Jihad Watch reader A. asked Saudi-funded dhimmi academic John Esposito about this post, in which I detail some of his unsavory associations. Esposito responded by sending his bio, along with this:
Heh. I guess that means I’ve been desperate for some time now -- or rather, that Dinesh himself is desperate, since he started the whole thing between him and me with a gratuitous attack on my work in his farrago The Enemy At Home.
But in the real world, how exactly does the question of my academic credentials have anything to do with whether or not John Esposito has said these things about Sami Al-Arian and worked with Azzam Tamimi?
In other words, if I don’t have a PhD, does that mean John Esposito hasn’t been palling around with PIJ and Hamas operatives?
I will debate John Esposito on Islam and Jihad anytime or anyplace. Or Dinesh D’Souza, for that matter. Of course, I have already debated him, and I doubt he would be willing to repeat the experience.
If I am wrong in what I say, it should be easy for John Esposito to mop the floor with me and discredit me once and for all, ridding the world of my baneful influence.
But it’s easier to deflect questions about one’s associations and allegiances by casting aspersions on the one who asks the questions, isn’t it?
I’m still waiting for John Esposito, for all his vaunted training in Islamic studies and Saudi millions, or anyone else to establish that even one thing I have ever said about Islam or jihad is false. This would require, of course, that he actually read what I say instead of relying on the venomous caricatures of his character-assassination-minded friends.
I won’t be holding my breath. But I have written this to John Esposito himself.
