Bush
Distances Himself from General's Islam Comment
Wed October 22, 2003 11:11 AM ET
By
Adam Entous
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 were Bush's first in public on the controversy
surrounding Boykin, who portrayed the U.S. war on terrorism as a clash
with "Satan," saying Islamic radicals sought to destroy America "because
we're a Christian nation."
Bush, in contrast, has publicly -- and privately -- rebuked Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad over his remarks about Jews controlling
the West by proxy.
In an interview with reporters aboard Air Force One, Bush said he
"didn't yell" at Mahathir at an Asia-Pacific summit. "I said they (his
comments about Jews) were divisive and unnecessary."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Tuesday that the Pentagon
would launch an internal probe into speeches given at churches and
prayer breakfasts by Boykin.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner, a Virginia
Republican, called for Boykin to be reassigned, at least temporarily.
Boykin's comments surfaced last week when NBC News broadcast
videotapes of him giving speeches while wearing his Army uniform at
various Christian functions.
In one speech, Boykin referred to a Muslim fighter in Somalia who
said U.S. forces would never catch him because 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," Boykin said.
Several Democrats and some religious and civil rights groups have
condemned his remarks.
Boykin said in a statement Friday he was "neither a zealot nor an
extremist," was "not anti-Islam or any other religion," and offered a
"sincere apology" to those offended by his remarks.
Reflecting growing mistrust of the United States among ordinary
Indonesians, the clerics meeting in Bali also criticized Washington for
supporting Israel over the Palestinians and for the occupation of Iraq.
"There was kind of a sense that Americans believe that Muslims are
terrorists," Bush said. "One of the reasons I wanted to have this
meeting was because I wanted to make it very clear that I didn't feel
that way and Americans don't feel that way."
(Reporting by Steve Holland, editing by Lori Santos; Reuters
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