Daniel Pipes Delivers Lecture on Radical Islam
Ari Mendelson
Issue date: 11/22/05 Section: News
Renowned Middle East expert Daniel Pipes addressed a full Weissberg Commons on November 8, discussing current issues in the Middle East and the Islamic world.
A celebrated commentator on the Middle East issues, Pipes' syndicated columns appear weekly in Jewish newspapers around the U.S. He has been a guest on American news shows such as ABC World News Tonight, Crossfire, Nightline, and the O'Reilly Factor. He has also appeared on the BBC in England and on Al-Jazeera, one of the leading Arab television networks. His written work has appeared in magazines and newspapers such as The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Besides debating and writing for media outlets, Pipes also has written 12 books and has testified on congressional committies on Middle Eastern topics. In 1994, Pipes founded the Middle East Forum (MEF) which is an independent organization promoting American interests through various outlets, including media outreach and publications. The main objective of his organization is to be the vigilant eye in what he describes as "the age of disinformation." His more recent project is reaching out to university students with the Campus Watch program, which reviews and critiques Middle Eastern studies at universities. With Yeshiva starting its own chapter of MEF, the number of MEF clubs at American universities grows to six.
Pipes' lecture was entitled "Radical Islam and the War on Terror," and was co sponsored by the YU Israel Club and the Joseph Dunner Political Science Society. Pipes initially challenged the audience asking a few pointed questions, "How goes the war on terror? Are we winning? How do we defend against it? What do we make of the riots in France?" He described the current U.S. effort against the insurgency in Iraq as one of hardware and software, where the U.S. can have the most advanced tanks and air force (hardware), but the terrorists are working with spirit and emotion (software). These days, spirit and emotion trumps any air force, according to Pipes. This energy has been present for years, but only recently has the United States begun to try and contain it.
A celebrated commentator on the Middle East issues, Pipes' syndicated columns appear weekly in Jewish newspapers around the U.S. He has been a guest on American news shows such as ABC World News Tonight, Crossfire, Nightline, and the O'Reilly Factor. He has also appeared on the BBC in England and on Al-Jazeera, one of the leading Arab television networks. His written work has appeared in magazines and newspapers such as The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
Besides debating and writing for media outlets, Pipes also has written 12 books and has testified on congressional committies on Middle Eastern topics. In 1994, Pipes founded the Middle East Forum (MEF) which is an independent organization promoting American interests through various outlets, including media outreach and publications. The main objective of his organization is to be the vigilant eye in what he describes as "the age of disinformation." His more recent project is reaching out to university students with the Campus Watch program, which reviews and critiques Middle Eastern studies at universities. With Yeshiva starting its own chapter of MEF, the number of MEF clubs at American universities grows to six.
Pipes' lecture was entitled "Radical Islam and the War on Terror," and was co sponsored by the YU Israel Club and the Joseph Dunner Political Science Society. Pipes initially challenged the audience asking a few pointed questions, "How goes the war on terror? Are we winning? How do we defend against it? What do we make of the riots in France?" He described the current U.S. effort against the insurgency in Iraq as one of hardware and software, where the U.S. can have the most advanced tanks and air force (hardware), but the terrorists are working with spirit and emotion (software). These days, spirit and emotion trumps any air force, according to Pipes. This energy has been present for years, but only recently has the United States begun to try and contain it.