Bigot through the backdoor
Arab and Muslim Americans are dismayed by President George W Bush's nomination of a man they accuse of being anti-Muslim to the US Institute of Peace. Anayat Durrani reports from Washington
President Bush has appointed controversial Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) despite attempts by Congressional Democrats and interfaith groups to block the move. The action was taken while Congress was recessed and has been called a "back-door" move by opponents.
The White House made the announcement in a statement and referred to Pipes as a well-respected scholar. Pipes, 53, will serve on the 15-member board of the institute for only 18-months instead of the usual four-year appointment and will not be eligible to be reappointed by the president while Congress is in recess. Bush made the appointment during a recess after Pipes nomination had stalled for months in the Senate, thereby avoiding a confirmation vote. Congress created the Peace Institute in 1984 "to promote peace and curb violent international conflict".
Pipes's association with the USIP has generated a tremendous amount of controversy since he was first nominated in April. The appointment was strongly opposed by Democrats during a 23 July meeting on the nomination, held by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, forcing a delay on the vote. Ultimately, this delay seemed to give Bush the impetus to appoint Pipes and bypass the deliberative processes of Congress.
Among the groups rallying against the nomination and appointment are Arab and Muslim American organisations that accuse Pipes of being anti-Muslim and an extremist. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights group, organised a massive lobbying campaign through e-mail, fax, and phone to protest Bush's nomination. Several mainstream newspapers, including The Washington Post, also criticised the nomination and called for it to be withdrawn.
Those who support Pipes credit him for his repeated warnings before 11 September 2001 about a possible attack by Islamic fundamentalists against the United States. Some of Pipes most ardent supporters include Jewish groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.
Pipes is an advocate of racial and religious profiling and supports placing American mosques under police surveillance. Pipes has said he believes that a significant percentage of the Muslim American population could be terrorists. In an opinion piece in The Daily Telegraph, Pipes said that worldwide, Muslim extremists constitute "a small but significant minority of Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the population. ... many of them are peaceable in appearance, but they must all be considered potential killers." Pipes has often compared the US war against "Islamic terrorism" to its war against Nazism and communism.
Pipes is Harvard-educated and served in the US State and Defence Departments. Pipes created the Middle East Forum in 1990, an independent think-tank based in Philadelphia. He also founded Campus Watch, a group that decries academics who it alleges are teaching pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli and anti-American views on university campuses. Pipes is the author of 12 books, most recently Militant Islam Reaches America.
Several Senate Democrats, including Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy and Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin have spoken against Pipes's nomination, saying he is anti-Muslim and too controversial. "The US Institute of Peace is the last place that we need someone who is going to be a lightning rod for controversy -- and Mr Pipes is a lightning rod," said Harkin. "I do not know why we are considering this person."
Following Pipes appointment, Kennedy released a statement saying he was disappointed with Bush's choice. "Dr Pipes's views are long-standing, well-known and decidedly one-sided, and they are not the words of someone committed to bridging differences and bringing peace," he said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Pipes an "Islamophobe" and said he is "known for his hostility to Muslims", and called the appointment "a back-door move" that is "an affront to all those who seek peace".
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the appointment "a defeat for democracy" and questioned Bush's motive for the appointment.
"Pipes's appointment calls into question all of President Bush's previous statements claiming that the war on terrorism is not an attack on Islam and shows disdain for the democratic process," said Hooper.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council said that Pipes "made a career of disseminating hatred, bigotry and pseudo-scholarship about Islam and Muslims to the American public." The group added that Bush's recess appointment of Pipes "will be remembered by American Muslims and Arabs in 2004".
