Gen. Boykin (Wacko Evangelical Christian ) connection to prisoner abuse

[democracy eh]

Remember that guy? Funny how Bush Administration fiasco's seem to meld together...

Boykin needs to be relieved of command - Hate at the core of prisoner abuse - Media Monitors Network

http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/6663/?PHPSESSID=d443121973561952508db57df677e8a2

"As revelations surface from interviews with Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former Iraqi prison commander, that the Abu Ghraib prison evolved into an interrogation center -- Orwellian goodspeak for torture chambers -- and control of the prison shifted to the military intelligence command, one name resurfaces from the archives of recent scandal: Boykin."

"Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin is under a reluctant investigation for a church-to-church speaking tour last year in which he demonized Islam and Muslims and characterized the current conflict as a religious war between Christians, who are good, and Muslims, who are on the side of 'Satan.' To make matters worse, it was discovered that he often wore his military uniform during these speeches, furthering the impression that he was speaking from the military's viewpoint."

more...

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. Boykin: "My God is bigger than your God" & "Islam is the religon of Satan"

these are just 2 of the ugly qoutes of this sick turd :puke:
and bush/rummy made him head of Military Intelligence of Iraq prisons

here's a few links to Boykin
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh102803.shtml
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/980764.asp?0cv=cb10

NBC NEWS
Oct. 15 — A highly decorated general who is one of the leaders of a secretive new Pentagon unit formed to coordinate intelligence on terrorists and help hunt down Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other high-profile targets has a history of outspoken and divisive views on religion — Islam in particular, NBC News has learned.

HE’S A HIGHLY decorated officer, twice wounded in combat — a warrior’s warrior.
The former commander of Army Special Forces, Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin has led or been part of almost every recent U.S. military operation, from the ill-fated attempt to rescue hostages in Iran to Grenada, Panama, Colombia, Somalia.
This summer, Boykin was promoted to deputy undersecretary of defense, with a new mission for which many say he is uniquely qualified: to aggressively combine intelligence with special operations and hunt down so-called high-value terrorist targets including bin Laden and Saddam.
But that new assignment may be complicated by controversial views Boykin — an evangelical Christian — has expressed in dozens of speeches at churches and prayer breakfasts around the country. In a half-dozen video and audiotapes obtained by NBC News, Boykin says America’s true enemy is not bin Laden.
In June 2003, Boykin spoke to a church group over a slide show:
“Well, is he the enemy? Next slide. Or is this man the enemy? The enemy is none of these people I have showed you here. The enemy is a spiritual enemy. He’s called the principality of darkness. The enemy is a guy called Satan.”
Why are terrorists out to destroy the United States? Boykin said: “They’re after us because we’re a Christian nation.”
NBC News military analyst Bill Arkin, who’s been investigating Boykin for the Los Angeles Times, says the general casts the war on terror as a religious war: “I think that it is not only at odds with what the president believes, but it is a dangerous, extreme and pernicious view that really has no place.”
During a January church speech in Daytona, Fla., Boykin recalled a Muslim fighter in Somalia who bragged on television the Americans would never get him because his God, Allah, would protect him: “Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.” The Somali was captured, and Boykin said he told the man: “Mr. Atto, you underestimated our God.”
In a phone conversation, Boykin tells NBC he respects Muslims and believes the radicals who attack America are “not true followers of Islam.”
Boykin also routinely tells audiences that God, not the voters, chose President Bush: “Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.”

more...

[TacticalPeek]

10. "because God put him there for a time such as this"

Boykin slurs both God and the Constitutiuon.

[LagaLover]

2. While Boykin is an idiot

Their is one main problem with that story...Boykin is not in command of anything. He is the #2 in an OSD staff organization. He has command of nothing.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

9. LagaLover how can you be "Deputy Undersecretary of Defense of Intelligence

and "not be in command of anything" LOL of course he is in command!
and the bushies LOVE him :puke:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/tonyblankley/tb20031022.shtml
William G. "Jerry" Boykin, recently named Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence...

