...[I]n one of Professor Esposito's books written prior to 9/11 entitled Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality Dr. Esposito had concluded that the threat of Islamic terrorism was a myth and not reality. But in his post 9/11 book Unholy War and in his presentation that night, Esposito conceded that Islamic terrorism really exists but identified the cause as American foreign policy.In his October 24, 2005 "Struggle for the Mind of Islam" presentation to the Cosmos Club, Professor Esposito "equated the violence of terrorism and murder of innocent civilians as resistance of the same kind that we Americans used during our Revolutionary War, ...said jihad is always defensive, in defense of Muslim land, ...and argued that since the Israelis admit they are using reasonable violence, they are no different than the Islamic terrorists who believe their violence is reasonable."
"At one point, for example, Dr. Esposito characterized American foreign policy as approving the rape and murder of Arabs in Palestine by Israelis and then, to make it OK, offering a little foreign aid to build houses for those who survived...."
According to Cincinnatus, the anonymous author of the article in Campus Watch,
"It came to me finally that the program was dedicated more to the struggle for the American mind than the mind of Islam. Another person at the program evidently thought so too and asked why the club could not have a more balanced program. He suggested inviting Dr. Daniel Pipes.
"The Chairman, however, insisted that the program was balanced; it had a 'geographical balance' as each of the participants discussed a different Muslim area. If this means swallowing Professor Esposito's misrepresentations of jihad, or terrorism, and American foreign policy, then the Cosmos Club has a very different notion of balance than those of us who care passionately about the threats facing America."
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