Speechless...

Puppet boy W is losing his strings!

Insert obligatory "please use the mirrors" remark here. I think we're ready, but I'm bringing backup resources online just in case.

FWIW, I spotted another test post (now deleted) from Salam Pax at "Where is Raed" earlier today. I haven't been reading the comments, so I don't know if anyone's already mentioned this.

There was a good article on Perle by Seymour Hersh in the 3/17 issue of 'The New Yorker'. No link available that I can find (Conde only has the current issue), but it probably had something to do with him leaving his post. Anyway, this frees him up to pursue his profiteering full-time.

Hmm. I don't get it. Unless he's going (back) into some business that will profit from this war, and doesn't want an obvious conflict of interest?

Anyone who's been following him for longer than me want to comment?

Perle will still be influential, but at least this is showing some impact from the investigative journalism into his shady biz dealings.

A little background and interesting reading from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/perle.html

"Richard Perle is the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an advisory panel to the Pentagon made up of leading figures in national security and defense which backs laying the groundwork for overthrowing Saddam through military means. He previously served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy in the Reagan Administration. "

HALLELUJAH THIS IS ALMOST ENOUGH TO MAKE ME GO CHRISTIAN.

I don't think Perle's cutting and running will save his butt from a war crimes trial, let's hope all these boobs finish out their lives in prison where they belong.

He's trying to avoid prosecution for his conflicts of interest. And, of course, this administration would never investigate anyone for conflicts of interest! Look how many others are involved with corrupt practices!

Is there a way to persue a private lawsuit to get this looked into? I guess that would be too expensive...

Rima -

A few threads ago you mentioned that "Al-Jazeera" means "the island". Any idea why it's called that?

Perle resigns.. gee, I guess he tried to take too much credit away from georgie and rummy for authoring the Perfect War Plan.. y'know, the plan that anticipated everything, from the absence of opposing action down to the significant presence of opposing action.

Good riddance. Now if only the rest of the administration follows.

One cannot help but wonder whether Perle's resignation is going to affect his level of influence within the current administration.

Good riddance Perle.

Now he just needs to be prosecuted.

Now if only Cheney and Rumsfeld would resign.

Perhaps his ill-advised political advice on deploying through Turkey was his undoing?

Who's Richard Perle...?

>>perle

amen. hersh is vindicated. lets hope the scandal continues and that sob is completely outed.

for more info on perle and his various shadowy organizations - and vis a vis our current war in iraq:

www.jinsa.org

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020902&s=vest&c=1

This is absolutely bizzare. I'm speechless. I can't get the timing here.

Bush covering his ass (Perle's private dealings/conflicts of interest) is case things spiral out of control? Pre-emptive PR damage control?

Perle sits on the BOD of a software company called Autonomy. They account for what one report I saw says is 1/3 of software spending by intelligence agencies on knowledge management, read:TIA.

That is your conflict of interest.

I wonder how his lawsuit against Hersch is going.

Perle is known as the 'Prince of Darkness' in the Bush Admin. Big powerful hawk.

A (biased but informative) background on Perle is available from prwatch.org:

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Richard_N._Perle

Wow! Wonderful news ... I think ... Will he still be able to tout his influential status in his marketing letters to potential weapons clients?

Let them eat cakewalk!!!

I hope the Prince of Darkness is so tortured by lawsuits and congressional hearings that he moves to the Middle East where he can enjoy the consequences of his arrogant power-filled dreams. He deserves far worse.

A few threads ago you mentioned that "Al-Jazeera" means "the island". Any idea why it's called that?

I think the whoel gulf area is reffered to as the arabic Island "AL jazeerah al arabiah". Solr of us reffereing to the gulf as the gulf. Someone correct me if I am worng.

I would assume Al Jazeera means the island, literally, because Qatar is an island in the Gulf. Perhaps, there is some connotation to it, but I don't speak Arabic.

Ths issue with Perle that Hersh brought out in that article (said article resulted in an idiotic threat of a libel suit in Britain) is that while holding the advisory post (technically a nonpaid federal employee) Perle was on the board of a firm whose holdings included defense and homeland security companies. Hersh cited a meeting with (of all people) Adnan Kashoggi (sp?) that seemed to indicate Perle was using his position to pressure some foreign firms/countries to purchase products and services from those firms.

The real reason for his departure might be his repeated assertion that we only needed air power and the Iraqi resistance with a limited number of troops to win this war.

I believe a bigger conflict of interest is Perle's lobbying for Global Crossing: http://www.iht.com/articles/90839.html and this one: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/business/25GLOB.html?pagewanted=print&position=top

Richard Perle, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Co. have been pushing for this war for more than five years now. There justifications, read excuses, have not changed at all.

Here is the members only club voicing their opinion to Clinton under the auspices of the PROJECT FOR THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY. What a title.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm

I don't believe Qatar is an island, maybe youre confused with Bahrain

ha ha ha!

Perle has been on like every channel over the past week like some sort of annointed king. His throne has collapsed. I hope to god that this is the beginning of the end of those bastards. Rumsfeld better be next. Does anyone else get the feeling that the actual military leaders are pissed as hell at Rumsfeld inablity to think strategically right now? And for leaving all the troops hanging in hostile territory.

Goodbye perle. .you won't be missed

From this link:
http://www.pacpub.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7500263&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425410&rfi=6

Another unsettling aspect of Mr. Hedges' talk Sunday, especially now as the United States' war with Iraq blares from every news channel, is his description of how the press covers a war. He used the Persian Gulf War as an example and described the way American reporters there behaved as if they were "the handmaiden of the Pentagon," doing the U.S. government's bidding rather than digging deeper and harder for the real story.

Pray for all victims, please!

(This is by far the strongest piece about war journalism this time around.)

Very unusual.

A high-ranking defence official resigning during a war. The conflicts of interest were known going into this.

Something's up.

What, you're trying to start a flame war over Perle?

Al Jaz live reported from baghdad. Lots of bombing. Most of it on the telecommunications center for phones.

According to an article in Asia Times by Pepe Escobar, Richard Perle has a summer home in France. Perhaps he will go there.
I haven't seen anything on the web at MSNBC that says he has resigned yet, though.

Public officials cannot be sued in civil court. Well, sure you can bring suit, but the chances of it going over are directly related to the perceived power of the individual. However, the Constitution provides two methods of relief (and curse me, I don't have a copy in hand, or I could quote you chapter and verse), a recall election, whereby you provide a petition for recall to the Secretary of State (I suppose that would be Collin Powell ....), and the second is where your sworn representatives (although I think the term "foresworn" would be more applicable to many of them), vote to impeach. Historically, impeachment trials have been a farce (Johnson, Nixon, Clinton). There is a third method, but it's not legal, and doesn't resolve the problems which an impeachment or recall aim to address. There is also a final solution, which as a matter of fact we are using in Iraq, of Regime change. I've noticed that SEVERAL people both here, and on other sites are calling our beloved leader and his cronies the "Bush Regime," and "illegal" and other kinds of stuff. I disagree with the illegal part, but Bush has done a number on civil liberties and other domestic problems such as "freedom of the press," and "taxation" for example. Certainly no way to run a country.

from theatlantic.com
September 25, 2002

"Richard Perle, a Pentagon official during the Reagan years, says that unseating Saddam will be 'a cakewalk.' Perhaps, ventured Senator Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, Perle should join the first wave into Baghdad to experience his hypothesis."

