When the war against terror is over, the historians are going to mark President Bush's decision to issue a recess appointment of Daniel Pipes to the board of the United States Institute of Peace. In and of itself, the Institute of Peace isn't the biggest deal in the world. But it's hard to recall an instance in recent decades of the Senate permitting itself to be blocked by the kind of animus that was let out of the bottle in the effort to block Mr. Pipes. It's sad that it came from Senators Kennedy and Dodd, but it was important for Mr. Bush to stand up to it, whatever the source.
Mr. Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum, columnist for the New York Post and the Jerusalem Post. His Web site, DanielPipes.org, is able to bill itself as the single most accessed source of information specifically on the Middle East and Islam. Mr. Pipes has been way ahead of his time in comprehending the threat of militant Islam ("Unnoticed by most Westerners," he wrote in 1995, "war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States").The Boston Globe reckons that "If Pipes's admonitions had been heeded, there might never have been a 9/11."
For these reasons, the Pipes nomination was frantically opposed by the circle of extremist, radical Arab and Islamic groups that have, unfortunately, gained some access to the White House during the Clinton and Bush administrations. They targeted Mr. Pipes not only because he is Jewish but because he has not been afraid of his own Jewishness. And because he is effective. The work of the United States Institute for Peace will gain credibility by his membership, and Mr. Bush, by sticking with the Pipes nomination, made clear that fringe groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and other haters who have opposed the elevation of Mr. Pipes, aren't calling the shots.
