Following a series of reports by Pajamas Media journalist Claudia Rosett, the Pentagon is initiating an inquiry in "conflicting statements" by Mr. Islam in his web biography.
For example, Mr. Islam alleged that in the 1967 war Israeli jets bombed his family and his home in Cairo. According to Rosett, there is no historical evidence that Israel bombed the capitol in 1967 when Mr. Islam was 7 years old.
Mr. Islam has also alleged that he was on a freighter in the Persian Sea when the ship was sunk by Iranian torpedo. Again, no historical evidence can be found to substantiate the sinking of the alleged ship in which Mr. Islam and four other were the only survivors: "The profile goes on to describe young Hesham Islam as a “merchant mariner adrift for three days in the Arabian Sea after an Iranian torpedo sunk his 16,000-ton cargo ship, drowning all but Islam and four of his crewmates.”
"But this Pentagon-endorsed profile raises more questions than it answers. It begins: “If Hesham Islam’s life story was translated into a screenplay — and it’s got all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster — the director would be hard-pressed to come up with a more compelling chain of events landing him as a top adviser to the deputy defense secretary.”
It is of course possible that Islam was privy to a piece of history with which expert historians on the region are not acquainted.
"But if this tale is based solely on the unsubstantiated impressions of Islam as a seven-year-old, then what is it doing on the U.S. Defense Department website?"Claudia Rosett NRO