More Pork
I didn't see any reference to this in recent comments, so The register Is reporting that Darrell Issa (R., San Diego/Qualcomm) is demanding the post-war cell phone infrastructure should be a CDMA system built by US suppliers (i.e. Qualcomm) rather than a GSM system built by a 'European' manufacturer. For those unaware of the terminology, CDMA is the cell phone system in use across most of the US, whilst GSM is the standard now for 95% of the world. In addition, there is a fledgling GSM service already in the north of Iraq, and a CDMA service would be incompatible with, and substantially less sophisticated than, all of Iraqs neighbours.

Perle resigning makes my week. Now if only something turns up that's realistically legally actionable... a short trip for Richie to federal ***-pounding prison would make my year, with Wolfie in an adjacent cell.

from what i've found, al-jazeera means "the peninsula", and i could see how that would correspond with the arabian land mass.

British ship offshore waiting to unload clothing for the Iraqi's:

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=47705&Sn=WORL

Are there reports about Iraqi's who have lost their clothes and need new ones?

IssuesGuy:

If you have a real scandal (and not just inuendo, where's the full-court press from the Democrats. It's not like they've pulled their punches on much else. And the Democrats are always forthcoming with their finacial scandals, right? I'll give you one more word:

Whitewater.

I am glad there are so many business execs that have done transactions with the government posting here. Autonomy is a search engine like Google. Maybe Perle is resigning so he can go back to DOD or take a State position. That would be awesome!

S-P said "In the meantime, NBC tells me the segment will air tonight."

What segment??? I must have missed something somewhere.

Shouldn't this (the cell phone standards) be an issue for the government of the Federal Republic of Iraq to decide?

I nearly forgot, don't know if anyone posted it (but it's quite wry).

OT Re: The Real GWB from The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,923848,00.html

Reuters has a story, says Perle has "offered" to resign:

Perle Offers to Resign from Defense Policy Board
Thu March 27, 2003 06:11 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richard Perle, an architect of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, offered to resign as chairman of a Pentagon advisory panel, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
Noting criticism of a possible conflict of interest over his roles as corporate adviser and Defense Department consultant, Perle wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, "As I cannot quickly or easily quell criticism of me based on errors of fact concerning my activities, the least I can do under these circumstances is to ask you to accept my resignation as chairman of the Defense Policy Board."

Perle resigning makes my week. Now if only something turns up that's realistically legally actionable... a short trip for Richie to federal ***-pounding prison would make my year, with Wolfie in an adjacent cell.

1 word

AMEN

The name AL-Jazeera Ive been told means island, and as to why they should name the network that, perhaps in order to highlight the point that they consider themselves somewhat unique for Arab media. I.e., they are self-contained, self-sufficient, isolated amidst other kinds of reporting and are not afraid to take the opposite stance against occidental media.

Here is a brief overview of dangerous situations throughout the world:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0327-05.htm

As we know, Perle is a key architect of the war. So his untimely departure raises huge questions. We can speculate endlessly as to why he resigned today, so soon into the invasion. But the question is, are there serious fissures forming in the chickenhawk brigade?

I'm reposting this from Flash 70:

raven "The Security Council has, to the best of my knowledge, not yet declared Iraq to be in non-compliance with its resolutions; therefore, this war, not being an active act of self-defence, is illegal under the United Nations Charter."

Here is part of the text from UNSC Resolution 1441

Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,

1. Decides that Iraq has been and remains in material breach of its obligations under relevant resolutions, including resolution 687 (1991), in particular through Iraq's failure to cooperate with United Nations inspectors and the IAEA, and to complete the actions required under paragraphs 8 to 13 of resolution 687 (1991);

Link to the full doc:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,863569,00.html

slip: that would imply some level of introspection on the neocons' behalf. Not really part of their m.o. You know, because they have divine wisdom and the like.

As Atrios notes, he only resigned as the 'chair'. Not from the committee.

Maybe someone in the White House is developing a conscience.

Here is how slate described Perle:
The Slate field guide to Iraq pundits is arranged in order of bellicosity, from blood-red hawks to snow-white doves.

1. Richard Perle
Aka: The Hawk’s Hawk
Authorized bio: Chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board. American Enterprise Institute fellow.
Unauthorized bio: Easily mistaken for an actual administration official. Suing Sy Hersh, who criticized him in The New Yorker for establishing a company that would allegedly profit from war.
His take on war: Liberate Iraq, allied and U.N. objections be damned. The Iraqi people will rejoice at Saddam’s downfall.
Like a broken record: “The Iraqis will welcome the liberators with open arms.”
Connections: Godfather of the oust-Saddam movement. James Woolsey and Henry Kissinger serve on his Defense Policy Board. Like Frank Gaffney, a hawkish former Reaganite and aide to former Democratic Sen. “Scoop” Jackson. In the neocon clique with Kagan and Kristol.
Don’t tell Jacques Chirac: Vacations at a French summer house.

The Russian GRU site has a new update with some very grim casualty numbers for coalition troops. Regerd as suspect??

From the above article:
[
The US state department and the Foreign Office claim that North Korea can be dealt with diplomatically and that it is ratcheting up the tension to secure aid and other rewards from Washington. But other diplomats have refused to rule out a steady spiral that carries a risk of war.

Ms Soderberg said: "There is a real danger. You have a bizarre leadership in the North, one or two nuclear weapons at present and five or six more between now and the summer and the restart of the plutonium plant.

"They are talking about using them and there are US troops in South Korea and Japan."
]
As always, American foreign policy sentiment seems quite concerned about other countries, i.e. South Korea and Japan. Typical

MSNBC - Perle resigned as chaiman but will remain as board member

:-|

Maybe Perle will get his own talk show on FOX news to add to his enterprising resume!

Regardless of one's opinion of Perle... shouldn't we hold off judgement until that report is confirmed? People getting pretty excited here about an MSNBC report and a Reuters mention of an 'offer' to resign.

Doesn't necessarily mean the resignation is a done deal.

Wonder if Perle got wind of an "uprising" somewhere?

He may have only resigned as DPB Chair ... but it's only Thursday.

Oops! Don't get too excited. This from Atrios:

From DPB.
....not so fast - he resigned as Chair, and Rummy wants him to stay on as a member.

