Posted on 10/29/2003 5:21:37 AM PST by JesseHousman
WASHINGTON (AFP) - George W. Bush hosted a Ramadan dinner with US Islamic leaders, as the White House was besieged with demands to fire an army general whom made comments some say makes the US-led war on terror out to be a war on Islam.
General William Boykin's comments surfaced two weeks ago, in which he likened the US battle against terror to a battle between Christiandom and the Muslim world, placing the Bush administration in an uncomfortable position.
While the Pentagon (news - web sites) has opened its own investigation, it has also said that it does not expect to ask Boykin to resign. He continued to serve as a undersecretary of defense for intelligence, in charge of tracking down Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) among others.
Bush invited Muslim leaders to an Iftar, the evening feast that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast Muslims observe during the month of Ramadan. He organized the first White House Iftar after bin Laden and al-Qaeda launched the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
"America is a land of many faiths and we honor, and welcome and value the Muslim faith," Bush said in opening remarks before the meal.
At a mid-day press conference earlier Tuesday, Bush said that the controversial Boykin "doesn't reflect my point of view or the view of this administration."
"Our war is not against the Muslim faith."
"Americans think terrorists are evil people who have hijacked a great religion," Bush said, responding to a reporter's question.
Such statements, however, did not quell the Boykin controversy.
"The obvious response to the Boykin case is to say that because he is now under-secretary of defense for intelligence, he should be relieved of his post," The Washington Post said in an editorial Tuesday.
Boykin made his questionable speeches while wearing his military uniform before conservative Christian groups whom Bush will woo as part of his 2004 reelection campaign.
"It is highly likely that Bush himself, a genuinely devout Christian by all accounts, agrees with at least some, perhaps much, of what Boykin said," the Post speculated.
The US president had just returned from a tour of Asia, which included a three-hour stopover in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population. He also met with several leaders of Muslim countries at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC (news - web sites)) forum.
"Muslims are completely wrong to think that the US is engaged in a war against Islam," New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said.
"But that misperception flourishes in part because the domestic political strategy of the Bush administration -- no longer able to claim the Iraq (news - web sites) war was a triumph, and with little but red ink to show for its economic plans -- looks more and more like a crusade."
"After the Lords's Prayer, and a few words from Father Brown, we will launch into this excellent dinner of roast pork.
"After the Lords's Prayer, and a few words from Father Brown, we will launch into this excellent dinner of roast pork.
"After the Lords's Prayer, and a few words from Father Brown, we will launch into this excellent dinner of roast pork.
"After the Lords's Prayer, and a few words from Father Brown, we will launch into this excellent dinner of roast pork.
"After the Lords's Prayer, and a few words from Father Brown, we will launch into this excellent dinner of roast pork.
The big problem with islam is that Muhammed has left behind his holy work with his greasy, blood stained fingersprints all over it.
The Koran which contains overwheliming evidence that this poor excuse for a prophet is actually a whacked-out child predator who demands his people kill humans that are other than muslim.
Any shyster that promises 72 virgins to those who deliberately die while killing thousands of innocents has to be suspected as a person whose IQ and demeanor is below that of Charles Manson.
That difference is why the 911 hijackers avoided Islamic communities when they were here. Their fundamentalist views combined with their non-obvservant lifestyles would have made them suspicious.It's a matter of record that they avoided Islamic communities.I don't believe that sentence for a minute.
The only reason they avoid islamic communities in America is to find non-muslim girls around nine years old so they can emulate the madman, muhammed.Atta and his co-conspirators spent a lot of time in stripper bars. Not too many nine year olds are found in such places.
Their succor and support is filtered through these islamic communities!Tell the Buffalo FBI that. They made the biggest domestic Al Qaeda bust to date, primarily based upon information that came from informants in the Islamic community there.
-Eric
Find some Hindu friends.Members of the RSS perhaps?
-Eric
In the last century, America was threatened by a global communist revolution. Avoiding all-out war, we outlasted it. And we can outlast this Islamist revolution. What we must avoid is a war of faiths, a war of civilizations between Islam and America. And those who propagandize for such a war are the unwitting or willful collaborators of Osama bin Laden.
Is that kind of like saying all Catholics are potential pedophiles?
Sure they don't.
Recently, Joseph Lieberman was hissed by an Arab-American audience in Dearborn, Mich. when he briefly explained Israel's defensive wall in terms not unlike those used by Howard Dean and other candidates. What earned him the special public rebuke not accorded to others was apparently nothing other than being Jewish — the problem was not what he said, but who he was. No real apology followed, and the usually judicious and sober David Broder wrote an interesting column praising the new political acumen of the Arab-American community.
I wasn't comparing catholics to islamics .. I was trying to just point out there are some people in some religions that take it a bit to far .. some more then others
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