Posted on 10/16/2003 6:05:28 PM PDT by blam
God put Bush in charge, says the general hunting bin Laden
By David Rennie
(Filed: 17/10/2003)
The general leading the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein has publicly declared that the Christian God is "bigger" than Allah, who is a false "idol", and believes the war on terrorism is a fight with Satan, it emerged yesterday.
Investigative reporters from the Los Angeles Times and NBC television have dug up two years' worth of seemingly incendiary comments from Lt Gen William "Jerry" Boykin, the newly promoted deputy undersecretary of state of defence for intelligence.
Gen Boykin has repeatedly told Christian groups and prayer meetings that President George W Bush was chosen by God to lead the global fight against Satan.
He told one gathering: "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."
In January, he told Baptists in Florida about a victory over a Muslim warlord in Somalia, who had boasted that Allah would protect him from American capture. "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real god and his was an idol," Gen Boykin said.
He also emerged from the conflict with a photograph of the Somalian capital Mogadishu bearing a strange dark mark. He has said this showed "the principalities of darkness. . . a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy".
On the Middle East, Gen Boykin told an Oregon church in June that America could not ignore its Judaeo-Christian roots. "Our religion came from Judaism and therefore [Islamic] radicals will hate us forever."
In the same month, Gen Boykin told an Oklahoma congregation that Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were not the enemy.
"Our enemy is a spiritual enemy because we are a nation of believers. . . His name is Satan."
The disclosures will doubtless be seized on by Muslim critics as proof that the US-led war on terrorism is a crusade against Islam. It is a charge that Mr Bush has worked hard to refute.
Though careful to respect minority religions within its ranks, the US military is strikingly devout from top to bottom. Mr Bush and several key figures in his administration are staunch Christian conservatives.
Few outside the Pentagon noticed when Gen Boykin, a 13-year member of Delta Force, the top-secret commando unit modelled on the SAS, was promoted this summer, with responsibility for speeding the flow of top-secret intelligence to commandos hunting bin Laden and other high-value targets.
At a routine press conference yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld, the normally confident defence secretary, appeared wrong-footed by the controversy. He hailed the general's "outstanding record" and said his comments were made "in his private capacity".
However, Mr Rumsfeld was careful to cite Mr Bush's injunctions against viewing Islam as the enemy.
Gen Boykin told NBC that he would be curtailing his speeches to religious groups. "I don't want to come across as a Right-wing radical," he said.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.}
Which only means that our ultimate struggle against evil is not fought with guns and bombs.
Gen. Boykin has repeatedly told Christian groups and prayer meetings that President George W. Bush was chosen by God to lead the global fight against Satan.
Does anybody else have a problem with this?
Friday, August 27, 1999
According to publishing sources, the ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION will report on Saturday: Army terrorist experts, including the commander of the top secret Delta Force unit, advised Attorney General Janet Reno to use CS gas against Branch Davidian members!
AJC's Jeff Nesmith is first to report that members of the secret Delta Force, whose presence at the fatal raid was disclosed this week, were involved in planning the operation.
Nesmith names Col. William G. Boykin, the Delta force commander, and Brig. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, then a member of the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, as the previously unnamed military advisors who advocated the use of CS gas, a potent form of tear gas. Boykin and Schoomaker, Nesmith reveals, were also members of the failed Iranian hostage rescue mission in 1980. Both have been promoted since Waco. Developing...
Even this non-Calvinist believes that is true. George Bush was the man chosen by God to lead us through this present time. And Saddam Hussein was the man chosen by God to lead Iraq for the last 20 years. And God chose Bush to do His will in overturning that regime. And, believe it or not, God chose Bill Clinton to lead us for 8 long years. And if were not good he just may choose Hillary to lead us for another 8 years.
Besides that, my reference was to Boykin's unabashed belief that we are fighting a religous war, which I wholeheartedly agree with.
Which servant is that, George, Rush, or both?
Hank
Sorry you don't like the AJC. Try FrontPage - is that conservative enough for you?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1002908/posts
Of course, Ponte is an apologist for Boykin as well. I love how he refers to him as "young Colonel" at the time he met with Reno in the planning session. At that point, he'd been in Delta for about 15 years and had been an army officer for 23 years.
Seriously, I do believe that God places people in positions of authority. But just because God places someone in authority doesn't always mean it's a blessing. After all, with the current spending increases and rate of government growth, we could end up getting exactly what we deserve as a nation.
I'm just uncomfortable with the whole "global fight against Satan" thing. Satan is a master of subtlty and deception, and since the ultimate struggle isn't against flesh and blood, what are we doing here at home to fight the real war?
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