Mikey needs to get a life.
Via Army Times:
A prayer breakfast at Fort Riley set for Monday as part of 1st Infantry Division’s “Victory Week” celebration has been rescheduled, and the retired three-star general who’d been invited to speak — and whose invitation to a similar event at West Point in 2012 met with fierce opposition — won’t be asked back.
Retired Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, a 36-year Army veteran and longtime member of the special operations community, was to address the morning gathering at the Kansas base, but “due to a number of scheduling conflicts … the breakfast will be rescheduled for a later date,” 1st ID spokesman Master Sgt. Mike Lavigne said in a Wednesday email.
The day before, Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder Mikey Weinstein sent multiple emails to 1st ID commander Maj. Gen. Wayne Grigsby on behalf of his advocacy group, demanding the leader “immediately withdraw” Boykin’s invitation. Weinstein’s email included a report from another MRFF staffer on Boykin that brought up, among other issues:
The general’s statements while in uniform comparing the global war on terrorism to a holy war against Satan.
Widely reported remarks, also during his time in service, that he had confidence in an engagement with enemy forces led by a Somali warlord because “I knew my God was bigger than his.”
Statements made after his retirement claiming Islam is “not just a religion, it’s a totalitarian way of life” and should not receive protection under the First Amendment.Boykin, now an executive vice president with the conservative Family Research Council, could not immediately be reached for comment.
All of the above issues were know before Boykin was invited to speak at a prayer breakfast at the U.S. Military Academy in 2012, an invitation that earned scorn from the MRFF, veterans groups such as VoteVets.org, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. While the academy never rescinded the invite, Boykin pulled out of the event about a week before it took place.[…]
All of the above issues were know before Boykin was invited to speak at a prayer breakfast at the U.S. Military Academy in 2012, an invitation that earned scorn from the MRFF, veterans groups such as VoteVets.org, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. While the academy never rescinded the invite, Boykin pulled out of the event about a week before it took place.
“I have clients of ours weeping on the phone about this,” he said. “[Army officials] have not admitted any fault. They don’t indicate that they are going to investigate how this travesty, this unconstitutional travesty, happened, or their willingness to punish [those involved] to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And we want all those things.”
HT: TAH