AntiWar Movement Victory: Perle Resigns from DOD Post over Conflict of Interest

RightWATCH -- March 27, 2003 (please forward)

[note: to link to this article, use the following:
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AntiWar Movement Victory: Perle Resigns from DOD Post over Conflict of Interest

A reader pointed out that in yesterday's issue of RightWATCH that I forgot to
include the citation for the article by Seymour Hersh on the forged evidence
presented by Bush and Blair that purported to show that Iraq had purchased
a substantial amount of uranium from Africa. The article was from the upcoming
issue of the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030331fa_fact1 .

Many of you will remember that Hersh was recently sued by Richard Perle,
a Bush war advisor who is strongly connected to the mammoth right-wing think
tank American Enterprise Institute (along with Dinesh DiSousa of "The End of
Racism" and Charles Murray of "The Bell Curve" fame, and even the late Daniel
Patrick Moynihan who divided Democrats on social issues), and was a founding
member of the Project for a New American Century. Perle called Hersh "the
closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist" and has also argued that the
U.S. could conquer Iraq with only 40,000 troops because the Iraqis would be so
happy that we were liberating them. Apparently he was off by a few hundred
thousand troops. (Today Reuters confirmed what we reported in the "13 myths"
flyer last month: that an additional 100,000 troops are part of the war plan:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2462365 .)

Perle is one of Bush's many conservative Jewish advisors, and is on the advisory
board of JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (see http://www.jinsa.org or
<http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020902&s=vest>http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020902&s=vest ). The Jinsa home page touts
its connection to the "shock and awe" doctrine, and the group is a major influence in current
middle-east policy. Perle has also been a lobbyist for Turkey, lobbying Congress to NOT
give formal recognition to the Armenian Genocide, according to Armenian Daily:
http://www.azg.am/start.pl?lang=EN&num=2003032601. One would think it
more appropriate for an activist with Jewish ties to want to promote education about
all instances of genocide, as tolerance.org and Facing History and Ourselves have
done (see http://65.214.34.82/facing/fhao2.nsf).

Well, Perle finally went too far (or more accurately, the anti-war movement
effectively exposed his conflicts of interest). Just hours ago, he resigned
as head of Bush's Defense Policy Board after the controversy over his ties to
companies benefiting from war began to threaten the credibility of the war:
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/086/wash/Former_Pentagon_official_Richa%3A.shtml

Nice job by the activists who have pointed out these conflicts; below is
a recent article on Perle in In These Times by researcher Frida Berrigan (daughter
of the famous, late antiwar activist Phil Berrigan); there is also an excellent article
on Perle at Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/2003/03/000403.html

For a business perspective on Perle, see:
http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/view_article.asp?article_id=7509

Obviously, pointing out conflicts of interest is an excellent strategy;
some additional background material on this is contained in the piece we
recently worked on, "13 MYTHS ABOUT THE CASE FOR WAR IN IRAQ", at:
http://islandimage.net/oc/13myths/MythItem.cfm?ID=40

It would be a relatively simple matter for the anti-war movement to prepare
"bird-dogging" flyers on each of the main proponents of war showing how they
financially benefit. Perle is bound to be back as a congressional witness, and
peace activists gain credibility when they are armed with such facts. And
Perle is not the only possible "bird-dogging" target; there are dozens.

Fortunately, finding information on war proponents is relatively easy. See:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020415-7.html
for instance, on the payments that Dick and Lynne Cheney are receiving
from the companies they left before moving to the White House. And
see http://www.mediatransparency.org/search.php for foundation research.
(The tough part of the research -- the part that needs the most attention --
is gathering information on the corporate donations to think-tanks, which
unlike foundation grants, does not fall under any IRS disclosure laws. To
gain access to such information you have to be in a position to approach
the think tank as a donor. However, the conservative Capital Research
Center is developing a web database with partial information on corporate
grants: see http://www.capitalresearch.org/search/orgdisplay.asp?Org=AEI100)

Questioning the motives of war proponents, and questioning whether winning
the war will actually reduce terrorism, can erode the current 75% popularity
for this war. Tomorrow's RightWATCH will provide another article on this topic.

