Posted on 09/02/2004 3:09:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - A group of congressional Democrats is asking President Bush (news - web sites) to dismiss a senior military intelligence officer who made church speeches that included inflammatory religious remarks while discussing the war on terrorism.
In a letter to Bush released Thursday, Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., and 10 others said action in the matter of Lt. Gen. William Boykin is long overdue, and he must be removed from his post as deputy undersecretary for defense.
A Pentagon (news - web sites) investigation concluded that Boykin violated regulations by failing to make clear he was not speaking in an official capacity when he made nearly two dozen church speeches beginning in Jan. 2002. It also found that Boykin, who made most speeches wearing his uniform, did not get prior clearance for the remarks.
Boykin's comments, said the lawmakers, "demonstrate a serious lack of the objectivity that should be accompanying military intelligence."
In one speech, discussing a U.S. Army battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993, Boykin told his audience, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
After the controversy erupted, Boykin issued a written statement apologizing to those who were offended and saying he did not mean to insult Islam. He has remained at his intelligence post during the investigation.
I don't buy it. He didn't say anything that Patton himself didn't say in his day. The only thing that's different if that we're letting pantywaisted Leftists tell us that we're wrong for believing in God and recognizing evil when we see it.
I won't have anything to do with those jackwits. If they don't like it, that tells me we're doing the Right Thing(tm).
2003 before retiring in March : (AF LT COL KWIATKOWSKI WRITES ANONYMOUS COLUMN ACCUSING PENTAGON PLANNERS OF PLANNING TO "BUILD A GREATER ZION") Kwiatkowski, still on active duty, took the unusual step of penning an anonymous column of internal Pentagon dissent that was posted on the Internet by former Colonel David Hackworth, America’s most decorated veteran. In her writings for Soldiers for the Truth, which ran under the heading "Deep Throat Returns," Kwiatkowski accused the Pentagon of planning to "build greater Zion" in the Middle East and decried the "Zionist political cult that has lassoed the E-Ring"--a reference to the Secretary of Defense and other high-ranking Pentagon officials. --- "Web of Conspiracies. False rumors go from fringe staff go mainstream-again and again," by Michael Rubin, National Review Online, May 18, 2004, 8:36 a.m.
MARCH 5, 2004 : (SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY USES BOGUS CONSPIRATORIAL KWIATKOWASKI TESTIMONY TO MAKE HIS CASE AGAINST THE PRESIDENT FOR "EXAGGERATING THE THREAT POSED BY IRAQ" ) On March 5, 2004, Senator Edward Kennedy, speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, took the president to task for allegedly exaggerating the threat posed by Iraq: "The evidence so far leads to only one conclusion. What happened was not merely a failure of intelligence, but the result of manipulation and distortion of the intelligence and selective use of unreliable intelligence to justify a decision to go to war," Kennedy said.
Kennedy might practice what he preaches. The president relied on National Intelligence Estimates, the consensus documents agreed upon across the intelligence community. While Central Intelligence Agency products may have less than ideal, the president acted in good faith with the tools at his disposal. The same cannot be said of Kennedy. In his desire to bash Bush, Kennedy adopted a narrative with its origins in the organization of erstwhile presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.
To support his attack on the president, Kennedy cites Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski to make his claim that the Pentagon would "take a little bit of intelligence, cherry pick it, [and] make it sound much more exciting...." Kennedy describes Kwiatkowski as a "recently retired Air Force intelligence officer who served in the Pentagon during the buildup to the war."
Kwiatkowski did serve in the Pentagon prior to the war, as did I, as did approximately 23,000 others. But, Kwiatkowski was not involved in Iraq policy. Her reminiscences fall more into the realm of fiction than fact. I worked in the Office of Special Plans (OSP), charged with some aspects of the Iraq portfolio. My job was that of any desk officer: Writing talking points for my superiors, analyzing reports, burying myself in details, and drafting replies to frequent letters from Congressmen John Dingell and Dennis Kucinich.
I was a participant or a fly-on-the-wall at many postwar planning meetings and accompanying video teleconferences. One person I never met was Kwiatkowski. This should not be a surprising. Kwiatkowski was an Africa specialist who was the point woman for issues relating to Morocco. Just as I never attended meetings relating to Western Sahara, Kwiatkowski was not involved in Iraq policy sessions.
Rather than an inside scoop, Kwiatkowski provided an ideological screed. By her own admission, she started writing Internet columns while still a Pentagon desk officer. But, she did not know many of the people about whom she wrote. The Office of Special Plans consisted of a small number of active duty military officers, reservists, and civilians; both Democrats and Republicans. Kwiatkowski got ranks and services wrong. In rank-conscience corridors of the Pentagon and among military officers, such things do not happen. --- "Web of Conspiracies. False rumors go from fringe staff go mainstream-again and again," by Michael Rubin, National Review Online, May 18, 2004, 8:36 a.m.
With Kennedy and Kerry - it was Massatwoshits.
Add Barney Frank and you have Massathreeshits.
That is one State that is really testing my patience....
Semper Fi
He's not a Senator
Persecution is part of being a Christian--but we must remember that to be persecuted is to be honored by God Himself.
-PJ
Maybe that is where his problems began.
Barney Frank's Homeland Security Level is always LAVENDER!
You're BAD!.
Here's some inflammatory language for Barney:
"Islamists would hang Barney Frank from the nearest lamppost if they had their choice."
Maybe he's on to something. We all know that Democrats are the apostles of fairness, justice, multicultural sensitivity and inclusion, and intellectual consistency. I therefore demand the dismissal of all government employees, including state university professors, who have said mean things about Christianity and Judaism!
*crickets chirping*
Did I say something wrong?
ping
You couldn't have chosen a better example. Remember what happened to Patton ? And that wasn't the days of PC, either.
There are effective rules about speeches by military personnel. You basically clear everything ahead of time. If you screw up....you get reprimanded or kicked out. Its simple. I doubt that the General ever read the rules or ever cared for them. The problem is that you could have some military general with the exact opposite type speech...and we'd have to take action against him....so I think this dude ought to take whatever evenhanded punishment that they dish out. He earned it one way or another.
While we need to follow the rules, it should be tempered with good sense. Talking with God's people about Him and the United States does not offend me. Neither would a musilm in uniform offend me if he preached support for his god and SUPPORT of the United States in his mosque.
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