I have seen no biographical information on Mr. Islam. Where is he from? Where was he educated? Is he a devout Muslim? Was he a member of the MSA in college? Which mosque does he attend, if any?

These are all critical questions if we are to know if he is simply another naive government official or if there is something more nefarious going on here.

Also, is Mr. Islam working alone or is there a coterie of like-minded Pentagon employees?

Posted by: sonomaca at January 5, 2008 1:31 PM

Maybe the Pentagon will replace Mr. Coughlin with other experts now out of work who seem to have much love and understanding for Islamic terrorists of the Taliban variety ?

It is very unusual for a country to expel those working for friendly nations and the charge was talking to and supporting the Taleban, something both organisations call a "misunderstanding".
But it seems there may have been some echoes of the 19th century 'Great Game' when British and Russian intelligence officers vied for supremacy in Central Asia.
Questions still remain as to what exactly Mervyn Patterson and Michael Semple were doing in Helmand........
"Unauthorised activity" hints at what Afghan secret service agents are saying privately.
They point the finger squarely at Michael Semple for running an extensive network of Taleban contacts: "For arrogantly behaving like a Great Game era political officer", they say.
One intelligence officer asked me: "What is the EU deputy head of mission acting like a field commander and who is he working for?"
Francesc Vendrell is the EU's Special Representative in Kabul and I asked him what Michael Semple was doing?
"Quite honestly I am not sure. I had authorised Michael to go to Helmand, I knew he was vaguely going to do some work on reconciliation with the Taleban, but beyond that I had absolutely no idea what he was going to do."
But as his deputy, should he have known what Michael was doing?
'Preposterous'
"I should and I shouldn't. I didn't feel that someone with the background of Michael could be kept on a short leash."
So Michael was, it appears, talking to the Taleban, but was he "paying" them with development projects or cash as the Afghan secret service insists?
"I found the allegations and the charge preposterous," Francesc Vendrell added.
"And I am quite sure Michael would not have been involved in any training or assistance of any kind to Taleban who had not already crossed over."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7171205.stm

Posted by: rocketman at January 5, 2008 1:37 PM

Sounds like he was getting too close.

Saying what everyone is afraid to say.

Posted by: Borg at January 5, 2008 1:43 PM

With the firing of Mr. Coughlin alarm bells should be sounding across the USA. Militant Muslims it would appear have almost certainly now infiltrated the Pentagon-- our nation's first line of defense. And they are beginning to dictate policies that are, or were, intended to keep American people safe.

How did THAT happen?

One wonders how long will it be before the Pentagon's military machines are turned (by militant Muslims in the US government by dint of stealth) against the 'unbelieving' American people? the Pentagon is an absolutely perfect killing apparatus for Islam in America if it gets its hands on it and I think now it has (God help us, especially if we elect that Muslim Obama President).

If this sounds far-fetched, remember that the US government has traditionally been required to be kept separate from the Church. With apparent infiltration by militant Islam into the Pentagon, that protocol is now history: America now has separation of the Church from the State With Islam Onboard. And so therefore is the US government's representation of the American people, I might add as Muslims number barely 1% of the US population and now have disproportionate representation in the US government and are now able to undermine both it and the security of the remaining 99% of the population.

Militant Islam clearly has infiltrated America's first line of defense (after 9-11 too). Draw your own conclusions.

Better call your representatives on this (if they take your call).

Posted by: pythagoras at January 5, 2008 1:47 PM

The depressing fact is that the despotic anti-intellectualism of Secretary Gordon England, and that of his bosses, has become all too commonplace in our society. The overwhelming majority of our citizens will never know of the firing of Mr. Coughlin and the reasons for it, just as they remain in the dark about Islamic scripture and doctrine. Not much has changed since the days of William Eaton and Thomas Jefferson. The political elites are just as cravenly given over to appeasement today as they were in the earliest days of the Republic.

We simply cannot rely on our political, media, and educational elites to help ordinary citizens along the path to truth and knowledge about Islam. It is incumbent upon us to do this work for ourselves. It has always, ultimately, been incumbent upon The People to act as rational adjudicators of our own best interests. We must seize the moment to re-energize ourselves with that resolve. If we do not, do not ever expect our government to do it for us.

Posted by: FredIsinglass at January 5, 2008 1:49 PM

FredisInglass: the problem is, how much longer will this be OUR government?

The termination of Mr. Coughlin makes it clear that our government --and not Islam-- is what is being 'hijacked.'

Posted by: pythagoras at January 5, 2008 2:02 PM

The firing of Mr. Coughlin should not be a complete surprise. The Pentagon is rife with such actions, even before there was a Pentagon. Billy Mitchell and Claire Chenault are but two examples of officers being court-martialed or forced out because they espoused contrary thoughts to the brass. But it is disturbing that a muslim is the cause of his being fired. In my book that would constitute a conflict of interest. Islam's complaint should have been filed in the appropriate receptacle. Or have gone in one ear and out the other.

Posted by: Kevin at January 5, 2008 2:25 PM

Clearly this is a matter of infiltration by 5th columnists. Nothing new in that. The US gov't has been like swiss cheese since WWII.

Used to be commies. Now it's commies and jihaddis.

Old news.

===============

OODA

FORTY SECOND BOYD AND THE BIG PICTURE (Part 1)

FORTY SECOND BOYD AND THE BIG PICTURE (Part 2)

OODA

Observe - Assess the enemy, establish situational awareness.

Orient - Turn to face the situation, position yourself for success. Put yourself where the enemy is least expecting you.

Decide - And do so quickly.

Act - Execute your decision.

Repeat.

