Is Pentagon Islam Law expert Stephen Coughlin under attack by DoD Islamists?

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Is Pentagon Islam Law expert Stephen Coughlin under assault from DoD Islamists?

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. As Coughlin told me by phone, he certainly did not go out of his way to contact Gertz. So, the question remains, who did? 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.