Daniel Pipes

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Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum, a member of the presidentially-appointed board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and a columnist for the New York Sun and The Jerusalem Post.

Daniel Pipes is considered to be a neo-conservative. He is director of the Middle East Forum and head of Campus Watch. His name is linked with the Department of Defense Special Task Force on Terrorism and Technology. He is an associate with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and is the former vice chair of the Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarships. He publishes the "Middle East Intelligence Forum". A frequent media "talking head," he is regarded by some as America's leading Islamophobe. He has discussed terrorism and Middle East affairs on television programs including ABC World News Tonight, CBS Reports, Crossfire, Good Morning America, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, The O'Reilly Factor, and The Today Show. He has also appeared on the BBC and Al-Jazeera, and has published in the Atlantic Monthly, Commentary, Foreign Affairs, Harper's, National Review, New Republic, Policy Review and The Weekly Standard. Many newspapers carry his articles, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, as do hundreds of websites. His writings have been translated into nineteen languages, and he has lectured in twenty-five countries.

Education and Career

Pipes received his A.B. (1971) and Ph.D. (1978) from Harvard University, both in history. Pipes speaks French, and reads Arabic and German. He spent six years studying abroad, including three years in Egypt, where his activites included writing a book on colloquial Egyptian Arabic published in 1983. He has been awarded a honorary doctorates from universities in Switzerland and the United States. Pipes frequently discusses current issues on television, appearing on such U.S. programs as ABC World News, CBS Reports, Crossfire, Good Morning America, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, O’Reilly Factor, and The Today Show. He has appeared on leading television networks around the globe, including the BBC and Al-Jazeera.

Pipes has published in such magazines as the Atlantic Monthly, Commentary, Foreign Affairs, Harper's, National Review, New Republic, and The Weekly Standard. Many newspapers carry his articles, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, another hundred, plus hundreds of websites. His writings have been translated into nineteen languages and he has lectured in twenty-five countries.

He has taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the U.S. Naval War College. He has served in various capacities at the Departments of State and Defense, sits on five editorial boards, has testified before many congressional committees, and has worked on four presidential campaigns.

Praise and controversy

The Wall Street Journal has called Pipes "an authoritative commentator on the Middle East." MSNBC described him as one of the best-known "Mideast policy luminaries" [1]. CNN referred to him one "of the country’s leading experts" on the Middle East. The Boston Globe wrote, "If Pipes's admonitions had been heeded, there might never have been a 9/11." [2]

A 1983 Washington Post book review noted that Pipes displays "a disturbing hostility to contemporary Muslims ... he professes respect for Muslims but is frequently contemptuous of them". It said the book "is marred by exaggerations, inconsistencies, and evidence of hostility to the subject" (Washington Post, 12/11/83). Left Turn magazine described Pipes as a "leading anti-Muslim hate propagandist". [3]

In August 2003, news leaked of Pipes' imminent appointment to the U.S. government-sponsored U.S. Institute of Peace. Soon afterwards, a broad array of Arab-American, American Muslim, and other groups vehemently denounced the appointment, claiming that Pipes was a racist, anti-Islamic extremist. Several Democratic senators, including Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut), expressed opposition to the nomination and delayed a committee vote on it, though President Bush bypassed the Senate and proceeded with a recess appointment.

This incident was the latest in the series of confrontations Pipes has had with various U.S-based Islamic groups, especially the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR maintains that Pipes is an anti-Islamic bigot, while Pipes in turn charges that CAIR is an apologist for Islamist terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas (see external links).

Pipes is also controversial in academia, where his neoconservative positions—especially his strong support for Israel and his argument that Islamism is a threat to the West—conflicts with the views of some Middle East studies scholars, such as John Esposito who describes Islamist movements as political forces leading to democratic progress. Pipes was also criticized by Edward Said, a critic of Orientalist scholarship.

