Boykin violated military rules with speeches, report says

The Pentagon's chief intelligence official violated military procedures while giving controversial religious speeches, an internal investigation has reportedly found.

News organizations reported Aug. 19 that the Pentagon inspector general's office had given lawmakers a long-anticipated report on Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin. Boykin angered Muslim-Americans and many supporters of church-state separation in October, after news reports revealed comments he had made in a series of speeches to Christian groups.

Among the most controversial of Boykin's statements were comments casting the war on terrorism in spiritual terms, referring to the United States as "a Christian nation," saying Muslims worshiped an "idol" and asserting that God had put President Bush in the White House.

But Boykin's most publicized remarks came during a January 2003 speech to a pastors' meeting at First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla. There, he spoke about his involvement fighting warlords during the United States' ill-fated intervention in the Muslim nation of Somalia. One top lieutenant to a Somali warlord had been quoted on CNN as saying he would not be captured because Allah would spare him.

"Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his," Boykin said, according to a tape of the speech. "I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol. But I prayed, 'Lord, let us get that man.'"

He also reportedly showed his audience photographs of Mogadishu taken at the time, and pointed to a black streak above the city that he described as the presence of evil.

After the reports, many called for Boykin's resignation, saying such controversial statements by the U.S. military's top-ranking intelligence officer would hurt America's image in majority-Muslim countries. The top Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee also called for Boykin's resignation, and ordered the Pentagon to investigate his comments.

Although Bush did offer a mild public rebuke of Boykin's comments, the general did not step down, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld defended what he termed Boykin's "outstanding record."

The inspector general's investigation reportedly concludes that Boykin violated Pentagon regulations by failing to clear the content of his speeches with officials and by failing to offer a disclaimer that the views he was espousing -- he often spoke in uniform -- were his own and not those of the Department of Defense.

It also found he violated other procedural regulations, and recommended that he be disciplined by his superior, Acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee.

The investigation reportedly did not deal with the controversy engendered by the content of Boykin's speeches.

The Pentagon has not released the report to the public, though news reports say it is dated Aug. 5. Pentagon officials had not returned a phone message from Associated Baptist Press by deadline for this story.

One of the nation's largest Muslim civil-rights groups said it "welcomed" the report, but warned that America's image would be hurt unless Boykin was removed from his position. "General Boykin is free to hold whatever views he wishes, no matter how stereotypical or inaccurate. But he should not use his position of respect in our nation's military to promote those views," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in an Aug. 19 press release.

An anonymous "senior Defense official who is familiar with the report's contents" told The Washington Post that

the report is seen as a "complete exoneration" that ultimately found Boykin responsible for a few "relatively minor offenses" related to technical and bureaucratic issues. … The senior Pentagon official said that it is not regular practice for top Defense Department officials to submit speeches of a personal nature for review and clearance.

So what?

Clinton violated an Intern.
Kerry commited war atrocities.
Kennedy got us in to Vietnam.
Carter got our people taken hostage by Iran.

Boykin simply spoke in Church.

4 posted on 08/20/2004 7:05:07 AM PDT by codyjacksmom ("Tereeza Pleease...I need more allowance so I can hire someone to teach me how to throw like a boy")

Controversial? And tell me who in the audience didn't realize that the views he was sharing were his own. Give me a break. Who wants to join the military if they must relinquish their right to free expression of their faith?

6 posted on 08/20/2004 7:08:52 AM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Legislatures are so outdated. If you want real political victory, take your issue to court.)

Apparently while in uniform. I support Gen. Boykin and I disagree with this ruling, but the Army has become increasingly hostile to Christianity. Sad.

After the reports, many called for Boykin's resignation, saying such controversial statements by the U.S. military's top-ranking intelligence officer would hurt America's image in majority-Muslim countries.

hurt Americas image, they already hate us and want us dead because we don't submit to Islam, but we have to respect there religion and not destroy a mosque. sounds one sided to me. who gives a crap what any Muslim thinks. there is only one god, and Allah ain't it.

9 posted on 08/20/2004 7:44:53 AM PDT by Happy2BMe (JOHN KERRY is as much like the WORKING MAN as WHOOPIE GOLDBERG is to GEORGE W. BUSH! - Vote BUSH!)

"He also reportedly showed his audience photographs of Mogadishu taken at the time, and pointed to a black streak above the city that he described as the presence of evil. "

Huh? Is that a technical, military, observation? Was a special camera used to photograph "evil"? Are "black streaks" some sort of new terrorist weapon? Does Boykin have a screw loose?

"He also reportedly showed his audience photographs of Mogadishu taken at the time, and pointed to a black streak above the city that he described as the presence of evil. "

Huh? Is that a technical, military, observation? Was a special camera used to photograph "evil"? Are "black streaks" some sort of new terrorist weapon? Does Boykin have a screw loose?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over...

11 posted on 08/20/2004 9:38:21 AM PDT by Poohbah (If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room.)

12 posted on 08/20/2004 11:34:45 AM PDT by Happy2BMe (JOHN KERRY is as much like the WORKING MAN as WHOOPIE GOLDBERG is to GEORGE W. BUSH! - Vote BUSH!)

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