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

To: Lane3 who wrote (13521)	10/23/2003 3:58:37 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793574

Bush official caught in church dragnet Posted: October 22, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern worldnetdaily.com In an emerging scandal, NBC News has produced tapes proving beyond deniability that the new deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence is ... a Christian. Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin has been captured on a series of grainy tapes, attesting to his faith at churches and prayer breakfasts. Having driven the Judeo-Christian value system out of the public square, the classrooms and the Alabama Supreme Court, liberals now want to drive it out of church. In one "inflammatory" remark, Boykin said that the enemy was not Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, but "is a spiritual enemy. He's called the principality of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan." Islamic leaders in the United States instantly denounced Boykin's unflattering characterization of bin Laden and Hussein as an attack on Islam. They haven't been this huffy since describing bin Laden as "not a true Muslim" and Hussein as a "secularist." If our enemies aren't "true Muslims," why are the "true Muslims" always so offended on their behalf? James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, has called for Boykin to be fired. After the 9-11 attacks, Zogby said: "Regardless of who is ultimately found to be responsible for these terrorist murders, no ethnic or religious community should be treated as suspect and collectively blamed." But apparently they are collectively offended. They might want to think through the implications of that. If we have to apologize for the general, then maybe they should apologize for 9-11. Zogby made the curious argument that Boykin is "unfit for the position" because he has "become a weapon our enemies will use against us." On Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," a Clinton administration official made the same inane point, saying Boykin's remarks "could be used as a recruitment video for Osama bin Laden." I love the idea of moderate Arabs carefully poring over American newspapers before deciding whether or not to join al-Qaida. In fact, an Arab-American was quoted in the Boston Globe saying Boykin's remarks "made most people in our community think the Bush administration is racist." That's interesting. The deputy undersecretary of defense calls Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein evil – and all those patriotic Arabs we keep hearing about are lost to Bush forever! Osama supporters are now moving decisively to the Dean camp. In another talk, Gen. Boykin recalled seeing a Somalian warlord on television laughing at Americans and saying they would never capture him because his God, Allah, would protect him. Boykin said: "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." A reporter for the Los Angeles Times claimed that Boykin referred to the God of Islam as "an idol." The reporter, of course, was committing a hate crime by assuming that fascist warlords trying to kill Americans are practicing "true Islam." As we have repeatedly been assured, they are not. Apparently, what Boykin should have said is: "Well, you know what? I knew that his remark was a violation of separation of church and state!" In any event, I guess we've come a long way from calling our enemies "nips" and "krauts." Now we can't even say they're idolaters. When referring to people trying to kill Americans, how about we pull only from the list of names liberals use every day of the week for George Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Gen. Boykin? Boykin also said the terrorists are "after us because we're a Christian nation." This is just silly. As Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently indicated in his speech before the Islamic Summit Conference, they are after us because we are a Jewish nation. Last week Democratic presidential candidates speaking to an Arab-American conference were tripping over one another for the Osama-is-not-Satan vote by demanding Boykin's resignation. These characters are terrific at figuring how to fire anyone in the Bush administration except Norman Mineta. How about we trade in Mineta for the 20-year-old kid who managed to place boxcutters, bleach and molding clay on four airplanes? If only he had put them in his shoes! Then Norman Mineta would have caught him. Sen. Kerry said Boykin's remarks were "un-American." The only people you can't call un-American are the ones burning the American flag or demanding an apology from a man who called Osama bin Laden satanic. Howard Dean said the American flag "does not belong to Gen. Boykin," it belongs to all Americans. Could someone rustle up a liberal who actually owns a flag? In the most pathetic case of pandering in recorded history, Sen. Joe Lieberman called for Boykin's resignation before the group, but still got booed. Lieberman said "the war on terror is a war on terrorists, not religion." Who is Lieberman standing up for here? Is he upset because Boykin compared the terrorists to Satan or Satan to the terrorists? Boykin is a highly decorated officer who has participated in nearly every major military operation for the past 25 years – from Jimmy Carter's failed attempt to rescue hostages in Iran, to Reagan's successful invasion of Grenada, to Clinton's disastrous "Black Hawk Down" episode in Somalia. (Say, anyone notice a pattern?) No one has questioned the general's job qualifications. Liberals want him fired because he spoke in a church. If Gen. Boykin had been caught giving talks to NAMBLA instead of church groups, Democrats would be hailing him as a patriot for exercising his First Amendment rights. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., demanded that Boykin be reprimanded or reassigned, saying his views were "extreme," "closed-minded" and "zealous." We should be more open-minded toward people trying to kill us. Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, said Boykin's remarks "fly in the face of the pleas of the president and violate the basic principles of tolerance and inclusion that are implicit in the culture of this nation." Uh-oh. If liberals don't like what Boykin said about the terrorists, wait until they find out about the MOAB bombs the U.S. military has been dropping on them.

