Osama bin Laden, but some Christians question how they should feel
about the execution.
A division of Rick Scarborough’s Vision America Action, Save
America … S.T.O.P. Obama Tyranny National Coalition, held a
conference call Thursday with special guests, retired Lt. Gen.
William G. “Jerry” Boykin (pictured to the left) and Frank Gaffney, founder and
president of the Center for Security Policy.
The question many people have is: How much credit can President
Barack Obama take for this? Boykin, an original member of Delta Force
and former Commander of all the Army’s Special Forces, answered: “Obama
made, I think, a bold decision. … I give the president credit for
having made the right decision and showing what I think was probably
some leadership that I had not seen.
“I also think we need to recognize that all of this intelligence
really began under Bush,” he said. “In some ways I think the Bush
administration should feel vindicated in terms of the enhanced
interrogation techniques.”
A debate broke out when a listener asked what Scriptural and
constitutional authority gives the U.S. government the right to kill
bin Laden, who was never convicted in a court of law. Boykin and
Gaffney seemed to agree on the matter.
“I don’t hold myself out as an expert on the Scriptures, but my belief is that there is abundant basis for
just war, and that’s what we’re in,” Gaffney relpied. “[Bin Laden] was an admitted
perpetrator of an act of war against our country. … In this case I
think he certainly got his justice.”
Although Congress has not officially declared a war, Boykin argued
that we must look at this as a war. He explained: “The Congress has
not declared war, but in reality we are at war, and it’s time for
us to understand that we’re at war and that all
Americans need to be involved in this war.
“Osama bin Laden [was] an enemy combatant who is responsible for
the death of thousands of Americans, as well as tens of thousands of
Muslims around the world. From a Scriptural perspective, I find no
inconsistencies with the concept of just war and killing in wartime.”
Boykin also addressed the heroism of the Navy SEALs in the
execution of bin Laden.
“Nothing is executed flawlessly—that just doesn’t happen.
But they probably came as close to anything that we’ve seen in
recent history in terms of an operation that went real smoothly,”
Boykin said. “It was bold [and] audacious.”
Boykin said that the particular team in charge of the
operation, SEAL Team Six, is a specialized force that was created
after a failed attempt to rescue American hostages in 1980. “They
are unique among the SEALs in that they have specialized equipment
[and] specialized training, and they have a degree of security
associated with them you don’t find with the normal SEALs,” he
explained.
Boykin also talked about how the military tracked down bin Laden,
who communicated solely through couriers. “That was eventually his
weak point, as we ultimately identified one of his couriers and were
then able to surveil that courier both electronically, as well as
with human intelligence,” he said.
Although some Christians feel conflicted in not knowing whether to
rejoice over bin Laden’s death, Boykin said: “I’m like all
Americans; I am just absolutely elated. I think this is a great
psychological win for America and really for the western world.”
Gaffney said: “I think this is a moment of great satisfaction—a
great sense of pride that we all feel in terms of the ability of our
military personnel to do this job as brilliantly as they did, [and
also] a sense of painful regret that it took as long as it did to get
that job done.”
Although Boykin and Gaffney agreed that bin Laden’s death is a
cause for celebration, neither think this will bring an end to the
war on terrorism.
“I hope we do not make the mistake of declaring victory and
thinking this is going to bring an end to the war on terror or reduce
the threat of terrorism against America and the rest of the world,”
Boykin warned. “It has had a devastating psychological impact on
the al-Qaida affiliates, as well as the Muslim brotherhood and other
Islamists, but in the end we need to remember that they are driven by
a 1,400-year theology. They’re not going to be deterred from this;
this is a minor setback for them.”
“Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s over [and] that the
elimination of this particular individual has ended al-Qaida,”
Gaffney said.
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