My faith in our governmental institutions has been shaken ever since they failed to predict the extended chaos that would follow the Iraqi and Afghan campaigns. The ascendance of Iranian influence in Iraq is particularly troubling; something that has not been remarked on enough, although Colonel Hunt in his opinion pieces at foxnews.com has taken notice.
Add to that the recent embarrassingly naive Bush-Rice statements on the Isreali-Palestinian "process", coupled with the pressure on Israel to dismantle security checkpoints, and the picture is very disturbing.
Mr. Islam is okay? Sure, along with everything else.

Posted by: jewdog at April 5, 2008 9:48 AM

YES, BUT IT'S ENGLAND WHO NEEDS TO BE VETTED AS WELL. WHAT IS HE DOING HIRING THESE PEOPLE???

IT'S ENGLAND THAT NEEDS TO BE FIRED!!!

Posted by: Morgaan Sinclair at April 5, 2008 9:49 AM

What ever happened to the standard of "independent" investigation??

Please express your displeasure to:

Representative Sue Myrick
http://myrick.house.gov/contact_Myrick.shtml

Posted by: Concerned Citizen at April 5, 2008 10:11 AM

"Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England cleared his special assistant of any wrongdoing..."

Why is he doing the investigation? What happened to independent investigations?

Here is why Mr. Stephen Couglin got wacked...his view is that Islam (the religion) is related with some of our "problems" today. Thus our whole Iraqi strategy would have to be changed. Our whole "war or terror" would have to change and be renamed.

There two things thou must not be critical of in the pentagon...

(1) The battle plan in Iraq
(2) Our Muslim "Allies" like Arabia, Pakistan (the Occupied-Indian lands) or Egypt etc.

Posted by: greatcometof1577 at April 5, 2008 10:22 AM

IT'S ENGLAND THAT NEEDS TO BE FIRED!!!
Posted by: Morgaan Sinclair

Yep, I don't buy the whitewash job. England is a disgrace. Of course the whole government, as far as Islam and muslims are concerned, is a disgrace.

Posted by: duh_swami at April 5, 2008 10:23 AM

>>My faith in our governmental institutions has been shaken..." --jewdog

I have no faith in them whatsoever concerning saving us from the Mohammedans.

Posted by: darcy at April 5, 2008 10:23 AM

"'The deputy secretary's office has thoroughly reviewed the issues of concern raised by a few members of Congress and the media and has concluded there is no reason to question Cmdr. Hesham Islam's credibility or his allegiance to his country,' Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told Inside the Ring."
-- from the article above

No reason to question his [Islam's] credibility?
Then what about the matters raised in the paragraphs below, which are taken from the same article:

"Miss Rosett noted that Mr. Islam claimed to be in Cairo when it was bombed by Israel in 1967, but there are no records of bombing the Egyptian capital, only the airport near Cairo.

Mr. Islam also claimed to have been on board a freighter sunk by an Iranian torpedo in the Persian Gulf, but that could not be verified."

Does the Defense Department have a satisfactory answer as to why "Mr. Islam claimed to be in Cairo when it was bombe by Israel in 1967" though "there are no records of bombing the Egyptian capital"? Does the Defense Department have a satisfactory explanation as to why "Mr. Islam also claimed to have been on board a freighter sunk by an Iranian torpedo in the Persian Gulf"?

We have a right to detailed answers about both of those questions.

And of course, the Pentagon -- that is Gordon England's office -- hasn't touched on Mr. Islam's effectiveness, as an apologist for Islam, someone well-versed in dissimulation, through omission or sly misstatement and misreprensetation, in the office of....Gordon England.

Gordon England then, finds Gordon England entirely free of any charge of dangerous naivete.

As far as Gordon England and his supporters and friends and fellow naifs are concerned, there is no need to offer a detailed explanation and convincing rebuttal of the charges made. It is enough that they declare to the world that they have not merely reviewed the "issues of concern" but, to allay any fears, have "thoroughly reviewed" them, and have concluded that there is nothing in them that need worry anyone. There is "no reason to question Commoander Islam's credibility."

