Kramer, who studied under Bernard Lewis, produced a book that fueled an effort to target and stifle critical thought. As Joel Beinin notes, "Kramer and his ilk were emboldened by their links to officials in the upper-mid levels of the Bush administration," and particularly to the neocons who shared their worldview. He adds that the "neo-cons have much more powerful political connections than those that the AJC, the ADL and AIPAC were able to mobilize." But this unity was not coincidental. Rather, if Lewis, Zakaria, and others were the intellectual core brought together to formulate the propaganda war after 9/11 (as discussed in chapter 7), Kramer, Daniel Pipes, David Horowitz, and others served as the activists out in the world policing critical thought. Their job was to ensure that the War on Terror brand remained uncontested and that their propaganda was not punctured by scholars with the knowledge and ability to expose the lies. Bush even nominated Pipes to a seat on the board of directors of the federally funded United States Institute of Peace, which was supposed to produce knowledge to aid in conflict resolution. Pipes's nomination was scuttled, but this move represents the neocons' penchant for thought control.

XREF: Connects to the broader 9/11 propaganda apparatus described elsewhere in the book (chapter 7's network of Lewis, Zakaria, et al.). QUESTION: How effective were these pressure campaigns at actually policing academic criticism, and what specific cases went beyond Kramer's book?

Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politi…, loc. 527