'Daniel Pipes' (born
September 9,
1949) is an
American historian and
counter-terrorism analyst who specializes in the
Middle East. He has written or co-written 18 books, maintains a blog, and lectures around the world presenting his analysis of world trends. His work has attracted both admiration and criticism as a result of his view that
Islamism is incompatible with democracy, freedom, multiculturalism, and human rights.
Pipes is the founder and director of the
Middle East Forum, a former member of the board of the
U.S. Institute of Peace, an adjunct scholar at the
Washington Institute of Near East Policy (WINEP), and a regular columnist for the ''
New York Sun'' and ''
The Jerusalem Post''. He contributes regularly to
David Horowitz's online publication ''
FrontPage Magazine'', and he 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.
Pipes is also the founder of
Campus Watch, an organization and website that opposes what it sees as anti-U.S. and anti-Israel bias. Pipes and the organization were accused of attacking
academic freedom in 2002 by publishing a list of academics critical of Israel and U.S. foreign policy.
["The War on Academic Freedom", ''The Nation'', November 11, 2002.]
Background
Pipes was born in
Boston,
Massachusetts, the son of
Harvard historian
Richard Pipes[1] and his wife Irene (née Roth), and grew up in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both Pipes' parents were from assimilated
Polish Jewish families that fled from
Poland in 1939. The couple met in the
United States in 1944 and married two years later. Pipes was their first child.
Pipes attended the Harvard pre-school, then received a private school education, partly abroad. He enrolled in Harvard University, where his father was then still a professor, in the fall of 1968; for his first two years he studied
mathematics, but has said: "I wasn't smart enough. So I chose to become a historian."
[1] He said he "found the material too abstract."
[2] He credits visits to the
Sahara Desert in 1968 and the
Sinai Desert in 1969 for piquing his interest in the
Arabic language,
[3] and visits to Niger and Tunisia for piquing his interest in the Islamic world, and he changed his major to Middle East history.
[4] For the next two years Pipes studied
Arabic and the
Middle East, obtaining a
B.A. in
history in 1971; his senior thesis was titled ''A Medieval Islamic Debate: The World Created in Eternity'', a study of
Al-Ghazali, one of the greatest
jurists,
theologians and
mystical thinkers in the Islamic tradition.
[5] After graduating in 1971, Pipes spent nearly three years in
Cairo. He learned Arabic and studied the
Quran, which he said gave him an appreciation for Islam.
[6]
He returned to Harvard in 1973 and obtained a
Ph.D. in medieval Islamic 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 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. He switched from medieval Islamic studies to modern Islam in the late 1970s.
For the next 10 years, he published his essays widely, but he did not gain
tenure from any of the universities where he taught or produce much in the way of original academic research.
Pipes has served in various capacities at the
Departments of State and
Defense, while his father served on the
National Security Council, and he has testified to the
United States Congress. He speaks French and English and can read Arabic and German.
He has been married twice and has three daughters.
As of January 2007, Pipes held the position of
Distinguished Visiting Professor at
Pepperdine University teaching a course titled "International Relations: Islam and Politics."
[2]
Campus Watch
Pipes' think tank the
Middle East Forum sparked controversy in September 2002 when it established a website called
Campus Watch, which identified what it saw as five problems in the teaching of Middle Eastern studies at American universities: "analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views,
apologetics, 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.
[3][4][5]
Peace Institute appointment
In April 2003,
George W. Bush nominated Pipes for the board of the federally sponsored
U.S. Institute of Peace, on which
Douglas Feith was already serving. Some questioned how Pipes made a good appointee to work at the Institute of Peace when he had previously said that no peaceful resolution is possible in many world conflicts and had written a year earlier, "[D]iplomacy rarely ends conflicts."
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." A ''
Washington Post''
editorial suggested that many Muslims viewed Pipes' nomination as a "sort of cruel joke."
[6] 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."
Christopher Hitchens, who is also a prominent critic of Islamists, also expressed "bafflement" at this appointment in a critical essay entitled "Daniel Pipes is not a man of peace" in ''
Slate.''
[7] Hitchens wrote that Pipes "employs the fears and insecurities created by Islamic extremism to slander or misrepresent those who disagree with him" and that this contradicted the USIP's position as "a somewhat mild organization [...] devoted to the peaceful resolution of conflict." Hitchens concluded his opposition to Pipes' nomination by saying that Pipes "confuses scholarship with propaganda" and pursues "petty vendettas with scant regard for objectivity."