None? Then tell us a bit more about those claims about being bombed in Cairo, and about being on an Iraqi ship sunk by Iran, and how they have been explained, or explained away.

And furthermore, the report states, in a little extra touch of self-righteousness, there is "no reason to question...his [Islam's] allegiance to his country."

Of course there is. Anyone who continues to call himself a Muslim is thereby saying, semaphoring, that he accepts the texts -- including the immutable text of the Qur'an, the Hadith, the Sira -- of Islam, and that he accepts the tenets of Islam.

Consult the writings of any legitimate scholar of Islam -- no, not Esposito and not Armstrong, but the real ones, the many hundreds of Western scholars who wrote on Islam before the Great Inhibition, the ones who are now dead and thus free from any kinds of pressure, or career calculation, or desire to please, and find out from them, or from the many articulate apostates, or from Muslim websites themselves, what Islam teaches about loyalty. It does not teach Muslims to be loyal to an Infidel nation-state. It inculcates another idea: the idea that all loyalty of members of the Umma, the community of Islam, is owed to Islam itself, to the cause of Islam (protecting it, ensuring it is safe from attack, the better to enhance the position of Muslims and their ability to conduct the campaign, a slow one or a fast one, to remove all obstacles, in the end everywhere, to the spread, and then to the dominance, of Islam).

Was Mr. Islam questioned about this aspect of Islam? Was he asked if he considered himself to be a true believer in Islam, who did not questio or quarrel with its doctrines? Was he then read certain parts of the Qur'an, and asked what he made of them -- say, all of Sura 9? Was he asked if he believed that Islam inculcated the idea of loyalty to Islam, above all other loyalties, or instead of any other loyalty, with appropriate textual citation and citation as well of authorities, including Muslim authorities?

No? That never happened as part of this "thorough" review of the matter? Why didn't? Oh, we know why. The fearless internal Pentagon investigators, such as they were, were too scared to touch that issue. They thought if Islam had been in the military, and Islam's son was in the military, why -- what better proof did one need of loyalty? It never occurred to them that indeed, such service was exactly what Islam might be able to use as "proof of such loyalty" when in fact such service proves no such thing. See the case of Ali Mohammed, or of Hassan Akbar, or of the Muslim Marine still hiding out in Lebanon, or other cases known and unknown.

What were they afraid of? That Islam would contact CAIR? Afraid he'd go to the press? Afriad that he woudl charge them -- and all kinds of uninformed but ready with attitudes and posturings at the drop of a hat politicians, and holier-than-thou editorial writers for major papers, equally uninformed about Islam, and about Islam, would start talking about a "climate of hysteria" and, bien entendu, invoke lynch-mobs, and Joseph McCarthy, and perhaps even, for the cinematic buffs among them, Spencer Tracy braving the wrath of the sinister townfolk (typical small-minded Americans, all of them) in that 1950s classic, "Bad Day At Black Rock."

Posted by: Hugh at April 5, 2008 10:25 AM

Concerned Citizen

You beat me to it!!!!

Keyword of the Day: Independent Investigation.

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse.

Posted by: greatcometof1577 at April 5, 2008 10:26 AM

It's hard to beat an enemy - jihad - when it's sixth column is advising us on how to do it. As for England - does the term "quisling" mean anything to you young folks? Just a little WW II trivia.

It is a pattern that has repeated itself historically. Frequently, traitors have provided the key ingredient in a decisive battle between Islam and the "Land of War".

Posted by: tanstaafl at April 5, 2008 10:50 AM

What is Gordon England's moslem name?

Posted by: interestinconundrum at April 5, 2008 11:14 AM

All you have to do to understand that Gordon England has about as much credibility as those talking heads in that Disney World exhibit, is to go to the defense dept.'s link and read his speeches.
Save time, it's the same one over and over.
He sounds like an automaton.

Gordon signs off on purchases for our military.
Let's see.
We have a foreign company getting the contract for the tankers to refuel our jet fighters in-flight.

We have and still are having problems with our troops being furnished equipment to fight the war safely.

