Professor John Esposito, a professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, added to a chorus of recent speeches questioning U.S. policy on Iraq in a lecture last night that focused primarily on analysis of factors leading up Sept. 11.
Esposito's lecture, which was entitled "Terror in the Name of Islam," comes on the heels of a recently-released book by the same name.
"I wanted to understand how September 11 could come about and why we are continuing to have these problems," Esposito said early in his speech.
He addressed five specific issues which he said provide, at least in part, an understanding of how the conflict came to be. The growth of the global Jihad movement, the Russo-Afghani war, the policies of Middle Eastern governments that foster instability, the emergence of Wahabi Islam and aspects of U.S. foreign policy led primarily to the resulting events of Sept. 11, Esposito argued.
Jihad, as Esposito said, has always been an important tenet of Islam. It includes the duty and right of a Muslim to defend himself and his faith. However, it is the modern globalization of Jihad, according to Esposito, that has led to its change from a defensive response to an offensive excuse.
Esposito pointed to the Russo-Afghani war as the foremost example of the globalization of Jihad. That war, according to Esposito, was a valid Jihad, because it was out of defense of Islam, but it became global because not only Afghani Muslims rallied behind the cause.
"It was a Jihad that even non-Muslims, even the U.S. bought into," Esposito said. "Meanwhile, Muslims, even those far from Afghanistan rallied behind the cause. They showed support with their tongues, their money and their bodies."
Much of this mentality, this global unification, according to Esposito, remained after the war, and for some extremists, this fight against the world's powers has continued since.
However, the other prominent contributing factors originated within the Middle East itself, Esposito said. The very nature of the authoritarian regimes in control of much of the Islamic Middle East led directly to extremism within these countries themselves, he argued.
"Out of these authoritarian policies, particularly those of Saudi Arabia, developed Wahabi Islam, a form of Islam that can be compared to the radical extremists present in Judaism and Christianity," Esposito said. "Just like not all members of the Christian right are violent extremists, neither are all believers of Wahabi Islam, but it's those that take the 'mine-is-right-and-yours-is-wrong' attitude that lead to violence and in this case terrorism."
Though he did recognize that action needed to be taken to improve the current turbulent environment, Esposito urged against a U.S. foreign policy of acting unilaterally and using brute militaristic strength to solve the current situation
"The challenge of the Bush administration is finding a way to work multilaterally with our allies, with the U.N., with countries in the Middle East to change the current situation," Esposito said, "or risk fostering increased anti-Americanism and increasing danger ... and turbulence."
The event was sponsored by the Leslie Center for the Humanities.