-Atrios, 5:48 PM

Reuters have some pictures from "market bomming". Looks like there is gas station and gas truck right at market. Could be just fire accident.

http://www.reuters.com/slideshow.jhtml?showid=337&seq=15&captions=off
http://www.reuters.com/slideshow.jhtml?showid=337&seq=13&captions=off

Michael-

Not sure where your thread started, but I'd hasten to add that 'Whitewater' was a pretty small scale scandal.

Sure, it made big news, but in terms of economic or political importance, I'd hardly rate it as something that can be quoted as 'one word....' I mean, it's not even close to say, Enron.

The NYTimes is largely responsible for turning the heat on Perle. Great article a few days ago about his dubious affairs at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/opinion/23DOWD.html

Great news about Perle if true, but where is it on the net?

MSNBC - Perle resigned as chaiman but will remain as board member

not as good as gone or some other options i would like to see, but i will take what i can get

Like many others, I've switched over to following this site rather than trying to catch up with news from TV and various news web sites---it's a relief just to get the information rather than all the breathless and uninformed/slanted TV coverage. Obviously, Sean Paul has hit a nerve.

I would love to see this sustained. To be sustainable and smooth (we don't necessarily need to know when the editor has to eat and sleep), obviously it requires assistant editors as well. If this kind of format were ever to get so big that it makes a significant dent in the viewership of TV news, I would expect some kind of counter-measures by the media.
---
Kevin Drum's comments http://calpundit.blogspot.com/2003_03_23_calpundit_archive.html#91296390
made me stop and wonder why I'm so fascinated by following the news. Are we just drawn in by the suspense, as in football etc., and is the fascination with the news of battles one reason that support for the home team is almost inexorably pushed up during a war?
For me, it's also fear of scenarios as described by Joshua Marshall in the Washington Monthly, http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0304.marshall.html.

northernlookout, read Fisk's most recent article at Independent.co.uk

Observer, I would have to disagree that they are the only one in the middle east that can voice itself. There are various staions and all with thier own agenda. Al. Jaz. may be that it represents that arab word as arab versus other sections made from religion or countries.

good resource:

http://globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq.htm

maybe he will stay on as chairman until a new one is found. Kind of like the SEC "look the other way" Harvey Pitt has quit scenario.

grant: I don't deny the superficial nature of the neocons. The war unfolding before our eyes testifies to their shallow appreciation of the reality of war and resistance.

I understand Perle's conflicts of interest, Hersh's article is an excellent source for that. Clearly this move shakes things up at the administration, and I wounder how far Rummy can see in front of his weasel eyes without Perle's shoulders to stand on. I have a gut feeling that something big is going on, a major shake up.

But again, I love the irony of it: Perle promises the Iraqi's would crumble when confronted by Shock and Awe, but it's the prince of dorkness who turns his tail and flees when the shit gets tough.

I love it.

Sigh... seems this board has been overrun by the indymedia crowd. I guess it is time to switch over to BoW or CP.

However, the Constitution provides two methods of relief (and curse me, I don't have a copy in hand, or I could quote you chapter and verse), a recall election, whereby you provide a petition for recall to the Secretary of State (I suppose that would be Collin Powell ....), and the second is where your sworn representatives (although I think the term "foresworn" would be more applicable to many of them), vote to impeach.

If you check the Constitution, you will not find any recall election mechanism there. Recall elections are available (usually, for elected officers) in many state constitutions, but not in the federal one.

Impeachment is theoretically available, but the Republicans aren't likely to turn on their own, especially when 90+% of republicans support the war. Since they have a majority in both houses of Congress, that "option" is pretty unrealistic.

Personally, I don't see much impact from Perle resigning. If anything, it takes off some of the potential pressure for an investigation which might prove embarrassing to the neo-con cabal. But the other "New American Century" types are still firmly in control.

But this Global Crossing stuff may not be enough to keep the Prince of Darkness from the airwaves or from still having some influence. Can some enterprising reporter please start working on something look for more, like the pedophilia charge with Scott Ritter, something like that? Sorry, Sean, if you think this is too strong a comment, but I am passionate about this...I think this man bears a great responsibility for all of this and for ruining our country's prospects after Sept. 11. And it wasn't even with good intentions, it was with pure enjoyment of power and in the pursuit of promoting powerful interests. Wolfowitz is not like that, he's a true believer. But Perle really deserves the Prince of Darkness moniker.

When I think of Perle & his co-chickenhawks I can't help think of...

"Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face."

Perle is doing the honorable thing vis-a-vis the war effort. "The main thing is the main thing," as the army likes to say. Perle could only have been a political distraction (read: liability) once the allegations of conflict-of-interest surfaced. But anyone who believes he promoted the incursion into Iraq in order to line his own pockets probably also believes the U.S. deliberately targets civilians.

Al Jazeera means "The peninsula" which (in English) is the same as "The Half-Island" which is not so different to the "The Island".

As to the comment on a fire-accident; this is such a preposterous suggestion as to be beneath contempt.

I pointed out that they often consider themselves as a lone voice, not I believe their reporting to be particularly unique. Of course, they have been getting a lot of coverage for playing all that video and running gruesome photos and it appears other networks only follow suite.

this Jinsa....all propaganda, isn't it?
Holy shyte. Is EVERYTHING run by the Jewish?

good riddance to you Mr. Perle!

"As we sift the debris, it will be important to preserve, the better to understand, the intellectual wreckage of the liberal conceit of safety through international law administered by international institutions."

Hello? We can't even keep the Enron's and Beltway Snipers from crooked deeds, how are we to take on the world's too, Mr. Perle?

And how is it that we have morphed from calls to not "being the world's policeman" to being just that, whether the world likes it or not?

The above article got you fired, among other things, and God bless America about that.

Funny how those impotent internationals somehow came back and bit you in the ass huh?

You neuronazis need to stop trying to transplant false ideas, impressions, and ideology in people's minds, and concealing the information that really matters, in the push for ever increasing power.

A useful site with lots of info about several persons in the Bush administration is here:

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml
(just look up Richard Perle with the search function)

Regarding the cell phone infrastructure in Iraq, I heard last week on a BBC report - haven't searched it out anywhere - that the USAID contract calls for all products to be bought from the US and also that companies given the contracts (i.e. Halliburton) must promote an anti-abortion policy in postwar Iraq. Not that I believe abortion would be a popular thing in Islamic countries, but why would we insist that this be part of the reconstruction of Iraq. Doesn't it seem to be something the people of Iraq should decide? I will do more research tomorrow since it is time to leave work. I will post anything I find in regard to this.

hutch: MSNBC - Perle resigned as chaiman but will remain as board member

yeah, I don't have the full picture so I shouldn't feed my speculative imagination. But still, there is a shake-up of some sort going on. We need more info before the full import of this move can be determined.

A demotion of some sorts, nonetheless.

ikh,

Whitewater was a huge scandal in Arkansas and it did have a severe economic impact in that state. The economic impact that the scandal had in Arkansas was overshadowed by the national news that Americans were subjected to on a daily basis.

Have any of you heard of the "skull & bones society" is all of this somehow associated?

