[Peace-discuss] Richard Perle

[patton paul]

Published on Sunday, March 23, 2003 by the New York Times
Perle's Plunder Blunder
by Maureen Dowd


WASHINGTON -- It's Richard Perle's world. We're just fighting in it.

The Prince of Darkness, a man who whips up revelatory souffs and
revolutionary pre-emption doctrines with equal ease, took a victory lap
at the American Enterprise Institute on Friday morning.

The critical battle for Baghdad was yet to come and "Shock and Awe" was
still a few hours away. (The hawks, who are trying to send a message to
the world not to mess with America, might have preferred an even more
intimidating bombing campaign title, like "Operation Who's Your Daddy?")

Yet Mr. Perle, an adviser to Donald Rumsfeld, could not resist a little
pre-emptive crowing about pre-emption, predicting "a general recognition
that high moral purpose has been achieved here. Millions of people have
been liberated."

His conservative audience at the Reagan shrine's "black coffee briefing"
(they're too macho for milk and sugar) was buzzed that their cherished
dream of saving Iraq by bombing it was under way.

The chesty "you repent, we decide" Bush doctrine was cooked up pre-Bush,
fashioned over the last 12 years by conservatives like Mr. Perle, Mr.
Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Douglas Feith and
Bill Kristol.

The pre-emption doctrine prefers ad hoc coalitions, allowing an
unfettered America to strike at threats and potential threats. At A.E.I.,
Mr. Perle boasted that far from going it alone, the Bush administration
had a coalition of "more than 40 countries and . . . growing." (Including
Micronesia, Mongolia and the Marshall Islands, all of them.)

And he was already looking forward to giving makeovers to other rogue
regimes. "I'm rather optimistic that we will see regime change in Iran
without any use of military power by the United States," he said.

Michael Ledeen, an A.E.I. scholar on the same panel, called Iraq "just
one battle in a broader war. Iran is . . . the mother of modern
terrorism."

As Bush 41 learned, waging holy wars can be dicey. After pressing the
morality of Desert Storm, he faced questions about his postwar conduct.
Critics excoriated Mr. Bush, who had labeled Saddam another Hitler, for
turning his back as Saddam laid waste to Kurdish refugees and to Kurds
and Shiite Muslims rising up against him after the war.

Now Mr. Perle, who urged America to war with moral certitude, finds
himself subject to questions about his own standards of right and wrong.

Stephen Labaton wrote in The Times on Friday that Mr. Perle was advising
the Pentagon on war even as he was retained by Global Crossing, the
bankrupt telecommunications company, to help overcome Pentagon resistance
to its proposed sale to a joint venture involving a Hong Kong
billionaire.

The confidant of Rummy and Wolfy serves as the chairman of the Defense
Policy Board, an influential Pentagon advisory panel. That's why Global
Crossing agreed to pay Mr. Perle a fat fee: $725,000. The fee structure
is especially smelly because $600,000 of the windfall is contingent on
government approval of the sale. (In his original agreement, Mr. Perle
also asked the company to shell out for "working meals," which could add
up, given his status as a gourmand from the Potomac to Provence, where he
keeps a vacation home among the feckless French.)

Although his position on the Defense Policy Board is not paid, Mr. Perle
is still bound by government ethics rules that forbid officials from
reaping financial benefit from their government positions. He and his
lawyer told Mr. Labaton that his work for Global Crossing did not violate
the rules because he did not lobby for the company and was serving in an
advisory capacity to its lawyers.

But that distinction is silly because Global Crossing has so many other
big names on its roster of influence-peddlers that it doesn't need Mr.
Perle's Guccis for actual lobbying footwork or advice on the process. His
name alone could be worth the $725,000 if it helps win the Pentagon's
seal of approval.

His convictions of right and wrong extend to the right and wrong
investments. On Wednesday he participated in a Goldman Sachs conference
call to advise clients on investment opportunities arising from the war,
titled, "Implications of an Imminent War: Iraq Now. North Korea Next?"

Maybe Mr. Perle should remove the laurel wreath from his head and replace
it with a paper bag.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company