Rich Cowan





Richard Perle: It Pays To Be the Prince of Darkness
http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=126_0_7_0_C

By Frida Berrigan
Mar 21, 03, In These Times

Richard Perle is a busy guy these days, what with his
long-desired war against Iraq in full swing, plus a lucrative
consulting business on the side. As the chairman of the Defense
Policy Board, Perle is a close adviser to Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, with an insider‚s perspective on the Pentagon,
the war in Iraq and the ongoing war on terrorism. As a major
investor in a number of defense companies, he stands to reap
considerable benefits from war and homeland security contracts.
Apparently his dual roles as a major policy adviser to the
Pentagon and a business dealmaker can be a bit confusing at
times.

A few weeks ago, Perle was hired by Global Crossing, the bankrupt
telecommunications giant that is trying to sell itself to a
Chinese consortium. The Pentagon and FBI are against the sale
because it would put the company‚s fiber optics network, which is
used by the U.S. government, in Chinese hands. Perle‚s job is to
change their minds. And if anyone can, it is the „Prince of
Darkness,‰ as Perle is known by friend and foe in Washington.

As he said in an affidavit dated March 7, his position as
chairman of the Defense Policy Board gives him a „unique
perspective on and intimate knowledge of the national defense and
security issues that will be raised by the CFIUS review process.‰
The CFIUS, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United
States, has the power to block the deal. Global Crossing is
paying Perle $750,000 for this „unique perspective‰ and „intimate
knowledge.‰ Perle‚s incentive: $600,000 of his fee is contingent
on government approval of the deal.

But this little phrase led to a funny exchange with New York
Times reporter Stephen Labaton. Perle insisted, „I‚m not using
public office for private gain, because the Defense Policy Board
has nothing to do with the CFIUS process.‰ But when asked about
his „unique perspective‰ and „intimate knowledge,‰ Perle claimed
he had not noticed that phrase, saying it „was drafted by
lawyers, and frankly I did not notice it.‰ He is a busy man, we
understand.

But then, he called Labaton back to clarify, saying that the
problematic phrase was in an earlier draft, he had noticed it and
crossed it out. „You have a draft that I never signed,‰ he said.
OK?

After consulting with Global Crossing‚s lawyers, Perle called
Labaton again to say that he had told the lawyers to strike the
phrase because it „seemed inappropriate and irrelevant.‰ But then
someone put the phrase back in, and Perle signed it without
noticing. „It is a clerical error,‰ he explained, „and not my
clerical error.‰ When in doubt, blame the lawyers.

So the final version will be submitted without referring to
Perle‚s „unique perspective‰ and „intimate knowledge.‰ But that
doesn‚t mean those are not what Global Crossing is paying him
for.

-----------------------

This is not the first time someone has questioned Perle‚s ethics.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Seymour Hersh, writing in the March 17
issue of The New Yorker, cited possible „conflicts of interest‰
in Trireme Partners, Perle‚s venture capital company. The
company, which invests in companies dealing in homeland security
and defense products, has raised $45 million in capital so
far˜almost half of that coming from U.S. defense giant Boeing.
When asked about the article in a TV interview, Perle declared
that „Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a
terrorist, frankly.‰

There is also the matter of Autonomy Corporation, where Perle is
a director, with 75,000 shares of stock. The firm has developed a
high-tech eavesdropping software that is capable of monitoring
hundreds of thousands of e-mail and phone conversations at the
same time. In October 2002, the Department of Homeland Security
granted the company a huge contract. A few months later, Autonomy
was granted $1 million in contracts from a number of government
agencies, including the Secret Service and National Security
Agency.

As a former Clinton adviser observed with admiration, Perle
„enjoys all the benefits of being an insider without any of the
constraints.‰

Frida Berrigan is a senior research associate with the Arms Trade
Resource Center, a project of the World Policy Institute.


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