Embattled Muslim aide to leave Pentagon job: Heshem Islam’s “resume didn’t add up”
by Jerry Gordon
At last, the truth about Heshem Islam, Muslim outreach aide to Defense Secretary Islam comes out. As we predicted his embroidered resume did not stand up to the light of day and he was asked to vacate his post at the Pentagon.
Our friend Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon’s lone Islamic Law and Jihad Military doctrine expert is vindicated and will begin a new assignment at the conclusion of his current Joint staff agreement with the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD). Perhaps the coups de grace for Mr. Islam were the revelations of Steve Emerson’s Investigative Project report that Islam had met with Syrian radicals and members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group in violation of national security.
Bravo to Bill Gertz of the Washington Times, Claudia Rosset of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy and Steve Emerson of The Investigative Project on Terrorism. Diane West of the Washington Times, Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch and Andy Bostom all played a part in this riveting saga. We trust that we did as well by keeping a focus on the ‘l’affaire Coughlin’.
On the Congressional scene, Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) head of the bi-partisan Anti-Terror Caucus we are sure played an important role in requesting DoD answers about Coughlin.
Now for the ultimate woodshed discussion between SECDEF Bob Gates and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England resulting in the latter’s retirement for ‘good services’.
We hope that the National Defense Intelligence University proceeds with the publication of Coughlin’s important thesis and that the doctrine of the ‘long war’ will become part of required military training.
This proves that good sense and valued advocacy can win out in the war against cultural Jihad in America.
Now about those Wahhabi Muslim Military Chaplains?
WorldNetDaily, February 12, 2008
In a stunning turn of events, a high-level Muslim military aide blamed for costing an intelligence contractor his job will step down from his own Pentagon post, WND has learned.
Meanwhile, his rival, Maj. Stephen Coughlin, a leading authority on Islamic war doctrine, may stay in the Pentagon, moving from the office of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the office of the secretary of defense. However, sources say a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey is trying to block his new contract.
The top Pentagon aide, Egyptian-born Hesham H. Islam, came under a cloud of suspicion after reports raised doubt about his resume and contacts he had made with radical Muslims. He is expected to leave the government next month, officials say.
Islam and Coughlin recently quarreled over intelligence briefings Coughlin presented showing a close connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism. Coughlin’s contract with the Joint Chiefs, which ends in March, was not renewed.
But as a result of the ensuing firestorm that played out in the conservative press – led by Washington Times Pentagon reporter Bill Gertz – Islam was put under a microscope, and questions were raised regarding his background.
For example, Claudia Rosett of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies wrote a column challenging key claims in Islam’s official biography. Within days, a Defense Department profile of Islam was removed from the department’s website.
A Pentagon spokesman said it was “taken down in an attempt to reduce the rhetoric and the emotion surrounding this issue while we try to determine the facts.”
A senior U.S. official says the life story Islam presented now appears sketchy.
“His resume didn’t add up, and he knows it,” the official said. “He’s voluntarily leaving the government in March.”
At the same time, a report by terror expert Steven Emerson revealed that Islam, as special assistant to the deputy secretary of defense, has scheduled at least two meetings in the Pentagon with Syrian-tied radicals – including a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood – in direct violation of U.S. policy.
(Continue reading this Story)
Tags: DoD Muslim outreach aide sacked, Heshem Islam, News, Opinion, Stephen Coughlin vindicated, WorldNetDaily