Coughlin sacked
Washington Times
By Bill Gertz
January 4, 2008
Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military’s Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.
Mr. Coughlin was notified this week that his contract with the Joint Staff will end in March, effectively halting the career of one of the U.S. government’s most important figures in analyzing the nature of extremism and ultimately preparing to wage ideological war against it.
He had run afoul of a key aide to Mr. England, Hasham Islam, who confronted Mr. Coughlin during a meeting several weeks ago when Mr. Islam sought to have Mr. Coughlin soften his views on Islamist extremism.
Mr. Coughlin was accused directly by Mr. Islam of being a Christian zealot or extremist “with a pen,” according to defense officials. Mr. Coughlin appears to have become one of the first casualties in the war of ideas with Islamism.
The officials said Mr. Coughlin was let go because he had become “too hot” or controversial within the Pentagon.
Misguided Pentagon officials, including Mr. Islam and Mr. England, have initiated an aggressive “outreach” program to U.S. Muslim groups that critics say is lending credibility to what has been identified as a budding support network for Islamist extremists, including front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr. Coughlin wrote a memorandum several months ago based on documents made public in a federal trial in Dallas that revealed a covert plan by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-origin Islamist extremist group, to subvert the United States using front groups. Members of one of the identified front groups, the Islamic Society of North America, has been hosted by Mr. England at the Pentagon.
After word of the confrontation between Mr. Coughlin and Mr. Islam was made public, support for Mr. Coughlin skyrocketed among those in and out of government who feared the worst, namely that pro-Muslim officials in the Pentagon were after Mr. Coughlin’s scalp, and that his departure would be a major setback for the Pentagon’s struggling efforts to develop a war of ideas against extremism.
This is from December 28th
“Pro-Muslim officials at the Pentagon are putting political pressure on one of the U.S. military’s most important specialists on Islamist extremism, according to defense officials….” “There is also evidence that a whispering campaign is under way to try and discredit Mr. (Steve) Coughlin…” …from Washington Times
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Wild Thing’s comment……..
UNFREAKINGBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Coughlin wrote a memorandum several months ago based on documents made public in a federal trial in Dallas that revealed a covert plan by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-origin Islamist extremist group, to subvert the United States using front groups. Members of one of the identified front groups, the Islamic Society of North America, has been hosted by Mr. England at the Pentagon.
Well, now, we can’t have anyone revealing the truth, can we? Islam is not going to have to attack us with force again – they will literally have infiltrated and taken over all of our institutions within about 10 years.
This is not a small matter. We are never going to win this war if we refuse to look at the truth and correctly identify the enemy. Not only that, but we are allowing that very enemy to dictate the parameters of discussion deep within the bowels of our own military establishment!
This bodes ill for America. This is very, very bad!!
NOTE this as well:
American Congress for Truth
comment by Jerry Gordon
Stephen Coughlin is the Islam Law ‘go to guy’ on the Pentagon Joint Staff. Coughlin is the author of a brief on Islamic law and Jihadist doctrine that has recently been cleared by both the Joint Staff and DIA for publication. I have copies of Coughlin’s documents and they are both informative and clearly delineate the canon of Poltical Islam that drives and compels Jihad among Muslim adherents.
In today’s Washington Times “Inside the Ring” column of Bill Gertz, there is disclosure of an alleged effort by an aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England, Hasham Islam, to have Coughlin ‘ease up’ on his criticism of Islam. Why? Because Hasham Islam, is endeavoring to protect an effort by his boss, Deputy Secretary England, to reach out to the American Muslim community.
This includes a meeting in Apri, 2007 with an unindicted co-conspirator cited in the recent Federal Dallas Holy Land Foundation trial, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Coughlin’s brief and paper are based on public citations, including the Koran, Hadiths, and legal rulings and are cast in a presentation on Political Islam and what drives the Jihadis. Some senior Joint staff officers privately agree that Coughlin’s briefings make sense. Unit commanders from the battalion through brigade levels with experience in both Iraq and Afghanistan who have read or heard Coughlin’s presentations agree with his conclusions.
Apparently, Deputy Defense Secretary England hasn’t had the opportunity to review Coughlin’s brief. But then he has Hasham Islam running interference- a bit of irony, that. Because Coughlin has gone out of his way to raise concerns about England’s meeting earlier this year with officials of the ISNA, a Muslim Brotherhood front group in the US, Hasham Islam is out to some how get Coughlin by fair means or foul.
That means that the Islamists are inside the Pentagon. But then Hasham Islam has a privileged perch in the executive or E-ring inside England’s office.
In January, 2007, Deputy Secretary England was at the Herzliya Conference in Israel, where he received the Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson Distinguished Service Award from the The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). In his acceptance speech entitled, ‘Freedom is Never More Than One Generation Away From Extinction’, England drew attention at one point to his outreach to the American Muslim community. He noted:
It’s also not a question of religion or nationality. I’ve spent some time reaching out to Muslim-American communities, who are woven in an absolutely integral way into the diverse fabric of American life. It turns out that Muslim-Americans – who come from many different national backgrounds and sects – are, on the whole, more successful economically than the average U.S. population.
This matter of possible infiltration of Islamists inside the No. 2 Defense position raises some concern about the obsessive politically correct DoD. Let us ask ourselves a question. Does the Deputy Secretary have outreach officers on his staff to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, B’Hai, Zoroastrians, Wiccans and garden variety atheists? Assuming the answer is no, then clearly he is bending over backwards to address complaints from Muslim Brotherhood front groups. Pity. He just might have to give back that Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson award that JINSA gave him in Israel.
Bill Gertz, Inside the Ring, The Washington Times, December 28, 2007
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