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Pipes the Propagandist
Slate ^ | 11 August 2003 | Christopher Hitchens

Posted on 08/12/2003 7:06:57 PM PDT by Lorianne

When I read that Daniel Pipes had been nominated to the board of the United States Institute of Peace (a federally funded body whose members are proposed by the president and confirmed by the Senate), my first reaction was one of bafflement. Why did Pipes want the nomination? After all, USIP, a somewhat mild organization, is devoted to the peaceful resolution of conflict. For Pipes, this notion is a contradiction in terms.

I am not myself a pacifist, and I believe that Islamic nihilism has to be combated with every weapon, intellectual and moral as well as military, which we possess or can acquire. But that is a position shared by a very wide spectrum of people. Pipes, however, uses this consensus to take a position somewhat to the right of Ariel Sharon, concerning a matter (the Israel-Palestine dispute) that actually can be settled by negotiation. And he employs the fears and insecurities created by Islamic extremism to slander or misrepresent those who disagree with him.

This makes him a poor if not useless ally in the wider battle. Let me give two illustrations from personal experience. One of the most frontal challenges from Islamic theocracy came in February 1989, when the Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a sentence of death upon Salman Rushdie. There then followed a long campaign by writers and scholars and diplomats, culminating in September 1998 in a formal repudiation of the fatwa by the Iranian regime. Good cause for celebration, one might think. But not to Pipes, who weighed in with a sour, sophomoric article arguing that nothing whatsoever had changed and that the Iranian authorities were as committed to Rushdie's elimination as ever. His "sources" were a few clips from the Iranian press and a few stray statements from extremists. That was five years ago. Today, Salman Rushdie lives in New York without body guards and travels freely, and there are leading Shiite voices raised in Iran in favor of the coalition's successful demolition of the Iraqi Baath Party. To put it bluntly, I suspect that Pipes is so consumed by dislike that he will not recognize good news from the Islamic world even when it arrives. And this makes him dangerous and unreliable.

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: christopherhitchens; danielpipes; peace; politics; war
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1 posted on 08/12/2003 7:06:57 PM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne
After all, USIP, a somewhat mild organization, is devoted to the peaceful resolution of conflict. For Pipes, this notion is a contradiction in terms.

Nonsense.

I am not myself a pacifist, and I believe that Islamic nihilism has to be combated with every weapon...

Nihilism? That's a gentle way of describing suicidal, homicidal, psychotic drooling hatred.

Pipes, however, uses this consensus to take a position somewhat to the right of Ariel Sharon,

That's not saying much, even Sharon doesn't seem willing to say "Jews have a right to live, and if you people carry out one more damn bombing I'm killing the lot of you."

And he employs the fears and insecurities created by Islamic extremism to slander or misrepresent those who disagree with him.

If he's talking about Campus Watch, all he does is quote "those who disagree with him." That's usually all it takes to show what scum they are. I guess I'll stop here. No point going on, the bias is evident.

2 posted on 08/12/2003 7:18:46 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady (Let them eat cake.)
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To: Lorianne
Pipes is there to "counter" the insanity of Islamic institutionalized hatred of Jews and Christians and the West..
3 posted on 08/12/2003 7:29:57 PM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: Lorianne
Scr#w you, Hitchens!

Pipes is DA MAN!
4 posted on 08/12/2003 7:39:30 PM PDT by BenR2 ((John 3:16: Still True Today.))
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To: BenR2
Scr#w you, Hitchens!

Well, remember the source... While I sometimes respect Christopher Hitchens (I like his brother better), he's got really bad taste in the people he dislikes... Two that come to mind are Bob Hope and Mother Theresa.

Mark

5 posted on 08/12/2003 7:53:30 PM PDT by MarkL (I didn't claw my way to the top of the foodchain for a salad!)
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To: MarkL
Well, remember the source... While I sometimes respect Christopher Hitchens (I like his brother better), he's got really bad taste in the people he dislikes... Two that come to mind are Bob Hope and Mother Theresa.\

///
Thank you for the insight.

Cheers,

Ben
6 posted on 08/12/2003 7:57:51 PM PDT by BenR2 ((John 3:16: Still True Today.))
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To: BenR2; RJayneJ
Scr#w you, Hitchens!

