Stephen Coughlin was the Pentagon expert on Islamic War doctrine. He was vanquished as a consultant from the Joint staff in 2008 by Heshem Islam the former Muslim outreach aide to Bush Deputy Defense Undersecretary Gordon England. Through the assistance of friends both active and retired military, Coughlin has continued to conduct periodic briefings to troop units, field and staff officers in advanced command and general staff programs. There is a remote possibility he might brief the Joint staff at the Pentagon in the wake of the Fort Hood massacre by lone Jihadi, Major Nidal Hasan. There is a rumor that Coughlin’s current working relationship may yet again be at an end, despite the precise accurate nature of the warning about the individual jihad threat to our military - recently realized. In this instance, Coughlin has briefed this issue at both the Joint Staff, CENTCOM and related national secuity elements since 2005.
It has been our view that Senator Lieberman's Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee which recently opened hearings on the Fort Hood massacre needs to receive Coughlin’s briefing to understand Hasan’s motivations.
We have come across several briefs by Coughlin that have been given to public audiences. We have selected two here for your viewing.
The first analyzes Maj. Hasan’s briefing on Islam presented to medical and health professional colleagues at the Uniform Services University of Health Sciences. It compares Hasan‘s revelatory Power Point Slides with salient slides extracted from Coughlin’s Islamic War doctrine briefing. It was the underlying Islamic War Doctrine briefing that was the sources of contretemps created by Heshem Islam who accused Coughlin of being “a Christian zealot with a pen.” Heshem Islam was unveiled as having close connections with Muslim Brotherhood front groups and an embroidered resume that ultimately led to his leaving his civilian Pentagon post. Notwithstanding that, Coughlin was also forced to leave the Joint staff at the termination of his contract.
Coughlin analyzes Major Hasan’s presentation against the background of his Islamic War doctrine briefing based on the Qur’anic doctrines of Jihad. This includes the Suras of the Qur’an, reliable Islamic interpreters of the Hadiths (sayings of Mohammed) such as Al Bukhaari, sacred legal commentaries, such as Reliance of The Traveler by Ahmad Ibn Lulu Ibn Al-Naqib, a well-known Muslim scholar who lived in the Middle Ages. Coughlin also cites Sayyid Qutb, author of Milestones, the purported Egyptian founder of the roots of al Qaeda, hung by Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1966.
You may view extracts of Coughlin’s briefing that focus on Major Hasan’s presentation, here.
Using the Law of Abrogation and Progressive Revelation (later Qur’anic verses supersede earlier ones) and Coughlin’s analysis of Hasan’s presentation reveals strict adherence to Islamic law compelling believers to commit Jihad against unbelievers. Hasan’s proofs of Islamic War doctrine are, according to Coughlin, evident in Hasan’s Slides 12, 16, 17. Hasan’s Slide 39 depicts the imperative to commit Jihad contained in Sura 9:39 and as further articulated by Qutb's in Milestones. Hasan’s Slide 45 in his presentation on Offensive Islam of the Future cites Al Bukhaari’s commentary on Sura 5:51 instructing Muslims not to take Christians and Jews as friends, while Sura 9:29 instructs them to fight those who believe not in Allah.
These are distilled in Hasan’s Slide 49, Conclusions:
- God expects full loyalties, promises heaven or threatens with Hell;
- Fighting to establish an Islamic State to please God even by force is condoned by the Islam;
- Muslim soldiers should not serve in any capacity that renders them at risk to hurting/killing believers unjustly.
Hasan’s slide 50 follows with his Recommendations:
- Department of Defense should allow Muslim soldiers the option of being released as Conscientious Objectors to increase troop morale and decease adverse events.
Coughlin points out that Hasan aticulates his ‘adverse events’ in Hasan’s Slide 13:
- Sgt. Hasan Asgar’s grenade attack on a 101st Airborne command tent in Kuwait killing 3 and wounding 14;
- Army Captain James Yee, Muslim Chaplain at Gitmo, charged with espionage and late released;
- Marine Corporal Waseef ali-Hassoun who deserted in Iraq who disapproved of fighting Muslims;
- Army Sgt. Abdullah William Webster refused to deploy to Iraq based on religious beliefs.
In view of this Jihadist threat, Coughlin then asks a rhetorical question about the myopia of Senior Military commanders who evade the clearly stated realities of this Islamic war doctrine.
He notes this interview with Adm. Michael Mullins Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that occurred this summer concerning the conflict in Afghanistan:
. . . Al Qaeda is still very focused on tying to advance this corrupt view of Islam as far as they can. . . they do that to focus on eliminating and killing as many Americans and Westerners as they can.
Coughlin goes on to note this observation by Adm. Mullin about the Muslim ummah:
It’s a subtle world we don’t fully and don’t always attempt to understand. Only through a shared appreciation of the people’s culture, needs and hopes for the future can we hope ourselves to supplant the extremist narrative.
Jihad was clearly the motivation of Major Hasan, the mass shooter who killed 13 and injured 30 soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood to the screams of “Allahu Akbar."
In a brutal second briefing by Coughlin -see extracts here- the brief culminates in a devastating chart illustrating the depths of myopia our intelligence and counter terrorism agencies have sunk to in denying the threat and realities of Jihad.
Note how cleansed of Islamic Jihad the lexicons used by the FBI and the Intelligence community have become compared to the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004.
FBI National 9/11
Counterterrorism Intelligence Commission
Terms Lexicon Strategy Report
Violent Extremism 29 9 3
Enemy 0 0 39
Jihad 0 0 126
Muslim 0 0 322
Takfir 0 0 1
Muslim Brotherhood 0 0 5
Religions 3 1 65
Hamas 0 0 4
Hizbullah 0 0 2
Al Qaida 0 1 36
Caliph 0 0 7
Sharia 0 0 2
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Why did our intelligence and counter terrorism agencies become obsessively politically correct evading the obvious threat of Jihad facing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? It may be because Muslim Brotherhood fronts like the Muslim Political Action Committee (MPAC) objected on grounds of taqiyyah (religiously sanctioned dissimilitude to fool unbelievers). The unbelievers, in this case our intelligence and national law enforcement counter terrorism agencies caved like obliging dhimmis. Note MPAC's formal esponse to the 9/11 Commission's findings:
Terminology is important in defining our goals as well as removing roadblocks into hearts and minds. The 9/11 Commission identified Islamist terrorism as the threat. The MPAC recommends that the US government find other terminology.
The government obliged with terms like 'manmade disasters'. As Coughlin has amply demonstrated, the threat of Jihad derogated by official myopia resurged with the shots fired by Major Hasan at Fort Hood on November 5th.
Senator Lieberman’s Homeland Security Committee investigations should confirm Coughlin’s warnings about Jihad as the principal threat that faces our military both at home and in Iraq and Afghanistan. More in our command echelons need to recognize this threat. Pity, Coughlin exits at year end. Our national security is the poorer for his departure.