Thank God for General Boykin
Tony Blankley (archive)


October 22, 2003

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 is that last matter -- his faith, and his willingness to give politically incorrect witness to that faith in Christian churches -- that has drawn furious media and political fire in the last week. The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Howard Dean, The Egyptian Foreign Minister and other less lofty entities have all called for his removal from office because of his expressed religious views. And, of course, these calls for his head are all made on behalf of religious tolerance.

While the full text of the general's comments will not been released by the Los Angeles Times columnist who secretly recorded them during the general's witness in churches in Oklahoma, Oregon and Florida, the purportedly scandalous bits have been selectively published in print and on television. General Boykin said the terrorists come from "the principalities of darkness," that they are "demonic," and they hate us because "We're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian, and the enemy is a guy named Satan." The general also recounted the time he was chasing down a Somali warlord who was bragging that the Americans would not capture him because his god, Allah, would protect him. "Well," Boykin responded, "my God is bigger than his God. I knew my God was a real God, and his was an idol."

In short, General Boykin is being accused of calling America a Judeo-Christian country, the war on terrorism a religious war, and of expressing his belief in the truth of the New Testament of the Bible. While his critics concede that he has a right to express his religious views, they argue that his expressed opinions of the Islamic and Christian religions make him unfit to perform his duties of helping to lead in the war on terrorism. I am inclined to believe that he is splendidly fit for such combat, and I thank God that we have such a man as General Boykin in our midst.

more....

[LagaLover]

13. Because Deputy Under Secretaries

Don't COMMAND anything. That is a staff function, not a line function. In the military, ONLY commanders command. Boykin is not a commander. He is not in the chain of command for ANY military forces or intelligence personnel. He's a policy gonk, not a commander.

[democracy eh]

14. perhaps not 'chain of command' responsibility

I have no idea. But I think 'policy w(g)onk' is too innocent a term. perhaps his role is a bureaucrat, or a 'special projects guy', but I don't think he is stuffed in a back office somewhere writing briefing notes or position papers.

He may not be giving orders, but in this 'non-command' capacity, there could be a direct role in
- setting the tone, nurturing the environment of hate and intolerance and dehumanization of 'evil' Arabs and Muslims
- developing 'policies and procedures' for gathering intelligence from suspected terrorists to aid in the War on Terror
- participation management committees for special high priority projects such as the prison

If the responsibility does stick to 'chain of command' members. What does having Boykin on staff tell us about his Commanding Officer?

the digger you dig, the more rotton it gets

[AlinPA]

3. Sounds like the right-wing fundamentalists' top general was close to

what was going on?

[RBHam]

4. I'm more afraid of Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller

Military Intelligce freak. He's the one that recommended MPs be used as "softening up" personnel...

And they put him back in charge of AbuGharib - where he was during the worst months of the abuse (Oct to Dec), changing polices about handling prisoners..

Uh huh...

He's gone back from Gitmo to "clean" his mess up. But he should be under indictment - and then asked who gave hime the authorization to treat Arab prisoners like sub humans.

By the way, when do we find out the truth about Gitmo?

Eh? Major General Miller first started to "hone" his "techniques" there...

What a sick bastard, and he's probably going to be protected. He knows WAY too much...

[LittleApple81]

6. Miller, Negroponte, Abrams, Baker, Poindexter, Rumsfeld, Cheney,

.... are there enough pages to list all the horrible people in power now.
Naming Miller as director of the prisons is so absurd... he is the one who established the conditions for the torture, not only in Iraq, but in Guantanamo. But, see, he has kept Guantanamo pretty much under wraps (no pictures, no red cross, etc.) Damage control is based on silencing witnesses, not on stopping the abuse.

[whistle]

5. Bingo!

...Of course in typical military fashion, the scapegoats will be the privates and non-commissioned officers who will end up being the fall-guys and gals. Generals and higher ups will walk between the raindrops and retire to their estates and country clubs to just fade out of sight where they can continue their damaging policies and influence out of public view. William Safire in his New York Times editorial today, sums it up this way:

"This secretary of defense , who has the strong support of the president, is both effective and symbolic. If he were to quit under political fire, pressure would mount for America to quit under insurgent fire. Hang in there, Rummy! You have a duty to serve in our 'long, hard slog'."