Others, including Muslims, defended the appointment.
Akbar Ahmed, 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, said, "We Muslims need a thinker like Dr. Pipes, who can criticize the terrorist culture within Islam, just as I usually do."
[11]
Several
senators, including
Ted Kennedy (D-
Massachusetts) and
Christopher Dodd (D-
Connecticut), expressed opposition to the nomination and stalled a vote in Chairman Judd Gregg's (R-NH) committee, and
President Bush was forced to bypass the Republican-led Senate and proceeded with a
recess appointment on
August 23,
2003. Pipes served until January 2005.
Views and positions
Pipes is an outspoken
Zionist.
Pipes is controversial in academia, where his
conservative positions—especially his strong
Zionism 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 a firm supporter of the
Vietnam War, and when his fellow students occupied the Harvard administration building to protest it in the
1960s, he sided with the administration.
Pipes had always considered himself to be a
Democrat, but after anti-war
George McGovern gained the 1972 Democratic nomination for president, he switched to the
Republican Party.
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 "[t]he scope of the radical fundamentalist's ambition poses novel problems; and the intensity of his onslaught against the United States makes solutions urgent."
[8] 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."
[9] He wrote this in the aftermath of the
Oklahoma City bombing; investigative journalist
Steven Emerson had said in the aftermath of the bombing that it bore a "Middle Eastern trait." Pipes agreed with Emerson and told ''
USA Today'' that the United States was "under attack" and that Islamic fundamentalists "are targeting us."
Four months before the
September 11, 2001 attacks, Pipes and 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."
[10]
Moderate Muslims
Pipes said that the American government and other powerful institutions should give priority to locating, meeting with, funding, forwarding, empowering, and celebrating those Muslims who, at personal risk, stand up and confront the totalitarians.
[11]
Pipes suggested that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution. "Is it not telling that great numbers of moderate Muslims see danger where so many non-Muslims are blind? Do developments in Pakistan and Turkey not confirm my oft-repeated point that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam the solution? And do they not suggest that ignorant non-Muslim busybodies should get out of the way of those moderate Muslims determined to relegate Islamism to its rightful place in the dustbin of history?"
[12]
American Muslims
In October, 2001 Pipes said, before the convention of the American Jewish Congress. "[The] increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims...will present true dangers to American Jews."
[13]
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."
[14][15] Pipes does not "advocate the internment of anyone today."
[17]
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."
[16]
Policy toward Iraq
In 1987, Pipes encouraged the United States to provide
Saddam Hussein with upgraded weapons and intelligence,
[19] ostensibly to counterbalance Iran's successes in the Iran-Iraq War. 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."
[20]
Pipes was a strong backer of the
Iraq War, saying that
Saddam Hussein posed an "imminent threat" to the United States.
In a ''
New York Post'' article published
April 8,
2003, Pipes expressed his opposition to
Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak's concerned prediction that "[the] 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,
[17] 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
Oslo Accords, Pipes said: "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."
[18]
On Muslims
Daniel Pipes' political views have been in general critical of many of the cultures which have adopted forms of Islam, as well a as general criticism of many streams of the Muslim faith as expressed and practiced around the world. His emphasis has been on his perception of a clash of civilizations between the West and even what many think are mainstream Muslim groups. He has also concerned himself with the problem of integration between various cultures within the Muslim-dominated world into
European countries and the United States. He has outlined obstructing factors which are intrinsic to Muslim faith as well as those within the many different cultures which have adopted Islam and which makes integration difficult, and even at times violent. He has equally been critical of European efforts with regard to integrating these foreign nationals in their countries. Pipes outlines and exposes many Islamist elements within general "Muslim society" and believes that the strain between followers of Islam and the West requires rational scrutiny.
First Gulf War
Pipes said: "True, it was Saddam Husayn of Iraq who started the Gulf War in September 1980, but Iranian forces went on the offensive in July 1982, and it was
Khomeini who continued the fighting for another six years."
[19]
On Europe
Pipes has been heavily critical of European welfare states, which he views as a consequence of the U.S. 'taking over' the defence of Europe during the
Cold War.
On Iran
★ Economy:
In 1980, Pipes wrote that "
Iran made the transition to a post-oil economy. It is the only major oil exporter to abandon the heady billions and return to live by its own means."
[20]
★ Armed Opposition:
Pipes suggested in his article at the ''New York Sun'' that the Iranian armed "terrorist"
[21][22][23][24] group known as
Mujahedeen-e Khalq should be unleashed.
