Bartholomew's Notes

A couple of times last year I blogged on Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of the book Son of Hamas. Yousef is the son of a senior Hamas figure, and he gained some media attention in 2008 after moving to America and announcing his conversion to Christianity. He subsequently revealed that he had worked with Israeli security services, and last summer he overcame a deportation threat.

Yousef has a viscerally hostile view of Islam (“Every mosque is a danger on American soil”), but he insists that he does not wish to be seen as a “spiritual trophy” by Christians, and in an interview with GQ  he explained that

Israel can be a problem, yes, I admit that, and I agree, I am against occupation. But they blame everything on occupation, Muslims look at themselves and say, ‘We are the victim. We are under occupation. Israelis have been killing us. And we kill, but not because we love to kill.’ What I’m saying is: Yes, you are right, you are wonderful people, but study your religion. Know who you’re worshipping. You’re worshipping a god who is sending you to destruction.

Yousef’s former Shin Bet handler observed that he was “no Zionist”. It seemed to me that while some may regard Mosab’s spying for Israel as a betrayal, those who support Palestinian rights (and that includes me) should recognise that the responsibility lies with Hamas, whose terrorism and religious extremism clearly alienate thoughtful Palestinians and put some, like Yousef, in impossible situations.

Yousef was originally endorsed by Walid Shoebat and his handler Keith Davies:

Walid and I believe this man is the real deal, he says the exact same things as Walid, understands the bible and also understands the real meaning of Islam.

You cannot be a fraud and speak this way. speaking the truth like this is from a man who has been redeemed.

For those nay sayers, it has been confirmed by the Israeli authorities that he worked for them so his story checks out.

However, Shoebat has now changed his mind, accusing him of being a “double agent” in a piece for Pajamas Media:

During the initial contact within Israel’s Maskubia (Jerusalem’s central prison), Mosab agreed to collaborate in exchange for Israel not targeting his father… Mosab did not convert to what the West would recognize as Christianity, but to a fiery, Palestinian brand of the faith that is vehemently anti-Israel. According to Mosab, his main goal in coming to the U.S. is to infiltrate the main source of international support for Israel: the American church.

…Mosab is now touring churches to end Israel’s lifeline. Many Jews and Christians in the West are unable to determine friend from foe in the Mideast; they are not able to read what is said in Arabic. They must seek translations, and must be aware of double agents like Mosab.

Shoebat, as has been documented, detests his Palestinian heritage, and he wishes that “nukes” would “take care” of the Muslim world; this may just be showmanship, or it may reflect a deep hatred he apparently has for his late father. His own Christianity is actually “a firey, anti-Palestinian brand of the faith” which sees the conflict purely in terms of gothically depraved Muslims who hate Jews. Shoebat has even re-written the Bible to support his beliefs: the Book of Revelation’s “666”, he explains to church groups, is actually a misreading of the Arabic script for “In the Name of Allah” (an absurd distortion I debunk here).

But Yousef is also a professional rival to Shoebat on the church pundit circuit: Shoebat bills himself as an expert on terrorism, based on the fact he once planted a bomb for the PLO in the 1970s – and even that is dubious. Yousef, in contrast, has real inside knowledge of Hamas, and he’s avoided the kind of extravagant pronouncements that make Shoebat look increasingly absurd.

Shoebat’s repudiation of Yousef is based on statements which Yousef supposedly made in Arabic media. No links are given, and Shoebat gives us short quotes only:

Israel is the problem and as an occupation it needs to end. … There are many ways to do this besides the coward explosive operations.

….This will be the first time in history that a Palestinian book will find success so that the Western reader can see for himself the reality of what goes on over there. People in the West do not know what happens over there.

…With a balanced approach I discuss the life of the Palestinian child under the Israeli occupation, of course my life suffered under all the problems of murder and the criminal operations that were carried out by the Israeli occupation against my people, my family, myself, and against humanity.

…With regret, our great leaders and mighty heroes and glorious defenders over there did not realize that instead of spending their wealth and monies on silly issues, they needed to enlist in their ranks writers and educated individuals in order to reverse the image of the Palestinian struggle.

Shoebat reads the obviously ironical reference to “mighty heroes and glorious defenders” as being actual “praise” for “Hamas leaders”. Yousef also allegedly advises Palestinians not to collaborate with Israel, even if information about terrorism is involved.

