Firing of Islam Expert Decried

by Kenneth R. Timmerman, NewsMax: The firing of the Pentagon’s only resident expert on Islamic law, Maj. Stephen Coughlin, has begun to attract the attention of key members of Congress and the White House, which has launched a “fact-finding” mission into the case, . . . Coughlin, of the U.S. Army Reserves, was on contract to the Joint Chiefs of Staff to brief U.S. commanders en route to Iraq, as well as officers at various staff colleges around the country, on the role of Islamic teachings in the mind of America’s enemies. His contract was terminated several weeks ago after an encounter with a top aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England . . .

The aide, Hesham Islam, is an Egyptian-born former U.S. Navy officer, who joined England’s staff while he was secretary of the Navy in 2001 and moved with him when England was promoted to the Pentagon’s No. 2 slot. Heshem Islam encouraged England to address the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) last fall, even though federal prosecutors had named the group as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terrorism funding case last year. Coughlin aroused the ire of Mr. Islam and others in September by authoring an analysis of a Muslim Brotherhood document entered into evidence in the Justice Department’s case against the Holy Land Foundation. In addition to naming ISNA . . . as members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s network in the United States, the Muslim Brotherhood document stated that its members "must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within… It is a Muslim’s destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes."

. . . Rep. Sue Myrick, R-NC, . . . said last week that she was examining the possibility of holding congressional oversight hearings on Coughlin’s dismissal. . . . Myrick said. “This sounds like another example of someone protecting national security and being told to shut up, . . . If we don’t get over being politically correct, we won’t be here as a country.” Myrick co-chairs the bi-partisan House Anti-Terrorism Caucus with Rep. Jane Harmon, D-CA, which she started last year out of frustration that no one was educating the American people about the threat from Islamo-fascism. “President Bush does not talk to the American people about the long-term threat of radical islamofascism infiltration in America,” she said. . . .

Officers who have listened to Coughlin’s presentation on the Islamic underpinnings of the jihadist movement have come to his aid. “The termination of Stephen Coughlin on the Joint Staff is an act of intellectual cowardice,” Lt. Col. Joseph C. Myers, Army adviser to the Air Command and Staff College, . . . “Coughlin has briefed senior Marine Corps leaders and staff and has presented his thesis in various military education venues . . . . We have spent much intellectual capital revamping and analyzing our own doctrine as it relates to counterinsurgency. It’s time we do our homework on the threat,” . . . Former Army intelligence officer Jerome Gordon. . . told Newsmax that Hesham Islam is not Coughlin’s only enemy. “If there is a cabal that is opposing him, it’s in the military intelligence community . . . Clearly, they have been cowed by the significant entrée provided by the U.S. government to leaders of Muslim Brotherhood fronts here in America.” . . .

Dr. Walid Phares, director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, believes that Coughlin’s firing lies “at a very serious fault line” in U.S. defense strategies. “I don't understand why is there so much intellectual commotion about this matter in the West and in the US.,” . . . “Muslim scholars and historians agree that the theological texts have also a military dimension. In Islamic studies there is no debate about that. So why is there one in non-Muslim research and political circles, particularly in America? Major Coughlin was studying the texts used by the Jihadists to call for military action.” While politicians might attempt to separate Islam from Jihad for their own purposes, Phares added, “the study of the theological roots of Jihad is something else, and that is an academic not a political issue.” . . . [Read More]

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Tags: DOD, Gordon Englan, Hesham Islam, Islam, Islamic Society of North America, ISNA, jihad, Jihadist, Muslim, Muslim Brotherhood, national security, Stephen Coughlin To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!