[25]
On Saudi Arabia
Pipes wrote: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - friend or foe of America? Having been asked exactly this question on such shows as CNN's "Crossfire" and ABC's "Nightline," I've come to the conclusion that the answer is "neither." Rather,
Saudi Arabia is a rival."
[26]
Pipes also wrote: "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's massive implication in the death of 3,000 Americans on 9/11, I argued in February, is reason for the victims and their families to consider suing it for compensation."
[27]
Praise, criticism and controversy
The ''
Wall Street Journal'' has called Pipes "an authoritative commentator on the Middle East."
[28] Michael Moran of
MSNBC described him as one of the best-known "Mideast policy luminaries".
[29] CNN 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."
[30]
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."
[31]
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 "[f]ew other writers have explained so lucidly such complex developments in Muslim history" and that his "book is a valuable contribution to our understanding."
[32] Another review in the ''Washington Post'' found that Pipes "professes respect for Muslims but is frequently contemptuous of them."
Continued friction
In January 2004, ''
Left Turn'' magazine described Pipes as a "leading anti-Muslim hate propagandist."
[33] In a publication of Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in a May 2, 2004 Pipes, in ''
The End of American Jewry's Golden Era'', foresees the end of the golden era for Jews in the
United States.
Pipes has had a series of confrontations with various U.S-based Islamic groups, especially the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR has described him as "an
Islamophobe,"
[34][35] while Pipes in turn charges that CAIR is an
apologist for Islamist terrorist groups like
Hezbollah and
Hamas.
Robert Spencer described the campaign against Pipes on the CAIR website as a "lynching."
Pipes was invited to speak at the
University of Toronto in March 2005 by a new student group at the University called ''The Middle East Forum at U of T''. A letter from professors, staff and students asserted that Pipes had a "long record of
xenophobic,
racist and
sexist [speeches] that goes back to 1990."
[36]
University officials said they would not interfere with Pipes' visit.
[31]
On
April 29,
2005 Wahida Valiante, the vice-president of the
Canadian Islamic Congress, published on its website's regular "Friday Bulletin" the article ''Worth Repeating: Media Propaganda: Hitler, Bush and the "Big Lie"'', which suggested Pipes was a follower of
Hitler and/or used tactics like Hitler and that he wanted to
ethnically cleanse Muslims from the United States.
[32] In the June 10 edition of the ''Friday Bulletin'' an "Apology and Retraction" appears, 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."[33][37]
Awards and honors
On
March 11 2006, Daniel Pipes was awarded the "Free Speech Award" from the
Danish ''Free Press Society of 2004'' (''Trykkefrihedsselkabet af 2004'').
[38] He has been awarded honorary doctorates from universities in Switzerland and the United States.
In May
2006, Pipes received the
Guardian of Zion Award.
''
The Forward'', a Jewish publication, named Pipes as one of America's "50 Most Influential Jews."
Books and policy papers
★ '' (2003), Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0-7658-0215-5
★ ''
Militant Islam Reaches America'' (2002), W.W. Norton & Company; paperback (2003) ISBN 0-393-32531-8
★ with Abdelnour, Z. (2000), ''Ending Syria's Occupation of Lebanon: The U.S. Role'' Middle East Forum, ISBN 0-9701484-0-2
★ '' (2002), Transaction Publishers, ISBN 0-7658-0981-8
★ ''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 0-88738-220-7
★ ''The Hidden Hand : Middle East Fears of Conspiracy'' (1997), Palgrave Macmillan; paperback (1998) ISBN 0-312-17688-0
★ ''Conspiracy : How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From'' (1997), Touchstone; paperback (1999) ISBN 0-684-87111-4
★ ''Syria Beyond the Peace Process (Policy Papers, No. 41)'' (1995), Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ISBN 0-944029-64-7
★ ''Sandstorm'' (1993), Rowman & Littlefield, paperback (1993) ISBN 0-8191-8894-8
★ ''Damascus Courts the West: Syrian Politics, 1989-1991 (Policy Papers, No. 26)'' (1991), Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ISBN 0-944029-13-2
★ with Garfinkle, A. (1991), ''Friendly Tyrants: An American Dilemma'' Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-312-04535-2
★ ''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 0-7658-0996-6
★ ''Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition'' (1990), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-506021-0
★ ''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 0-300-02447-9
Documentaries
★ ''
See also
★
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
★
Criticism of Islam
★
Christopher Hitchens' critiques of specific individuals#Regarding Daniel Pipes
★ ''
From Time Immemorial''
★
Washington Institute of Near East Policy
References
1. Neocon man: Daniel Pipes has made his name inveighing against an academy overrun by political extremists but he is nothing if not extreme in his own views. Eyal Press
2. "School of Public Policy Announces 2007 Distinguished Visiting Professor: Daniel Pipes", University of Pepperdine.
