"I am not anti-Islam or any other religion... I support the free exercise of all religions," Boykin said

WASHINGTON , October 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A highly decorated top Pentagon general apologized for his anti-Islam remarks, which triggered strong criticisms from Muslim and Christian groups, arguing his remarks "had been taken out of context."

"I am not anti-Islam or any other religion... I support the free exercise of all religions," Evangelical Christian Lieutenant-General William Boykin, the new deputy undersecretary of defense, was quoted Saturday, October 18, by the BBC News Online as having said in a written statement.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Defense Department lawyers, public affairs officials and others were meeting Friday, October 17, to try to figure out whether Boykin’s pledge to curtail speech-making would be enough to calm the storm of criticism.

Boykin told an evangelical Oregon group on the third day of his nomination to the new post in June that Muslims’ God " was an idol."

Speaking about a Muslim fighter in Somalia , General Boykin had said: "My God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."

Backtracking on the remarks, he said his "comments to Osman Otto in Mogadishu were not referencing his worship of Allah but his worship of money and power; idolatry. He was a corrupt man, not a follower of Islam."

Excerpts and videotapes of his speeches around the country were first made public last week by The Los Angeles Times and NBC News.

He also underlined that the U.S.-led war on terrorism was a battle with Satan and "our spiritual enemy will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus".

The three-star general argued he was neither "a zealot nor an extremist; only a soldier who has an abiding faith."

"I do believe that radical extremists have tried to use Islam as a cause for attacks on America . As I have stated before, they are not true followers of Islam," the New York Times quoted him as saying.

Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the general had pledged to tone down his public remarks, though there was no such pledge in his written statement, the Times added.

Top U.S. defense officials had declined to criticize General Boykin, but the row clearly embarrassed the Pentagon and the Bush administration.

Critics said the remarks could undermine a more than two-year efforts by the Bush

administration to promote good relations with Muslims in America , as

well as play into the hands of those casting the counter-terror war as an attack on Islam.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused to say whether he would take any action against Boykin or was even reviewing the comments.

"Whatever he said was in a private capacity," Rumsfeld told reporters.

For his part, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers said "there is a very wide gray area on what the rules permit" but "at first blush, it doesn't look like any rules were broken."

General Boykin’s remarks came under fire Friday, October 17, from inter-faith groups and Muslim advocacy watchdogs.

The Washington-based Interfaith Alliance wrote to U.S. President George W. Bush that Boykin's remarks "fly in the face of the pleas of the president and violate the basic principles of tolerance and inclusion that are implicit in the culture of this nation."

Peter Pelz of the Soul of Europe told IslamOnline.net that said such "outrageous" remarks "will not help improve our relations with Muslims at all."