[IP] The Army's three-star zealot from post-gazette.com for Friday, October 17, 2003
The Army's three-star zealot
Friday, October 17, 2003
A year ago last June, a two-star Army general stood in the pulpit of First
Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, Okla., and identified the source of all
America's problems.
Pointing to a dark shadow on several photographs he shot of Mogadishu's
skyline from a helicopter shortly after 18 Americans were killed in the
"Black Hawk Down" debacle, Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin assured the
congregation that, indeed, they were witnessing the faint outline of Satan
hovering over Somalia.
Gen. Boykin isn't one to resort to metaphors when speaking of the battle
between good and evil. "It is a demonic presence in that city that God
revealed to me as the enemy," he said, indicting the devil for the murder
of 18 American soldiers.
Hundreds of ragtag mercenaries of Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid, still
laboring under the impression that it was they who did the actual killing
of the soldiers in the streets of Mogadishu, will be relieved to hear that
Satan is the designated fall guy, as usual.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently awarded Gen. Boykin another
star and put him in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Saddam
Hussein. Boykin's official title is deputy undersecretary of defense for
intelligence, but you can call him the Lord's right arm if you like.
A deeply devout man, Gen. Boykin has long considered himself a holy warrior
whose primary mission is to protect our "Christian nation" from insurgent
Islam and the forces of Satan's nondenominational minions.
"George Bush was not elected by a majority of voters in the United States,"
Gen. Boykin told an Oregon congregation in a moment of biblical clarity
five months ago. "He was appointed by God."
Members of the U.S. Supreme Court, still laboring under the impression that
it was they who appointed George Bush to the presidency, will be relieved
to hear that God is the designated fall guy, as usual.
Boykin's insistence that the Axis of Evil is a manifestation of Satan's
power aimed at destroying this "Christian nation" makes him a walking
provocation for an Islamic world already spooked by Bush's glib calls to
mount an international "crusade" against terrorism in the weeks following
Sept. 11.
The White House finally got wise to Islamic sensitivities and banished
"crusade" from the president's speeches, but Boykin continues to paint the
war on terror as a battle between Christian civilization and Satan. He's a
chilling echo of Sterling Hayden's Jack D. Ripper character in "Dr.
Strangelove."
When not chasing terrorists, Boykin never misses an opportunity to proclaim
America's special relationship to God in churches across the country.
Given the depth of Boykin's sense of spiritual and military siege by Satan
and the Muslims, is he really the right choice for coordinating American
intelligence interests in the Arab world? Judging by his frequent
references to Allah as a mute "idol," how could his dealings with our
Muslim allies be anything but condescending, if not openly contemptuous?
Trying to find Osama in the thick of pro-Taliban strongholds in Pakistan
and Afghanistan is difficult enough without saddling already skimpy field
intelligence with another layer of dogmatic distraction from the top.
When an infidel like Saddam Hussein can hide behind the Quran because his
pursuers resort to anti-Muslim rhetoric to boost their standing with church
ladies back home, American lives are needlessly endangered in Tikrit and
Baghdad.
Writing in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, William M. Arkin, a military
affairs analyst, made a compelling case that Boykin is an "intolerant
extremist" whose millennial pronouncements are at odds with the
administration he ostensibly claims to serve.
"Boykin has made it clear that he takes his orders not from his Army
superiors, but from God, which is a worrisome line of command," Arkin wrote.
You could fool yourself into believing the war on terrorism wasn't a
complete farce if the man assigned to capture bin Laden and Saddam Hussein
didn't see Satan's face in every smudged photograph.
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Tony Norman can be reached at
<mailto:tnorman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>tnorman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or 412-263-1631.
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