GOD 'PUT BUSH IN CHARGE'

God has chosen US President George Bush to lead the United States and the
fight against 'Satan', according to the general leading the hunt for Osama
bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Lt Gen William Boykin also claimed that the
Christian God is "bigger" than Allah, who is a false "idol", the Daily
Telegraph reported.

Gen Boykin, a 13-year member of Delta Force, was promoted this summer and is
responsible for speeding the flow of top-secret intelligence to commandos
hunting bin Laden and the former Iraqi leader. Investigative reporters from
the Los Angeles Times and NBC television claimed Gen Boykin had repeatedly
told Christian groups and prayer meetings that President George Bush was
chosen by God to lead the global fight against Satan.

He told one gathering: ""Why is this man in the White House? The majority of
Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning
that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as
this."

Describing America's fight with Islamic extremists, Boykin also said, "The
enemy is a spiritual enemy. He's called the principality of darkness. The
enemy is a guy called Satan."

In January, he told Baptists in Florida about a victory over a Muslim
warlord in Somalia, who had boasted that Allah would protect him from
American capture. "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was
a real god and his was an idol," Gen Boykin said.

Several key members of Mr Bush's administration, including the president,
are Christian conservatives. Boykin has a long military record and has been
involved in noteworthy covert operations in the past. Boykin took part in
the failed mission by the Army's elite Delta Force to rescue American
hostages in Iran in 1980, searched for Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar
in 1992, and commanded the 1993 raid in Somalia in which U.S. troops were
ambushed in Mogadishu and commanded Army Special Forces.

(combined reports from SKY News & Reuters, Friday October 17, 2003)