From the L.A. Times:
EDITORIAL
Can the Crusader

Consider this unlikely pair: Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, the new deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, and Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. As Times staffer Richard T. Cooper reported Thursday, Boykin has repeatedly said he sees the war on terrorism as a battle between Judeo-Christian values and Satan.

Meanwhile, Mahathir announced Thursday at the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit that "today the Jews rule this world by proxy" and must be outsmarted by Islam. In their penchant for demonizing, the two men have more in common than they might think.

Imagine the two conversing: Boykin tells Mahathir it's obvious that Islamic militants hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian And the enemy is a guy named Satan" (June 2003).

Mahathir laughs and tells Boykin he's got it wrong. No, no, don't forget the Jews: "The expulsion of Jews from the Holy Land 2,000 years ago and the Nazi oppression of Jews have taught them nothing It has transformed the Jews into the very monsters that they condemn so roundly"(1986). Mahathir continues that "the European race" itself is sexually deviant, greedy, responsible for warmongering and wants to "control the world again" (June 2003).

Boykin responds that although he doesn't believe Europe is at fault, the war on terror is "a war against the forces of darkness. The battle won't be won with guns. It will be won on our knees Stay on your knees and don't ever give up" (January 2003).

The two men perceive the world in similar terms. One sees a perfidious plot against Asian and Islamic values; the other, newly in charge of hunting down Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other terrorism targets, appears to believe that the entire Islamic world is America's enemy.

Mahathir undermines moderate, secular Muslim leaders while Boykin mocks Bush's attempts to emphasize that the U.S. is targeting terrorists, not Islam. Boykin may say he is speaking for himself, but at his level anything said outside his living room will be seen as speaking for the U.S. military.

Mahathir will fade away on his own. It's up to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to retire the Pentagon's self-proclaimed crusader before he does more damage.

Sorry if I'm being naive here (I know what Bush has "said," "emphasized," etc.), but is there any evidence--any evidence at all--that Bush does not in fact wholeheartedly believe that "the war on terrorism [is] a battle between Judeo-Christian values and Satan"? That the war on terror is indeed "a war against the forces of darkness"? That, in the final analysis (and believe me, fundie evangelistic Christians are never not in a direct-line-of-sight with a final analysis of one kind or another) "the entire Islamic world is America's enemy"? Whence comes this platitude that when Bush "emphasizes" that "the U.S. is targeting terrorists, not Islam," he should be taken at his word? His WORD? Please!

I think liberals really need to get over their ingrained squeamishness about all things racio-religio-militaristic, and stop fucking kidding themselves: Bush does not think that "Islam is peace." (Shit, I don't even think Islam "is peace." I don't think any religion "is peace," except I guess Buddhism and perhaps Jainism, etc.) Fundamentalist Christians think Islam is war--that indeed, Christianity is first and foremost war--and let's be straight about this: Bush is their leader. Why not come right out and say it?