Diary: Establishing an "Embassy of God" in Somalia

Lt. Gen. William G. ("Jerry") Boykin, the neo-crusading Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence who once stated in uniform before a Christian fundamentalist congregation that "the god of a Muslim [Somali] warlord was 'an idol' and that 'my God was a real God," reportedly ordered an attack on chiefly Muslim Somalia as a way of helping his fellow neo-Crusaders in the Ethiopian embassy in Washington. Boykin, his fellow Pentagon fundamentalists, and Ethiopian diplomats are heavily involved in the activities of the Christian Embassy, an entity that seeks to convert U.S. and foreign military officers, top politicians in the U.S. and abroad, and foreign diplomats and their wives who are assigned to Washington. It is expected that Boykin will soon follow his boss, arch-neo-con Stephen Cambone, out of the Pentagon soon as part of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' housecleaning. A top official of the Ethiopian opposition to Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi, a favorite of the Pentagon Christian fundamentalists, stated that there were never any "Al Qaeda" forces in Somalia and that the attack on that nation was a way for the Bush administration to militarily support Meles, whose army invaded Somalia a few weeks ago. This morning, the Bush administration admitted that no "Al Qaeda" suspects had been killed in US attacks on Somalia. However, Ethiopian opposition sources claim "thousands" of Somali civilians, including children, have been killed in the U.S. military campaign.