That's the summary of an e-mail message sent out today by Arsalan T. Iftikhar, director of legal affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations headquarters in Washington to the private "CAIRaction" group at Yahoo!. Here is the full body of that message:
Call C-SPAN on Thursday
C-SPAN's Washington Journal will profile the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) from 8:00-10:00am on Thursday, December 11. The program will focus on the work of the Institute in conflict areas around the world, and specifically on programmatic plans for peace building in Iraq.
As you know, controversial Islamophobe Daniel Pipes was appointed to the USIP, even though Senators Kennedy, Harkin and others vehemently objected to the nomination. You can call C-SPAN tomorrow and ask the President of USIP questions about Pipes.
Featured will be Institute President Amb. Richard H. Solomon, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, who has overseen the Institute's growth into a center of international conflict management activities; Executive Vice President Dr. Harriet Hentges, who has led the Institute's work into post-conflict stabilization beginning with its efforts in the Balkans and who currently oversees its peace operations in zones of conflict; Senior Fellow Dr. Ray Salvatore Jennings, a development practitioner with extensive humanitarian assistance experience in post-conflict transitions and war torn societies, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and the Balkans; and Senior Fellow Dr. Amatzia Baram, professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Haifa, Israel and an expert on Saddam Hussein and Iraqi politics and history.
Sample questions to ask C-SPAN:
** Since your think tank deals regularly with the Muslim world, do you think that the appointment of Daniel Pipes, known by many in the American Muslim community to be the nation's leading Islamophobe, will hurt your reputation and credibility in the Muslim world?
** On numerous occasions, Daniel Pipes has stated that a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict is not in the best interests of Israel. He has stated, on the record, that the "Palestinians are a miserable people and they deserve to be." Do you think that makes your job as a nonpartisan think tank more difficult especially since most of the work you will be focusing on is in the Middle East?
You can submit questions to Amb. Solomon before the broadcast at http://www.c-span.org/community/submitwj.asp
Or Call in to the numbers below:
Republican: (202) 585-3880
Democrat: (202) 585-3881
Others: (202) 585-3882
Fax: (202) 393-3346
Email: journal@c-span.org
Arsalan T. Iftikhar
Director of Legal Affairs
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
453 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington DC 20003
arsalan@cair-net.org
Two reflections on these two proposed questions: (1) When applied to me, CAIR's use of the term "Islamophobe" should always be changed to "Islamism-ophobe." I make no bones about hating a totalitarian ideology that has already killed millions (think Sudan) and is sharpening its teeth to murder untold more. I also have little affection for Islamism's Washington lobby, which is foremost represented by CAIR.
(2) Despite my immediate denial of having ever said that "Palestinians are a miserable people and they deserve to be," and my proof that this statement ran exactly contrary to my thinking (in an article published the same week as I allegedly made this statement, I referred to the Palestinians' "dignity and talent"), CAIR continues to use this falsehood. But then, what should one expect from an organization which this year alone has had three of its employees or board members arrested on terrorism-related charges? (December 9, 2003)
Dec. 11, 2003 update: Not a single question about me came up during the two-hour "Washington Journal" program.
