Rashid Ghannoushi: John Esposito’s Islamist in Tunis

John Esposito

In an article written for Campus Watch that appears today at American Thinker, journalist Stephen Schwartz examines the beliefs of Tunisian political leader Rashid Ghannouchi. Although Georgetown’s John Esposito has spent years whitewashing Ghannouchi’s reputation, Schwartz exposes the Tunisian as a radical Islamist:

Rashid Ghannoushi (or Rachid Ghannouchi in French) is the ideological elder of Tunisia’s Ennahda, or the Renaissance Party, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. He arrived in Washington on Monday, November 28, 2011, in the halo of a skewed electoral victory by his party in the small North African country’s recent elections.

In addition to being the man controlling Tunisia’s main Islamist movement from behind the scenes, without an elected post and the responsibility that it would bring with it, Ghannoushi comes to America as someone who was, to a significant extent, lifted to power by the support of American Middle Eastern studies establishment. Indeed, the successful rise of Ghannoushi is symbolic of the American academic penchant for enabling and justifying radical Islam. A key advocate in this enterprise was the notorious professor John L. Esposito, director of Georgetown University’s Saudi-financed Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU).

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Winfield Myers is managing editor of the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch project, which reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North American universities. He has taught world history and other topics at the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Tulane, and Xavier University of Louisiana. He was previously managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine and CEO of Democracy Project, Inc., which he co-founded. Mr. Myers has served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is principal author and editor of a college guide, Choosing the Right College (1998, 2001). He was educated at the University of Georgia, Tulane, and the University of Michigan.
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