Daniel Pipes Blog  

Latest Posts  |  Archive  |  Entries by Topic  |  

Idiots' File

by Daniel Pipes
Mon, 22 Aug 2005
updated Sat, 19 Jul 2008

Print

Send

Comment

RSS

Share:

Just as there are especially insightful statements (a few of them collected by me at "Caught My Eye – Noteworthy Quotes"), so there are assertions that dazzle with their stupidity. Here is a sampling, in reverse chronological order:

_________

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion: "It is possible to see Europe as a haven of civilisation, with the pincer movement of Islam on one side and the US on the other." (Quoted in Phil Miller, "Europe ‘is haven of civilisation trapped between Islam and US'," August 12, 2008)

Daniel Gordis, senior vice president, the Shalem Center, Jerusalem: "The challenge facing Israel isn't to win the war against the Palestinians. The war can't be won. We can't eradicate them, and they won't accept our being here. The challenge that Israel faces is not to move towards peace." ("When Mistakes Are Worth Making," Dispatches from an Anxious State, July 18, 2008)

Antony T. Sullivan, director of Near East Support Services: "In the future, no one will be able to discuss U.S. foreign policy without reference to the Mearsheimer-Walt volume[, The Israel Lobby]. (review of the Mearsheimer-Walt book in Middle East Policy, Summer 2008)

Ehud Olmert, prime minister of Israel: "we are facing a historic agreement with Syria, which may remove the northern threat." (Quoted in Hagai Einev, "Yishai, Mofaz promise to fight withdrawal from Golan," May 25, 2008)

William Odom.

Shuli Dichter, co-director of Sikkuy, the Association for Advancing Civic Equality in Israel and a member of nearby Kibbutz Ma'anit: "I understand the Palestinians' reasons for wanting to stay [Israel citizens, on which see "‘The Hell of Israel Is Better than the Paradise of Arafat'," D.P.], but it is because I am a Jew and a Zionist that I want them to stay. I live here in the region, and even if the Arabs wanted to leave, I would ask them not to. I believe in a Jewish majority, but not in total ethnic homogeneity. Having people who think differently than us enriches us." (Eetta Prince-Gibson, "Land (Swap) For Peace?" in The Jerusalem Report, November 26, 2007)

Condoleezza Rice, U.S. secretary of state, addressing the American Task Force on Palestine: "I believe that there could be no greater legacy for America than to help to bring into being a Palestinian state for a people who have suffered too long, who have been humiliated too long, who have not reached their potential for too long, and who have so much to give to the international community and to all of us. I promise you my personal commitment to that goal." ("Helping Palestinians Build a Better Future," October 11, 2006)

Jessica Stern

Antony Whitehead, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Huddersfield, explaining the motives behind the London transport bombings on 7/7: "The bombers have said that they are motivated by loyalty to Allah, which they may entirely believe. But if you are going to start to unpick their motivation, you need to consider their experience as young men as much as their adherence to Islam. It's a very understandable dynamic. Young Muslim men in the British culture experience a lot of internalised pressure to conform to the idea of manhood – the ideal of courage and standing up for yourself. How does that affect you if you are a Pakistani male living in a council estate with a BNP councillor and a guy with no hair shoving shit through your letterbox? Social disadvantage equals disadvantage in being a man as well. We are coming at this from the wrong angle. We are making the assumption that it's all about Islam. … What I am saying is that suicide bombing in general is understandable in terms that are pretty ordinary." (Quoted in Liam McDougall, "Criminologists say London bombers were motivated more by masculinity than Islam," Sunday Herald (Scotland), July 9, 2006)

Aluf Benn

Cover of Paul Findley's "Silent No More" (2001)

Shimon Peres, vice premier of Israel, responding to a barrage of Qassam missiles on the Israeli town of Sderot: "This hysteria over the Qassams must end. We're just adding to the hysteria. What happened? Kiryat Shmona [in northern Israel] was shelled for years. … We must tell the Palestinians, Qassams shmassams, we'll hold firm. We won't move from here." ("Peres: Enough with Qassam hysteria," Yedi`ot Aharonot, June 20, 2006)