CORRECTION: In my original version of this, I inadvertently transposed Yousef’s first and last names.

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(Updated)

At Conservative Home, Tim Montgomerie notes Nadine Dorries MP’s introduction of a Ten Minute Rule Bill on abstinence education for girls:

The Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire is not saying abstinence should be the only message for children but that it should be part of the overall message. Our schools should be saying to children – bombarded by a culture that encourages sexual experimentation – that it’s okay to wait and that there can be big benefits from doing so.

Ms Dorries quoted Joan Bakewell, now a Labour peer, and her analysis of what TV throws at us in prime time: “A typical prime time hour contains 2.6 references to intercourse, 1.2 references to prostitution and rape, 4.7 sexual innuendos, 1.8 kisses and 1 suggestive gesture. Not to mention internet, phones.”

It looks like the quote was given to Montgomerie in advance: in the actual debate, Dorries didn’t mention either the “kisses” or the “suggestive gesture” – see Hansard (I also checked against Parliament’s video stream):

Dame Joan said that our society is saturated in sex: a typical prime-time hour on TV contains 2.6 references to intercourse, 1.2 references to prostitution and rape, and 4.7 sexual innuendoes.

This is somewhat botched. Dorries’ speech references an article on the sexual revolution which Joan Bakewell wrote last year for the Radio Times (5-11 June 2010, pp. 122-3), but Bakewill did not come up with these statistics she did not cite them. Bakewell’s original piece is not on-line (although I’ve seen it), but it was discussed and quoted widely in other media at the time; it is almost certain that Dorries has drawn on these secondary sources, and none of these include any reference to the statistics either.

The statistics’ provenance is another reason Bakewell would not have used them: they are actually a boilerplate talking-point which has been doing the rounds on Christian websites for years, sometimes attributed to a “Florida State University study”. One example of their use is the 1993 book by Bill Hybels and Rob Wilkins, entitled Tender Love: God’s Gift of Sexual Intimacy. According to them:

According to one study, a typical network prime-time hour contains an average of 1.6 references to intercourse, 1.2 references to prostitution and rape, 4.7 sexual innuendoes, 1.8 kisses, and 1.0 suggestive gestures.

Note that Dorries has sloppily upped “1.6 references to intercourse” to “2.6”, but it’s clearly the same source. A variation appeared in a secular publication, Entertainment Weekly, in 1992:

According to a Florida State University study published last fall, a typical network prime-time hour contains an average of 1.58 references to intercourse, 1.17 references to prostitution and rape, 4.68 sexual innuendos, 1.76 kisses, and 0.99 suggestive gestures. On average, the study says, TV characters today talk about sex or display sexual behavior 15 times an hour — or once every four minutes.

So, the source is old, obscure, American, and propagated for the most part by evangelical websites. The statistics are also hopelessly decontextualized: what kind of “references” are meant? A much more sensible and relevant source for Dorries to work with would have been Mis-selling Sex: A Study of the Representation of Sex on British Television Screens, which was published in 2010 as part of the NHS’s “Sex: Worth Talking About” campaign.

Dorries’ use of the American statistics would appear to be more evidence that she is is getting her talking points directly from Christian Right lobby groups such as Christian Concern.

Footnote

Ironically, the origin of the American statistics is perhaps a study undertaken in 1987 for Planned Parenthood. According to the New York Times in January 1988:

Americans are bombarded by sexual messages on network television but are hardly ever reminded of the results of sex, according to a study conducted for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and made public yesterday.

The study, by Louis Harris & Associates, concluded that 65,000 sexual references a year are broadcast during the prime afternoon and evening hours. That’s an average of 27 an hour, the study noted, including 9 kisses, 5 hugs, 10 sexual innuendos and between 1 and 2 references each to sexual intercourse and to ”deviant or discouraged sexual practices.”

…Announcing the results of the study, the federation president, Faye Wattleton, said: ”Clearly the American television networks are doing us -their viewers – a tremendous disservice. They obviously see no need to balance their overly romanticized and unrealistic portrayals of sex with messages about responsibility.”

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An announcement from Walid Shoebat:

The Walid Shoebat Foundation and Forum For Middle East Understanding launch new web site www.rescuechristians.org please visit this web site.

The purpose of this web site is to make more people aware of the plight of persecuted Christians worldwide as well as raise money to effect real rescue operations for persecuted victims with a primary focus initially in the Pakistan region.

