Destined for Greatness, In One Way or Another

I am simultaneously rereading Daniel Pipes' 1988 Greater Syria and reading for the first time his 2002 Militant Islam Reaches America, and the contrast of greatness in the eighties with self-caricature and self-plagiarism in the aughts is disturbingly like watching DeNiro's performances in The King of Comedy and Analyze That back to back. The main difference is that, unlike DeNiro, Pipes still has flashes of brilliance—at least enough brilliance to justify his inclusion in a $400-a-day boondoggle like the U.S. Institute for Peace. "Pipes's nomination sends entirely the wrong message as America seeks to convince Muslims worldwide that the war on terrorism and the war against Iraq are not attacks on Islam," says CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, who really needs to find a new antagonist.