Eli Moyal, the mayor of Sderot, a town near Gaza that is being hit by nearly three Kassam rockets a day: "We aren't even holding one inch of Palestinian land in the Gaza Strip, so I don't understand why they're shooting at Sderot." (Joshua Mitnick, "Sitting Ducks In Sderot," New York Jewish Week, June 16, 2006)

Hamid Dabashi

Paul M. Moskal, chief division counsel for Buffalo's FBI bureau

If there is someone more foolish coming out of the organized Jewish community than Henry Siegman, that person has yet to come to my attention. For a full analysis of his oeuvre, see the analysis by Daniel Mandel and Asaf Romirowsky, "The Council on Foreign Relations Does the Middle East." His most recent deep thinking in the New York Review of Books is summed up by its title: "Hamas: The Last Chance for Peace?" (April 27, 2006)

Henry Siegman

Ruth Walker, summing up a panel held at Harvard University with Elaine Pagels, Faisal Devji, and Jessica Stern: "If suicide terrorism is to be held in check, what's needed is an engaging, exciting ‘counterperformance' - whatever that might be - that can be offered in place of the ‘theater of violence' exemplified by the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." ("Distinguished panel explores 'martyrdom': Martyrdom discussed, defined in context of various religious traditions," Harvard University Gazette, March 16, 2006)

Faisal Devji, assistant professor of history at the New School in New York, argues in a new book, Landscapes of the Jihad, that violence is less important to Al-Qaeda than ethics. In an interview with the Guardian, he suggests understanding it as a global movement, rather like environmentalism. In his words:

As I see it, al-Qaida's actions are typically "symbolic" - they can be seen as "effects" rather than political interventions. This is because they have no way of planning what they want to achieve. They have no blueprint for the future. This, of course, is also true of other global movements like environmentalism. They, too, have no coherent political programme.

Oh, and "violence is the least important thing about al-Qaida because the violence is ethical in origin and will quite likely flip into its opposite. The most important feature of al-Qaida is fragmentation and dispersal of Islamic thought globally." (October 17, 2005)

Harry Reid, Senate Democratic leader, discussing George W. Bush's choice of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court justice: "I have to say without any qualification that I'm very happy that we have someone like her [on the court. She is] very personable, very genuine, somebody that answers her phone calls immediately." (Quoted in Elisabeth Bumiller, "Bush Names Counsel as Choice for Supreme Court," The New York Times, Oct. 4, 2005) To this, David Kuo, a former special assistant to the president, adds another powerful endorsement:

	From The Weekly Standard, Oct. 17, 2005.

Harriet used to keep a humidor full of M&Ms in her West Wing office. It wasn't a huge secret. She'd stash some boxes of the coveted red, white, and blue M&Ms in specially made boxes bearing George W. Bush's reprinted signature. Her door was always open and the M&Ms were always available. I dared ask one time why they were there. Her answer: "I like M&Ms and I like sharing."

("The Harriet Miers I Know," belief.net, undated)

That returning "phone calls immediately" and giving out candies should qualify a person for Supreme Court justice brings to mind the ditty of Sir Joseph Porter in Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, the first stanza of which goes like this:

When I was a lad I served a term
As office boy to an Attorney's firm.
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!

Edina Lekovic, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, commenting on local authorities in Lodi, California, rejecting an application of the Farooqia Islamic Center (whose leadership has been associated with terrorism): "If you replace the word ‘mosque' with ‘synagogue' or ‘church,' would we see the same type of scrutiny and fear?" (Quoted in Neil Gonzales, "Islamic leader mystified by supervisors' decision," Stockton Record, Sep. 29, 2005)

Rachel Zoll, Associated Press religion reporter, in an article on the anticipated ban on homosexuals in the Catholic priesthood: "Several priests challenged [the argument that homosexuals face strong pressures in the priesthood's all-male atmosphere] and noted that heterosexual priests face their own temptations: The overwhelming majority of lay ministers who work side by side with clergy are women, yet no one has suggested banning heterosexuals from the priesthood." ("Expected Vatican Ban Roils American Church," Sep. 22, 2005)

