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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lurqer who wrote (38502)	2/26/2004 1:01:51 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

The Black Pearl ........ Richard (The Impaler) Perle strikes off on his own........ By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Noted hawk Richard Perle has quit the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s Defense Policy Board after 17 years, saying he wants to press his views without becoming an election-year burden for the Bush administration. Widely considered a driving force behind the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) in March without a U.N. Security Council resolution, Perle has also faced repeated questions about conflicts of interest for his representation of companies with business before the Defense Department. He quit as chairman of the policy board on March 27, 2003, after such questions, but had stayed on as a member. An investigation cleared him of any violation of conflict of interest laws in his private consulting business. "Despite repeated disclaimers, my membership on the Defense Policy Board has led many people who see my articles, books and television appearances to associate my views with those of the administration or the Department of Defense (news - web sites)," Perle wrote in a Feb. 18 letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "I would not wish those views to be attributed to you or the president at any time, and especially not during a presidential campaign," he wrote. Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service to the unpaid board "and for the energy, experience and intellect that he brought" to the job, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Thursday. Perle became known as the "Prince of Darkness" for his hardline views on the old Soviet Union during a stint as an assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the 1980s under then President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites). In December, he came under fire for failing to disclose financial ties to Boeing Co., while championing its bid for a controversial $20 billion-plus contract to lease, then sell, modified refueling tankers to the Air Force. Perle did not return phone calls seeking comment on any plans to step up his activities now that he has attended his last policy board meeting. In his resignation letter, Perle said he was particularly eager to guard the administration from fall-out from a recent book he co-wrote with David Frum, "An End to Evil," advocating "bold action" against Iran, North Korea (news - web sites) and other "sponsors of terrorism," including Saudi Arabia, Syria and Libya. "Many of the ideas in that book are controversial and I wish to be free to argue for them without those views or my arguments getting caught up in the campaign," he said.