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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (31673)	2/26/2004 1:57:46 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793674

Perle gets out of the way. A good idea. Bush Adviser Leaves Defense Policy Board By Bradley Graham Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 26, 2004; Page A07 Richard Perle, a prominent adviser to the Bush administration known for his hawkish views on Iraq and other national security matters, has resigned from the Defense Policy Board, saying he wanted to avoid being a lightning rod for criticism of the administration during a presidential election year. Perle submitted his resignation from the board -- a bipartisan advisory group with no decision-making power -- in a Feb. 18 letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "We are now approaching a long presidential election campaign, in the course of which issues on which I have strong views will be widely discussed and debated," Perle wrote. "I would not wish those views to be attributed to you or the president at any time, and especially not during a presidential campaign." A Pentagon spokesman confirmed the resignation and said Rumsfeld has accepted it, thanking Perle for his long service on the board, which spanned 17 years. The resignation was first reported late yesterday by Knight Ridder. In his letter, Perle wrote that too often his views have been wrongly interpreted as reflecting administration policy. "This results partly from a misunderstanding about the role and nature of the Defense Policy Board, exacerbated by the controversy surrounding policies I have advocated as a private citizen," he said. The likelihood that he would become a further source of controversy for the administration had increased, he said, as a result of publication of a recent book he co-wrote with David Frum advocating "bold action" against Iran, North Korea and other "sponsors of terrorism," including Saudi Arabia. "Many of the ideas in that book are controversial, and I wish to be free to argue them without those views or my arguments getting caught up in the campaign," Perle wrote. © 2004 The Washington Post Company