Observer - I read Fisk. As usual he is a bit off on his 'facts'.

Question - if an aircraft fired a missle why would you hear the aircraft overhead, as reported? Missles are standoff weapons.

Question - Why did Fisk call it a missle if it was a bomb?

Question - Why drop two bombs?

Question - Where are the 'big' craters bombs or missles would leave?

I'll borrow Mr. Whitehurst's phrase "beneath contempt" to describe the abortion claim, if the filth has substance. If the telephone network is destroyed a lot of independent reporters will be cut off, unless they have satellite telephones? I know a lot of foreigners their rely on the landlines.

The Russian site has updated:

http://www.aeronautics.ru/news/news002/news080.htm

Probably not the whole story:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/03/27/national1802EST0808.DTL

Former Pentagon official Richard Perle resigns as key Rumsfeld adviser

ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer Thursday, March 27, 2003

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

(03-27) 15:19 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Richard Perle, a former Reagan administration Pentagon official, resigned Thursday as chairman of the Defense Policy Board that is a key advisory arm for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

In a brief written statement, Rumsfeld thanked Perle for his service and made no mention of why Perle resigned. He said he had asked Perle to remain as a member of the board.

"He has been an excellent chairman and has led the Defense Policy Board during an important time in our history," Rumsfeld said. "I should add that I have known Richard Perle for many years and know him to be a man of integrity and honor."

Perle was an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan administration. He took the advisory board chairman's post early in Rumsfeld's tenure.

Perle became embroiled in a recent controversy stemming from a New Yorker magazine article that said he had lunch in January with controversial Saudi-born businessman Adnan Khashoggi and a Saudi industrialist.

The industrialist, Harb Saleh Zuhair, was interested in investing in a venture capital firm, Trireme Partners, of which Perle is a managing partner. Nothing ever came of the lunch in Marseilles; no investment was made. But the New Yorker story, written by Seymour M. Hersh, suggested that Perle, a longtime critic of the Saudi regime, was inappropriately mixing business and politics.

Perle called the report preposterous and "monstrous."

Perle, 61, was so strongly opposed to nuclear arms control agreements with the former Soviet Union during his days in the Reagan administration that he became known as "the Prince of Darkness."

Kandie: total casualties of Whitewater, geopolitical capital and prestige lost?

Incredible how you can tell me Fisk is off on his 'facts' when you are a few thousand miles from Baghdad and the man has just reported human brains on the ground.

Bob,

I'd have to say that the US doesn't have the cleanest record regarding the targetting of civilians.

I just returned from a trip to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Ever been there? I suggest you make the trip.

And you want to tell me the US doesn't target civilians? Well, we have in the past, I can promise you that. Just read Kissinger's autobiography.

His article is not intended to point the finger at someone so much as it is to voice his outrage at the American invasion that is just as responsible one way or another as the now 'evil regime' that's so popular in the US media.

Al Jaz. Live, few minutes ago there were planes that dropped bombs on baghdad.

I for one beleive that the pcitures and video are part of reporting and US stations should show a little more.

It is pretty unpatriotic to resign from the chairmanship of a Defense Advisory Board in a time of war.

Way to support the troops!

Al-Queda fighting with Iraqis?

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/28/1048653833092.html

anyone read this?

i'm surprised it's not been read here; maybe evan's right, the dovish crowd's taken us over.

al-Qa'eda units fighting with Iraqis

Ikh: "And you want to tell me the US doesn't target civilians? Well, we have in the past, I can promise you that. Just read Kissinger's autobiography."

OK. That was 25+ years ago. Rather irrelevant on how we're behaving today.

Link to Richard Perle article in the New Yorker:
http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?030317fa_fact
Excellent article. Actually - all of their 'fact' stuff has been very informative.

Sorry, but I wouldn't be satisfied at this point unless Perle were enlisted and dropped into Baghdad by parachute. He helped make the mess, now he, like the discredited-yet-bizarrely-influential Newt Gingrich, gets to scoop up whatever good stuff slops out. Meanwhile, fine young American men and women are spitting sand and shitting on themselves while trying to hold off nationalist fanatics with guns and RPGs. To say his resignation is just is foolish. I'm willing to think about the justice of having him publicly guilliotined, however, as a compromise.

I just hope someone mirrors the video of the NBC clip, if they can :)

i'm surprised it's not been read here; maybe evan's right, the dovish crowd's taken us over.

To be Sean-Paul for a moment: Treat as suspect.

yeah, I don't have the full picture so I shouldn't feed my speculative imagination. But still, there is a shake-up of some sort going on. We need more info before the full import of this move can be determined.

A demotion of some sorts, nonetheless.

it may not be a big deal as it might sound, but it definatly says to me that the us administration is experiencing some sort of shakeup. pressure from internal/external goverment pressure, military, or the antiwar movement.

if i remember right perle wanted to go into iraq with only 60,000. i could be wrong recently did core dump :)

Sky News just reported there will be a doubling of troups on the ground.

I only recollect various numbers like 50,000 or 60,000 thrown around so far...

Sky News just reported there will be a doubling of troups on the ground.

I only recollect various numbers like 50,000 or 60,000 thrown around so far...

herd hear and other places that 100,000+ to be there shortly. highest number i have heard is 160,000.

Who can be Perle's replacement? How about our long-forgotten star of Congress Newt Gingrich? He's currently a member of the Defence Board.

geez looks like i am having a little of a typing problem going on :(

drove by the First Baptist Church of Mexia (Alabama) today and saw the little billboard sign out as I passed. It read: "Onward Christian Soldiers - In Jesus Name". I think I once read something in the Bible that supports this; "Blessed are the warmakers for they shall be called the children of God" Matt:5:9 and "But I say unto you which hear, Hate your enemies, bomb them which hate you." Luke 6:27

King James Version

I might have misquoted that a word or two, but come on now. We're doing this for wmd? We're doing this as liberators? OK, i might buy all this if I had an iq of 98 (sorry gw, wasn't singleing anyone out) or didn't kwow how to read, but don't put this off in the name of Jesus!

reposting this from Flash 69 (was a bit late to answer):

Someone posted the following German quote on a previous comment thread:

"Alle sind gegen Deutschland, aber nur aus Neid." (All are against Germany, but only from envy.)

Can anyone source this? Google is no help, at least on that combination of words. Could it be a slight misquote?

That wasn't a quote per se, but a general feeling among the followers of the ruling party in Nazi Germany.

It's a very effective way to shield yourself from outside criticism. You don't question yourself or the actions of your government anymore, because when voices are raised from abroad you can just say "They envy us because of our Führer / because we are so powerful".

My observation is that some americans are displaying the same kind of sentiment, which I think is a very dangerous thing.

If you want a quote, take these lyrics from Randy Newman; they work along the same line of thinking, although in a US setting:

Let's Drop the Big One

No one likes us,
I don't know why
We may not be perfect
But heaven knows we try.
But all around even our old friends put us down.
Let's drop the big one and see what happens.

