New Daniel Pipes Project: Islamist Watch

First there was Campus Watch,

a project of the Middle East Forum, reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students. Campus Watch fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds.

Now Daniel Pipes is coming out with a new project: Islamist Watch, which

combats the ideas and institutions of nonviolent, radical Islam in the United States and other Western countries. It exposes the far-reaching goals of Islamists, works to reduce their power, and seeks to strengthen moderate Muslims.

The EU is working on ways to eliminate the phrase "Islamic Terrorism" from our vocabulary, to be replaced by 'terrorists who abusively invoke Islam'--which is a neat trick considering that the word "terrorist" is already being disappeared from our vocabulary as well. Other terms on the chopping block are "Islamist", "fundamentalist" and "jihad".

In contrast to the EU and the media manipulations, Pipe writes that:

Islamists ultimately seek hegemonic control via a worldwide caliphate that applies the Islamic law in full. Afghanistan under the Taliban offers one model of what they would establish globally.

Terrorism is one method to advance these projects but it is not the only one. Indeed, the activities of nonviolent Islamists arguably will prove a more effective tactic in the long term. For while the public intuitively understands the threat of terrorism and is mobilized by it, and while states have well-developed institutions (law enforcement, intelligence agencies, the military, the justice system) to protect and fight against it, the activities of nonviolent extremists are not alarming and institutions do not exist to deal with this problem. [emphasis added]

Pipes gives an introductory list of the types of tactics used by nonviolent Islamists thus far, including:

• Sell land at discount prices for building mosques or other Islamic institutions.
• Ban Hindus and Jews from a jury hearing a criminal case against an Islamist in Great Britain.
• Allow a prisoner the unheard-of right to avoid strip-searches in New York State.
• Recognize polygamous marriages for tax purposes in the United Kingdom.
• Blame women for being the victims of rape by Muslim men in Norway.
• Ban the use of piggybanks—the symbol of frugality—in their advertising by two major British banks.
• Apply the "Rushdie rules" – accepting Islamist intimidation and silencing critics of Islam.
• Punish anti-Islamic views through the application of criminal charges, as has occurred to critics of Islam in Australia and Canada.
• Prohibit families from sending pork or pork by-products or "Any matter containing religious materials contrary to Islamic faith" to U.S. military personnel serving in the Middle East.
• Require that female American soldiers in Saudi Arabia wear U.S. government-issued abayas.

Pipes has already upset the applecart with Campus Watch.
Islamist Watch is going to be something to watch for, read, and link to.

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