Few have heard of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and fewer still can remember the last time a presidential nomination to the federally funded think tank prompted a confirmation battle.
But President Bush's choice for the institute's board, Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes, has run into opposition from Democrats who say he is an inappropriate pick for a group dedicated to promoting peaceful solutions to world conflicts. Pipes advocates scrutiny of American Muslims and military strikes against Islamic states that threaten U.S. interests.
A vote on the Pipes nomination by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was postponed indefinitely on July 23 after several senators, led by Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., rose to attack him.
At issue were Pipes' extensive writings and his columns for the New York Post and Jerusalem Post, in which he has warned of the dangers of immigration by claiming that a majority of Denmark's convicted rapists are Muslims and defended racial profiling by saying that one in 10 U.S. Muslims are militants, and thus, potential terrorists.
"This is an individual that is a lightning rod, highly controversial," Harkin said. "When he talks about Muslims being funny looking, bringing different customs, I am sorry, this is not the person that ought to be on the U.S. Institute of Peace board."
Pipes, in keeping with etiquette standards for nominees, declined to talk about the hearing or respond directly to the senators who criticized him.
In previous interviews, Pipes, director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, has dismissed such attacks as being motivated by political correctness. He said that while he believes that militant Islam poses the greatest threat to peace since Communism, he considers moderate Islam as an answer to the crisis.
White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee said President Bush continues to back his nominee.
"Daniel Pipes is widely respected as a scholar on a variety of topics, including Middle East issues, and he will make a fine addition to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace," Snee said.
Conservatives have praised Pipes as one of the few analysts to warn before the Sept. 11 attacks that the United States was underestimating the threat posed by Islamic terror groups.
A spokesman for Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the nomination could be brought before the committee again when the Senate reconvenes after its summer recess.
Muslim groups campaigning against Pipes called the delay a partial victory.
"It gave us some encouragement that people are learning about his record, and that when they learn about his record, they don't like what they see," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Animosity between the Washington-based lobbying group and Pipes dates back four years, with the group repeatedly accusing Pipes of being racist.
In an interview Tuesday, Pipes called the council "Hamas sympathizers" whose ultimate goal is "establishing a militant Islamic order that would replace the Constitution with the Quran."
A smattering of Jewish anti-war groups have also opposed Pipes, largely because of his support for Israel's military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
