May 21, 2004  |  By: ADRIAN BRUNE  | COMMENTS     

A conservative leader has pinned blame for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib and the subsequent beheading of businessman Nick Berg on gays getting married and serving in the military, among other acts of American “decadence.”

Writing for WorldNetDaily.com, a site for religious conservatives, Robert Knight of the Culture & Family Institute said the United States has arrived at the “perfect storm” of cultural depravity, which has come to a “deadly nexus in Iraq.”

He specifically targeted the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the recent enactment of gay marriage and the promotion of homosexuality in schools as policies that are putting Americans all over the world at risk for terrorism, along with the presence of women in combat roles in the military.

The comments by Knight, a longtime foe of gay rights, hearken back to the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, when Rev. Jerry Falwell ascribed the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center to “the pagans, the abortionists, and the feminists and the gays and lesbians.” Falwell also frequently contributes to WorldNetDaily.com.

Knight also blamed increasing tolerance toward gays in his column about the Iraqi prison abuse and Muslim hatred of the U.S.

“We were told homosexuality is harmless and normal, and the military should live with a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy that allows homosexuals to stay in the barracks. We were told that men ‘marrying’ men and women ‘marrying’ women is inevitable not only for America, but for the world,” wrote Knight, whose Culture & Family Institute is part of Phyllis Schafly’s Concerned Women for America.

“Imagine how those images of men kissing men outside San Francisco City Hall after being ‘married’ play in the Muslim world. We couldn’t offer the mullahs a more perfect picture of American decadence. Businessman Nick Berg, who was beheaded by a group claiming revenge over the prison abuses, is the first victim, and we can only pray he will be the last,” Knight wrote.

White House mum
“Robert Knight is way off base,” said Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a litigation group that assists personnel under investigation for being gay. “This is not about gays, integration of women or pornography. This is about a few soldiers in Iraq who committed deplorable abuse toward the prisoners entrusted to their care.”

President Bush acted swiftly to criticize Falwell’s post-9/11 remarks on Rev. Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” remarks in 2001, calling them “inappropriate” and saying the president did not share Falwell’s views. However, at press time, the White House had not returned repeated calls for comment on Knight’s editorial, which also addressed at length Americans’ duty to ask God for forgiveness and guidance in how to restore moral order.

Like Falwell, Knight did not limit his criticism to gays. He also censured the military for putting women into combat areas, saying the photo of an American female soldier leering at naked Iraqi men stimulated recruitment for the suicide-bombing training camps. Then, he charged the porn industry with providing soldiers with the idea to engage in the “sadomasochistic activity” at Abu Ghraib.

“None of this happened by accident,” Knight said. “It is directly due to cultural depravity advanced in the name of progress and amplified by a sensation-hungry media.”

In addition to encouraging “normal Americans to get on their knees and asking for God’s forgiveness for letting it get this bad,” Knight recommended they demand governments enforce the military’s ban on homosexuality, withdraw all female personnel from combat areas and stamp out the open use of pornography in the military.

Knight also called for the strengthening of state and federal marriage laws and the cessation of civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Before coming to Washington, Knight wrote for the Los Angeles Times for seven years and was a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has also worked for the Maryland Gazette and the Annapolis Evening Capital as a reporter.