Ali Hamka, 25, the son of Lebanese immigrants and a high school economics teacher in Rochester, a Detroit suburb, discussing the press focus on the London bombings of July 7, killing 52: "The media is always ready to point out that it's Muslims involved in terrorism. I don't think they get the message that, you know, we're a religion, about peace, not killing people." (Quoted in "Michigan Mosque Is Testament to Islam's Integration in American Society," RNS, Aug. 22, 2005)

Charles Strozier of John Jay College of Criminal Justice: "The Arab-American community in the United States and Muslim community in general is highly assimilated, very American, not radical. There's no reason to believe that it is from this community that you're going to find anyone who is likely to be a bomber." ("Hikind Stands By Call To Employ Racial Profiling In Subway Searches," August 2005.)

Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, London: there is "nothing wrong with being a fundamentalist Muslim. … The key issue is the slide into extremism." (Sarah Blaskovich, "London Police Chief Reaches Out to Muslims," July 15, 2005)

David Dickson, a specialist on Africa: "Political Islam, by definition, is neutral. It is any variant of Islam inspiring or serving as a vehicle for political mobilization or activity. Productive scholarship and policymaking must reject definitions that categorically treat political Islam as either a malevolent or benevolent force." ("Political Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Need for a New Research and Diplomatic Agenda," U.S. Institute of Peace, May 2005)

Ehud Olmert, deputy prime minister of Israel, asked how he could trust the intentions of Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, when Abbas has allowed terrorists to arm themselves to the teeth. David Bedein described Olmert's reaction as "passionate. He pounded on the podium and exhorted people to examine ‘Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon as a model which Israel would apply to Gaza and Samaria.' Olmert explained that Hizbullah terrorists now stationed in former Israeli army positions throughout Southern Lebanon had accumulated 15,000 missiles and mortars in Lebanon. Continuing to pound on the podium, Olmert that ‘they have never, never, never used missiles against Israel on the northern border since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000'." Bedein then documents the factual errors of this statement. ("All Quiet on the Northern Front," IsraelInsider.com, Mar. 3, 2005)

Maria Margaronis: From London, "the most frightening thing about Bush's victory is the prospect of a world divided between warring fundamentalisms, with Europe in the middle struggling to hold on to its Enlightenment legacy." ("Fears of a World Divided," The Nation, Nov. 22, 2004)

Ariel Sharon speaking at the Herzliya Conference. (AP)

Joe Biden, U.S. senator (Democrat from Delaware) and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, talking to committee staffers at a meandering meeting: "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran." (Quoted in Michael Crowley, "Rhetorical Question" Oct. 22, 2001)

Larry C. Johnson, former State Department counterterrorism specialist (and note the date below before reading): "Judging from news reports and the portrayal of villains in our popular entertainment, Americans are bedeviled by fantasies about terrorism. They seem to believe that terrorism is the greatest threat to the United States and that it is becoming more widespread and lethal. They are likely to think that the United States is the most popular target of terrorists. And they almost certainly have the impression that extremist Islamic groups cause most terrorism.

"None of these beliefs are based in fact. … when the threat of terrorism is used to justify everything from building a missile defense to violating constitutional rights (as in the case of some Arab-Americans imprisoned without charge), it is time to take a deep breath and reflect on why we are so fearful.

"Part of the blame can be assigned to 24-hour broadcast news operations too eager to find a dramatic story line in the events of the day and to pundits who repeat myths while ignoring clear empirical data. Politicians of both parties are also guilty. They warn constituents of dire threats and then appropriate money for redundant military installations and new government investigators and agents.

"Finally, there are bureaucracies in the military and in intelligence agencies that are desperate to find an enemy to justify budget growth. In the 1980's, when international terrorism was at its zenith, NATO and the United States European Command pooh-poohed the notion of preparing to fight terrorists. They were too busy preparing to fight the Soviets. With the evil empire gone, they ‘discovered' terrorism as an important priority. … terrorism is not the biggest security challenge confronting the United States, and it should not be portrayed that way." ("The Declining Terrorist Threat, The New York Times, July 10, 2001)

TrackBack URL for this post: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/trackback.php/502/5d5bf/833

Reader comments on this weblog entry

Comment on this weblog entry

Daniel Pipes Blog Homepage