A scholar nominated to a federal think tank on peace over the objections of Muslim groups said yesterday that President Bush should not have characterized Islam as a peaceful religion after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Asked whether he thought Bush should have made the statement, Daniel Pipes said, "No." He said that "presidents shouldn't talk about religion" and it was wrong to "make generalizations" about Islam.
"I never say Islam is this or Islam is that," Pipes told journalists attending a seminar at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism.
Pipes said generalized comments about Islam prevent people from fully understanding the threat from militant Muslims, who he said combine religion and politics to justify brutal acts.
"We protect ourselves better by defining who the enemy is," he said.
Pipes is a Harvard-trained scholar and the director of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia. Bush has nominated him to the U.S. Institute of Peace, a centrist foreign policy think tank with 15 board members, 12 of whom are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Pipes's statements on the roots of terrorism have been condemned by many American Arab and Muslim leaders.
Pipes said most U.S. mosques and American Muslim political organizations are dominated by extremists, and their representatives should not be asked to the White House. The Bush administration has played host to some leaders of these groups since 2001 attacks. Pipes named the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based group, as one example.
Days after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Bush visited a mosque in Washington and urged Americans not to turn on Muslims.
"Islam is peace," he said. "These terrorists don't represent peace; they represent evil and war."
Muslim leaders have said that Bush's statement sent a powerful signal that it was wrong to blame American Muslims and their religion for the suicide hijackings.
Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Pipes is guilty of making the very generalizations he claims to oppose.
"His record stands as someone who has consistently sought to paint the vast majority of Muslims in this country as a threat to national security," Hassan said. "We're encouraging our community to lobby to prevent his nomination."