Our military is fighting in countries who are being shariafied, while our troops are still there, putting their lives at risk. All the while these countries are enslaving their own people.

Any pattern here?
I am sure I have left a lot of issues out.

Yeah this guy is a Dep. Sec. of Defense who will go down in history.
Not a history I want to read, much less live through.

Posted by: Aunt Bea at April 5, 2008 11:17 AM

Linked at LGF
Radical Islam Taking Over.
http://scarlettcrusader.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/out-of-time-radical-islam-taking-over-europe-west/#comment-511

Posted by: interestinconundrum at April 5, 2008 11:28 AM

Mr. Islam is a little TOO Islam for my liking.

Posted by: Prickzilla at April 5, 2008 12:17 PM

Not surprising when Islam has a friend like England who has serious power in the Pentagon to begin with. Look England only answers to 2 men in the world - Gates and Bush, no one else.

In short he gets what he wants period.

Unless Gates and Bush backed any investigation of Islam it wasn't going anywhere.

Posted by: waltc at April 5, 2008 12:22 PM

I'll bet Islam on Islam was never once discussed.

Bottom line (smoke clearing). Coughlin is out, Islam is in.

Posted by: Sounder at April 5, 2008 12:39 PM

Gordon England:

I’m especially proud of Hesham Islam, my personal close confidante....Hesham is a sterling example of how successful the Arab community is, here in America. [emphasis added] It’s now my honor to introduce a very good friend of mine and America, His Royal Highness Amir Turki Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia.

Amir Turki is a leader in the Arab world who has worked hard to achieve peace, prosperity and a better life for his people and the world. He has served as his Nation’s Ambassador to both the United Kingdom and the United States.

During his time here he has reached out to the American people giving insightful speeches and interviews across the Nation and meeting with the people of our land, developing the close friendships that as I mentioned and the bedrock of strong international relations.

This is not a joke.

Posted by: Concerned Citizen at April 5, 2008 1:08 PM

Since when in government is it acceptible to personally be responsible for the investigation of your own close personal friend, close personal confidante? Since when is it not ethically reprehensible to not recuse yourself from such?

WTF is going on???

Come on, lazy ass Bush-hating mainstream media! Can't you justify your existance for once??? Roast this guy!!

Posted by: Concerned Citizen at April 5, 2008 1:27 PM

Concerned Citizen quoted Gordon England:

I’m especially proud of Hesham Islam, my personal close confidante....Hesham is a sterling example of how successful the Arab community is, here in America. It’s now my honor to introduce a very good friend of mine and America, His Royal Highness Amir Turki Al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia.

(Gazing into crystal ball) I forsee great wealth and prosperity in Gordon England's near future. I forsee barrel after barrel of money rolling in.

For a while ... until the American people have had enough.

Posted by: special_guest at April 5, 2008 2:47 PM

I think all this emphasis on england is misplaced. He's just the trigger man, just as johnny sutton was bush's trigger man for the railroading of Border Patrol Agents Ramos & Compean. bush's MO has been clear for many years: Get w/ the program The Decider lays out, or you're gonna get thrown under the bus. It happened to General Shinseki, Agents Ramos and Compean, and now Stephen Coughlin. And one element of bush's program is to educate us benighted, bigoted Americans how tolerant, peaceful and patriotic muslim-Americans are. See, it is we Americans whose attitude toward islam needs to be changed, not muslims' attitudes toward freedom (and freedom of speech, in particular), respect for human rights, and democracy. So bush needs hesham islam to serve as an example of a patriotic American who happens to be muslim, and Coughlin's message of malignant islam just throws a big monkey wrench into bush's big strategy.