We give them money
But are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful
And they're hateful.
They don't respect us so let's surprise them;
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them.

Now Asia's crowded
And Europe's too old.
Africa's far too hot,
And Canada's too cold.
And South America stole our name.
Let's drop the big one;
There'll be no on left to blame us.

We'll save Australia;
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo.
We'll build an all-American amusement park there;
They've got surfing too!

Well boom goes London
And boom Paris
More room for you
And more room for me.
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town.
Oh, how peaceful it'll be;
We'll set everybody free;
You'll have Japanese kimonos, baby,
There'll be Italian shoes for me.
They all hate us anyhow,
So let's drop the big one now.
Let's drop the big one now!

-Randy Newman

Proves he's much more attached to his Global Crossing payoff than his government job. But, will Global Crossing desire his services now that he's an outsider again?

Shawn Pickirill:

Re: "dovish crowd's taken us over"

The "dovish crowd" didn't want to get into this without worldwide support BECAUSE we knew AlQaeda would get involved.

By the way, as regards the cited article, anyone in the know knows that British intel should be taken with a grain of salt.

Of all the winning scenarios that US military planners have considered about a war with Iraq, what is the one outcome they might have missed?

Iraq wins.

Is there any possiblity whatsoever of this happening?

Shawn,

I, for one, think that history is relevant.

Yes, that targeting of civilians happened decades ago, but civilians there are still blowing up- every month. Just check out the UXO zones in Laos or ask at the Mine Action Centre in Cambodia.

Frankly, I don't really know "how we're behaving today"; I think it is a little hard to tell.

I'm not suggesting that we are carpet bombing residential areas, as that would look bad. But remember that your government has lied to you before and will lie to you again if it's convenient. Count on it.

I will volunteer to replace him, and provide some needed resistance to pie-in-the-sky notions and add some fresh doses of reason and compassion to the mix.

We need a little resistance once in awhile, especially today. We are just way too self-righteous and violent to just let run around unchecked. It's sad, but true people. We are a vain, arrogant and violent people, just stop watching TV for 3 months and then turn it back on and take an unbiased look. Or look at how many wars and skirmishes we've been in since our founding.

Our leaders take advantage of that, and have created a fictional world of evil for us to be afraid of. There's always elements of truth to find, but most of it is exaggeration, hyperbole and cynicism.

And the worst part isn't as Michael Moore describes it, that we're "fictional", or Bush is "fictional", because we're always fictional, the story and the reality never totally mesh.

Did our forefathers have slaves...yes. Were they evil...no. Were they mistaken brutish minds when thinking that blacks were only a % of a person...yes. Were they brutish for fighting and giving us a free state that enshrines law and liberty...no.

This is the stuff of fiction people, mixed with reality, and it's us, and it's alright. The only problem is that our fiction doesn't seem to be improving anymore, and the disparities between the truth and reality, story and deed, is becoming dangerously wide, out of alignment and conflict-driven and promoting.

To some, this is called absurdity, to others, hypocrisy. Let's act with honor and integrity, and live a little more in tune with the fiction that binds us.

Nominate me, Freelixir, to replace Perle as whatever the hell he was doing.

"Very unusual. A high-ranking defence official resigning during a war. The conflicts of interest were known going into this. Something's up."

That's right - these guys have a long term plan, and part of it was to start this war. Perle resigning as chair is meaningless, and if he were to resign from the board it would only lead me to believe that they are following a plan and it is prepatory for something else. There is so much distraction going on, smoke and mirrors, and bugger me if G W Bush isnt the most clever distraction ever conceived.

BOY do I hope I am proven a fool for giving them this much credit.

Rumsfeld suggests laying siege to Baghdad in hope of avoiding all-out urban warfare

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested on Thursday that U.S. forces bearing down on Baghdad might lay siege to the capital and hope anti-Saddam Hussein citizens rise up against the government before American troops have to invade the city of 5 million.

When will the Administration stop thinking that the Iraqi citizens are going to overthrow Saddam Hussein for them?

I've noticed a number of comments by people who are convinced that this war, despite the despicable character and personal motives of its proponents, remains a legitimate objective. They have failed to respond accurately to a simple criminal allegory. If there is a murderer, is it acceptable to allow a savage mob to kill the offender? This undermines the most basic foundation of all political theory, i.e. law. The US is the most violent of rogue states clearly because it has deemed itself above the fundamental agreements of community, that is to say the entire world, a necessity that is absurd to argue against under the precepts of maintaining stability.

Anyone know where any non-embedded journalist reports are on-line?

Are they filing reports?

WOw. SHort story on NBC.

WOOT! Nice one SP!

Too bad you couldnt get your wife in the camera with you.

rob whitehurst
"As to the comment on a fire-accident; this is such a preposterous suggestion as to be beneath contempt."

I know I am probably slow and stupid compared with most here but why is that a suggestion beneath contempt?? Things like gas still do blow in war unless Iraq has suspended all the laws of chemistry?? Sorry, I can see while that thought is maybe grasping at straws I don't think it is below contempt. How come I have seen several reports that say the craters were too small for our bombs to make, by sources other than the US media, but the military said they "very well could be" our bombs?? So naturally the military has admitted full guilt?? They knew they were there and they aimed them?? That's like saying we meant to shoot down the British plane with our Patriot.

I'm not believeing the US government or media either but I'm not jumping on the bandwagon for --------it's a brilliant plot to overthrow the world by George W-------- either, how can he be so stupid and so brilliant and evil @ the same time?
Where were all the George Bush haters September 12, 2002?? And I don't like the man in particular???

Sean-Paul, certainly the most telegenic of the bloggers we got to see. since the segment was at the end I watched all of NBCs show. A rather poor excuse for journalism, I must say.

You got your picture on the cover!

Congrats!

I saw it! I saw it! Did you see it? Sean-Paul on NBC! Go get 'em, Sean-Paul!!!

Good NBC story. Too bad Jim Avila called the site agonist.com ... I guess that will save some bandwith :)

OK , well now that we're on TV, there goes the bandwidth for tonight! Been nice following along with all of you :)

Grant,

Hundreds of individuals who thought they were investing in a housing development or buying land to build a home lost their life savings. It did not involve millions of dollars per investor but in some cases it was the life savings of working middle class Americans hoping to own a home. For others it was just a loss on an investment. Either way innocent American citizens lost due to dirty business dealings that involved the Clinton administration.

Arkansas is one of the poorer states in our union and the economic impact was very harsh but contained and did not effect the majority of Americans. However, their plight should not be overlooked.

Perle is a war criminal and a traitor.
Hanging is too good for scumbags like that

Let's not be too gleeful about the fall of Richard Perle.

Perhaps he sees things we don't and wishes to leave with his head.

Again, position paper's at CSIS.org mentioned "Siege of Baghdad" as opposed to "Battle of Baghdad." That 'think'tank appears to have a lot of influence, Ullman and his 'shock and awe' included.

