was comfortable enough with the facts of the matter to absolve Gen. Boykin of apparent rule-breaking, but he repeatedly declined to express any judgment on the appropriateness of Gen. Boykin's statements. Mr. Rumsfeld was similarly taciturn. He praised the general's "outstanding record," said he didn't know enough about the comments to comment, and seemed incurious about learning more. A new report from the White House Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy describes how "Arabs and Muslims respond in anger to what they perceive as U.S. denigration of their societies and cultures." Perhaps the top brass at the Pentagon could add it to their weekend reading. © 2003 The Washington Post Company