Our work will involve providing safe houses, food and medical care for persecuted Christian families with direct one and one support, with no administrative costs or waste. Our work will also involve the gaining of visas for these families to restart their lives in Western countries so they can rebuild their lives. Full details of the program detailed on www.rescuechristians.org. We are already helping two families with many more on a waiting list for assistance…

Yours

Keith Davies
Executive Director Walid Shoebat Fdn

Confusingly, the website calls the organisation both “Rescue Christians” and “the Raoul Wallenberg Project”, depending on which page is clicked on (there is of course no association with the famous Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, which I doubt has given permission for the use of Wallenberg’s name). The website explains:

The Raoul Wallenberg Project is working with people on the ground who are well connected in the Christian community. They have reached out to us for our support to help alleviate their suffering, and in certain situations, help with their escape. For their protection we cannot expose their names publicly. In the future, large donors who are concerned about the transparency of funding, we can provide the names and details privately.

…Our financial goal is to raise one million dollars a month – solely for the Raoul Wallenberg Project – which will allow us to make a significant impact to alleviate much of the suffering of persecuted Christians and remove them from their circumstances. We are working behind the scenes with members of Congress, in particular the staff of Congressman Allen West, who has kindly offered his help on Capital Hill. Other members of Congress will be recruited as public opinion puts pressure on them for their support of this real, and dangerous threat to Christians worldwide.

…What you should know is that all of the people who are working with this project are doing so with no compensation for their time… We have experienced PR and business people with 40 years of business experience, as well as 14 years between working experience between Walid and Keith Davies (Directorof the Walid Shoebat Foundation). We’ve assembled a group who have been involved in running a charity, and are aware of working with activists.

…The cost of helping one family is approximately $1000 per month. That coupled with the initial set-up expenses of a safe house means we will need $10,000 the first month. After that, supporting six families will cost around $6000 a month. Legal costs will run about $7000 per family over an eighteen month period, plus the cost for airfare for each family will be $4000 – $8000. This just a drop in the bucket when we consider all of the hundreds, even thousands of cases of persecution.

This doesn’t seem to me to have been thought through very well at all. The names of the Christians they are supposedly helping are either confidential or they are not – leaking them to “large donors” is an amateurish way to demonstrate “transparency” and would anyway show very little about how efficiently or competently the organisation is being run. Why is there no formal board structure, or any trustees? Why haven’t Shoebat and Davies established a 501(c)(3), with all the checks and balances which would come with that? Further, “40 years of business experience” is so vague as to be meaningless. Shoebat was a computer programmer before he joined the right-wing pundit circuit; Davies used to sell greetings cards. What’s needed is expertise in arranging safe houses and in dealing with the various obstacles that are likely to emerge. Who is going to look after these “safe houses”? How will their safety be assessed? What protocols are in place should emergencies occur?

There are already well-established Christian organisations working in this area, such as  Open Doors and Release International. I’m sure there’s room for some more – but any new group surely needs to demonstrate a thorough understanding of what work in this area entails. Instead, the “Rescue Christians” website puts most of its emphasis on advertising Shoebat’s various books and videos on the evils of Islam.

There’s also the danger that Shoebat’s inflammatory approach to Islam will actually make life more difficult for Christians seeking refuge. As I’ve blogged previously, Shoebat’s utterances are so extravagant as to be absurd: he claims that he knows that Obama is a Muslim (“Islam could not defeat us by destroying the twin towers. But they are able to defeat us by sneaking in their man”), and he wishes that “nukes” would “take care” of the Muslim world. He also teaches that the Bible predicts the coming of a Muslim Anti-Christ.

Last July, Pam Geller and SIOA announced that they could provide “safe houses” for ex-Muslims in the USA. The announcement seemed to me to be a stunt rather than a serious project, and I note that there are no reports that any “safe houses” have been requested or provided since then.

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Charles Johnson draws attention to a new post by Pamela Geller, in which she cites a website that claims that Osama bin Laden only met his end because the military overrode the wishes of the President: “it appears Obama had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the OBL operation”, she tells her readers. Johnson notes:

Her source for this ridiculous rant? A site called “NewsFlavor” (it has the flavor of news without all those fattening facts), featuring unprofessional “articles” written by anonymous Internet non-entities. This article is credited only to “Ulsterman.”

Stay tuned, because the killing of Osama bin Laden has motivated Geller to plumb new depths of bad craziness. I have a feeling she’s just getting warmed up.