Reuters says only that Perle has OFFERED to resign from the Defense Policy Board. Big difference from actually resigning. And, his offer can, of course, be turned down.

We shall see.

Anyone know where any non-embedded journalist reports are on-line?

I think they were arrested. check washington post article ealier today

If he's still on the board I don't think this solves his legal problems. So this must be some sort of recognition that someone has to pay for this mess. The first of many. The fight between Rummy and the brass will not be ended by this. Rummy is next in line. But first, we need to give Norm Swartzcroft twenty minutes alone with him in a locked room. I'd pay to see that!

Where were all the George Bush haters September 12, 2002?? And I don't like the man in particular???

i was there. i also opposed to afghanistan as the last army to take and hold sucessfully it was led by a guy named alexander the great. but at least we are getting the pipeline. i think they should have covered thier tracks a bit better and not announced to india and pakistan a few months earlier(june/july) our planned attack.

i was there i voiced my opinion, but it seemed the us had worked itself into a patriotic frenzy and would not hear

Viva Norm! why has he been ignored. iq too high for the current admn.?

Terry,
"Where were all the George Bush haters September 12, 2002??"

Do you mean 2001? Well, I was a Bush hater both Sep 12 2001 and 2002... but I fail to see what 9-11 has to do with hating Bush...

For non-embedded reports check electroniciraq.net/news/ for reports from people in Baghdad.

your talk of war crimes y the bush admin is so LOL... Just remember this in a few months weeks whatever it takes and then just see... you'll see also how many people will vote for bush and you'll see how many people more and more will be pushed away from the out of touch left. Too bad you didn't spend as much energy opposing the real evil people of the world but the tortured understand, they'll forgive your (in)actions. the only crime bush and admin made was not selling this war for what it really was, a war of liberation but you'd cried the same. BTW it's funny how the Arab world wants our help (esp. in Palestine) but only at their terms. do you really think the people of Iraq are hoping America would leave or never gotten involved? I don't know I just don't get your bleeding crying hearts...reality; get it.

S-P, if it gets ugly here, as usually happens in popluar and easily accessible forums, please figure out a way to have a qualification and accountability process (via membership prehaps) to keep the comments alive - your site has given me the most hope for open, intelligent and flame-free interaction and edification on the internet yet. MAN I'd hate to see this go away.

Viva Norm! why has he been ignored. iq too high for the current admn.?

he was shunned from news since he is against this war

On Wednesday Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, said the coalition had solid evidence that senior al-Qaeda operatives have visited Baghdad in the past.

Solid evidence? Did they crib a 6th grader's social studies report this time? I wouldn't trust Rumsfeld if he told me he had solid evidence that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

i think alexander by-passed most of afganistan as did ceaser for being to high risk (terrain is a little rocky) to justify any gains.

Re Mobius7

Don't feed the troll!!!!

"Do you mean 2001? Well, I was a Bush hater both Sep 12 2001 and 2002... but I fail to see what 9-11 has to do with hating Bush..."

2001, blush blush, told ya I was slow.
And I would have voted for Clinton had he ran again, now you want to talk about unpopular sentiments!!

Closest answer goes to Rob Whitehurst. The Arabian peninsula, in Arabic, is often referred to as Al Jazeera. "Jazeera" literally means "island"--and as such, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates in Syria is also sometimes knows as the Jazeera. Doubtless other regions are too, but I think the cable channel's name reflects its pan-Arab (or peninsular) interest.

Perle resigning as chair is meaningless, and if he were to resign from the board it would only lead me to believe that they are following a plan and it is prepatory for something else.

Something else like, maybe, Administrator of postwar Iraq?

Not clinton!

i think alexander by-passed most of afganistan as did ceaser for being to high risk (terrain is a little rocky) to justify any gains.

true, but the area that he did take, he did not have a rebellion against, he trained them ho to fight. my guess is he trained them to well.

there are a few countries in the world that i would not like to have a war against no matter what. turkey, afghanistan, tibet, nepal, scotland, and poland. they have a bit of history as being serious bad***es

mobuis7,

To try to help you understand our 'bleeding hearts', you have to understand that there is more than one way of looking at things like 'Arabs want our help... Palestine'.

Do they? Like the Iranians wanted the Shaw? Like the Saudi population wants US troops on their soil?

Do Arabs want our help re Palestine or do they want us to stop funding Israel's illegal occupation? There is always more than one perspective...

how bout pee wee herman? as qualified for president as the current, don't you think?

(at least clinton did have an education)

re Perle's cakewalk: Pentagon schickt weitere 120.000 Mann an die Front (120 000 more will be sent to the front... and it goes on to say that they will be deployed within a month - also oddicials insist this is not a change in strategy but has been planned long ago)
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,242298,00.html
if you can read another language than english i highly recommend non-english news sites - the reporting is quite different!

First glee -Richard Perle resigns as chairman, then depression - Richard Perle will stay on as a member. Read his research work done for Israel entitled "A Clean Break:-A new strategy for securing the realm". Written back in 1996, it outlines the Israeli strategic objective - ousting Saddam. Look on website IASPS.org or www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm

Anyone else seeing these church signs, or is it just in my (red)neck of the woods?

Mr. Perle has resigned only as chair of the Defense Policy Board, as mentioned above. I suspect, but do not know (Sean Paul?), that Rep. John Conyers' call for an investigation into Mr.Perle's conflicts of interest may have had something to do with timing. See:

(http://www.rense.com/general36/pere.htm)

I have never met Mr. Perle, but I have met Mr. Conyers. He represents a Detroit Congressional District and has for forever (35 or so years, I believe). The people of his district think that Mr. Conyers walks on water, so re-election is not an issue for him. He struck me, when I met him, as smart and tough. I don't think he'd take on a battle that he couldn't see any chance of winning, although he cannot instigate an investigation by the Judidiary Committe on his own. Just the person to push an investigation of a powerful opposition figure.
CONTACT Mr Conyers:

http://www.house.gov/conyers/letstalk.htm

and encourage him to keep the heat on. Mr. Perle should resign from the Defense Policy Board completely.

Also Mr. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr is the chair of Judiciary. His email address is
sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov. Couldn't hurt.

It is always amazing how ethically blind the smartest people can be. History is littered with their conceits....

Clio

PS. Like the RECAP, Sean Paul. Mo' bettah!

In his latest tape Osama declared that in times of crisis all Muslims have to help fight the "Greate Satan" i.e. USA. Even if that means assisting unbelieving socialist infidels i.e. Saddam's Baath party.

So reports that Al Quadea helps Saddam's at this point shouldn't come as a surprise.

m. a. battilana,

do you mean what is written in Revelation?

On the comment regarding CDMA phones for Iraq rebuilding. Don't worry, they are going to be living in a democratic state and they will choose which cell phone system they prefer.