To: Lane3 who wrote (13521)	10/23/2003 4:02:40 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793574

Calls for a general 's head because his comments may have ruffled the feathers of our esteemed enemies!? Tony Blankley newsandopinion.com \| The latest proposed victim in our struggle against terrorism is Army Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin, recently named Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. His mission is to reinvigorate the search for bin Laden, Mullah Omar and other leaders of global terrorism. By training and experience he is marvelously prepared for his new duties — having risen from a Delta Force commando to top-secret Joint Special Operations Command, through the CIA, to command of the Army's Special Forces. For a quarter century he has been fighting terror with his bare hands, his fine mind and his faith-shaped soul. It is that last matter — his faith, and his willingness to give politically incorrect witness to that faith in Christian churches — that has drawn furious media and political fire in the last week. The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Howard Dean, The Egyptian Foreign Minister and other less lofty entities have all called for his removal from office because of his expressed religious views. And, of course, these calls for his head are all made on behalf of religious tolerance. While the full text of the general's comments will not been released by the Los Angeles Times columnist who secretly recorded them during the general's witness in churches in Oklahoma, Oregon and Florida, the purportedly scandalous bits have been selectively published in print and on television. General Boykin said the terrorists come from "the principalities of darkness," that they are "demonic," and they hate us because "We're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian, and the enemy is a guy named Satan." The general also recounted the time he was chasing down a Somali warlord who was bragging that the Americans would not capture him because his G-d, Allah, would protect him. "Well," Boykin responded, "my G-d is bigger than his G-d. I knew my G-d was a real G-d, and his was an idol." In short, General Boykin is being accused of calling America a Judeo-Christian country, the war on terrorism a religious war, and of expressing his belief in the truth of the New Testament of the Bible. While his critics concede that he has a right to express his religious views, they argue that his expressed opinions of the Islamic and Christian religions make him unfit to perform his duties of helping to lead in the war on terrorism. I am inclined to believe that he is splendidly fit for such combat, and I thank G-d that we have such a man as General Boykin in our midst. The purported fear is that the general's comments may have ruffled the feathers of our esteemed enemy — the millions and millions of fanatical Islamists, or that his statement may so inflame the passions of the millions of good Muslims that they will discard their peaceable ways and pick up the bloody sword of jihad. What utter balderdash. Whether or not American officials chose to call this a religious war, it is utterly clear that our enemy, bin Laden and the other terrorists, are motivated by Islamic religious fanaticism. They say so in their founding documents and every day, in every way, around the world. However peaceably we may interpret the Koran or assess the history of Islam, at this time and in these places one would have to be swayed by a spirit of detachment from the facts not to see that a sizable percentage of Muslims believe they are in a religious war with non-Muslims. They are consciously at religious war with the Jews in the Middle East, with Hindus in the subcontinent and with Christians everywhere. It shouldn't be a firing offense for the occasional American general to return the compliment. Indeed, I am heartened by General Boykin's fighting spirit. Nor is it factually wrong or religiously insensitive to point out that the United States is a Judeo-Christian country. We are. It is an uncontestable historic and cultural fact. We are also a country that strives in both law and habit to be impeccably tolerant and respectful to all other religions and to those who believe in no religion at all. But in rallying our countrymen to the defense of our lives and property at this time of peril, we are entitled to invoke — as Lincoln once did with such dignity and passion — the mystic chords of our memory. And it is well to recall that when Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met in Placentia Bay off New Foundland on the heavy cruiser Augusta on August 9, 1941, to rally our nations to our common defense, they sang three songs with the assembled sailors: "O G-d, Our Help in Ages Past," "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" and "Onward, Christian Soldiers."