Monday, April 21, 2003
NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: SMEARING DANIEL PIPES
By FRANK J. GAFFNEY JR.
Gaffney comes out in support of Daniel Pipes' nomination in the NY Post:
April 21, 2003 -- THE Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR) has picked a fight it cannot win. It has issued the propagandist's equivalent of a fatwa against Daniel Pipes, whom President Bush has wisely nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace.
CAIR accuses Pipes of being "an Islamophobe" - by which it evidently means someone who hates all Muslims - and implies that, if his nomination is not withdrawn, the institute's hope to raise $80 million for a new headquarters on the Washington Mall could be thwarted.
CAIR can't win this fight, in part because Daniel Pipes' impressive record of scholarship, extensive writings (including a weekly column for The Post) and other contributions to the public-policy debate show him to be no Islamophobe.
Pipes is, in fact, a man who very much admires, respects and supports members of the Islamic community for whom CAIR seems not to speak - namely, tolerant, nonviolent, pro-American Muslims who do not defend or otherwise encourage the murderous, radical minority known as "Islamists" who would pervert their religion. [...]
CAIR accuses Pipes of being "an Islamophobe" - by which it evidently means someone who hates all Muslims - and implies that, if his nomination is not withdrawn, the institute's hope to raise $80 million for a new headquarters on the Washington Mall could be thwarted.
CAIR can't win this fight, in part because Daniel Pipes' impressive record of scholarship, extensive writings (including a weekly column for The Post) and other contributions to the public-policy debate show him to be no Islamophobe.
Pipes is, in fact, a man who very much admires, respects and supports members of the Islamic community for whom CAIR seems not to speak - namely, tolerant, nonviolent, pro-American Muslims who do not defend or otherwise encourage the murderous, radical minority known as "Islamists" who would pervert their religion. [...]