Straight from the horses mouth:

"I think the regime of Saddam Hussein is far weaker than most people believe, and what it would take to topple it is a tiny fraction of what was necessary to expel Iraq from Kuwait in 1991."
-Perle
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/perle.html

anybody hear any about how many arrested in us - chicago, ny, frisco - demontrations today?

in Revelations i believe it is written that it will happen. not that we should cause it.

besides, in Matthew and Luke those passages are supposed to be direct quotes from Jesus Himself. i don't think Revelations can claim any such primacy.

Hey,

I saw you on TV (NBC last 4 mins. of evening news). There was a screen shot of your site, you, Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan, and Raed?.

Keep it up! Hey, you know, it will be nice if you shared an how to I made this blog essay. I would like to know the technical details on how to create a blog like yours.

Ali Karim Bey

Bill,

Like the same kind of democratic state that we promised for Kuwait?

Right.

The problem with religious wars. When things start going wrong you don't know if your God is angry or, even worse, their God is angry.

CNN just said 200 arrested in NY

or afganistan? anybody have any info on how the fighting is going on over there? what no inbeds?

The problem with religious wars. When things start going wrong you don't know if your God is angry or, even worse, their God is angry.

Amen!

war for jesus?

somehow that always make me think of the term "military inteligence". why would that be?

or military justice.

or honest president. damn oxy-morons keep messing up my train of thought.

Earlier post: "The Russian GRU site has a new update with some very grim casualty numbers for coalition troops. Regerd as suspect??"

Need you ask?!? Not for nothing, but I might consider seek reliable marriage advice from Liz Taylor before I'd seek reliable news from some of those sites. It's not *all* suspect, as with any good propaganda effort, you must mix in enough truth to make the rest go down easier.

Because of the way news just *flies* out the door from any organization these days, I personally treat all early reports with a wary eye. Instead, I treat them as "interesting stories to follow" and then look for further details and corroboration from multiple (and hopefully diverse!) sources.

I love this site.. it's a clearinghouse of information and headlines (thanks to sean-paul). Follow-ups and follow-thrus are the norm. Updates are incredily frequent. And, I can follow many of the sources myself, read, cross-reference, make my own judgement call, and *bonus* come back to the comments section to see what others think... hoping (often against hope) that the posters offer some thoughtful, critical thinking on the matter. Naturally, people just hoist their ideals on high and proclaim them as "truth", but in the end it's all worthwhile. (it's natural to do so.. fight the urge!)

That said, and back on topic. I visit the .ru site too, I just pack a healthy dose of skepticism when I do. Not too unlike what I carry to all news sources these days, but perhaps bigger dose than normal. (All the news that's fit to print...from the country that brought you Tass!)

-lb

well great, now you're going to get lots of trolls. To them, I say, start reading everything you can get your hands on. Think for yourselves. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's best tribute was that " he wrote more books than most senators read." If you can't back your comments with facts, then GO AWAY. I don't mean what YOU consider facts; show objective sources, whenever possible. Sorry, but some of you are just not worth listening to; you're just repeating what you've heard, over and over again. It's called brainwashing - no intelligent person who is able to think for him or herself is going to be swayed by you.

Iraqis launched the largest and most organized surprise attack yet on the American battalions south of the Euphrates River.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/middleeast/index.html

As we continue the relentless bombing of Baghdad, which the military tells us is the necessary prelude to saving it, it's fair to ask when the rebuilding of essential institutions like the public schools will begin here at home. (Don't hold your breath. The money for that sort of thing has completely evaporated.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/27/opinion/27HERB.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- About 215 protesters were arrested Thursday after they lay down on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, blocking traffic in the latest of a series of demonstrations against the war.

and five were arrested after a scuffle with police near CNN's offices.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Anti-War-Protests.html

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030327-071406-2705r

"In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Mr. Perle said he was "dismayed" that criticism over his business ties was distracting Pentagon officials while they were dealing with the war in Iraq."

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Anti-War-Protests.html

i'll bet he was dismayed.

I saw this one happening

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030327-071406-2705r

British military officials complained Thursday that the Arab world's most popular television channel -- al-Jazeera -- had indulged in "deplorable" practices by showing pictures of dead British soldiers.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030327-073644-1814r

then go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/world/worldspecial/index.html

"An Iraqi soldier was killed by marines who were ambushed in central Iraq."

check out the picture

Quick 2 questions on Perle:
How likely is it this resignation was voluntary? Zero? How likely is it that it was really because of the financial issue not the war plan screw up?

DAMASCUS, Syria, March 27 (UPI) -- Sheikh Ahmed Kaftaro, Syria's Mufti and highest Muslim religious authority called on Muslims Thursday to resort to "martyrdom operations" against coalition forces waging war on Iraq.

Feeling torn on the Perle thing. Need more details. He's an old hand at power politics, and was in a high-powered unelected position from which he could influence US policy for at least a couple of years to come. Then he bails... is he one of the first rats, watching a bit of water starting to slosh across the deck? Really hard to know right now. Another week may tell the tale - how ugly are things going to get in Baghdad?

Hersh article on Perle/Khashoggi/Kissinger is here: perle: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030317fa_fact

Khashoggi has been described as a Mossad asset. He brokered the Iran arms-for-hostages deal that passed arms through Israel.

Perle is lobbying for Hutchison Whampoa (HW) in its bid to take over Global Crossing. HW is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, who has strong ties with the Chinese government. Ownership of Global Crossing would give China unrestricted access to U.S. telecommunications--they could tap any long distance traffic that Global Crossing carries.

Coincidentally, Perle is involved with a British company that does data mining of intercepted telecommunications.

Perle was apparently a source of some of the faulty intelligence reports that indicated the Iraq war would be a cakewalk. In any case, that is how he marketed it.

William "Bill" Kristol is another one of the Perle crowd that needs to be exposed for his part in the push to war. He is one of the PNAC hawks.
http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/bill_kristol.htm
Maybe Bush could find a spot for Perle with the 101st. Oh, I forgot Perle doesn't fight wars he just promotes them. If there were any justice in the world Perle would wake up tomorrow morning in downtown Baghdad.

Kandie:

Go somewhere else with the Clinton bashing. I live in Arkansas and I am not a Clinton supporter. Yes Ark is a poor state but it is also a state with over 2 mil. people. A couple hundred or even a couple thousand people losing their life savings isn't going to make much of a dent in any states economy.

Re: Richard Perle.

Perle offered to resign as chairman of Defense Policy Board. Rumsfeld asked him to remain as a member of the Board.

Perle is a director or major investor in two or three defense related companies that have bid for government defense contracts a fact that was explored by journalist Seymour Hersh in a recent New Yorker article.

Perle is also being paid as a consultant by Global Crossing to overcome Defense Department and FBI opposition to sale of bankrupt Global Crossing (and its fiber optic network) to far-eastern owned corporation. (Defense Dept and FBI both rely on Global Crossings fiberoptic network and don't want it to be foreign controlled).

