Adel Al-Jubeir, a foreign policy advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, told reporters in Washington on Friday that Boykin's comments were "outrageous" and "certainly unbecoming of a senior government official."
White House spokesman Trent Duffy, asked to comment on the general's remarks, referred questions to the Pentagon. Duffy noted that Bush has said the United States is not at war with Islam.
Boykin spent much of Friday with Pentagon lawyers and public relations officials fashioning his statement. One official said he had seen five versions of the statement, which was released in Washington at 6:45 p.m.
Boykin's earlier comments brought new criticism from Democratic presidential candidates.
Addressing the Arab American Institute in Dearborn, Mich., Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut called on Bush to condemn Boykin's "hateful remarks."
"The war on terrorism is a war on terrorists, not on religions," he said. "The Bush administration, which claims to understand that, needs to condemn anyone who says otherwise."
Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts told the same gathering that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld "needs to go."
Eugene Fidell, a military law specialist in Washington, said he was unaware of any law or rule that Boykin had broken. But he said the general's comments posed a "management problem" for Boykin's superiors because they appeared to reflect "profoundly poor judgment."
"Can this genie be gotten back in the bottle, in terms of its effect on foreign listeners?" he asked. "What to do is a challenge."
In his 33-year military career, Boykin has been involved in some well-known special forces operations.
Among them were the abortive attempt to rescue Americans held hostage in Iran in 1979, and the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia. In the 1970s, he was one of the first officers to be part of the famed Delta Force commando organization.
Rumsfeld declined to comment Thursday on Boykin's reported remarks, saying he had not read them. He praised Boykin's "outstanding record" as a military officer.
Though one American Muslim group called for Boykin's resignation Thursday, Boykin's comments did not draw much media attention in the Arab world Friday.
Several newspapers in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Kuwait reported his statements without commentary or analysis. In Baghdad, few papers publish on what is the Islamic holy day.
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Times staff writer Greg Miller contributed to this report.
