Bush Nominee Differs With President’s Stance

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- A scholar nominated to a federal think tank on peace over the objections of Muslim groups said Tuesday that President Bush should not have characterized Islam as a peaceful religion after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Asked by reporters whether he thought Bush should have made the statement, Daniel Pipes said, “No.”

“Presidents shouldn’t talk about religion” and it was wrong to “make generalizations” about Islam, he said.

“I never say Islam is this or Islam is that,” Pipes told journalists attending a seminar at the University of Maryland’s Knight Center for Specialized Journalism.

Pipes said sweeping comments about Islam prevent people from fully understanding the threat from militant Muslims, who he said combine religion and politics to justify brutal acts.

Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum in Philadelphia, was nominated by Bush to the United States Institute of Peace, a foreign policy think tank whose 15 board members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.