Posted by: sheik yer booty at April 5, 2008 3:50 PM

It is we, who are the “misunerstanders” of Islam. For example; the State Department, and other government agencies, is rife with those suffering from a collective short-sightedness or perhaps there are those whom hold an, alike, loathing of Western-Democracy as the Jihadist.
Why the State Department has not been gutted from top to bottom and the anti-American leftists replaced with, at the least, dedicated Americans; God only knows.
Not surprisingly, the Defense Department, also, suffers from similarly transparent anti-American misconduct; however, this all comes to naught and his handily swept under the carpet.
Again, this only betrays the fact, the enemy within is, in my opinion, more dangerous than, or at the very least the equal, international terrorism.
We are not, merely, at risk because of international terrorism but our leaderships’ inanity and, ineptness; the seeming unwillingness of these lolly-heads, to tackle political-correctness and expedience head-on, is extremely alarming and mind-boggling.
One must ask; why is there an influential Muslim in the Defense Department? I suspect this will be more than the norm, if or when Obama becomes Commander-in-Chief!
To quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy… and he is us.”

Posted by: ballzack at April 5, 2008 5:21 PM

I agree this warrants an independent investigation with zero input from Gordon Emgland.

The logical conclusion at the investigation's end is the dismissal of both England and Islam.

Posted by: awake at April 5, 2008 5:29 PM

One must ask; why is there an influential Muslim in the Defense Department?

Not one. There are many.

They even have a prayer room (or something like it..)

http://sheikyermami.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/ramadan-prayers.JPG

http://sheikyermami.com/2008/01/12/emerson-on-hannity-colmes-pentagon-cia-fbi-infiltrated-by-islamic-5th-column/

Posted by: sheik yer'mami at April 5, 2008 5:35 PM

sheik yer booty says..

"I think all this emphasis on england is misplaced."

Bingo! We can spend all day wondering why Mr. England does what he does...or we could look at the men who are his bosses: Gates and President Bush.

Bush and Gates yell "jump" and Mr. England says how high...

Once again folks this is not the State Dept., but the Pentagon. Bush is the boss...and the buck stops there. It is just another example of why G.W. Bush is dhimmi.

There is nothing worse then a guy who wraps himself in the American flag and then sells out his country like he has. Everything from the Islamic apologists he hires, to the jailing of American soldiers for “staying alive” in Iraq, because of the impossible rules of engagement in Iraq, to the whole Iraqi strategy itself, to his constant sucking up (literally kissing them on the lips and doing sword dances in front of them like a harem slave girl) to Arabian leaders, to selling out our ports to the UAE, to his support for Kosovo, to pressuring the Europeans to open their arms up to Turkey, to his pressuring Israel to buy the “Highway to Hell” plan, to giving billions upon billions of cash handouts to Muslim nations for just saying they are against “terror” (they don’t have to do anything to stop the “terror” or identify what constitutes an innocent)…and on and on…

His record dhimmitude is in the same league as the Great Dhimmi Jimmy Carter….

Why is anybody surprised by this?

Posted by: greatcometof1577 at April 5, 2008 6:59 PM

A couple of quotes from Maj. Coughlin's thesis seem apropos:

"In the WOT [War on Terror], it is the non-kinetic phase of jihad that presents the greatest long-term challenge to the United States. There is reason to know that Islamic concepts of submission are working their influence against the West generally and the United States specifically." (p.221)

"There is every indication that jihadis take the information thing very seriously. They plan to win it. They expect to win it. They may be winning it." (p. 316)

The entire thesis -- a must-read -- may be accessed at:

http://www.strategycenter.net/research/pubID.176/pub_detail.asp

Posted by: Papa Whiskey at April 5, 2008 8:03 PM

interestingconundrum said

What is Gordon England's moslem name?

Abu Benedict Arnold?

Posted by: special_guest at April 5, 2008 8:29 PM

Next time get it on video or audio. There are nice handheld flash audio recorders available, not expensive and even simple add-ons for ipods that apparently do a great job. As far as I know it is impossible to legally prevent the recording of a public event.

Someone needs to start building an online archive for such recordings and we can work together to document the jihad-in-America event by event.

Posted by: Archimedes2 at April 5, 2008 10:26 PM

This is the sort of article that I would expect to be trotted out on april fools day. Gordon Englands office clears Gordon Englands top aide of any charge. Perhaps the investigation should have included any future charges whatever they may be are also denied.

Posted by: stickman at April 6, 2008 12:33 PM