July 27th, 2003

Daniel Pipes compares Islamic People to Nazis
White House asked to drop nomination of Islamophobe

CAIR today called on President Bush to withdraw the nomination of Daniel Pipes to the board of the United States Institute of Peace after he was quoted by an online news service as comparing "Islamic people" to "Nazis" and rejecting aid to Afghan civilians.

That demand after CAIR learned of a July 25 article on CNSNews.com describing Pipes' address to the Young America's Foundation National Conservative Student Conference in Washington, D.C., that stated:

"Pipes added that he doesn't perceive the Islamic people as divided into two groups: the radical terrorists and those who are not. He said 'there is no history behind such an outlook and nothing that would support such optimism.' 'It would be like saying there were good and bad Nazis,' Pipes noted." (SEE: http://www.cnsnews.com/ Search using the term "Daniel Pipes.")

"This quote alone, without even taking into consideration Mr. Pipes' long history of anti-Muslim bigotry, is sufficient to disqualify him from helping to direct a taxpayer-funded organization dedicated to the peaceful resolution of international conflicts," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.

In that same article, Pipes said it would be difficult to get Middle Easterners to accept Western ways because they are reluctant to "go the Christian way." Pipes also said he thought it was unnecessary to provide aid to Afghan civilians because in a time of war, they are the enemy. "We have no moral responsibility to the Afghans," Pipes said. "If we help them, we should do it in the prism of our own interests."

At a meeting last week of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the body that must take the initial vote on Pipes' nomination, several senators expressed opposition to Pipes' anti-Muslim views. Sen. Harkin (D-IA) spoke at length about Pipes' statement warning of the "dangers" posed by the enfranchisement of American Muslims and of his web site (www.campus-watch.org) that sought to create "dossiers" on academic critics of Israeli policies.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) objected to what he said were Pipes' "derogatory statements about Muslim immigrants as 'brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and not exactly maintaining Germanic standards of hygiene.'" (Jerusalem Post, 7/24/03) Kennedy also criticized Pipes' support for racial and religious profiling and his belief that mosques in America should be targets of police surveillance.

Pipes faces mounting criticism from American Muslims, Arab-Americans and interfaith groups because of his past inflammatory remarks about issues related to Islam, the Middle East and conflict resolution. Muslims say Pipes, who is often referred to as the nation's leading Islamophobe, holds extremist anti-Muslim views and lacks the peace-making credentials necessary to be on the USIP board.