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Daniel Pipes




Pipes is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum , a former member of the board of the U.S. Institute Of Peace , and a regular columnist for the '' New York Sun '' and '' The Jerusalem Post ''. He contributes regularly to David Horowitz's online publication FrontPageMag.com , and has had his work published by many newspapers across North America, including the '' Washington Post '', '' New York Times '', and '' Wall Street Journal ''.

He is frequently invited to discuss the Middle East on American network television, as well as by universities and think tanks, has appeared on the BBC and Al Jazeera , and has lectured in 25 countries.


BACKGROUND

Pipes was born in Boston , Massachusetts , the son of Harvard Historian Richard Pipes and his wife Irene (née Roth). Both Pipes' parents were from assimilated Polish Jewish families that escaped from Poland in 1939 . The couple met in the United States in 1944 , and married two years later. Daniel was their first child.

Pipes attended the Harvard pre-school, then received a , one of the greatest Jurist s, Theologian s and Mystical thinkers in the Islamic tradition.

He returned to Harvard in 1973 and obtained a Ph.D. in medieval Islam ic history in 1978. His Ph.D. Dissertation eventually became his first book, ''Slave Soldiers and Islam'', in 1981. He studied abroad for six years, three of which were spent in Egypt , where he wrote a book on colloquial Egyptian Arabic which was published in 1983. He speaks French and English and can read Arabic and German . He taught World History at the University Of Chicago from 1972 to 1982, history at Harvard from 1983 to 1984, and Policy Strategy at the Naval War College from 1984 to 1986.

Pipes has served in various capacities at the Departments Of State and Defense , and has testified to the United States Congress . He has been awarded honorary doctorates from universities in Switzerland and the United States .

He has been married twice, and has three daughters.


PRAISE AND CONTROVERSY

The '' referred to him one "of the country’s leading experts" on the Middle East. In the ''Boston Globe'' Jeff Jacoby wrote, "If Pipes's admonitions had been heeded, there might never have been a 9/11." {Link without Title}

A 1984 '' Business Week '' book review by Ronald Taggiasco stated that "Pipes has handled his subject well. It is difficult these days to address the question of Islam, the Arabs, and their relations with Israel and remain nonpartisan. Pipes has managed to do just that. He has wended his way through that minefield unscathed" (''Business Week'', January 30 1984 ).

On the other hand, a 1983 '' Washington Post '' book review by Thomas W. Lippman stated that Pipes displays "a disturbing hostility to contemporary Muslims ... he professes respect for Muslims but is frequently contemptuous of them". It said his book "is marred by exaggerations, inconsistencies, and evidence of hostility to the subject" while admitting that " {Link without Title} ew other writers have explained so lucidly such complex developments in Muslim history" and that his "book is a valuable contribution to our understanding" (''Washington Post'', December 11 1983 ).

Pipes's , and the abuse of power over students". Students were encouraged to submit reports regarding teachers, books and Curricula . The project was accused of " McCarthyesque intimidation" of professors who criticized Israel , when it published a "blacklist" of professors. In protest, more than 100 academics demanded to be listed as well. Campus Watch subsequently removed the list from their website. [http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/416 [http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/209]

In January 2004, ''Left Turn'' magazine, a radical left-wing publication, described Pipes as a "leading anti-Muslim hate propagandist". {Link without Title}

In August 2003, news leaked of Pipes's 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 an " Anti-Islamic extremist". An editorial in '' The Washington Post '' described his nomination as a "cruel joke". The Arab American Institute, headed by James Zogby , stated "For decades Daniel Pipes has displayed a bizarre obsession with all things Arab and Muslim. Now, it appears that his years of hatred and bigotry have paid off with a presidential appointment. One shudders to think how he will abuse this position to tear at the fabric of our nation." Juan Cole wrote in his Blog "I urge academics and others to boycott the United States Institute for Peace this year, as long as extremist ideologue Daniel Pipes serves on it."

Others, including Muslims, defended the appointment. Akbar Ahmed , professor of international relations and Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic studies at American University , asked "Who is better placed to act as a bridge than the scholar of Islam?" Pakistani-American Tashbih Sayyed , editor of the '' Muslim World Today '' and the '' Pakistan Times '', called Pipes "a Cassandra . He must be listened to. If there is no Daniel Pipes, there is no source for America to learn to recognize the evil which threatens it. Historians will write later that Pipes saved us. There are Muslims in America that are like Samson; they have come into the temple to pull down the pillars, even if it means destroying themselves." Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Subhy Mansour , a former visiting fellow in the human-rights program at Harvard Law School stated "We Muslims need a thinker like Dr. Pipes, who can criticize the terrorist culture within Islam, just as I usually do." {Link without Title}

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 for Islamist terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas . Robert Spencer described the campaign against Pipes on the CAIR website as a "lynching."

Pipes is also controversial in academia, where his Conservative 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 scholars, such as John Esposito , who describes Islamist movements as political forces leading to democratic progress.

Pipes was invited to speak at the , Racist and Sexist {Link without Title} that goes back to 1990". The letter went on to say that:
:Genuine academic debate requires an open and free exchange of ideas in an atmosphere of mutual respect and tolerance. We, the undersigned — professors, librarians and students — are committed to academic freedom and we affirm Pipes' right to speak at our university. However, we strongly believe that hate, prejudice and fear-mongering have no place on this campus.

Pipes responded by stating:
:I've been criticized plenty, as this suggests. I'm being criticized today. I grant my critics the right to criticize me. And I retain the right to criticize them. None of us have police powers. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech for those one disagrees with, as well as those one does agree with.

