#4 IMHO, Pipes has always been a tad soft. A while back, I had the distinct privilege of having lunch with Robert Spencer and his family. I expressed some rather harsh views, with which he more or less agreed. We got to talking about others in the resistance, and their personalities.
Pipes, he said, privately agrees with such views, but for some reason won't go that far publicly. Sounded like it has something to do with the fact that he's built his professional reputation reaching out to MMMs and talking up Islamic reformation. Pipes likely agrees that the jihad revival IS the reformation, but feels it would be inconsistent or hypocritical to point out that he now feels his earlier optimism was misplaced.
I think many of us have made that transition, without feeling too terrible about it, so remains unclear to me why Pipes feels constrained. Conclusions can, and should, change as more information becomes available, so, I dunno. Pipes certainly isn't a scaredy-cat. |