Posted on 02/16/2008 9:06:40 AM PST by 3AngelaD
A U.S. congressman is asking Georgetown University about its academic scrutiny of Saudi Arabia and its use of $20 million donated by a Saudi prince in 2005. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) wrote to Georgetown President John DeGioia Thursday, saying he was concerned about how the money was being spent at the university's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Of particular concern, Wolf said, was the university's role in training current and prospective U.S. foreign service personnel.
"The Saudi government continues to permit textbooks to contain inflammatory language about other religions," Wolf wrote. "Restrictions on civil society and political activists continue to be pervasive. No changes have been made to the underlying legal authority relating to non-Muslim worship that the Saudis have relied on to enforce these rules. The Saudis have cleansed their own country of religious liberties by severely restricting public religious expression to their interpretation and enforcement of wahhabism."
Wolf's letter seeks assurances the Georgetown center "maintains the impartiality and integrity of scholarship that befits so distinguished a university as Georgetown." He then asks whether: "the center has produced any analysis critical of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for example, in the fields of human rights, religious freedom, freedom of expression, women's rights, minority rights, protection for foreign workers, due process and the rule of law."
· if "the center has examined Saudi links to extremism and terrorism...
· if "the center has examined or produced any critical study of the controversial religious textbooks produced by the government of Saudi Arabia
· if "any of the Saudi-sourced finds have been used in the training, briefing or education of those going into or currently employed by the U.S. government....
The answer to his questions likely will be no, said Martin Kramer, former director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University and a fellow at Harvard and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy...."It's a move to change the subject [and say the roots of terrorism lie elsewhere]. For the Saudis after 9/11, changing the subject is important.
The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding is run by John Esposito....Esposito's research places U.S. policy under the microscope and finds it responsible for fostering anger and resentment....Esposito has a history of minimizing the threat of Islamic extremism and supporting Islamist regimes and movements. He has praised Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Yusuf al-Qaradawi...Qaradawi has expressed support for the killing of American forces in Iraq and praised Palestinian suicide bombers, writing "it is wrong to consider these acts as ‘suicidal,' because these are heroic acts of martyrdom, which are in fact very different from suicide."...
In the summer of 2001, Esposito criticized those who emphasize the threat Osama bin Laden posed....In addition to his academic work, Esposito has been allied with a series of people directly involved in terrorist and extremist movements. He continues to consider Sami Al-Arian, an acknowledged member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to be a friend and "one of the most impressive people I have met under fire."
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Finally, a Congressman who hasn’t been bought and paid for by the Saudi’s. How refreshing.
Since the foundation of leftism is really just plain old anti-Americanism, and Communism is kaput, then watch ever more lefties convert to the only horse in the anti-American race, the Islamists.
You must be joking.
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