Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin - A killer for Christ

"Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword." -- Jesus

Lt. General William G. "Jerry" Boykin retired from the U.S. Army on August 1, 2007. Many people thought his retirement was long past due. Not a few said "good riddance."

Boykin's career as a killer for Christ began with his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry in 1971. That followed with positions in the 2nd Armored Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and the 24th infantry Division.

In 1978 through 1993, Boykin was assigned to Delta Force. From the beginning, he made no attempt to hide his fundamentalist Christian religious viewpoint. In fact, a psychiatrist at Fort Bragg though he should be tossed from Delta Force because he was "too religious," but that did not happen. Boykin said "God sent me into the Delta Force....And He said to me, 'This is where you ought to be.'"

So, early in his career, Boykin heard the voice of God.

And Boykin has talked to God throughout his entire career. He was in on the failed April 24-25 Iranian hostage rescue attempt in 1980. While he was disappointed at the outcome, he said his faith had become stronger as a miracle occurred: "Not one man who stood with us in the desert and pleaded for God to go with us was killed or even injured that night."

In 1983, Boykin was in Grenada where he was shot in the arm. While he was told he'd never use the arm again, it healed and Boykin claimed God was responsible.

In 1989, Boykin headed to Panama as part of a mission to apprehend Manuel Noriega.

Boykin went to Colombia in the latter part of 1992 and early part of 1993 to lead a mission to hunt down the drug lord, Pablo Escobar. Seymour Hersh reported suspicions that Boykin's team intended to assassinate Escobar. Mark Bowden, in his book, Killing Pablo, suggests that's exactly what happened.

Later in 1993, in October, Boykin commanded the Delta Force seeking Mohamen Farrah Aidid, a militia leader in Somalia. From this excursion came the movie, Blackhawk Down. Boykin was wounded in a mortar attack.

From there he moved to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as Chief, Special Operations Division. He was not happy in the job, and it was at this time his wife of 28 years left him, Boykin claiming she told him she didn't love him anymore and that he was a "religious fanatic."

After a stint with the CIA, he went to the Army Staff and then in 1998, he was made Commanding General, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, and later become Commanding General, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, also at Fort Bragg.

In June, 2003, he was appointed Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, serving under Dr. Stephen Cambone. It was during this service that he was implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal. After an investigation, he was exonerated, although there remain questions about his advocacy of torture in Iraq and Guantanamo.


His military exploits notwithstanding, Boykin is more famous for his religious fanaticism. William M. Arkin, in a 2002 Los Angeles Times article, "The Pentagon Unleashes a Holy Warrior," describes some of Boykins misadventures for Christ.

In Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Boykin spoke from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church. He described photographs taken after his failed "Blackhawk Down" mission left 18 Americans dead. Boykin said he had the pictures developed after coming back to the U.S. and noticed a weird black mark over the city. A "imagery interpreter" told him the mark wasn't a blemish.

As Boykin showed the pictures on screen, he told the audience "Ladies and gentleman, this is your enemy. It is the principalities of darkness. It is a demonic presence in that city that God revealed to me as the enemy."

At Good Shepherd Community Church in Sandy, Oregon, Boykin, again in the pulpit, showed slides of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jung II. He asked, "Why do they hate us? The answer to that is because we're a Christian nation. We are hated because we are a nation of believers."

Then he said, our "spiritual enemy, will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus."

Remember, this is a Lt. General of the U.S. Army usually "preaching" in full dress uniform!


According to Mr. Arkin, "...Boykin is also an intolerant extremist who has spoken openly about how his belief in Christianity has trumped Muslims and non-Christians in battle.

"He has described himself as a warrior in the kingdom of God and invited others to join with him in fighting for the United States through repentance, prayer and the exercise of faith in God.

"He has praised the leadership of President Bush, whom he extolled as 'a man who prays in the Oval Office.' 'George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the United States,' Boykin told an Oregon congregation. 'He was appointed by God.'"


Arkin also notes that "Boykin has made it clear that he takes his orders not from his Army superiors but from God -- which is a worrisome line of command. For another, it is both imprudent and dangerous to have a senior officer guiding the war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan who believes that Islam is an idolatrous, sacrilegious religion against which we are waging a holy war."

But that is what he believes.

He told a church audience in Daytona, Florida how in Mogadishu there was a man named Osman Atto, a top lieutenant of Mohammed Farah Aidid. "When Boykin's Delta Force commandos went after Atto, they missed him by seconds..."

Boykin said "'He [Atto] went on CNN and he laughed at us, and he said, "They'll never get me because Allah will protect me. Allah will protect me."'"

"'Well, you know what?' Boykin continued. 'I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.' Atto later was captured."

On another occasion, Boykin told an Oregon congregation that the reason special operations forces were successful in Iraq was because of their faith in God. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I want to impress upon you that the battle that we're in is a spiritual battle. Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian army."




Today, Boykin, now retired from the Army, is spending his time recruiting Christians to fight for Christ. He founded a ministry called Kingdom Warriors and travels around the country telling "Christians not to become spiritually lethargic."

He told Charisma magazine that "We are involved in a battle, whether people realize it or not. Being a Christian is not a matter of getting saved, then sitting fat and happy with it. There is a spiritual war going on, and people need to get off their pews, put on their armor and get into the battle."

What all that means is not spelled out. Being a fundamentalist extraordinaire, I assume he's talking about fighting things like abortion and same-sex marriage and fighting for the right to post copies of the Ten Commandments in courthouses and to allow Christian prayer in public schools, etc.


During his heyday, Boykin was publicly denounced by Bush and Rumsfeld, who were frightened that his angry anti-Islamic rhetoric would offend the entire Arab world. It did. Charisma said "He was called a national embarrassment, a religious fanatic and a three-star bigot."

All of that was true, of course.

Fortunately, today his audience is small and he remains under the cloud of fanaticism. While many leaders of the extremist Christian Right supported him, he still reeks of "national embarrassment."

It's amazing, however, how someone so obviously a lunatic, could rise so high in our military and our government. No, actually, it's frightening!