Perle stands to make $150,000 if the sale is not approved and $750,000 if it is.

He used his Defense Dept connections, and specifically Defense Policy Board position to justify his hiring by Global Crossing.

Even though his chairman position with Defense Policy Board is unpaid, he is still prohibited from using his position for private gain.

Apparently there is an official document, signed by Perle, which was filed in the Global Bankruptcy case setting forth his influential "credentials" to justify his hiring. If this is correct, it is rather a "smoking gun" for the conflict.

Seymour Hersh was not aware of this particular conflict when he wrote his expose article on Perle for a recent "New Yorker", but Perle certainly was.
Guess that's why Perle got so upset at
Hersh -- shedding light on his other conflicts of interest might interfer with his $750,000 commission. He called Hersh a "terrorist". See www.rense.com for Hersh article.

We need more "terrorists for Truth" like Hersh.

ehu

This may get buried, but I'll enter it here for what it's worth. Yesterday Howard Baker, US Ambassador to Japan, gave his first press confo since the start of the war. The Maininichi newspaper (Japanese edition), reports him saying, "We look forward to Japan, as a member of the Alliance, voluntarily presenting a plan for relief". He also said that "the United States does not want to assume long-term responsibility after the war", and hopes for the participation of many nations in the reconstruction process [re-translations by yours truly].

The words "as a member of the Alliance" are loaded; the current Japanese administration spoke up in support at or very near the start of the shooting, and the impact of that on Japanese foreign relations and public safety is on everyone's mind over here. Japanese reports from the Middle East do suggest that hostility toward Japan has increased among Arab populations. Baker's choice of language is, I think, meant as a reminder that there's no turning back.

The comment on aid to cover the costs of reconstruction strikes me as odd, given reports elsewhere that the US proposes to trim back contributions to the UN, and to limit bidders under a US-run military administration to those with security clearance (a rule that cuts out foreign corporations from the contracting process entirely). Is this a coordinated repositioning following the Perle resignation, or is it just diplomatic confusion of signals, I wonder?

Baker also specifically stated that the US will definitely not undertake pre-emptive military strikes against North Korea without consulting with South Korea and Japan, which is extremely comforting.

Justin Case,

I too lived in Arkansas during the Whitewater scandal and yes it did make a dent. People that invested in Whitewater lost every dime they invested and some of those people pulled from their retirement savings which you can do to buy a first home and lost that money. So these people not only lost some retirement savings but the chance to own a home as well.

After I finish my MBA here in Texas, I hope to move back to ARkansas so nothing was meant to bash the state...just making a statement....

Here's something I never thought I'd say -- I have more respect for the position being taken by Pat Buchanan than that of many protesters to the war in Iraq. Since I don't think that there is a whole lot of debate that thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of Iraqi citizens have been harmed under the Iraqi regime -- Aside from direct oppression and mutilation of dissidents, I believe the UN has estimated that 5,000 children die per month. Thus, I don't believe that it is credible to say that the civilian losses (which no disputes are a terrible loss) caused by this war outweigh the civilian losses caused by continued "diplomatic" efforts. On the other hand, I do believe that it is rational to debate and question whether the US even has a role. I believe we do and look forward to assisting in a better future for Iraqi citizens. I also am confident that my belief that we are there for honorable reasons is clear evidence to many of a low IQ (according to many of the flames posted here). Still, you can't tell me this is oil for blood -- we could have bought a hell of a lot of oil, FROM SADDAM, for $75 billion.

I don't know if anyone has spotted this (I'm new to this thread, but you can find up to the minute satellite images of areas of special interest in Iraq at this site
http://www.annasach.net/images/iraq.html

Images are labelled.

Andygm

to limit bidders under a US-run military administration to those with security clearance (a rule that cuts out foreign corporations from the contracting process entirely).

This is something that's causing a lots of bad feeling over here in Britain.

We're spending a whole lot of money plus taking casualties and our corporations are frozen out of the bidding process for post war contracts (eg the contract to run Um Qasar has been handed to a US corporation and Britains P&O has been told to take a hike). We might as well be French!

Don't alienate your friends as well as your enemies George!

Richard Perle's downshift from chairman to just a member of the Defense Department Policy Board speaks more to his potential legal problems than to any shift in attitudes among the neocons who constructed the arguments for the Iraqi invasion. More important, these arguments are now in place as policy, and have been accepted as valid and moral by the top brass at the Pentagon, whatever their disagreements with Rumsfeldt and Wolfowitz on their infantry-lite opening strategy for the invasion.

If you watched General Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Larry King this week, he made a passionate statement for the moral validity of the invasion (removing an evil dictator such as Saddam Hussein). At the end he also gushed over the leadership and motivation President Bush displayed for the troops in Florida this week. The top brass, and military personnel in general, are heavily Republican (remember the importance of the military absentee ballots in the Florida election debacle, since it was estimated 85% of these ballots were for Bush). They support Bush and the administration's goals in this invasion, in a way they could never support President Clinton or any of his military initiatives.

Once the Pentagon's command structure accepted the neocon arguments for the invasion, all sorts of organizational forces were put into play that led most of the military to look forward to the engagement. Here's an example from an interview yesterday in the Chicago Tribune with Marine Lt. Katie Himm, awaiting deployment in Jacksonville NC. "They all want to go, they all want to practice their job in the field, they want to see the world. These are the reasons people join the Marine Corps. That didn't change with casualities. ....On one level, I'm excited," she said, "It would be a test of my leadership, my job skills. It would be an experience I'd never forget and a chance to make a difference. " She might have added that combat experience is one of the best means of receiving promotion in the military. The U.S. military, with its ever-shortening cycle of technological advancements, and its many hours of professional training, has what might be described as an organizational subconscious need to use its skill sets and technology. This need is kept in check by political constraints from the executive and legislative branches, and by whatever reticence top brass may have for war based on their actual experience with death on the battlefield. The neocons in the administration gave the military the political cover they needed to support committing troops to an invasion of Iraq. The legislative branch abdicated any responsibility to look deeply into the invasion's merits and prospects. The top brass that were scarred by the Vietnam debacle have retired from active duty. The fourth estate, now largely a creature of the Republican party, cheered on lustily and optimistically.

Here we now are, and here we will stay whether Richard Perle comes or goes. It will take a massive amount of death and disappointment to turn around the military from its commitment to this cause, and this is something none of us can desire. Just yesterday the troops that built a temporary airfield in central Iraq named it Bush International Airport. Hundreds of thousands of troops are committed to this invasion for all sorts of motives, and are supporters of the administration that created this situation.

The best that can be hoped for is that the invasion achieves its goals in weeks as opposed to months, and that we do not get dragged into a war of attrition in the alleys of Bagdhad. On the political front, the best that can be hoped for is that the neocons and their supporters in the press and elsewhere sober up a little and apply more reality to their thinking. This is essential because they control almost all of the levers of power in the U.S. and have been able to operate since 9/11 without constraint.

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