Israel Matzav

The Pentagon goes dhimmi

For those who don't recognize it, the image at top left of this post is of the Pentagon after 9/11, and I'm specifically using that image to make a point. It seems that when the plane crashed into the Pentagon a bit over six years ago, it took some of the United States' straight thinking with it.

The Washington Times reported yesterday that the Pentagon's specialist on Islamic law and Islamic extremism has been fired as of March. The reason given for firing Stephen Coughlin is "opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England." But it gets worse. I never thought I'd see reports like this coming out of the United States, especially with a Republican President in the White House:

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.

It seems that Mr. England and Mr. Islam are trying to 'reach out' to American Muslim groups. And Mr. Coughlin?

Mr. Coughlin wrote a memorandum several months ago based on documents made public in a federal trial in Dallas [I assume that's the Holy Land Foundation trial. CiJ] 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. Blogs lit up with hundreds of postings, some suggesting that Mr. England's office is "penetrated" by the enemy in the war on terrorism.

Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for Mr. England, said "no one in the deputy's office had any input into this decision" by the Joint Staff to end Mr. Coughlin's contract. A Joint Staff spokesman had no immediate comment.

Meanwhile, here in Israel, Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has finally found something which is 'almost the hand of God': That George Bush (and Nicolas Sarcozy and Gordon Brown and Angela Merkel) are in power (and that Bush is almost as dependent on Olmert for political brownie points as Olmert is on him).

The world has gone insane!

Update 1:22 AM

At Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer has a letter from LTC Joseph C. Myers, Army Advisor to the Air Command and Staff College, that calls Coughlin's firing "an act of intellectual cowardice." It's a must read.

Hat Tip: Konservo (via Little Green Footballs)

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:50 PM