Listening to Dennis Prager a few days ago I heard former Georgetown professor Doug Feith, who is none too pleased that his contract wasn’t renewed.
Feith, the former United States Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and one of the architects of the Iraq War, was no stranger to opposition from Georgetown.
The official announcement of his hiring two years ago immediately brought condemnation from faculty members both within and outside of the department. A letter objecting to Feith’s appointment had been signed by dozens of professors.
It read in part: “Mr. Feith has been accused of ethical conflicts during his term in charge of Iraq reconstruction. More seriously, he has sought to diminish the importance of the Geneva Conventions and has defended the use of torture in a number of public writings and talks. He speaks regularly against the relevance of international law to conflicts in the Middle East and opposes diplomatic solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Perhaps most seriously, he was a central figure in the dissemination of false justifications for the illegal invasion of Iraq, behavior that many experts consider to constitute war crimes, and which the most sympathetic would have to think a highly dubious grounds for further employment.”
So, essentially he was in the Bush White House so they hate him and accuse him of war crimes. Standard operating procedure. The Hague would be a very busy place if the faculty of Georgetown were in charge.
Asked about Feith’s status, Robert Gallucci, dean of Georgetown’s foreign service school, told the Washington Post that the decision not to renew his contract should not be seen as “a judgment on his performance,” noting that Feith’s students’ “course evaluations were really good.”
Feith was Undersecretary of Defense. He’s a bestselling author about the War. And he’s a good teacher. Well, obviously he had to go.
But isn’t this the same faculty that preaches “academic freedom” and “diversity of thought” when it comes to having pro-abortion speakers and faculty. I think “diversity” to these folks just means having African-American liberals, Hispanic liberals, Native American liberals…
July 2, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Hypocrites!
Liberalism is far from liberal – more mealy, if you ask me.
From *Encarta:
liberal person: somebody who favors tolerance or open-mindedness.
I think my new label for them will simply be leftists or delusionalists.
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Encarta® World English Dictionary [North American Edition] © & (P)2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
July 2, 2008 at 6:24 pm
While it is quite hypocritical of them I won’t lose any sleep over the letting go. Whether they are dissidents on the right or the left they should not be teaching at a Catholic University. Torture is an intrinsic evil so justifying it is supporting evil if that is indeed what he did.
If Georgetown got rid of all dissenters it would be almost empty.
July 2, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Is Georgetown Catholic?
July 2, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Jeff,
couldn’t agree more. But I just don’t like how it’s one sided and has nothing to do with Catholicism.
July 2, 2008 at 8:12 pm
To Anthony’s question “Is Georgetown Catholic?” Dunno! But they did take down all Crucifixi that hung on classroom walls some time ago.
July 3, 2008 at 1:07 am
We have a visiting priest at our liberal parish. He does the 7AM daily Mass now. In his homilies he has actually told the congregation that Catholics should stand against gay marraige. He has said that, if anything, the government should be informed by the mind of the church, not the other way around. Sometimes he so clearly teaches the Truths of Catholic Faith that our society cannot bear to hear, that I wonder if he is ALLOWED to say THAT! But there is never a murmer from the aging congregation. No one complains or puts him down. In fact, our pastor has said that if HE were to make the same strong defence of Catholic moral teaching, he’d be in for it. How can this be? The visiting priest is a very black man from Africa. Liberals are all about appearances and never about the TRUTH! The know the liberal rule: never critisize a minority. The US is a HUGE mission field for these strong men of color! Maybe the Truth will take root.
Kate
July 3, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I agree with Jeff Miller – torture is intrinsically evil and anyone who advocates it should not be teaching at a Catholic university. So from that point of view I have no problem with the firing. On the other hand, I’m sure there are also a lot of pro-choice professors at Georgetown, and to not fire them, too is extremely hypocritical. I think Jeff is right that Georgetown would be almost empty if they got rid of all dissenters.
This part bothered me: “Perhaps most seriously, he was a central figure in the dissemination of false justifications for the illegal invasion of Iraq.” Most seriously? I think his support of torture, which is intrinsically evil, is far more serious than his support of the war. Whether a particular war is just is a prudential judgment. Personally, I do not think the Iraq war was just, and I think it’s a bit of stretch for Catholics to try to square it with Just War theory, but technically they are not sinning by doing so.
July 3, 2008 at 4:10 pm
How about Michael Eric Dyson, anti-Catholic pundit and professor at Georgetown?
I think the base measure of a Catholic University should be whether its professors are anti-catholic.
JBP
July 4, 2008 at 7:52 am
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July 4, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Killing is Killing, war and abortion.