Bush to Make Recess Appointment to Peace Institute (Will Appoint Daniel Pipes!)

AP Breaking News ^

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Aug 12, 2003

Bush to Make Recess Appointment to Peace Institute By Lolita C. Baldor Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is expected to bypass the Senate and appoint an outspoken Middle East scholar to a federal think tank over the objections of Democrats and others who say he is anti-Muslim. According to sources close to the matter, Bush intends to appoint Daniel Pipes, director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The move would come just weeks after Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee raised strong objections to Pipes' nomination, forcing the panel to postpone a vote on the appointment.

The White House does not comment on personnel appointments prior to their announcement, but spokeswoman Ashley Snee said Bush continues to support Pipes, who was nominated for the post on April 2. Pipes also had no comment on the nomination.

Pipes, said Snee, "is a well-respected scholar." His supporters include a number of Jewish groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.

Critics call Pipes an extremist who should not be named to a peace organization.

"I continue to believe that Dr. Pipes is not the right person for this position," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in a statement issued Tuesday. "His record and experience do not reflect a commitment to bridging differences and preventing conflict. Surely the administration can find someone better to serve on the Board of the United States Institute of Peace."

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., spoke out against Pipes during the committee meeting, saying his positions are inconsistent with the USIP's efforts to "contribute to the promotion of international peace and the resolution of conflicts without recourse to violence."

Bush has made no recess appointments during this August break, but he appointed 11 individuals to various boards during Congress' April break. By signing appointments during a congressional recess, Bush can bypass the Senate confirmation process.

The appointment would be valid until the next Congress is sworn in, which would be January 2005.

Pipes is a Harvard-trained scholar who, as head of the Middle East Forum, 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."

The expected appointment "is a defeat for democracy and an affront to Muslims, Arab-Americans and all those who seek peace," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "This person has such a long record of anti-Muslim bigotry."

--

On the Net:

U.S. Institute of Peace: http://www.usip.org/

AP-ES-08-12-03 1914EDT

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAFJVAJAJD.html

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[kellynla]

And if W had a really large set he would make recess appointments of federal judges!

[pgkdan]

Good! Now, a few Judicial recess appointments are in order, don't you think?

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

That should put the muslim lobby's panties in a wad, LOL!!

[Pubbie]

"That should put the muslim lobby's panties in a wad"

And Grovelling Grover Norquist's too!!!

Maybe Rove isn't a complete stooge of Grover's after all!

[Rummyfan]

This is great news! Way to go President Bush and congratulations to Daniel Pipes!

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I'm with all those who welcome this news. Pipes is the voice of reason, and it says so much about the Democrats that they instinctively side with the enemies of America.

[PhiKapMom]

This is great! He deserves the appointment!

[nwrep]

What the hell is the Peace Institute anyway? Wasn't this Kucinich's dream?

[John Valentine]

Pipes is the guy who said, "The answer to militant Islam is moderate Islam."

Now who can object to that kind of common sense?

Furthermore, I have read a lot of Pipes writing and if he is an anti-Islamic bigot, I'd never know. It's sure that Pipes doens't think much of blowing up school children and shoppers.

I'm very surprised (or am I, really?) that Ted Kennedy opposes sopmeone who stands against violence against the innocent.

[Dan from Michigan]

Kudo's for Bush here. (Yes, I actually say something good about him when he does something good)

[Ron in Acreage]

It's no surprise the democrats would side with anti-Israeli sentiments. They kissed Arafats ass for 8 yrs while Clinton was pres.

[Mo1]

Good! Now, a few Judicial recess appointments are in order, don't you think?

I would love for him to do that

[PhilDragoo]

This is excellent.

I've read Daniel Pipes for several years and he's excellent.

Here we have the drunken homicidal driver of Chappaquiddick and his Le Brasserie waitress sandwich partner sucking up to their Islamist donors.

Hitlery Smoocher of Suha the Blood Libeler will be hurtling furniture through walls, windows and doors.

Daniel Pipes--along with moderate Islam--is the antidote for radical Islamism.

[DPB101]

Sick of Rats escaping.Getting Democrat Senators on the record with a vote would have been better. Much, much better. But apparently they would filibuster it from even getting out of committee.

[PhilDragoo]

It's no surprise the democrats would side with anti-Israeli sentiments. They kissed Arafats ass for 8 yrs while Clinton was pres.

[Ron in Acreage]

Imagine what Hitlery is whispering in Suhas ear.

[sarasmom]

This is not an announcement of what President Bush has done.
This is speculation as to what he might do.
I will not clap and give him points for doing it, untill he does it.

[GirlShortstop]

President Bush is expected to bypass the Senate and appoint an outspoken Middle East scholar to a federal think tank over the objections of Democrats and others who say he is anti-Muslim.

WooHoo!

[Uncle Miltie]

Good news Pipes-Fan Bump!

[lilylangtree]

Good for the prez. This is definitely a step in the correct direction.

[Impy]

What did Grover do?



Anyway this is OUTSTADING!!!

[Pubbie]

"What did Grover do?"

Grover is very chummy with Islamic groups in the US (Do a Keyword search on "GroverNorquist" on FR.)

[Utah Girl]

Did you hear this?

[tubavil]

Potentially very good news.

[anglian]

Caroline Glick has written one of her best op-eds ever, beginning with the smear campaign against the nomination of Daniel Pipes to the US Institute of Peace, and ending with big questions about America’s commitment to the War on Terror: Pipe dreams, reality, and war. Highly recommended.

