In speeches and comments, Lt. Gen. William Boykin has shown what critics say is a clear disdain for the Islamic faith. Now Boykin, a top intelligence official in the Defense Department, has been linked to controversial recommendations for prying more information out of Muslim detainees at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.

The fundamentalist Christian, who is deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, should have been removed from his post after his religious views came to light last fall, an expert on Christian-Muslim relations says.

"I'm amazed, given that we have such horrible press overseas and are spending hundreds of millions of dollars for propaganda, that President Bush would keep somebody who is definitely anti-Muslim and who possibly is in charge of interrogations," said Yvonne Haddad, a professor at Georgetown University.

In the chain of command, Boykin ranks above military intelligence officers in Iraq, some of whom have been implicated in the abuse scandal. His name briefly surfaced at Tuesday's hearing when discussion turned to a report by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller on ways to improve intelligence-gathering at Abu Ghraib.

The report recommended that military police work closely with military intelligence officers in getting information from detainees that could be used to fight the anti-American insurgency. MPs should be "actively engaged in setting the conditions for successful interrogation and exploitation" of prisoners, the report said.