“Ulsterman” has been posting online for several months; he purports to be receiving information from a “White House Insider” (or “Deep Thoat 2”), and his “scoops” have included “Obama Battling Severe Depression” and the like, written in breathlessly polemical style (he’s also a birther, naturally). However, “Ulsterman” has been debunked as a hoax for months; this blog documents fake sources and names that have appeared in “Ulsterman’s” articles on a range of other subjects.

In November, Sam Gefland of the Twin Cities Daily Planet published circumstantial evidence that “Ulsterman” is a certain Anthony G. Martin; Martin has a Twitter feed and Youtube channel under the name “Welshman”, and he writes regular pieces praising and echoing “Ulsterman” on Conservative Examiner:

It would appear that the explanation is simple: Anthony G. Martin is the blogger known as Ulsterman.  He writes unfounded articles and publishes them on Newsflavor, a website that will print anything without any sources.  Then, he references the Ulsterman articles to back up his opinions.  Because his opinions have no facts to back them up, he creates the facts.  And, at the end of the day, it may not just be a political argument that he’s trying to win.

Triond pays its writers for how many clicks their articles get.  The more people who read the Ulsterman articles, the more money he receives.  Even though this amounts to a few pennies or maybe dollars per month, it is still clearly a motivating factor for Triond writers, who often make up outrageous and false stories in hopes of earning easy cash. 

Martin denies being “Ulsterman”, but it’s a pattern I’ve seen before on the internet: sites of ambiguous or obscure authorship that appear to know each other intimately, and which use citations to compensate for and distract from the fact that purported information being peddled cannot be traced back to any authoritative source. The hope is that the false impression of independent endorsements and of a wider conversation taking place will eventually lead to the information trickling up into the wider blogosphere or media. For that to happen, you need someone higher up the food-chain you can hoodwink or who doesn’t care a damn about what’s true or what’s false, just so long as it serves their interests. Step forward Pamela Geller.

Martin also has a website called “Martin Christian Ministries” (again posting as “Welshman”), where he advertises himself as a “Pastor, chaplain, evangelist, revival preacher”, who is available for “concerts, preaching, Bible conferences, all on a free-will, love-offering basis”.

I wonder if John Bolton ever feels embarrassed that his endorsement continues to appear on Geller’s website, or for providing a foreword for her anti-Obama book?

UPDATE: Robert Spencer is flirting with the same material; Christian Right newssite OneNewsNow reports:

Many critics think Obama is trying to use bin Laden’s demise as a way to prop up his credibility in the foreign policy arena.

“He’s certainly going to try,” notes Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer.

“He’s already taken credit for it, even though a series of revelations [has] come out now that indicates that he was quite reluctant to do it and that it was other people on his team, notably Leon Panetta, who were ultimately responsible for it. Nonetheless, he’s been taking credit for it and [will] continue to do so.”

There’s also an absurd coda:

…he points out that though Obama may have Islamic leanings, that does not mean he favors terrorism, as he may oppose it as a matter of principle.

So, although Obama may be a secret Muslim, he might not be a member of Al Qaeda. Right…

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A few times in recent weeks I’ve blogged on the subject of Nicholas Papanicolaou, a Greek-born businessman with an impressive CV. According to a blurb:

HSH Prince Grand Master Nicholas F. S. Papanicolaou Baron of Finlaystone Maxwell was born in 1949 in Greece. He completed his studies in Greece and got his economics degree at Harvard University and the degree of master of business management at University of Columbia in America.

HSH Nicholas F.S. Papanicolaou is the President of Lion Finance S.A. and Titan Capital Corporation… Earlier he held the posts of Chairman and Holder of control packet of shares of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd and president of the Athens Polo Club.

Papanicolaou is currently involved in three organisations of interest: the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations; the Knights Hospitallers of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, the Ecumenical Order (OSJ), of which he is current Grand Master, and the Oak Initiative. The OSJ also uses the name “Knights of Malta”, despite potential confusion with the well-known Roman Catholic order of that name.

The first of these organisations arranges high-level international conferences on inter-religious dialogue and has links to a Russian Orthodox organisation, while the second, like most “Chivalric Orders”, does charity work. Somewhat incongruously, however, the third is a vehicle for Rick Joyner, an apocalpytically-minded neo-Pentecostal player on the US Christian Right.

