pinkeye
10-16-2003, 03:40 PM
Report: Intel Officer Links War, Religion
Thu Oct 16,11:39 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff publicly defended a new deputy undersecretary of defense of intelligence with a reported penchant for publicly casting the war on terrorism in religious terms.
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, whose promotion and appointment was confirmed by the Senate in June, has said publicly that he sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Appearing in dress uniform before a religious group in Oregon in June, Boykin said Islamic extremists hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christians. ... And the enemy is a guy named Satan."
In its report, the Times said Boykin was not available for comment and did not respond to written questions the newspaper submitted to him Wednesday. Audio and video tapes of Boykin's public appearances before religious groups over the past two years were obtained exclusively by NBC News, which reported on them Wednesday night on the "Nightly News" with Tom Brokaw.
Discussing a U.S. Army battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993, Boykin told one audience, "I knew my god was bigger than his. I knew that my god was a real god and his was an idol."
Asked about this Thursday, Rumsfeld told reproters he had not seen the videos and did not know the "full context" of Boykin's remarks. But the secretary did say, "We do know that he is an officer that has an outstanding record in the United States armed forces."
President Bush (news - web sites) has often said the view of the administration is that the United States is in a war against terrorism, "not a war against a religion," Rumsfeld said, but rather a war against people who "have tried to hijack a religion."
"There are a lot of things that are said by people that are their views," he said, "and that's the way we live. We are free people and that's the wonderful thing about our country, and I think for anyone to run around and think that can be managed or controlled is probably wrong."
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "there is a very wide gray area on what the rules permit" but that "at first blush, it doesn't look like any rules were broken."
Senators who appeared before reporters at the Pentagon (news - web sites) Thursday on another matter were asked about the reports. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, R-R.I., said he had not been aware of Boykin's views as described by the Times, then added, "If that's accurate, to me it's deplorable."
Thu Oct 16,11:39 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff publicly defended a new deputy undersecretary of defense of intelligence with a reported penchant for publicly casting the war on terrorism in religious terms.
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, whose promotion and appointment was confirmed by the Senate in June, has said publicly that he sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Appearing in dress uniform before a religious group in Oregon in June, Boykin said Islamic extremists hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christians. ... And the enemy is a guy named Satan."
In its report, the Times said Boykin was not available for comment and did not respond to written questions the newspaper submitted to him Wednesday. Audio and video tapes of Boykin's public appearances before religious groups over the past two years were obtained exclusively by NBC News, which reported on them Wednesday night on the "Nightly News" with Tom Brokaw.
Discussing a U.S. Army battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993, Boykin told one audience, "I knew my god was bigger than his. I knew that my god was a real god and his was an idol."
Asked about this Thursday, Rumsfeld told reproters he had not seen the videos and did not know the "full context" of Boykin's remarks. But the secretary did say, "We do know that he is an officer that has an outstanding record in the United States armed forces."
President Bush (news - web sites) has often said the view of the administration is that the United States is in a war against terrorism, "not a war against a religion," Rumsfeld said, but rather a war against people who "have tried to hijack a religion."
"There are a lot of things that are said by people that are their views," he said, "and that's the way we live. We are free people and that's the wonderful thing about our country, and I think for anyone to run around and think that can be managed or controlled is probably wrong."
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "there is a very wide gray area on what the rules permit" but that "at first blush, it doesn't look like any rules were broken."
Senators who appeared before reporters at the Pentagon (news - web sites) Thursday on another matter were asked about the reports. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, R-R.I., said he had not been aware of Boykin's views as described by the Times, then added, "If that's accurate, to me it's deplorable."