You could be honest, loyal, hard-working and supremely competent at what you do. Or, in the alternative, you could become a Raving Fundamentalist Christian Warrior Crusading Against the Dark Forces of the Universe:

WASHINGTON – A Senate Republican wants an Army general who drew criticism for church speeches casting the war on terrorism in religious terms to lead the U.S. special operations command.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., recommended Lt. Gen. William G. (Jerry) Boykin, currently the
Pentagon’s deputy undersecretary for intelligence, for the post at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.

The current commander, Army Gen. Bryan “Doug” Brown, is retiring, and the Pentagon has not filled the job.

“I am told, and I believe it to be true, that no special operations officer currently on active duty is more highly respected or admired by his superiors, peers or subordinates alike, than Jerry Boykin,” Allen wrote in the letter dated March 31 and obtained by The Associated Press.

Of course, I’m sure it also helps to have as your patrone a Senator vying for the Republican Party’s 2008 Presidential Nomination, George Allen of Virginia. I think getting the fundies favorite general a promotion just might help Georgie boy secure their votes come the 2008 primary season, don’t you?

For a reminder of the sort of officer General Boykin is, follow me below the fold . . .

In 2003, Boykin gave speeches at evangelical Christian churches in which he painted the war on terror as a Christian fight against Satan and suggested that Muslims worship idols. Boykin later apologized for his characterizations as conservatives rushed to defend him.

A Pentagon investigation the following year found that Boykin violated regulations by failing to make clear he was not speaking in an official capacity when he made the speeches, sometimes wearing his Army uniform. The probe also found Boykin violated Pentagon rules by failing to obtain advance clearance for his remarks.

Here’s some more choice remarks made by General Boykin:

Yet the former commander and 13-year veteran of the Army’s top-secret Delta Force is also an outspoken evangelical Christian who appeared in dress uniform and polished jump boots before a religious group in Oregon in June to declare that radical Islamists hated the United States “because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian … and the enemy is a guy named Satan.”

Discussing the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, Boykin told another audience, “I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.”

“We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this,” Boykin said last year.

On at least one occasion, in Sandy, Ore., in June, Boykin said of President Bush: “He’s in the White House because God put him there.”

So, Boykin is a rule-breaker of the first rank, and a religious zealot extraodinaire who believes Bush was annointed by God to lead our nation. A General who will shoot his mouth off whenever he feels like it. Not only that, he’s a general who openly compares our misadventure in Iraq as a war against the forces of Satan. Not exactly the sort of hothead I’d like to see leading the US Special Operations Command, considering how prominent a role special ops forces play in Bush’s Greater War on Terror. You would think the last thing we need is the appointment of a man to a position where he commands forces in the field directed against Islamic terrorists, jihadists and other targets in the Middle east. Sort of adds fuel to the fire of Arab and Muslim resentment towards the US, don’t you think?

But then, with Republicans, it’s always about their own personal political gain. George Allen is no different than any of the rest of them chasing after the support of the religious right. What’s good for the nation is not their primary concern.