Joyner is also a member of the OSJ, and he has explained his involvement on his website: according to the story, Joyner made friends with Eugene Bird, who was formerly Rudolf Hess’s prison commandant. One day, Joyner asked Bird about the OSJ:

To my surprise Col. Bird told me that he had recently been knighted by this Order, and that I too had been recommended for investiture by an Austrian baron. He also told me about a spiritual renewal that was taking place in the OSJ, and that some of this had come about because of my books which were being read by the knights.

…The Austrian baron was already a believer in the prophetic, but he said that he had not seen anything on quite this level. This began a series of events that made Kurt Waldheim a believer as well. This was important for a significant prophetic/diplomatic meeting with one of the most powerful Arab leaders in the Middle East which would take place at a later date. This was when I first realized how some of the knights of the OSJ were being used for amazing spiritual-diplomatic achievements that were in the interest of the kingdom of God. 

Kurt Waldheim’s supposed conversion to neo-Pentecosalism appears to have eluded historians, as has Joyner’s claim that Bird also converted Hess, Albert Speer, and Baldur von Schirach. Even more bizarrely, Joyner recently boasted that Bird had introduced him to a man who had shown him Hitler’s secret burial place.

Within the OSJ, Joyner is listed as a mere “Deputy Member of the Supreme Council”; however, the Grand Chancellor is none other than General William “Jerry” Boykin. Boykin, who just yesterday shared a stage with Sarah Palin at an event in Colorado, is also involved with Joyner’s Oak Initiative, and he, Joyner, and Papanicolaou appeared together at a recent Oak Initiative Summit (also present was Alan Keyes, who called for Obama to be impeached). Further, at least one OSJ event has been held at the Heritage Grand Hotel in Fort Mill, SC. This is owned by Heritage International Ministries, which is run by Joyner’s MorningStar church; the site previously formed part of Jim Bakker’s doomed Heritage USA project, and Bakker is a friend of Joyner. Joyner has also featured Papanicolaou on his religious TV programme.

In turn, Joyner and some associates attended the World Public Forum in 2009 to take part in a panel on “Tradition and Modernization”: according to the schedule, Joyner, “Bishop Gregory Holly”, Bob Weiner, and Louis Sheldon shared the programme with various mainline religious figures and academics. “Holly” is actually Archbishop Gregory Holley, who has a website here; he is ordained into a group called “Independent Christian Churches International”. Weiner was the man behind the authoritarian Maranatha Ministries of the 1980s; this group collapsed amid recriminations at the end of the decade, although some of the figures associated with it have since re-emerged as a group of churches called Every Nation (blogged by me here, here, and here) Louis P. Sheldon heads the Traditional Values Coalition, which is known for anti-gay activism.

Papanicolaou has recently created a YouTube channel and posted a couple of short videos explaining the work of the World Public Forum and of the OSJ. In these videos, he emphasises the WPF’s inter-religious work, and how the OSJ helps all people around the world without discrimination, including “Muslims in need”. He adds that the OSJ also speaks out on behalf of persecuted Christians in Muslim countries.

His videos, however, do not discuss either the Oak Initiative or his new book Islam vs the United States, which is published by the Oak Initiative’s Oak Leaves Press. According to the blurb:

This book examines the historical, koranic, cultural, political and all-conquering character of many of the followers of Islam. It also exposes the strategic plan of the Muslim Brotherhood for the USA and the as yet unfulfilled obligations of Islamic States under the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, even, the very charter of the Organization of Islamic Conference and its fifty six member states. It concludes with a direct analogy and historical precedent to controlling radical Islam today as an all-encompassing way-of-life, namely the elimination of state Shintoism in Japan under the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies in 1945. 

Boykin famously regards Islam at satanic, and while speaking at the Oak Initiative Summit he declared that Muslims “curse Jesus” when they pray. Joyner’s views are of the same kind. One would think that a serious interest in the objectives of World Public Forum would be incompatible with support for the Oak Initiative’s aggressive anti-Islam and anti-intellectual fundamentalism. That’s a video worth making to explain.

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Oh dear:

The Associated Press has retracted a photograph released late Sunday night purporting to show the dead body of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

AP announced that it cannot independently verify that the person in the photo is Osama bin Laden nor can it confirm the source.

The photo was prominently displayed by the Daily Mail‘s front page until about half an hour ago (unfortunately I didn’t get a screenshot), although it has now been quietly removed.