Duty indeed! Duty to whom? Certainly not a duty to humanity. Ronald Reagan pointed to the former Soviet Union as "The Evil Empire". He failed to see that with his pointer finger extended outward on behalf of the United States, he had three fingers pointing back-wards. Let the winds of change blow through the halls of power and sweep away the corrupt. The stench has become intolerable.

[KittyWampus]

7. Boykin Actively Consulted On Waco Texas Debacle.

You know, the firestorm Bush Sr. started by sending the feds into a compound filled with women and children to get a guy who they could have EASILY picked up on the street.

Please take note and file for future reference.

:)

[LagaLover]

8. Shush

That happened in '93. Bush wasn't President then...

[pansypoo53219]

11. and i think more blame

can be laid at the feet of the phychologist 'expert', Park Dietz. who is far far to full of himself and not enough thought.

[Wind Dancer]

12. * believes it's his mission from

God to rid the world of "evildoers"! (along with a host of other delusional religious beliefs) Boykin only reinforces this catastrophic mission. It has become a religious war because of this admin's desire to make it one. The innocent are suffering. True Christians, Muslims, and other religious/spiritual groups are paying the price, as well as the non-believers.

He just doesn't have a clue where the true evil exists. The God Complex is alive and well in the WH, scarier than one can even grasp.

I fear for my children and grandchildren. This is far more serious than many Americans could fathom, I can't imagine the horror if this continues for another 4 years, given the current situation. God help us!

[Stephanie]

15. Boykin and Special Forces op:

The Bush Administration has authorized a major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq. In interviews over the past month, American officials and former officials said that the main target was a hard-core group of Baathists who are believed to be behind much of the underground insurgency against the soldiers of the United States and its allies. A new Special Forces group, designated Task Force 121, has been assembled from Army Delta Force members, Navy seals, and C.I.A. paramilitary operatives, with many additional personnel ordered to report by January. Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination

<snip>

One of the key planners of the Special Forces offensive is Lieutenant General William (Jerry) Boykin, Cambone’s military assistant. After a meeting with Rumsfeld early last summer—they got along “like two old warriors,” the Pentagon consultant said—Boykin postponed his retirement, which had been planned for June, and took the Pentagon job, which brought him a third star. In that post, the Pentagon adviser told me, Boykin has been “an important piece” of the planned escalation. In October, the Los Angeles Times reported that Boykin, while giving Sunday-morning talks in uniform to church groups, had repeatedly equated the Muslim world with Satan. Last June, according to the paper, he told a congregation in Oregon that “Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army.” Boykin praised President Bush as a “man who prays in the Oval Office,” and declared that Bush was “not elected” President but “appointed by God.” The Muslim world hates America, he said, “because we are a nation of believers.”

<snip>

Boykin has been involved in other controversies as well. He was the Army combat commander in Mogadishu in 1993, when eighteen Americans were slain during the disastrous mission made famous by Mark Bowden’s book “Black Hawk Down.” Earlier that year, Boykin, a colonel at the time, led an eight-man Delta Force that was assigned to help a Colombian police unit track down the notorious drug dealer Pablo Escobar. Boykin’s team was barred by law from providing any lethal assistance without Presidential approval, but there was suspicion in the Pentagon that it was planning to take part in the assassination of Escobar, with the support of American Embassy officials in Colombia. The book “Killing Pablo,” an account, also by Mark Bowden, of the hunt for Escobar, describes how senior officials in the Pentagon’s chain of command became convinced that Boykin, with the knowledge of his Special Forces superiors, had exceeded his authority and intended to violate the law. They wanted Boykin’s unit pulled out. It wasn’t. Escobar was shot dead on the roof of a barrio apartment building in Medellín. The Colombian police were credited with getting their man, but, Bowden wrote, “within the special ops community . . . Pablo’s death was regarded as a successful mission for Delta, and legend has it that its operators were in on the kill.”

“That’s what those guys did,” a retired general who monitored Boykin’s operations in Colombia told me. “I’ve seen pictures of Escobar’s body that you don’t get from a long-range telescope lens. They were taken by guys on the assault team.” (Bush Administration officials in the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon, including General Boykin, did not respond to requests for comment.)

-Seymour Hersh
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031215fa_fact