Parsing the truth at the Pentagon

The last word on the mysterious Hesham Islam belongs to boss man number two at the Pentagon, Gordon England—literally. If you’re curious about the meteoric rise of Hesham Islam, all that is left on the Defense Department website is Gordon England describing Islam as his “personal close confidante”.

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Last Friday award-winning journalist Claudia Rosett had her article “Questions for the Pentagon: Who is Hesham Islam?” posted on National Review Online. The article raised pointed questions about some of the stories recounted in a glowing profile, dated Oct. 15, on the Defense Department website, featuring a top Pentagon aide, Hesham Islam. As quickly as you could say, “cover up”, the Rosett referenced article disappeared from the DoD website by Monday. As Rosett wrote on her blog, “Today, the entire web page, complete with photo of Islam in his office and lavish praise from his boss, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, appears to have simply vanished from the DoD site. “What was previously a link to the article (click on the second link listed here) is now a link to current news articles (no Hesham Islam), and the profile seems to have disappeared even from the October 15 archives. When things disappear from the DoD website, they disappear without a trace with not even a telltale wisp of smoke. Yet, this was an Armed Forces Press Service article which the Pentagon until recently appeared only too happy to publicize as DoD gospel. Nobody, except England that is, paid much attention to Hesham Islam until Major Stephen Coughlin, the U.S. Department of Defense’s top authority on Islamic war doctrine, was given his walking papers from his job as an intelligence analyst for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The official reason for Coughlin’s sudden pink slip was for mentioning the connection between Islam and terror. The same Hesham Islam who has gone AWOL from the DoD website was deemed instrumental in Coughlin’s dismissal. Not one to stand on ceremony, Coughlin had done his homework and prepared briefings warning that major U.S. Muslim groups were fronting for Muslim terrorist groups. “Hesham Islam is involved with one of these groups—the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)—which has been named in a major terror funding case. (Free Republic, Jan. 19, 2008). “In a 333-page report, Coughlin warned that the Quran and other Islamic texts make clear that it is an obligatory requirement for Muslims to wage jihad against non-Muslims and that this requirement is also routinely taught in Saudi schools. Coughlin says this may explain why Saudia Arabia is the largest foreign source of suicide bombers in Iraq. “In contrast, Deputy Secretary England, who has made a major effort to ingratiate himself with ISNA and other front groups, has characterized Coughlin as “excessively negative”. Some would argue that England is “excessively sensitive”, at least when it comes to Hesham Islam. “The constant emphasis on the Islamic connection to terrorism offends Muslims, undermining the President’s efforts to portray Islam as a religion of peace,” England said. “If we can just be more positive about Islam in our words and thoughts, it will have an uplifting effect on our relations with these people.” England detractors worries about being “uplifted” all the way up to meet their maker in what they would consider the most untimely of fashion. When the Honorable Gordon R. England made nice at the Arab-American Yearbook Reception in the Library of Congress last February, some people thought the accolades he gushed over Hesham Islam and “My Dear Friend Amir Turki Al Faisal” were, a bit, well excessive. Praising the Arab leader for reaching out to the American people, England said, “One lesser known, but important fact about his outreach to America is that he is a great fan of Navy Football. He showed it well when he braved one of the coldest days in Philadelphia’s history to watch the annual Navy-Army classic a couple (of) years ago.” Rosett’s referenced profile of Hesham Islam is not the only item “disappeared” on the DoD website. A speech on North Korea, delivered last week at the American Enterprise Institute by Jay Kefkowitz, the U.S. special envoy for human rights in North Korea, has gone vamoose. “In his speech, Lefkowitz broke ranks with the state Department’s charade of progress in disarming Pyongyang, explaining that four years of Six-Party talks on North Korea have been a failure,” Rosett wrote. UN Poster Boy Maurice Strong, notwithstanding we could add. Just like Rosett, Lefkowitz was up on Friday, gone by Monday. “They’re down the Memory Hole,” wrote the journalist. Perhaps the big guns at the Pentagon are leery of Claudia Rosett’s probing questions. After all if it weren’t for her many would still regard the Oil-for-Food tarnished UN as a warm, fuzzy blanket. Meanwhile, it seems that when the truth is getting too close for comfort, some Pentagon Pooh-bahs simply desert the battlefield.