Posted on 10/19/2003 12:53:02 PM PDT by Bobby777
WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites)'s national security adviser insisted Sunday that the U.S. fight against terrorism is not a war between Christianity and Islam, despite a top general's comments that seemed to say it is.
But Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) twice avoided a question about whether Bush will condemn statements by Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence.
"The president has been absolutely clear that this is not a war of religions," Rice told ABC's "This Week."
"Islam is a peaceful religion. The president is respectful of those who practice the Islamic faith," Rice said from Thailand, where Bush was attending a summit of Asian and Pacific nations.
The Pentagon (news - web sites) released a statement by Boykin late Friday in which he apologized for his characterizations of Islam and said he never meant to offend Muslims.
"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."
Rice was asked on ABC whether Bush would condemn Boykin's comments, in which he seemed to describe monotheistic Islam as a religion whose followers worship idols.
She replied by outlining the president's views of the religion, the fastest-growing religion in the United States. She said terrorists targeted in the U.S. anti-terrorism campaign are "people who murder and maim and in fact pervert Islam."
Asked again whether Bush would condemn Boykin's comments, she said: "The president's views on this are absolutely clear, and I think the president is very clear on what he means here. This is not a war between religions. No one should describe it as such."
A furor arose after reports were published about the statements by Boykin, in and out of uniform, in churches and elsewhere. Since the reports appeared, Boykin has told his superiors he will curtail his speechmaking.
After a 1993 battle with Osman Otto, a Muslim warlord in Somalia, Boykin said: "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol." After Otto's capture, Boykin has said he told Otto, "You underestimated our God."
Boykin's statement said the comment was misinterpreted, that he spoke of Otto's "worship of money and power; idolatry," not of his religion. "He was a corrupt man, not a follower of Islam," Boykin said.
Pentagon officials issued Friday's statement after hours of debate over ways to put aside the stir over Boykin, whose job forces him to deal with security services in many Muslim states.
The answer is quite complex, and it has to do with conscience.
A war in which the enemy combatants are not linked by nationality poses new challenges not seen before. We can't just "nuke Damascus" and finish the war.
We have to think about the futures that are still possible today. One of them involves an escalation that ends in total war. Others end with some loss of life on both sides, but a gradual modernization of Islamic countries.
Right now the choice is ours. While it still is, we have undertaken to keep our options open.
It's instructive to think about why we used atomic weapons in our war on Japan. Even if we have regrets, one thing was clear: fewer casualties occurred because we did. Now is no different. We're civilized, and we're a moral people. And so we measure our responses in terms of actual benefit to humanity, not just our passion for revenge.
OBL wants total war on all fronts. Right now we've chosen to limit our engagement to known terrorists. A lot of innocent Arabs, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Pacific peoples have their lives in the ballance. We must not let OBL and his ilk steer us in a direction that leads to massive death and destruction. We still have a choice, and we're making it every day: right now we can still win fighting in the most humane way possible.
This is why the president has my confidence.
islam is a filthy, murderous, satanic cult.
It is not a religion and the 'god' of islam is NOT the G-d of Christianity or Judaism.
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, addressing the leaders of 57 islamic countries representing 1.3 billion muslims, just called on muslims to unite against Jews towards a "final victory."
Well then, most Muslims are carrying water for bin Laden. But we knew that. That's the problem.
I find some anti-Islam sentiment here on FR over-the-top. But it would be nuts to pretend there is no support in American mosques for the militants.
You're saying that Islamics are equivilant to your conception of a militia "nutcase"?
There's a time-honored tendency for human beings to want to identify their enemies and dispatch them. The association of anti-Americanism with Islam goes way back for anyone who remembers the 444 days of the Iranian hostage crisis, the fatwa against the West that came out of Rushdie's Satanic Verses book, and the 243 Marines who were killed in Lebannon.
We will always remember that the people who did these things to us did them in the name of their religion. That's supports Bush's argument that we should not fight wars in the name of Christianity.
It is NOT happenstance, as you claim, that the terrorists are muslim.
They are terrorists because they are pious muslims. Every dead Christian and Jew they kill is murdered in the name of allah.
Terrorism is a tactic. You can't have a war against tactics.
Yes. A lot of the remarks I see here (and some of the ones I make) are just expressions of extreme frustration and outrage. I'd wager that only 1 in 100 of us really would nuke Mecca if we could. Or at least, many of us would evacuate the area first before making our smoldering statement. ;^)
Not to mention full of $#it.
"Terrorism" is an official euphemism. Using this code word helps us focus our responses without using indiscriminate hate.
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