OODA

Get inside the enemy's decision loop. And stay there.

From the article:

Tanks are fatally vulnerable in cities. It’s suicide to place them there. Ask anyone.

But that’s what US commanders did. They marched an entire armored column right through the heart of Baghdad so quickly and unexpectedly that their guns could be heard over Baghdad Bob’s televised assurances that the Americans had been held at the border hundreds of miles away. To the Iraqi command American armor seemed to materialize out of thin air, and to disappear as quickly. That is a terrifying quality for such a deadly foe.

They went where they were least expected, where their presence threw the enemy commanders into a paralysis of confusion and fear. Gen. Tommy Franks, that old-school artilleryman who had taken in firepower and attrition with his mother’s milk, put on a show of precision fingertip control that will be studied throughout history. He got inside their decision loop. And the worst-case – 10,000 casualties we feared we might lose taking Baghdad – evaporated away in the mist of the following morning.

No one will ever know how many American lives John Boyd has saved in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. But it is a large number.

Our boots-on-the-ground people are getting it. But our DC high command types? Our ideologists, our geo-political "thinkers".

Imagine a WWII strategist getting fired for sounding too anti-German!

============

I forget whether this is from Sun Tsu or Miyamoto Musashi, but in any case always strive to defeat your opponents expectations - always be prepared to do what he doesn't expect of you.

Our upper level people have become pathetically predictable.

Posted by: joeblough at January 5, 2008 3:40 PM

Any front line Specialist can Identify the Enemy and who they are. Simply stated. "They are all Guilty".

With enough pressure, S*#t will flow uphill. Time to man the pumps.

Posted by: flowerknife_us at January 5, 2008 5:02 PM

The mental blinders comes from Bush.

Posted by: Ruebacca at January 5, 2008 5:13 PM

I often wonder why the so-called Intelligence agencies do not hire from the blogs. Bloggers are obsessed with their topics and follow them much closer than a 9-5 employee. I am not talking about myself, I have a job but there are plenty of others who understand what we face and could teach a few things to the appeasement and win their hearts and mind types.

What ever happened to “Know your enemy”

Posted by: Ronin at January 5, 2008 5:34 PM

"It has always, ultimately, been incumbent upon The People to act as rational adjudicators of our own best interests. We must seize the moment ... [and must not] expect our government to do it for us."

---------

OK, who can I write to? The President? My Congressman? Probably not the boot-licker to Islamists, Secretary England...

Posted by: A_Nonny_Mouse at January 5, 2008 5:44 PM

There are many great minds here inside of the beltway. While I dare not include myself in that group of great minds, I nonetheless am part of a group of individuals that has privately read more than it ever cared to know about that now very dry subject: Islam. It is political correctness that does not allow media exposure of what should be obvious: Islamic aggression throughout the ages.

Posted by: Kafir Nonbeliever at January 5, 2008 7:30 PM

Kafir Nonbeliever -

Great minds within the Beltway? Where? I see little evidence to support such a claim.

Perhaps you mispoke. Did you intend to say, '... Great fatheads within the Beltway'?

Posted by: Havoc at January 5, 2008 8:08 PM

Yes indeed there are great minds, if only that are consulted. For example, many in Foggy Bottom knew well what would happen when we foolishly invaded and then occupied the nation that has only further stirred the jihadist hornet's nest while also managing to waste precious resources. A briefing with other than Rumsfeld, et al in a place like FB might have assisted some in ordering the proper directive (and correct target) for the Pentagon as a place ending in N -Iran, not Iraq. Some in Washington cannot spell.

Perhaps we could also learn not to give figher jets to jihadist nations who are "allies" in the "war on terror".

Posted by: Kafir Nonbeliever at January 5, 2008 8:22 PM

keep your soldiers and police IGNORANT and you will exert far more control on their minds and ideas.
Throw out those whose IQs ar too high or think for themselves too much as they could become the rotten apples in the cart.
Is that perhpas elitst thinking

Posted by: fRIDA at January 6, 2008 12:58 AM

The question ought to be - who is Mr.Islam's political benefactor? the answer will tell us who is behind this insertion of militant Islam within the military.

As for Islam's background check this out this link:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=47795

The man clearly has very powerful backers.

Posted by: waltc at January 6, 2008 2:19 AM

Is Bush even aware of this? Gosh, what a disaster he's been! I've always thought the Saudis were blackmailing him with something. How else to explain the past 7 years...?

Posted by: Bingo at January 6, 2008 8:18 AM

We need a systematic plan to study operational and strategic weaknesses in Mohammed's war plan. The good news is mohammed set it out in specifically the koran, and his zombies today are adopting his war strategies to contemporary times. This may be a blessing in disguise. Not working for the military, Mr. Couglin can now devote his full time and attention to study of how to defeat the enemy. We are poorly led.

We need to prepare ourselves for the battle later. By saying islam has nothing to do with the thousands and thousands of incidents being perpetuated worldwide by religious muslims, we have stupidly failed to develop operational war plan strategies to defeat mohammed. Jihadwatch readers know that the combat plans of contemporary islamists have been developed right out of mohammed's war book. To counter we need to develop a generation of scholars of islam to help develop counter insurgency plans to defeat mohammed and expose his weaknesses. A recent article at wnd makes this very point:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52644

After the Normandy invasion General Patton claimed in his book he was able to anticipate Rommel's battle of the bulge, because he had read Rommel's book about military strategy. The west needs to develop scholars about that vile little book for strategic reasons. Thankfully, we have the freedom to do so now. Let's use our freedoms to develop these doctrines now, for when the west decides it is ready to defend itself.

Posted by: David England at January 6, 2008 8:23 AM