May on Boykin - Clifford

May on Boykin - Clifford May discusses the Gen. Boykin flap.

The point that the media - and the left blogosphere - never seems to get:

But did Boykin actually say anything that should offend Muslims? Was he even talking about Islam — or was he speaking of terrorists who claim to act in the name of Islam? And can we not yet perceive that there is a huge difference between the two?

Start with the remark that has drawn the most ire: Boykin's reference to a "spiritual enemy...called Satan." The Washington Post suggested that reference was "inflammatory, if not illegal."

How do they figure? Boykin was clearly speaking here about mass murderers such as bin Laden. If they are not evil, then there is no such thing as evil. But if they are evil, it can hardly be outrageous to describe a war against such evil as a struggle against a "spiritual enemy." Isn't that what evil is?

As for Satan, he is the personification of evil. What's the charge, here, officer? Reckless anthropomorphism?

In fact, can't we agree that suicide terrorists who kill in the name of a jihad against infidels are — by their own definition — spiritual enemies not just of Christians and Jews but equally of moderate Muslims?