Laurie Mylroie vis-à-vis Daniel Pipes

Submitted by Renee Bouvier (United States), Sep 29, 2009 at 15:23

As regards Laurie Mylroie, Mr. Pipes is quoted in the book, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, by its two authors, Michael Isikoff and David Corn. The book was published in the year 2006 by Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc. in New York. Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn state the following on pages 74 and 75:

"Everything, everything, everything was connected to Saddam," said her former collaborator, Daniel Pipes. She also became hostile toward old friends and colleagues who didn't see the world her way. When Pipes publicly endorsed the predominant view that anti-U.S. terrorism was caused primarily by radical Islamic fundamentalists and questioned her Saddam-centric view of world terrorism, Mylroie accused Pipes of endangering the welfare of the republic. "My charge against you is that you are, at the periphery, responsible for the death of Americans," she e-mailed Pipes on March 7, 1999. "And furthermore, that more Americans will die, if people continue to listen to your version of events."

As a former academic acquaintance of Mr. Pipes, I would personally be inclined to side with him – and not with Ms. Mylroie. His overview of events makes more sense now than ever, especially in light of all of the stated facts, which followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Ms. Mylroie runs counter to most, if not all, academics of the Arab Middle East and those actually working in the field. In this case, Mr. Pipes has been proven correct in his assessment of the Arab Middle East – not Laurie Mylroie. Mr. Pipes has been exonerated -- and not Ms. Mylroie.

As for mistaken identity, regarding her TA position in the summer of 1979 under the tutelage of Professor Amatzia Baram at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the question now is: "Who was that blond-haired, 26-year-old woman just beginning her graduate studies at the Harvard University?" At the time in question, Amatzia Baram had begun his PhD program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he decided to focus on Saddam Hussein. Professor Baram is in agreement with Mr. Pipes and the mainstream – always has been.

Bravo to my former professor, who I will always cherish as a teacher and for his help in my independent fieldwork. Thank you so very, very much for hooking me up with the renowned Professor Aaron Layish. I also thank Daniel Pipes for his help.

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