Hussein Shobokshi

Richard Perle recently left the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board after 17 years of serving on it. The excuse he gave was that he did not wish to become an election-year burden to the Bush administration as he wished to continue to express his ideas. Funny he should mention the word ‘burden’ when he should really have said ‘liability.’

He is widely believed to be the major driving force behind the US invasion of Iraq in March without a UN resolution. He has been called many names: hawk, tough, neo-conservative and hardliner to mention a few.

“I can best describe him as a mad Zionist with loyalty to Israel first and foremost,” said a prominent Washington politician recently. He has also been referred to as the ‘Prince of Darkness’ for his hard-line views about the former Soviet Union during the Reagan era.

There are a number of other adjectives that would be more appropriate in describing him — devious, mischievous, demonic, malignant and corrupt.

Richard Perle has established a dubious track record of corruption and conspiracy in the last few years. In December he came under fire for failing to disclose financial ties to the Boeing Company while leading its bid for a very controversial $20 billion-plus contract to lease, then sell, refueling tankers to the air force.

Perle is a vocal supporter of Israel and he is on the Advisory Board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). He has on occasion been accused of being an Israeli agent of influence. It has been reported that, while he was working for Senator Henry Jackson, an “FBI summary of a 1970 wiretap recorded Perle discussing classified information with someone in the Israeli embassy.”

In 1983, after stepping into a Pentagon job in the Reagan administration, Perle came under fire for accepting a $50,000 payment from an Israeli arms manufacturer. Under the auspices of the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, a Likud-backed Israeli think-tank, he helped come up with a paper: ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,’ which declared that ‘removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq’ was an “important Israeli strategic objective in its own right as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions.”

The paper also recommended that Israel drop the Labor Party’s ‘comprehensive peace’ slogan and aim for a ‘balance of power,’ launch ‘hot pursuit’ strikes into Palestinian territory — now a staple of the Sharon government — and work to loosen Yaser Arafat’s grip on the Palestinian Authority, a policy reflected in the recent pressure compelling Arafat to accept a prime minister.

Perle also has close business ties with Conrad Black, the controversial ex-chairman of Hollinger International, which owns more than 400 daily and weekly newspapers in Canada, the United States, Britain, Israel and Australia.

He uses these papers and others to trumpet his pro-Israeli sentiments and to tangle with political figures. Perle received a great deal of criticism due to a conflict of interest episode while serving on the Defense Policy Board and being hired as an advisor for Global Crossing, “Even as he advises the Pentagon on war matters, Richard N. Perle, chairman of the influential Defense Policy Board, has been retained by the telecommunications company, Global Crossing, to help overcome Defense Department resistance to its proposed sale to a foreign firm,” Perle and lawyers involved in the case said.

“Mr. Perle’s fee is $750,000, but he will receive an additional $600,000 if the sale is approved.”

Concerned over conflict of interest episode, senior Democrats are seeking an inquiry by the Pentagon inspector general into the matter. Another conflict of interest problem was reported by Seymour Hersh who suggested that Perle was attempting to profit from the Iraq war by fixing military and security deals through some of his companions and Arab businessmen.

The crowning blow came when he recently published a book, co-written with David Frum, which was full of lies, false allegations and extremism. Richard Perle is an embarrassment for any decent administration to be associated with. His departure is not a welcome relief to all people who seek peace in the world.