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Who Is William Arkin?A look at the Greenpeace activist cum L.A. Times military affairs columnist who's taking after Gen. Jerry Boykin. by Hugh Hewitt 10/23/2003 12:00:00 AM Hugh Hewitt, contributing writerWHO IS WILLIAM ARKIN? For starters, he is the scribbler who launched the assault on Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin a week ago by providing NBC with tapes of Boykin speaking in churches, and then followed with a Los Angeles Times op-ed that accused the general of being "an intolerant extremist" and a man "who believes in Christian 'jihad'" (Arkin later admitted on my radio program that Boykin never used the...

WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he disagreed with a senior military intelligence official's comments that Muslims worship an idol and not a "real God" but a top Pentagon aide said there were no plans to oust him. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday announced an internal Pentagon investigation into the propriety of comments by Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and war-fighting support, while in uniform at churches and prayer breakfasts. Lawrence Di Rita, Rumsfeld's chief of staff, on Wednesday praised Boykin's "very distinguished" military career. He said...

In an emerging scandal, NBC News has produced tapes proving beyond deniability that the new deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence is ... a Christian. Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin has been captured on a series of grainy tapes, attesting to his faith at churches and prayer breakfasts. Having driven the Judeo-Christian value system out of the public square, the classrooms and the Alabama Supreme Court, liberals now want to drive it out of church. In one "inflammatory" remark, Boykin said that the enemy was not Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, but "is a spiritual enemy. He's called...

In an emerging scandal, NBC News has produced tapes proving beyond deniability that the new deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence is ... a Christian. Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin has been captured on a series of grainy tapes, attesting to his faith at churches and prayer breakfasts. Having driven the Judeo-Christian value system out of the public square, the classrooms and the Alabama Supreme Court, liberals now want to drive it out of church. In one "inflammatory" remark, Boykin said that the enemy was not Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, but "is a spiritual enemy. He's...

Lieutenant General Jerry Boykin, deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, ignited an international firestorm. Addressing a religious group in June 2003, Boykin said radical Muslims hate us "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian . . . and the enemy is a guy called Satan." Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman asked President Bush to denounce Boykin's "hateful remarks," adding, "The war on terrorism is a war on terrorists, not religions. The Bush administration, which claims to understand that, needs to condemn anyone who says otherwise." Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said, "It is outrageous...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman said a top Army general should be reprimanded for his criticism of Muslims, calling those comments the "mirror opposite" of Osama bin Laden's vilification of Christians and Jews. In an interview with Associated Press reporters and editors, Lieberman said Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin should be held to account for casting the United States' fight against terrorists in religious terms with comments that were "wrong theologically" and "very bigoted." The general, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, has come under widespread criticism since the Los Angeles Times reported last Thursday that he...

<p>A senior Saudi Arabian official last night said Lt. Gen. William Boykin's remarks about Islam were "outrageous" sentiments worthy of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born terrorist who has been hunted by the U.S. military since his group carried out the September 11 attacks.</p>

Bush official caught in church dragnet In an emerging scandal, NBC News has produced tapes proving beyond deniability that the new deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence is ... a Christian. Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin has been captured on a series of grainy tapes, attesting to his faith at churches and prayer breakfasts. Having driven the Judeo-Christian value system out of the public square, the classrooms and the Alabama Supreme Court, liberals now want to drive it out of church. In one "inflammatory" remark, Boykin said that the enemy was not Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein, but...

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday repudiated the views of a top general who cast the war on terrorism in religious terms, but the Pentagon brushed aside congressional calls to reassign the general during an investigation. Bush, talking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Australia, said he had discussed the comments of Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin with Muslim leaders in Indonesia. "I said he didn't reflect my opinion," Bush said. "Look, it just doesn't reflect what the government thinks. And I think they were pleased to hear that." Bush's...

