The story surrounding Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin’s record for religious extremism has taken a few twists and turns since it first broke late last week. It now appears Boykin will keep his job as deputy undersecretary of defense of intelligence, but he’s nevertheless had to endure some well-deserved criticism.
If you’re just joining us, Boykin has been a religious right-style evangelist while serving in the military, arguing that Satan, and not Osama bin Laden, is America’s true enemy; that the United States is a “Christian nation”; that God overrode the will of the American people to give Bush the presidency; and that the Christian God is “bigger” than the Muslim God, which he described as an “idol.”
America’s “spiritual enemy,” Boykin once said, “will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus.”
The fact that a Christian crusader would be charged with the responsibility of hunting down Middle Eastern terrorists was disconcerting to many. As military affairs analyst William Arkin said last week, “Boykin is…in a senior Pentagon policymaking position, and it’s a serious mistake to allow a man who believes in a Christian ‘jihad’ to hold such a job.”
Even some Republicans were made uncomfortable by Boykin’s religious beliefs and his tendency to proselytize publicly. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) called Boykin’s remarks “deplorable.” Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Boykin’s record was worthy of further examination.
More interesting, to me, were the various defenses raised by the Pentagon and Boykin himself.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that “at first blush, it doesn’t look like any rules were broken” by Boykin’s habit of Christian evangelism — in uniform — across the country.
The truth may be a little more complicated. As was explained at Daily Kos on Friday, the Military Code of Conduct 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.” Either Boykin was speaking at church events in uniform with specific permission from his superiors (which seems highly unlikely), or Boykin broke the rule.
For his part, Boykin began mounting his own public relations defense on Friday afternoon. By mid-day, the AP was reporting that Boykin had promised the Pentagon he would “tone down his rhetoric” and “curtail” his speechmaking.
A few hours later, the Pentagon released a statement from Boykin in which he was more specific and conciliatory.
“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.”
That’s not a bad line to take, but he pushed things too far when he claimed one of his remarks had been taken out of context. Boykin was quoted as saying that he told a Muslim militia leader in Somalia that the Christian God was “bigger than his” and the Muslim’s God “was an idol.”
Boykin explained on Friday that he was not referencing the Muslim man’s “worship of Allah, but his worship of money and power; idolatry.”
Here, Boykin just isn’t telling the truth and the tape of his speech from January proves it. Boykin relayed the story of the military hunt for a Mogadishu man named Osman Atto. After missing him in a raid, Boykin said Atto appeared on CNN and said, “They’ll never get me because Allah will protect me.” Boykin told his church audience, “Well, you know what I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.”
Boykin then explained that the military eventually captured Atto, at which point Boykin confronted Atto directly and said, “Mr. Atto, you underestimated our God.”
Now Boykin wants us to believe that he was referring to Atto’s worship of “money and power.” The context shows that this simply isn’t the case.
Seems to me there’s some kind of Commandment about bearing false witness…