3. [7]
4. [8]
5. [9]
6. [10]
7. Hitchens, Christopher, "Daniel Pipes is not a man of peace", ''Slate'', August 11 2003
8. [12]
9. [13]
10. [14]
11. Daniel Pipes. "Bolstering Moderate Muslims" ''New York Sun''. April 17, 2007
12. Daniel Pipes. "A Million Moderate Muslims on the March" ''New York Sun''. May 8, 2007
13. Ferguson, Barbara. Daniel Pipes Continuing His Campaign Against Muslims. Arab News.
14. [15]
15. See also his article ''Japanese Internment: Why It Was a Good Idea--And the Lessons It Offers Today.''[16])
16. [18]
17. [21]
18. [22]
19. Daniel Pipes. "Iran after Khomeini" ''World and I''. August 1989
20. Daniel Pipes. "Iran's Good Fortune" ''Washington Post''. July 10, 1980
21. [23]
22. [24]
23. [25]
24. [26]
25. Daniel Pipes. [http://www.danielpipes.org/article/4747 "Unleash the Iranian Opposition[, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq]"] ''New York Sun''. July 10, 2007
26. Daniel Pipes. [http://www.danielpipes.org/article/401 "Saudi Arabia: Not Friend or Foe" ''New York Post''. May 14, 2002
27. Daniel Pipes. [http://www.danielpipes.org/article/158 "Make the Saudis Pay for Terror" ''New York Post''. April 15, 2002
28. Steigerwald, Bill, "Pipes calls war a success", Pittsburgh Tribune Review, April 1, 2006
29. Moran, Michael, "The evolution of peacemaking", MSNBC, November 21, 2001
30. [27]
31. ''Business Week'', January 30 1984
32. ''Washington Post'', December 11 1983)
33. [28]
34. [29]
35. [30]
36. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050329/PIPES29/TPNational/Toronto
37. [34]
38. Beila Rabinowitz, "Dr Daniel Pipes To Be Awarded Danish "Free Speech Prize"", PipeLineNews, March 8, 2006
External links
★
Daniel Pipes’s personal website
★
Los Angeles Times:
“A Misdirected Attack”
★
Financial Times:
''Islam's battle with a hostile world''
★
''Truth on Terror'' in World Magazine
★
''Reply to CAIR's Attack on Daniel Pipes'' Pipes' response
★
''Harvard Magazine profile''
★
''In Defense of Steven Emerson and Daniel Pipes'', a letter from Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, ''Root and Branch Information Service'', September 19, 1999
★
"Daniel Pipes Visits Hamilton College"
★
A60915-2003Aug14¬Found=true Protests against Pipes' appointment to the USIP ★
''The Truth About Daniel Pipes'', from the Muslim Public Affairs Council
★
Pipes the Propagandist ★
''WHO IS DANIEL PIPES?'' by
CAIR
★ Pipes, R. ''Memoirs of a Non-Belonger''. Yale University Press, 2003.
★ Press, Eyal.
Neocon Man, ''The Nation'', May 10, 2004.
★ Rooij de, Paul. "
Smear Mongers", ''CounterPunch'', September 24, 2002.
★ Scherer, Michael. "
Daniel Pipes, Peacemaker?", ''Mother Jones'', May 26, 2003
★
Essay detailing Pipes views on Tariq Ramadan and Islamism
★
Daniel Pipes, a new kind of Israel-basher - article by
Bradley Burston in
Haaretz.
★
Daniel Pipes and the unfolding civil war in Iraq,
World Socialist Website, April 11, 2006.
Audio and video
★
International Conflict Resolution, NPR: Talk of the Nation, August 27 1998
★
Harry Kreisler in conversation with Daniel Pipes, UCSD, 2004
★
Rethinking Islam, The Connection, September 10 2002
★
U.S. Policy Towards Israel and Dreams of Democracy in the Middle East, On Point Radio, May 20 2004
★
Video Conversation with history with Daniel Pipes
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