University officials said they would not interfere with Pipes' visit. [http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/Academic_Pages/Pipes_Page.html

On and/or used tactics like Hitler, and that he wanted to Ethnically Cleanse Muslims from the United States. {Link without Title} In its June 10 edition of the ''Friday Bulletin'' is issued an "Apology and Retraction", stating:
:The Canadian Islamic Congress and Ms. Valiante apologize without reservation and retract remarks in the column that suggest that Dr. Daniel Pipes is a follower of Hitler or that he uses the tactics of Hitler or that he wants to ethnically cleanse America of its Muslim presence". {Link without Title} {Link without Title}


OPINIONS


Radical Islam

Pipes has long expressed concern about the danger, as he sees it, of radical Islam to the Western world. In 1985, he wrote in ''Middle East Insight'' that " scope of the radical fundamentalist's ambition poses novel problems; and the intensity of his onslaught against the United States makes solutions urgent." [http://www.danielpipes.org/article/266 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." 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." [http://www.danielpipes.org/article/381


Support for Japanese Internment during World War II

Pipes expressed his support of "the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II because...given what was known and not known at the time...the U.S. government made the correct and sensible decisions." (See also his article ''Japanese Internment: Why It Was a Good Idea--And the Lessons It Offers Today.''[http://hnn.us/articles/9289.html ) Pipes does not "advocate the internment of anyone today."[http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/391]


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." {Link without Title}


Policy toward Iraq


In 1987, Pipes encouraged the United States to provide s taking up Suicide Bombing , Kurd s resuming their rebellion, and the Syria n and Iran ian governments plotting new ways to sabotage American rule. Staying in place would become too painful, leaving too humiliating." {Link without Title}

In a '' New York Post '' article published April 8 2003 , Pipes expressed his opposition to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak 's concerned prediction that " war [in Iraq will have horrible consequences...Terrorism will be aggravated...Terrorist organizations will be united...Everything will be insecure." Though this concern was echoed by various other politicians and academics cited by Pipes in his article[http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1055], Pipes argued that "the precise opposite is more likely to happen: The war in Iraq will lead to a reduction in terrorism."


Arafat's intentions at Oslo

Writing in the ''Forward'' within days of the signing of the 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." {Link without Title}


On Muslims

"There is no escaping the unfortunate fact that Muslim government employees in law enforcement, the military, and the diplomatic corps need to be watched for connections to terrorism, as do Muslim chaplains in prisons and the armed forces. Muslim visitors and immigrants must undergo additional background checks. Mosques require a scrutiny beyond that applied to churches, synagogues, and temples. Muslim schools require increased oversight to ascertain what is being taught to children." --'' The Jerusalem Post '', January 22 2003 p.9

"Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene...All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most." ('' National Review '', November 19 1990 )

Of African-American Muslims, Pipes wrote: "...black converts tend to hold vehemently anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic attitudes." (''Commentary'', June 1 2000 )

In an October 16 1997 article in the ''Jewish Exponent'', Pipes claimed that "as the population of Muslims in the United States grows, so does antisemitism." ("The New Anti-Semitism," {Link without Title} )

An article in the ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' written by Sister Elaine Kelley, Chair of "Friends of Sabeel—North America" (a support group for the Palestinian Christian anti-Zionist group Sabeel), July 2001, claims that Pipes told an audience at Portland State University that "Arab people live in some of the worse conditions in the world, without freedom to travel or modern media." He blamed those conditions on the Arabs’ "political obsession with Israel" (instead of their own societies); according to Kelley he added "The Palestinians are a miserable people, and they deserve to be"[http://www.wrmea.com/archives/july01/0107057.html but Pipes denies ever saying this.[http://www.danielpipes.org/cair.php]

"The bombing on February 22 of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq, was a tragedy, but it was not an American or a coalition tragedy. ... Sunni terrorists target Shi'ites and vice versa, non-Muslims are less likely to be hurt. ... Civil war in Iraq, in short, would be a humanitarian tragedy but not a strategic one." ('' New York Sun '', February 28 2006 [http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3423 )


BOOKS AND POLICY PAPERS

  • '''' (2003), Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0765802155

  • '' Militant Islam Reaches America '' (2002), W.W. Norton & Company; paperback (2003) ISBN 0393325318

  • with Abdelnour, Z. (2000), ''Ending Syria's Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S. Role'' Middle East Forum, ISBN 0970148402

  • ''''(2002), Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0765809818

  • ''Muslim immigrants in the United States (Backgrounder)'' (2002), Center for Immigration Studies

  • ''The Long Shadow : Culture and Politics in the Middle East'' (1999), Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0887382207

  • ''The Hidden Hand : Middle East Fears of Conspiracy'' (1997), Palgrave Macmillan; paperback (1998) ISBN 0312176880

  • ''Conspiracy : How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From'' (1997), Touchstone; paperback (1999) ISBN 0684871114

  • ''Syria Beyond the Peace Process (Policy Papers, No. 41)'' (1995), Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ISBN 0944029647

  • ''Sandstorm'' (1993), Rowman & Littlefield, paperback (1993) ISBN 0819188948

  • ''Damascus Courts the West: Syrian Politics, 1989-1991 (Policy Papers, No. 26)'' (1991), Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ISBN 0944029132

  • with Garfinkle, A. (1991), ''Friendly Tyrants: An American Dilemma'' Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0312045352

  • ''From a distance: Influencing foreign policy from Philadelphia (The Heritage lectures)'' (1991), Heritage Foundation, ASIN B0006DGHE4

  • ''The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West'' (1990), Transaction Publishers, paperback (2003) ISBN 0765809966

  • ''Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition'' (1990), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195060210

  • ''An Arabist's guide to Colloquial Egyptian'' (1983), Foreign Service Institute

  • ''Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis of a Military System'' (1981), Yale University Press, ISBN 0300024479



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