Pipes, a renowned scholar of Islam and the Arab world who heads the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, is the bane of the existence of Arab-American terrorism apologists and radically anti-American Middle East scholars. These detractors understand the importance of Pipes' unapologetic and intellectually-anchored attacks on radical Islam and the threat such radicalism manifests both to Islam itself and to the US.

These terrorism apologists, heavily concentrated in high-profile organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Council on Public Affairs, and the Middle East Studies Association among others, launched an intellectual and public relations war against Pipes years ago. This war was intensified after the 9/11 attacks when millions of Americans woke up to the stark reality of the malignant force of radical Islam on US national security.

In the aftermath of the attacks, Pipes, who had been warning of this threat for over a decade, suddenly rose to national prominence. Pipes's detractors rarely debate the actual issues that he raises. Rather, they ignore the inarguable substance of his claims and seek to smear his reputation by resorting to the gutter tactic of launching an unrelenting stream of ad hominem accusations of bigotry and war mongering against him.

In nominating Pipes to the previously obscure US Institute of Peace, the White House was making an important statement. It was saying that it recognizes that in the war on terrorism, no less than in the Cold War, the intellectual foundations and rationales guiding the war effort are in many respects as important, for eventual victory, as the military battles. If the US is not able to intellectually discredit its enemies then it will not long sustain the will to fight them on the military battlefield.




Dr. Daniel Pipes has advocated for a program of cultivating the moderate Muslims in the world, to bring them strongly to the side of the US, and to have them be a resource to join the fight against radical Islam.

That's the sort of thing that the US Institute of Peace could get involved in. Pipes is an ideal candidate for the position.

Pipes has advocated dividing the Muslim world, by getting the moderates firmly on the side of the US. But that has made CAIR and other militant Islamist front organizations very angry, because the militants are able to dominate the Muslim world; and the last thing they want is any division in the Muslim world.

"That is where the moderate Muslims come in. If roughly half the population across the Muslim world hates America, the other half does not. Unfortunately, they are disarmed, in disarray, and nearly voiceless. But the United States does not need them for their power. It needs them for their ideas and for the legitimacy they confer, and in these respects their strengths exactly complement Washington's."

"When it comes to Islam, the US role is less to offer its own views than to help those Muslims with compatible views, especially on such issues as relations with non-Muslims, modernization, and the rights of women and minorities. This means helping moderates get their ideas out on US-funded radio stations such as the newly created Radio Free Afghanistan and, as Paula Do9briansky, the undersecretary of state for global affairs, has suggested, making sure that tolerant Islamic figures-- scholars, imams, and others -- are included in US-funded academic and cultural exchange programs." --Pipes, in Militant Islam Reaches America.

The US Institute of Peace is the ideal place where Pipes could pursue his plan for helping moderates get their message of tolerance out to the Muslim world.

But that's exactly what the militant Muslim organizations like CAIR want to prevent. They control the Muslim world. They don't want any competition, and they don't want any split in the Muslim world. They want to keep the Muslim world under the control of the militants.(from littlegreenfootballs site)

[maica]

Good comments from David Frum's Diary on NRO, Aug 13:



The Meaning of the Pipes Nomination


Can we have a moment of appreciation please for the characteristic gutsiness of President Bush’s expected recess appointment of Daniel Pipes to the board of the US Institute for Peace. Radical Muslim groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations had organized to defeat Pipes. Despite the modest importance of the Institute itself, these groups understood that the struggle over Pipes was a potentially decisive political event. For underneath the wild allegations against him (about which more in a moment), the argument over Pipes boiled down to this: is it an act of bigotry to notice that the terrorists we are fighting commit their acts of terror in the name of Islam

Pipes’ critics claimed that it was. All of their other slanders against him quickly collapse on examination into a pile of distorted quotations. Pipes has never impugned Muslims in general – on the contrary, he has been an eloquent voice in favor of the need for and possibility of democracy and liberty in the Islamic world. But he has eloquently and presciently sounded the alert for a decade and a half over the gathering menace of extremist Islamic ideology – and he has fearlessly and tirelessly struggled against that menace as it has tried to sink roots into American soil.

It is for these services to the American people that this scholar who has devoted his life to the study of Islamic civilization, and who has mastered modern and medieval Arabic for his studies, has been damned by CAIR and others as a bigot.

Some people might have feared that CAIR might succeed. President Bush has boldly and consistently championed the rights and good name of the American Muslim community, and he has taken his sympathy for American Muslim to the point of being willing to meet with some of that community’s least responsible members. This openness triggered a familiar pattern of conservative response to President Bush:

Bush speaks gently.

Conservatives panic.

Bush acts firmly.

Conservatives are surprised.

Now issn’t it past time to stop being surprised when this president acts in a principled manner?

Bush surely understood better than anyone what it was that the radical Muslim groups were claiming when they called for Pipes’ defeat. They were implicitly contending that anyone willing to name the enemy in this war thereby disqualified himself for a role in the prosecution of the war. They were demanding a veto over the conduct of the war for those people in American life who have shown the most sympathy for the enemy: It would be rather as if the leaders of the Communist Party USA asserted veto power over national-security nominations during the Cold War.

Democratic Senators like Edward Kenney and Christopher Dodd collapsed under pressure from the radical Muslim groups in the United States and announced their opposition to the Pipes nomination. Bush held firm.

The intellectual battle over the conduct of the war on terror is a battle over America’s right to defend itself against attack, forthrightly and without apologies. President Bush has vindicated that right – again and as usual.


 

[WhiteGuy]

US Institute of Peace??

Federal think-tank?

[yonif]

Potentially very good news.

Indeed it is. Thanks for the ping.

[votelife]

This is one of the least noticed, best things Bush has done all year. It shows he is willing to confront radical Islam.