The threat of a global holy war

One of the worst thing that could happen is an escalation of the U.S. “war on terror” into a global war between Christendom and Islam.  That is the goal of al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS).

If it happened, the United States and much of Europe would become as beleaguered as Israel is today.  The devastation that has been visited on Gaza, Palestine, Iraq, Libya and Syria would be spread to the whole world.

That is why Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were careful to distinguish jihadist terrorists from Muslims in general.

Unfortunately, there are Americans, such as Lt. General (ret) William “Jerry” Boykin, who don’t.

President Bush fired him in 2007 from his post as deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence for saying that the United States is in a holy war of Christian crusaders against Muslim jihadists.  Even though Boykin was a brave and patriotic soldier, Bush acted in the best interests of the United States.

Boykin has endorsed Ted Cruz for President, and Cruz has appointed him as one of his top advisers.  I think Cruz also wants to make the “war on terror” a religious war.

Cruz has said some sensible things about U.S. foreign policy.  As he correctly points out, it was inconsistent for the U.S. government to destroy or attempt to destroy stable governments in the Middle East, such as Iraq, Libya and Syria, that were and are enemies of Al Qaeda and ISIS.

He opposes the arming of Syrian rebels because, as he rightly says, the weapons end up in the hands of ISIS and Al Qaeda.   Instead he favors concentrating on fighting ISIS and Al Qeada.

In and of itself, this would be better than our current policy.  But Cruz also advocates a policy of torture and indiscriminate killing, which would cause great suffering to harmless people and convert peaceful Muslims into radical jihadists.

Everything Cruz says indicates that he regards Islam as a whole as an enemy of Christianity and Judaism.  He says the United States is a Christian nation, not in the sense of affirming the Christian moral values of justice, mercy and forgiveness, but as one in which non-Christians (except for Jews) should have no say.

The United States government, for its own sake as well as the world’s, should pull back from its attempt to dominate the Greater Middle East and its bombings and “targeted” killings in majority Muslim nations.  A President Ted Cruz would draw the United States even deeper into war.

An even worse possible outcome of the 2016 U.S. election would be the election of Donald Trump as President and Ted Cruz as Vice-President—a less competent version of George W. Bush guided by an even more sinister version of Dick Cheney.

I hope there are leaders in the Muslim world who distinguish between Christians in general and the militarist faction that controls U.S. foreign policy—although I admit that I as an American citizen have more responsibility for the deeds of the U.S. government than any ordinary person in Iraq or Syria has over ISIS and Al Qaeda.

LINKS

Wikipedia article on William G. Boykin.

Jerry Boykin Endorses Ted Cruz by Ed Brayton for Patheos.

Ted Cruz Appoints Crusader General Jerry Boykin as Foreign Policy Advisor on Daily Kos.

Meet the Hit-Squad ‘Holy Warrior’ Campaigning for Ted Cruz by Asawin Seubsaeng for The Daily Beast.

Ted Cruz Is Shaky on Foreign Policy by Ivan Eland for Antiwar.com.

 

Tags: al Qaeda, American crusaders, Christendom, Crusaders, General Jerry Boykin, Holy War, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Ted Cruz, William G. Boykin