I learned to trust Kit Hitchens as a man of honour on the Left during the impeachment wars. You should re-read his following sentence:

"I am not myself a pacifist, and I believe that Islamic nihilism has to be combated with every weapon, intellectual and moral as well as military, which we possess or can acquire."

"Islamic nihilism" is a term for the ages, crafted by a real wordsmith.

RJayneJ - I'm nominating Christopher Hitchens for the quote of the week.

7 posted on 08/12/2003 7:59:34 PM PDT by an amused spectator
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To: veronica
FYI.
8 posted on 08/12/2003 8:02:41 PM PDT by Howlin (<------Being stalked by a whacko!!!!)
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To: Lorianne
I don't know a lot about Pipes, but if the left hates him, he must be a good man. Even mid-east expert Molly Ivens has been trashing him, taking a little time off from her hilarious and constantly-repeated calling President George W. Bush "shrub". What a wit! well, half of one, anyway.
9 posted on 08/12/2003 8:03:10 PM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: firebrand; Libertina; sauropod; abner; DoughtyOne; PetroniDE; Gracey; mykdsmom; bert; ...
Ping....for starters
10 posted on 08/12/2003 8:03:57 PM PDT by diotima (So it's sorta social, demented and sad, but social.)
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To: Lorianne
"...concerning a matter (the Israel-Palestine dispute) that actually can be settled by negotiation."

This is a gratuitous assertions, which under the rules of logic can just as gratuitously be dismissed. Unfortunately for Hitchens (my favorite socialist), his whole argument is based on this assertion.

11 posted on 08/12/2003 8:07:59 PM PDT by Jabba the Nutt
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To: Lorianne
"a matter (the Israel-Palestine dispute) that actually can be settled by negotiation"

Bovine Excrement.

12 posted on 08/12/2003 8:14:07 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie ("Leave Pat, Leave!")
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To: an amused spectator
I learned to trust Kit Hitchens as a man of honour on the Left during the impeachment wars. You should re-read his following sentence:

"I am not myself a pacifist, and I believe that Islamic nihilism has to be combated with every weapon, intellectual and moral as well as military, which we possess or can acquire."

////////////
In my view, if he means it, he would support the Pipes nomination. Pipes IS a weapon.
13 posted on 08/12/2003 8:26:25 PM PDT by BenR2 ((John 3:16: Still True Today.))
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To: BenR2
In my view, if he means it, he would support the Pipes nomination. Pipes IS a weapon.

From what I've read of Pipes, I'll have to agree with you on the weapon statement. We know that Kit Hitchens follows the Internet buzz, so maybe there'll be some followup. He's got some explaining to do about that Israel-Palestine dispute/negotiation thing, I know.

14 posted on 08/12/2003 8:43:46 PM PDT by an amused spectator
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To: ozzymandus
Pipes is extraordinary. Google him and read all the pieces he's done for the Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard. No one is up to the job of debunking the "Religion of Peace" like Pipes.
15 posted on 08/12/2003 8:49:42 PM PDT by Deb (My Tag Skies to Gotham & Con-Fabs With Net Prexies)
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To: an amused spectator
Thanks for the nomination! };^D )
16 posted on 08/12/2003 10:48:03 PM PDT by RJayneJ (To see pictures of Jayne's quilt: http://bulldogbulletin.lhhosting.com/page50.htm)
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To: Lorianne
Hitchens is great on almost everything, but the ME is his blindspot.
17 posted on 08/13/2003 6:22:59 AM PDT by veronica (http://www.petitiononline.com/KN50711/petition.html - Confirm Daniel Pipes to USIPF ......sign this!)
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To: Howlin
Hitchens is great on almost everything, but the ME is his blindspot.
18 posted on 08/13/2003 6:23:01 AM PDT by veronica (http://www.petitiononline.com/KN50711/petition.html - Confirm Daniel Pipes to USIPF ......sign this!)
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To: BenR2
Hitchens went after Bob Hope?
19 posted on 08/13/2003 6:24:42 AM PDT by veronica (http://www.petitiononline.com/KN50711/petition.html - Confirm Daniel Pipes to USIPF ......sign this!)
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To: veronica
Hitchens went after Bob Hope?


////
LOL. I don't know. Someone else posted that one.
20 posted on 08/16/2003 8:18:54 PM PDT by BenR2 ((John 3:16: Still True Today.))
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