Bush Distances Himself from General's Islam Comment CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) - President Bush distanced himself Wednesday from a senior military intelligence official who sparked an international firestorm by saying that Muslims worship an idol and not a "real God." Moderate Muslim clerics took issue with Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, an evangelical Christian who serves as deputy undersecretary of defense, during talks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. "I said, 'He didn't reflect my opinion. Look, it just doesn't reflect what the government thinks.' And I think they were pleased to hear that," Bush told reporters afterward. The comments...

The latest proposed victim in our struggle against terrorism is Army Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin, recently named Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. His mission is to reinvigorate the search for bin Laden, Mullah Omar and other leaders of global terrorism. By training and experience he is marvelously prepared for his new duties -- having risen from a Delta Force commando to top-secret Joint Special Operations Command, through the CIA, to command of the Army's Special Forces. For a quarter century he has been fighting terror with his bare hands, his fine mind and his faith-shaped soul. It...

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, under fire for remarks about Muslims to a Christian prayer group, has requested an inspector general review his actions, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday.</p> <p>Boykin, who apologized last week for the remarks in which he implied Muslims worship an idol, made the request Tuesday, Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing.</p>

A senior military intelligence official who cast the U.S. war on terrorism in starkly religious terms during speeches to church groups has asked for an examination of his past speaking activities amid a backlash from Muslim groups and political leaders. Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Photo: Los Angeles Times) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today at a Pentagon briefing he thought an official look at Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin's remarks would be "appropriate." A Pentagon spokesman, Air Force Lt. Col. Ken McClellan, told WorldNetDaily he did not know at this point what the nature of that examination would be....

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee called on Tuesday for the temporary reassignment of a Pentagon official who made church speeches casting the war on terrorism in religious terms. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin should step aside during a Pentagon investigation of Boykin's comments. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday announced an inspector general's inquiry, saying Boykin requested one. Warner and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Carl Levin, wrote to Rumsfeld Friday asking for an investigation. Warner said on the Senate floor that he kept quiet about that request until...

Pentagon Probes General's Church Speeches By MATT KELLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon will investigate a general's church speeches casting the war on terrorism in religious terms, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. The announcement came days after two prominent senators asked Rumsfeld to launch a probe of Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin. Several Islamic and religious freedom groups criticized Boykin last week when reports surfaced of his comments during several speeches at evangelical Christian churches. Boykin said the enemy in the war on terrorism was Satan, that God had put President Bush in the White...

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday the Pentagon would launch an internal investigation into comments about Islam made by a senior military intelligence official. During a Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld said the investigation came at the request of Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who has been sharply criticized by some Democrats and religious and civil rights groups. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and war-fighting support, made comments at churches and prayer breakfasts that cast the U.S. war on terrorism in starkly religious terms, saying in one speech that Muslims worship an "idol" and not a "real God." Rumsfeld...

Two names were in the news last week for inciting religious controversies. You probably heard about one and probably missed the buried stories about the other. The man whose story you’re most likely to know is Army Lt. General William G. Boykin. He’s currently the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. He’s charged with supervising the search for terror targets Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. But in his broader war on terror, in Boykin’s words, “the enemy is a guy named Satan.” Boykin has quite a track record as holy warrior (we know about it thanks to...

Video MSNBC has discovered that General Boynik is *gasp* an EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN!

<p>October 21, 2003 -- THE war over religion is heating up. The Supreme Court is taking up the question of whether the words "under God" can appear in the Pledge of Allegiance - and who can say what firestorm will erupt if the justices say it can't. And a general who has just been elevated to the post of deputy secretary of Defense for intelligence is accused of having spoken slightingly about Islam.</p>

An apology from Lt. Gen. William Boykin for speechmaking on the war on terrorism in terms that offended some Muslims was heavily edited by Pentagon lawyers, CNN has reported. The former head of U.S. Army Special Forces said in a June speech to a Christian prayer group that radical Muslims hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and roots are Judeo-Christian and the enemy is a guy named Satan." He added, "I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol." Some of the redacted language from the apology, which...