Richard Perle, chief architect of the Iraqi war, resigns under exposure and pressure. For years we have worked to expose Richard Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, etc. as double agents working to harness America's military might for the advancement of the Israeli agenda.
Iraq war advisor Perle resigns Pentagon panel
Reuters, 03.27.03, 7:07 PM ET
(Updates throughout with Rumsfeld accepting resignation)
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richard Perle, a U.S. architect of the war on Iraq who faced questions about conflicts of interest, offered to resign as chairman of a Pentagon advisory panel, according to a letter obtained by Reuters Thursday.
"As I cannot quickly or easily quell criticism of me based on errors of fact concerning my activities, the least I can do under these circumstances is to ask you to accept my resignation as chairman of the Defense Policy Board," Perle wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday.
Rumsfeld accepted Perle's resignation as chairman but asked that he remain a member of the board.
"He has been an excellent chairman and has led the Defense Policy Board during an important time in our history," Rumsfeld said in a statement released by the Pentagon. "I should add that I have known Richard Perle for many years and know him to be a man of integrity and honor."
On Monday, Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, asked the Pentagon's inspector general to probe Perle's work as a paid adviser to bankrupt telecommunications company Global Crossing Ltd. <GBLXQ.PK> and his guidance on investment opportunities resulting from the Iraq conflict.
In his resignation offer, Perle said, "I am advising Global Crossing that I will not accept any compensation that might result from their pending acquisition and that any fee for past service would be donated to the families of American forces killed or injured in Iraq."
GLOBAL CROSSING PLAN
He agreed to help Global Crossing, a bankrupt operator of an international fiber-optic network, win U.S. approval to sell a 61.5 percent stake to Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. <0013.HK> and Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte.
Perle said earlier he would be paid $125,000 for his advice and another $600,000 if the government approved the deal.
The deal ran into problems with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which counts Rumsfeld and other top national security advisers as members.
The committee can block mergers and acquisitions it feels could harm U.S. interests, and it raised concerns that Global Crossing's network would be controlled by a company with strong ties to China. Hutchison is majority owned by Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing.
A Global Crossing spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.
As chairman of the Defense Policy Board, created in 2001 to advise the Pentagon, Perle had no official policymaking role and was not paid. He has been influential in developing the Bush administration's plan to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Last Friday, Perle expressed confidence about the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
"My impression is the same as I imagine most of you have: that this war is going well, that the resistance has been minimal," he told a gathering at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, where he is a "resident fellow".
"That doesn't surprise me. I think it doesn't surprise our planners. We've been saying now for a very long time that there are very few people who were prepared to fight for Saddam and even fewer who were prepared to die for Saddam," Perle said.
The U.S.-led war was launched last week to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and rid the country of its alleged weapons of mass destruction.
It is the first war the United States has fought since a national security strategy was announced last year that asserts Washington has the right to launch pre-emptive strikes on countries deemed a threat even before the United States itself is attacked.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service |
