Surely you remember our friend Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin. He’s the one who raised more than a few eyebrows last year when it was discovered that he’s an anti-Muslim religious zealot tapped by the Bush administration to coordinate our military intelligence in the war on terror.
Among Boykin’s more colorful remarks:
* A year ago, Boykin conducted a slide show with a church group. He said, “Well, is he [bin Laden] the enemy? Next slide. Or is this man [Saddam] the enemy? The enemy is none of these people I have showed you here. The enemy is a spiritual enemy. He’s called the principality of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan.”
* When asked why terrorists have targeted the United States, Boykin said, “Why do they hate us so much? Ladies and gentlemen, the answer to that is because we’re a Christian nation.”
* America’s “spiritual enemy,” Boykin once said, “will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus.”
* Boykin recalled in a January speech a Muslim soldier in Somalia who believed Allah would protect him in battle against the U.S. “Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his,” Boykin said. “I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.” When the Muslim soldier was eventually captured, Boykin claims to have told the man that he “underestimated our God.”
Naturally, Boykin’s evangelistic record sparked outrage, here and around the world. In addition to the public relations nightmare Boykin sparked, there was also a problem relating to the Military Code of Conduct, which prohibits soldiers from making appearances in uniform “when participating in public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies, or public demonstrations, except as authorized by competent authority.”
On Oct. 21, Rumsfeld announced that the Pentagon’s inspector general was launching an investigation into Boykin’s record, but that the general would stay in his position. That was almost eight months ago. What’s the status of the investigation?
Fortunately, the Washington Post’s Al Kamen was wondering the same thing. Since his Pentagon contacts appear stronger than mine, he discovered that the probe is still ongoing.
It’s been more than seven months since the Pentagon announced the investigation after Boykin, in uniform, talked about the war on terrorism as a “spiritual battle” and made comments disparaging of Islam. Muslims went ballistic.
Back in early April, the Pentagon said to look for a report in the next couple of weeks or so. More than two months have gone by.
I’m sure the Bush administration would like nothing more than to see this swept under the rug, rather than remind the world that an anti-Muslim evangelist is coordinating our Middle East intelligence operations. Thankfully, with reporters like Kamen on the case, the conclusion of the Boykin investigation, if it ever comes, should get some attention.
And speaking of Boykin, his record of religious extremism is not the worst of his problems. Sidney Blumenthal wrote a great item in Salon a couple of weeks ago that explained Boyin’s role at the center of the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Boykin was not removed or transferred. At that moment, in fact, he was at the center of the secret operation to “Gitmo-ize” Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. He had flown to Guantánamo (known as “Gitmo”) in Cuba, where he met with the commandant of Camp X-Ray, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, ordering him to extend his methods to the Iraq prison system, orders that had come from Rumsfeld. While Boykin weathered his public storm, he remained the operational officer overseeing Miller’s new assignment.
I wonder how this plays in the Middle East. The same anti-Muslim zealot tapped to coordinate military intelligence in the region is the same general involved with implementing the administration’s policies on torturing Muslim detainees. Yeah, that’ll help.