lennart
16-10-03, 17:09
God's general set on terrorists
By Richard T. Cooper
October 17, 2003
The Pentagon has given the job of hunting down and eliminating Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other high-profile targets to a general who believes he is on a mission from God.
Lieutenant-General William "Jerry" Boykin, the new deputy under secretary of defence for intelligence, has made it clear that he sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan.
The much-decorated veteran of covert military operations also believes that radical Muslims who resort to terror are not representative of Islam and compares them to Ku Klux Klan members.
In June, General Boykin told a religious group in Oregon that radical Islamists hated 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".
Of his role in the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, he told another audience: "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
Last year, he said: "We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God, have been raised for such a time as this." He has also said of President George Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."
But General Boykin's penchant for casting the war on terrorism in religious terms appears to be at odds with an Administration that insists it is nothing of the sort.
Mr Bush has made a point of praising Islam as "a religion of peace" and has hosted Muslim clerics for Ramadan dinners at the White House. He has also criticised evangelicals who brand Islam a dangerous faith.
Independent experts see General Boykin's remarks as sending exactly the wrong message to the Arab and Islamic world.
Stephen Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development in New York, said: "The phrase 'Judeo-Christian' is a big mistake. It's basically the language of bin Laden and his supporters.
"They are constantly trying to create the impression that the Jews and Christians are getting together to beat up on Islam. We have to be very careful that this doesn't become a clash between religions, a clash of civilisations."
A pollster, John Zogby, said surveys throughout the Arab and Islamic world had shown strong negative reactions to statements by US officials suggesting conflict between religions or cultures.
"To frame things in terms of good and evil, with the United States as good, is a non-starter," he said. "It is exactly the wrong thing to do."
The Los Angeles Times
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/16/1065917550033.html
By Richard T. Cooper
October 17, 2003
The Pentagon has given the job of hunting down and eliminating Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other high-profile targets to a general who believes he is on a mission from God.
Lieutenant-General William "Jerry" Boykin, the new deputy under secretary of defence for intelligence, has made it clear that he sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan.
The much-decorated veteran of covert military operations also believes that radical Muslims who resort to terror are not representative of Islam and compares them to Ku Klux Klan members.
In June, General Boykin told a religious group in Oregon that radical Islamists hated 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".
Of his role in the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, he told another audience: "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
Last year, he said: "We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God, have been raised for such a time as this." He has also said of President George Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."
But General Boykin's penchant for casting the war on terrorism in religious terms appears to be at odds with an Administration that insists it is nothing of the sort.
Mr Bush has made a point of praising Islam as "a religion of peace" and has hosted Muslim clerics for Ramadan dinners at the White House. He has also criticised evangelicals who brand Islam a dangerous faith.
Independent experts see General Boykin's remarks as sending exactly the wrong message to the Arab and Islamic world.
Stephen Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development in New York, said: "The phrase 'Judeo-Christian' is a big mistake. It's basically the language of bin Laden and his supporters.
"They are constantly trying to create the impression that the Jews and Christians are getting together to beat up on Islam. We have to be very careful that this doesn't become a clash between religions, a clash of civilisations."
A pollster, John Zogby, said surveys throughout the Arab and Islamic world had shown strong negative reactions to statements by US officials suggesting conflict between religions or cultures.
"To frame things in terms of good and evil, with the United States as good, is a non-starter," he said. "It is exactly the wrong thing to do."
The Los Angeles Times
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/16/1065917550033.html