Long-time readers will probably recall Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. For those just joining us, eyebrows were raised around the world when NBC discovered that Bush had asked a man to coordinate our military intelligence in the war on terror who also happened to be an anti-Muslim religious zealot.
Among Boykin’s more colorful remarks, which were delivered in uniform, included the notion that our enemy isn’t Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden, but rather, “The enemy is a spiritual enemy. He’s called the principality of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan.” In explaining why terrorists hate us, Boykin said it’s because “we’re a Christian nation,” which will defeat our enemies “if we come against them in the name of Jesus.”
Boykin also recalled 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.”
Apparently, Boykin underestimated his job security. Today, as part of new Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ house cleaning efforts, Boykin is done.
Airstrikes this week on alleged Al Qaeda figures in Somalia may prove to be one of the last counterterrorism operations associated with a controversial Pentagon general who has overseen the deployment of secret U.S. Special Ops teams against suspected terror plotters, defense experts close to the Pentagon and intelligence community tell NEWSWEEK.
Lt. Gen. William Boykin and his boss, soon-to-depart Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Steve Cambone, have guided or taken part in the planning of such covert operations against Al Qaeda-linked groups in several countries since 9/11. There is no indication that new Defense Secretary Robert Gates disagrees with the Somalia operation this week. But Boykin has long been a divisive figure…. Boykin and Cambone have also generated controversy by allegedly seeking to wrest control of intelligence-gathering from the CIA. Gates has said he is especially determined to improve cooperation between the Department of Defense and the CIA. In written testimony during his confirmation process last fall, Gates said he was “unhappy about the dominance of the Defense Department in the intelligence arena” — a key element of Cambone’s and Boykin’s approach.
Maybe there’s hope that Gates won’t be Rumsfeld Part II after all.
Boykin, given his previous controversies, is clearly the better known of the two officials Gates is getting rid of, but this gives me a chance to share my favorite Cambone story once more before he goes.
Meeting [in May 2003] at a sweltering U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, with his top Iraq commanders, President Bush skipped quickly past the niceties and went straight to his chief political obsession: Where are the weapons of mass destruction?
Turning to his Baghdad proconsul, Paul Bremer, Bush asked, “Are you in charge of finding WMD?” Bremer said no, he was not. Bush then put the same question to his military commander, General Tommy Franks. But Franks said it wasn’t his job either. A little exasperated, Bush asked, So who is in charge of finding WMD? After aides conferred for a moment, someone volunteered the name of Stephen Cambone, a little-known deputy to Donald Rumsfeld, back in Washington. Pause. “Who?” Bush asked.
No matter, Mr. President, he’s gone now.