Goofballs in High Places

This was the week that Malaysia's soon-to-retire Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad declared that "The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They got others to fight and die for them." This was also the week that the the Bush Administration denounced Mahathir's statements while simultaneously defending Army Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin's statements about a war between Christiandom and the Muslims.

When criticised for his anti-Jewish statements Mahathir complained that everyone attacks Islam with impunity but when someone says something against the Jews they are accused of anti-Semitism. Mahathir, whose son attended the University of Tulsa, frequently says outrageous things. There's a kernal of truth in what he says but not much more than that. To his credit Mahathir took on Muslims for turning their backs on science and modernity.

For the story on what our General Boykin said about the terrorists hating us because we are a "Christian nation" and the Muslim God being a false God look at NBC. Too many Americans think this way but to have one of our Generals saying these things in public while IN UNIFORM is unacceptable. Especially because Boykin is in the lead on the anti-terrorism effort. Not only is he just plain wrong, but his statements play right into the hands of the terrorists who are trying to convince Muslims that the US war is on Islam, not on terrorism. The General might as well be arming the terrorists with WMD.

Mahathir and Boykin both suffer from what seems like deep-seated religious intolerance. Fortunately Mahathir is retiring. President Bush should have denounced Boykin for his "intolerance while in uniform" and put him at a desk job in a remote area.