However, it wasn’t “released late Sunday night” – running the bogus image through the TinEye image search engine shows that it has been kicking around on conspiracy websites since at least November 2010; the AP and the Daily Mail should have been able to perform such a basic fact-check.

I suppose we should be grateful they didn’t fall for the photo here.

UPDATE: Tabloid Watch has a more comprehensive post, documented with screenshots. The Daily Mail, the Sun, the Mirror, and the Telegraph have all carried the photo, which in fact can be dated to at least 2009.

Meanwhile, Jared Earle, who alerted journalists to the fakery on Twitter, notes that the elements showing Bin Laden’s face are from an old photo, while Nick Cantle points out that the injuries come from a picture of a dead insurgent.

(H/T to Gen JC Christian)

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As has been widely noted, next week will see Sarah Palin taking the stage with General William “Jerry Boykin” at Colorado Christian University:

Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin will be the keynote speaker for Tribute to the Troops, a military and veterans appreciation rally at Colorado Christian University on May 2, 2011.

The rally will be held at CCU’s Lakewood Event Center. Also featured is Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, as well as cameos with members of all branches of the US Armed Forces.

Boykin gets around – a couple of weeks he was sharing a stage with Alan Keyes and neo-Pentecostal revivalist Rick Joyner to explain how Muslims “curse Jesus” when they pray (I’ve noted Boykin’s links to Joyner several times on this blog; Boykin is “Grand Chancellor” of a strange “chivalric order” of which Joyner is a member).

The “Tribute to the Troops” event is being organised by the Centennial Institute, a think-tank established at the university in 2009. Its president is former Colorado Senate President John Andrews:

John Andrews is Director of the Centennial Institute and a CCU cabinet member, as well as a Denver Post columnist and a TV/radio commentator. He was previously president of the Colorado Senate, chairman of the State Policy Network, and director of TCI Cable News. He has also served on a foreign scholarships commission for President George W. Bush, was a speechwriter for President Nixon and an education appointee under President Reagan, and founded the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden, Colorado.

Andrews also runs the “Backbone America Citizens Alliance”.

Boykin has spoken at CCU previously; according to an article by Andrews in the Centennial Review newsletter:

The Sharia Awareness Project, a campus lecture series, began when Centennial Institute opened its doors in 2009. Speakers have included John Guandolo, Brigitte Gabriel, Tawfik Hamid, Kamal Saleem, and Imam Karim Abuzaid, along with three lectures by Gen. Boykin.

Boykin, it should be recalled, contributed to the report Shariah: The Threat to America, published by Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy.

Andrews’ article complements a piece from Boykin, and he also has a warning about Muslims in America:

…when the question is asked, “Can a good Muslim be a good American?” we are inclined to say, “Of course, why not? “But if a good American is defined as one who gives high-est earthly allegiance to the Constitution with all its rights, liberties, representative institutions, and limitations upon government – and if a good Muslim is defined as one who gives highest earthly allegiance to the Koran with its absolutist code of Sharia law proclaimed as supreme above any civil law – the answer is not so simple. When you reason from those definitions, a clash of loyalties, potentially irreconcilable, becomes evident.

Jason Salzman of the Huffington Post called up Andrews and asked him about his use of the question-mark:

…I asked Andrews about whether it was true, what Andrews himself wrote in his Institute’s publication, that “the answer is not so simple” to the question, “Can a good Muslim be a good American?”

I told him that maybe I was reading too much into his statement, and did he really mean it? His use of the word “can,” I thought, left open the possibility that no Muslim could be a good American. Does Andrews really believe this?

“I’m not going to expand on what I wrote or comment further on what the general wrote,” he told me. “Both articles speak for themselves. They attempt to challenge thinking. I believe that’s one of the functions of any university. Some universities are better at challenging thinking in one direction. Some are better at challenging thinking in another.”

…Andrews said he told Palin’s staff that CCU’s Centennial Institute has worked several times with a “distinguished retired general” and wanted him to be part of the “uniformed services element” of the program, and Palin’s staff accepted this. It was agreed that Boykin’s remarks, as well as Palin’s, would be nonpolitical, Andrews said, adding that Boykin’s theme will be the sacrifice required to serve in the armed forces.

Incidentally, Boykin and Palin share the same ghost-writer, Lynne Vincent. Vincent has come to wider notice recently due to the success of Heaven is for Real, a book I discussed here.

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