Shilling for terrorism

The Los Angeles Times has allowed Saudi frontman John Esposito to publish an Op-Ed in which he once again decries ANY connection between Islam and terrorism: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-esposito2apr02,0,6118014.story. Now, Esposito is a fraud, and anyone with half a brain knows that, but as Dennis Prager rightfully asked on his radio show today, would the L.A. Times have allowed a paid lobbyist for the tobacco industry to publish tripe like this on its pages and call it an "opinion piece"? I somehow doubt it.