Statements by Pipes

Radical Islam

Pipes has long expressed concern about the supposed danger of radical Islam to the Western world. In 1985, he wrote in Middle East Insight that "The scope of the radical fundamentalist's ambition poses novel problems; and the intensity of his onslaught against the United States makes solutions urgent." [4]. In the fall 1995 issue of National Interest, he wrote: "Unnoticed by most Westerners, war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States." [5] Four months before the September 11, 2001 attacks, Pipes and American investigative journalist Steven Emerson wrote in the Wall Street Journal that al Qaeda was "planning new attacks on the U.S." and that Iranian operatives "helped arrange advanced ... training for al Qaeda personnel in Lebanon where they learned, for example, how to destroy large buildings." [6]

Arab-Israeli conflict

He wrote in Commentary in April 1990: "There can be either an Israel or a Palestine, but not both. To think that two states can stably and peacefully coexist in the small territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is to be either naïve or duplicitous. If the last seventy years teach anything, it is that there can be only one state west of the Jordan River. Therefore, to those who ask why the Palestinians must be deprived of a state, the answer is simple: grant them one and you set in motion a chain of events that will lead either to its extinction or the extinction of Israel." [7]

The dangers of occupying Iraq

In April 1991, when a debate was raging about the desirability of a U.S. intervention against the Saddam Hussein regime, Pipes wrote in the Wall Street Journal about the prospect of U.S. forces occupying Iraq, "with Schwartzkopf Pasha ruling from Baghdad": "It sounds romantic, but watch out. Like the Israelis in southern Lebanon nine years ago, American troops would find themselves quickly hated, with Shi'as taking up suicide bombing, Kurds resuming their rebellion, and the Syrian and Iranian governments plotting new ways to sabotage American rule. Staying in place would become too painful, leaving too humiliating." [8]

Arafat's intentions at Oslo

Writing in the Forward within days of the signing of the Oslo Accords, Pipes stated: "Mr. Arafat has merely adopted a flexible approach to fit adverse circumstances, saying whatever needed to be said to survive. The PLO had not a change of heart — merely a change of policy. . . . the deal with Israel represents a lease on life for the PLO, enabling it to stay in business until Israel falters, when it can deal a death blow." [9]

War on terrorism

Pipes has called for a war on Islamic extremism, declaring in one post-Sept. 11 interview, "What we need to do is inspire fear, not affection." Pipes also promotes the support of moderate Muslims against militant islamists. He criticizes organizations such as CAIR for failing to distinguish between moderate Muslims and islamists when labelling him as'islamophobic'. During August recess 2003, President Bush bypassed the Senate and appointed Pipes, over the objections of Democrats and others, to the board of the United States Institute of Peace. The appointment won't be valid until the next Congress is sworn in, which would be January 2005. [10]

Organizations

Pipes founded the Middle East Forum [http:www.MEForum.org], an independent 501(c)3 organization, in 1994. Its stated mission is to “promote American interests” through publications, research, consulting, media outreach, and public education. The Forum publishes two journals, the Middle East Quarterly [11] and the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin [12] and sponsors events in four cities.

The Middle East Forum sparked a controversy in September 2002 by establishing a web site called Campus Watch that claims to identify "five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students" in the teaching of Middle Eastern studies at American universities. Students are encouraged to submit reports regarding teachers, books and curricula. Campus Watch was accused of "McCarthyesque intimidation" against professors expressing criticism of Israel, not only by the listed academics but by more than 100 others who demanded to be listed as well. Campus Watch subsequently removed the "McCarthyite blacklist" from their website. [13] [14] [15]

Publications

  • Books concerning Islam
    • Militant Islam Reaches America (2002), ISBN 0393052044
    • The Rushdie Affair (1990)
    • In the Path of God (1983), ISBN 0765809818
    • Slave Soldiers and Islam (1981)
  • Books concerning Syria
    • Syria Beyond the Peace Process (1996)
    • Damascus Courts the West (1991)
    • Greater Syria (1990)
  • Books concerning other topics
    • The Hidden Hand (1996)
    • The Long Shadow (1989)
    • Miniatures (2003)
    • An Arabist's Guide to Colloquial Egyptian (1983) systematizes the grammar of Arabic as spoken in Egypt.
    • Conspiracy (1997) discusses conspiracy theories in modern European and American politics.

Pipes has also edited two collections of essays, Sandstorm (1993) and Friendly Tyrants (1991). He is the joint author of eleven books.

SourceWatch Resources

External links

NOTE: Portions of this article are taken from a corresponding article on Wikipedia.

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