Georgetown's John Esposito: Washington's Own Wahhabi Apologist

Few professors of Middle East studies (or any subject) can equal Georgetown University's John Esposito in intellectual consistency. Call him what you will, no one can deny that Esposito, who heads up Georgetown's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, upholds the wishes of his benefactors. (The Center was opened with a $20 million gift from the Prince himself--the same man whose $10 million gift to NYC after 9/11 was refused by then-Mayor Giuliani in light of Alwaleed's call for America to "reexamine" her policies toward the Middle East--i.e., weaken ties with Israel.) Whatever the question, the answer is always the same: Because Islamism is the road to democracy in the Muslim world, Islamists must be understood and supported, for they have nothing in common with extremists. Except, of course, their goal of worldwide Sharia (Islamic) law. A small thing, of course.

My Campus Watch colleague, Cinnamon Stillwell, recently blogged on Esposito; yesterday, I responded to a highly misleading column he penned for the Washington Post.

We stress the same general attributes exhibited by Esposito: a penchant for issuing apologias for Islamists (including Sami al-Arian); a refusal to address straightforwardly the severe problems within the world of contemporary Islam; and a remarkable (and lamentable) network of friends at the White House, State Department, and across academe.

Cinnamon has also published an article on why Campus Watch is needed, especially in California, where she lives. She concentrates on Middle East studies, but similar examples of intellectual malfeasance could be offered from disciplines across the humanities and soft social sciences.

Update: Cinnamon has an additional post at her website that extends her comments on John Esposito and Muslims Speak Out, the ongoing event sponsored by On Faith, the Washington Post/Newsweek blog. As she says, this speak out gives voice to all the wrong people.