Bush's hawkish nominee to peace think tank on hold in Senate

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - Few have heard of the U.S. Institute of Peace, and fewer still can remember the last time a presidential nomination to the federally funded think tank prompted a confirmation battle.

But President Bush's choice for the institute's board, Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes, has run into opposition from Democrats who say he is an inappropriate pick for a group dedicated to promoting peaceful solutions to world conflicts. Pipes advocates scrutiny of American Muslims and military strikes against Islamic states that threaten U.S. interests.

A vote on the Pipes nomination by the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was postponed indefinitely on July 23 after several senators, led by Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., rose to attack him.

At issue were Pipes' extensive writings and his columns for the New York Post and Jerusalem Post, in which he has warned of the dangers of immigration by claiming that a majority of Denmark's convicted rapists are Muslims and defended racial profiling by saying that one in 10 U.S. Muslims are militants, and thus, potential terrorists. ---

I doubt he will ever get approved.

They aren't even pretending any more. It's a long way from Kucinich's Department of Peace.