Esposito
Reader comment on item: John Esposito and Me

Submitted by Ashamed Hoya (United States), Sep 20, 2007 at 23:43

I heard Esposito speak in Seattle a few months ago at a GU Alumni gathering. It was awful. I had no idea who this guy was, but knew the topic was, "U.S. foreign policy in the Muslim World." Sounded interesting so i attended. It was awful. The following is the synopsis of his speech:

1. The U.S. really bombed the hell out of the Sudan for no good reason. (No mention what "bombing the hell" really meant, no mention of Bin Laden operating out of Sudan and of course no mention of Islamic terror being waged against Christians and Animists daily)

2. America was very slow to bother helping Muslims in Bosnia/Kosovo. (No mention of what the timetable should have been justifying the "slow" criticism. Of course no mention of the fact that the U.S. did absolutely nothing for the Slovenians, Croats or other innocent Christians.)

3. Expressed his disgust over Mubarak closing down the Muslim Brotherhood.

4. Accepted that Muhammed committed terror, "but so did Richard the Lionheart and George Bush." (Not sure anyone considers King Richard or President Bush to be a Prophet, but rather weird comment either way.)

5. Suicide bombers are just desperate people acting out against those who made them desperate.

6. Danish cartoons and Pope's comments confirmed long-held beliefs that the West was prejudiced against the Muslims. (As if there wasn't a good reason to be prejudiced!!)

7. Although a self proclaimed expert on foreign policy and the Middle East and a tenured professor who is paid for his advice, he should not be expected to provide any advice for the U.S. in Iraq. The best thing would be for the U.S. to leave immediately... but they should stay for the next five to ten years... (he really said that without any sense of irony)

8. Maronite Christians falsely claim to be victims. (Again, no sense of irony given what is going on right now in Lebanon)

9. Claimed that the U.S. is very inconsistent in how it treats nuclear powers. Muslim countries like Iraq get invaded while non-Muslim countries like North Korea are left alone. (Interesting, we also didn't invade Pakistan which has the bomb and there are still doubts about N. Korea really having anything. Also, Hussein has history of using WMD, others don't. We also invaded Serbia to rescue Muslims, so again, very inconsistent).

He made several other wild and offensive claims, all very anti-Israel and anti-U.S. But what can I do? I don't have $25M to give to the school to make them my little bitch. I'll be at the 10 year reunion next summer trying to raise as much hell as possible. Doubt it will do anything without any cash attached.

Bummed out Hoya Saxa

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