The Honorable Judd Gregg
Chairman
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
SH-835
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Gregg:
As scholars and intellectuals holding positions in a wide range of universities and other institutions, we write to offer our support for President Bush's April 2, 2003 nomination of Dr. Daniel Pipes to the board of directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP).
Detractors have denounced Dr. Pipes' nomination by impugning his scholarship and accusing him of "extremism," of "Muslim-bashing," and of "Islamophobic" bigotry.
We believe these charges are systematically inaccurate and inappropriate. Dr. Pipes has made many contributions in the fields of study of Middle East politics and terrorism. He has taught these subjects at such institutions as Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and the U.S. Naval War College. He has authored nearly a dozen highly regarded books about the Middle East and Islam. As the head of the Philadelphia-based think tank, the Middle East Forum, he has attempted to inform national debate over some of the most urgent public policies of the day. Further, he has written widely on these and related topics in popular venues, including in newspaper columns.
His extensive experience as an outspoken opponent of terrorism, including Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, has earned him a following among scholars and ordinary Americans of all backgrounds. In the course of this work, he has consistently made efforts to distinguish moderate Islam from its extremist offshoots. He is no bigot. As a result, Dr. Pipes' supporters include Christians, Jews, and a substantial number of moderate Muslims. His positions have provoked debate. But the claim that these positions are extreme is as inaccurate as the claim that Dr. Pipes is a bigot is grossly unfair. Dr. Pipes' positions lie well within the broad mainstream of national discussion over these pressing issues.
As a leading expert in the field, Dr. Pipes is committed to opposing global terrorism and religious intolerance. His position on the USIP board will afford the institution an opportunity to benefit from his thinking on these and related fields of scholarly inquiry.
Sincerely yours,
Fouad Ajami
Majid Khadduri Professor
Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies
Gerard Alexander
Associate Professor of Politics
University of Virginia
Fred Baumann
Professor of Political Science
Kenyon College
Walter Berns
Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University
Mark Blitz
Fletcher Jones Professor of Political Philosophy
Claremont McKenna College
James Caesar
Professor of Politics
University of Virginia
Mark Clark
Professor of Political Science
University of California at San Bernardino
Dr. Patrick Clawson
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Cori Dauber
Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Peace, War, and Defense
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Edward J. Erler
Professor of Political Science
California State University at San Bernardino
Dr. Hillel Fradkin
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Donald Kagan
Sterling Professor of History and Classics
Yale University
Sir John Keegan
Defense Editor
The (London) Daily Telegraph
Paul Kennedy
J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History
Yale University
Charles Kesler
Professor of Government
Claremont McKenna College
Dr. Michael Ledeen
American Enterprise Institute
Robert Lieber
Professor of Government and Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Charles Lipson
Professor of Political Science
University of Chicago
Herbert London
John M. Olin University Professor of Humanities
New York University
Harvey Mansfield
William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Government
Harvard University
Richard Morgan
William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law
Bowdoin College
John Owen
Associate Professor of Politics
University of Virginia
Martin Peretz
The New Republic
Jeremy Rabkin
Associate Professor of Government
Cornell University
Steven Rhoads
Professor of Politics
University of Virginia
Raymond Tanter
Professor of Political Science
University of Michigan
Nathan Tarcov
Professor of Political Science and Social Thought
University of Chicago
Mervin Verbit
Professor of Sociology
City University of New York – Brooklyn College
James Q. Wilson
Emeritus Professor of Management and Public Policy
University of California at Los Angeles
Jean M. Yarbrough
Gary M. Pendy Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Government
Bowdoin College