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-- General Boykin: We're fighing against satan, but our god is bigger
General Boykin: We're fighing against satan, but our god is bigger
http://www.skynews.co.uk/skynews/ar...33011%2C00.html
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GOD 'PUT BUSH IN CHARGE' God has chosen US President George Bush to lead the United States and the fight against 'Satan', according to the general leading the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. It is alleged Lt Gen William Boykin also claimed that the Christian God is "bigger" than Allah, who is a false "idol", the Daily Telegraph reported. The controversial comments will be seized on by Muslims who will claim the 'war on terror' is a crusade against Islam. Beliefs Mr Bush, who is also a practising Christian, has insisted that the hunt for terrorists is not defined by religion and that he does not oppose Islam. Gen Boykin, a 13-year member of Delta Force, was promoted this summer and is responsible for speeding the flow of top-secret intelligence to commandos hunting bin Laden and the former Iraqi leader Investigative reporters from the Los Angeles Times and NBC television claimed Gen Boykin had repeatedly told Christian groups and prayer meetings that President George Bush was chosen by God to lead the global fight against Satan. 'My God is bigger' He is alleged to have told one gathering: "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." In January, it is reported he told Baptists in Florida about a victory over a Muslim warlord in Somalia, who had boasted that Allah would protect him from American capture. "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real god and his was an idol," Gen Boykin is reported to have said. Several key members of Mr Bush's administration, including the president, are Christian conservatives. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the General's comments were made "in his private capacity". |
-LoL!... I read this yesterday. .. Talking about Jihad, and religious fanatics in the middle east.. RIGHT!! we have our own fanatics on the supposedly, example of the US... right.. God has chosen who? Bush? Osama? Sharon? Arafat??.. who else?
Re: General Boykin: We're fighing against satan, but our god is bigger
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| Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 http://www.skynews.co.uk/skynews/ar...33011%2C00.html I guess there still are authentic remnants of the crusader mentality in the US... |
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| He is alleged to have told one gathering: "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this." |
He apologizes
WASHINGTON -- A top Pentagon general apologized Friday to those offended by his statements casting the war on terrorism in religious terms.
In a statement, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin said he never meant to offend Muslims.
"I am not anti-Islam or any other religion," Boykin said. "I support the free exercise of all religions. For those who have been offended by my statements, I offer a sincere apology."
Pentagon officials released Boykin's statement late Friday after spending hours deliberating how to calm the storm of criticism surrounding Boykin's comments. The general's statements came in speeches -- some made in uniform -- at evangelical Christian churches.
In several speeches, Boykin said the real enemy was not Osama bin Laden but Satan.
"I have frequently stated that I do not see this current conflict as a war between Islam and Christianity," Boykin said. "I have asked American Christian audiences to realize that even though they cannot be in Iraq or Afghanistan, they can be part of this war by praying for America and its leaders."
A decorated veteran of foreign campaigns, the three-star general said of a 1993 battle with a Muslim militia leader in Somalia: "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol." After the man was captured, Boykin said he told the man, "You underestimated our God."
Boykin's statement said that comment was misinterpreted.
"My comments to Osman Otto in Mogadishu were not referencing his worship of Allah but his worship of money and power; idolatry," Boykin said. "He was a corrupt man, not a follower of Islam."
Critics have said Boykin's remarks could undermine a more than two-year Bush administration effort to promote good relations with Muslims in America, as well as play into the hands of those who have fanned anti-Americanism abroad by casting the counterterror war as an attack on Islam.
Asked about the general's church comments, Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign affairs adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters Friday: "If true, outrageous. I thought they were insensitive. I thought they were unbecoming of a senior military official, and certainly unbecoming of a senior government official."
Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, has told Pentagon officials that he will curtail his speechmaking, officials said.
"I am neither a zealot nor an extremist," the general said in the statement. "Only a soldier who has an abiding faith."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday he had not seen Boykin's comments, but he praised the three-star general as "an officer that has an outstanding record in the United States armed forces."
Despite repeated questions at a Pentagon press conference, Rumsfeld declined to condemn Boykin's statements or to say whether he would take any action.
A Muslim rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, had called for Boykin to be reassigned from his job, which includes evaluating and providing resources for the intelligence needs of military commanders. Other religious freedom advocacy groups made similar statements.
"A man who sees the conduct of U.S. foreign policy as some sort of Christian religious crusade should not be making policy," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group.
The Bush administration has gone to some lengths to court Muslim organizations since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks set off the U.S. war on terror. Muslim leaders have been invited to the White House, and President Bush declared late last year that Islam is a peaceful religion, seeking to distance himself from remarks by conservative Christian leaders Pat Robertson and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Boykin's statement echoed the president's past comments.
"I do believe that radical extremists have tried to use Islam as a cause for attacks on America," Boykin said. "As I have stated before, they are not true followers of Islam. In my view they are simply terrorists, much like the so-called 'Christians' of the white supremacy groups."
� 2003 Associated Press.
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Shall we play "spot the irony" again?
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| Asked about the general's church comments, Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign affairs adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters Friday: "If true, outrageous. I thought they were insensitive. I thought they were unbecoming of a senior military official, and certainly unbecoming of a senior government official." |
Regrettably, this problem is systemic.
If:
1. The vast majority of the population holds certain religious beliefs.
and
2. Leaders are either elected democratically or appointed by those who were elected democratically.
Then those beliefs will inevitably manifest themselves in both policy and rhetoric, to varying degrees, throughout the ruling body. In my view, this is unacceptable, but there's little one can do to repair the fault without creating new and equally dangerous problems.
And I thought Pat Robertson was horrible...
my god, Shambola of the church of the unholy octopus will smite the christian god and all of the christian infidels
blasphemy I say!! or something... 
Too much indoctrination
a haunt of administrative error, especially drawing from the religious right, people were fools to think that this wouldnt happen eventually
hence why the term "military intelligence" is classified as an oxymoron
then why have a military? let's let our god smite down the infadels and spend our money building more churches so we can praise his glory
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