Prometheus 6

The way they're handling this reminds me of the way they handled Trent Lott's comments. But this article makes it clear Rummy's as much a target as Boykin.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 -- President Bush said on Wednesday that he disagreed with comments by a top Pentagon general who had cast the war on terrorism in religious terms, but the Defense Department said the officer would not be reassigned.

The comments by Mr. Bush were his first in public about Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, the deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence and war-fighting. General Boykin has likened the battle against Islamic militants to a Christian struggle against Satan and said at evangelical gatherings that a militant Muslim militia leader in Somalia worshiped an "idol" and not "a real God."

Mr. Bush, speaking before a group of moderate Muslims during a stopover in Bali, Indonesia, said the general's comments "didn't reflect my opinion," adding, "Look, it just doesn't reflect what the government thinks."The president's remarks came as some Congressional Republicans had begun to suggest that General Boykin move aside temporarily or even resign. "The political reality up here is that no one thinks Boykin will survive," said a senior Congressional Republican official.

Calls for the general's temporary reassignment have come from, among others, Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who heads the Armed Services Committee. But according to the Pentagon's spokesman, Larry DiRita, "nobody's thinking about asking him to step aside."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters on Tuesday that General Boykin had requested an internal investigation, and that he had agreed. But Mr. Rumsfeld declined to criticize the general's comments.

The defense secretary was scheduled to meet behind closed doors later on Wednesday with senators from both parties for a regular meeting on Iraq, and Congressional officials said they expected the issue of General Boykin to be addressed.

Two Republican Congressional officials said they believed that Mr. Rumsfeld had made a mistake in refusing to criticize General Boykin, and that he had allowed personal loyalty to get in the way of political wisdom.

One senior Republican official said anger had redoubled concern about Mr. Rumsfeld that has until now focused on the secretary's reluctance to accept responsibility for setbacks in Iraq.

Another said the sense was that Mr. Rumsfeld was increasingly becoming a problem for the administration.

General Boykin, a highly decorated officer who was confirmed by the Senate in June as a deputy under secretary of defense, came under criticism last week, after NBC News and The Los Angeles Times reported details of his comments during several speeches before Christian evangelical churches.

On Friday, the Pentagon released a written statement in which the general said he wanted to apologize "to those who have been offended by my statements."

But he made clear in a written statement that he had no intention of resigning, and that he believed that at least some of his remarks had been taken out of context.

Religious leaders from many denominations have said General Boykin's words run the danger of inflaming anti-American sentiment across the Islamic world.