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Richard Perle
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Richard Perle

Richard Norman Perle (born September 16, 1941) is an American neoconservative political advisor who served the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and served on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004. He was Chairman of the Board from 2001 to 2003 under the Bush Administration.

Perle, was a strong advocate of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and predicted that Saddam Hussein's forces could be defeated in no more than months.

Education and early career
Perle earned a B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1964 and an M.A. in political science from Princeton University in 1967.

From 1969 to 1980, he worked as a staffer for Democratic Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington. From 1981 to 1987, Perle was Assistant Secretary of Defense for international security policy in the Reagan administration. He received criticism for accepting a major payment from an Israeli arms manufacturer.

Robert Burns of AP writes, "Perle 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.'" [1] (http://www.ummahnews.com/viewarticle.php?sid=1428)Perle contends that his views and opposition to arms control under the Carter administration had to do with his view that the US was giving up too much at the negotiation table and not receiving nearly enough concessions with the Soviets. Perle called the arms talks under negotiation in the late 1970's "the rawest deal of the century".

Perle's objection to the arms talks between the Carter administration and the Soviet Union revolved primarily around Carter’s agreeing to halt all cruise missile development in exchange for what hawks saw as few Soviet concessions. The Soviets had a wide lead in cruise missile development in the late 1970’s and most naval experts saw this advantage as being capable of crippling the US Navy in the event of a conflict between the two superpowers. Perle is widely credited for spearheading opposition to the treaty, which was never ratified by the Senate.

Current activities
Perle is currently a resident fellow at the conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. His cited research interests include defense, national security and the Middle East.

Perle's many business interests have been a source of controversy during and after his tenure in government. Among other engagements, he is co-chairman and director of Hollinger, Inc., a partner of Trireme, and a director of the Jerusalem Post (which is owned by Hollinger).

In July 2001 George W. Bush appointed Perle chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, which advises the Department of Defense. On March 9, 2003, Seymour Hersh published an article in The New Yorker titled Lunch with the Chairman, accusing Perle of a conflict of interest, claiming Perle stood to profit financially by influencing government policy. Hersh's article alleged that Perle had business dealings with Saudi investors and linked him to the intelligence-related computer firm Trireme Partners LLP, which stood to profit from the war in Iraq.

The same day the New Yorker article was published, Perle, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, responded that "Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist, frankly." [2] (http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0303/09/le.00.html). Perle later threatened to bring a libel suit against Hersh for the allegations raised in his article but failed to do so. On March 27, 2003, Richard Perle resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, though he still remained a member of the board.

The Department of Defense's inspector general commenced an investigation into Perle's business interests at the behest of several members of Congress, who inquired whether Perle violated federal conflict-of-interest provisions by improperly mixing his government duties with his business interests. The inspector general ruled that federal conflict of interest rules didn't apply to Perle because the provisions don't apply unless an employee works 60 days in a year, and Perle only worked eight days total in a three year time span for Trireme Partners LLP.

On March 28, 2003, Judicial Watch filed a complaint to the Office of Government Ethics, the Office of the Defense Department Inspector General, the Office of the Homeland Security Inspector General, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller in the matter of Former Defense Policy Board Chairman Richard N. Perle, Former President William Jefferson Clinton, Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Current Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and Global Crossing.

Perle has served as a Director of Hollinger International since June 1994 and is the only outside director on the executive committee. He is also Co-Chairman of Hollinger Digital Inc. and a Director of Jerusalem Post, both of which are subsidiaries of the Company. He has served as a director of GeoBiotics. On August 31, 2004, a special committee of the Board of Directors investigating the alleged misconduct of the controlling shareholders of Hollinger International submitted the 512-page Breeden Report to the SEC. In the report, Perle is singled out as having breached his fiduciary responsibilities as a company director by authorizing several controversial transactions which diverted the company's net profit from the shareholders to the accounts of various executives. Perle received over $3 million in bonuses on top of his salary, bringing the total to $5.4 million, and the investigating committee called for him to return the money. Top Hollinger executives dismissed the report and have filed a defamation lawsuit against the head of the investigating committee, former SEC chairman Richard C. Breeden.


War with Iraq
Perle is said to be the person behind the US policy on Iraq (see also: U.S. plan to invade Iraq). He believed that Saddam Hussein's control of the government was weak, and that an invasion of Iraq would remove Saddam from power within weeks.

In an interview for "Saddam's Ultimate Solution", the July 11, 2002 episode of the PBS series Wide Angle, he said:

Saddam is much weaker than we think he is. He's weaker militarily. We know he's got about a third of what he had in 1991. But it's a house of cards. He rules by fear because he knows there is no underlying support. Support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder. Now, it isn't going to be over in 24 hours, but it isn't going to be months either.
Perle advocated invading Iraq with only 40,000 troops, and complained about the calls by then Gen. Eric Shinseki to use 250,000 troops. [3] (http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13098)

When discussing his new book "Battle Ready" co-authored with retired general Anthony Zinni, author Tom Clancy stated that he almost came to blows with Perle. According to Clancy:

"He was saying how (Secretary of State) Colin Powell was being a wuss because he was overly concerned with the lives of the troops," Clancy said. "And I said, 'Look ..., he's supposed to think that way!' And Perle didn't agree with me on that. People like that worry me." [4]

Other
Perle advocates first-strike bombing of North Korean nuclear facilities. [5] (http://www.iht.com/articles/93022.html) He has also at times advocated preemptive attacks on Syria, Iran, Libya, and a number of other countries.

He is known to have a negative opinion of the United Nations and of multi-lateralism, and supports maintaining the military superpower status of the United States.

Perle has long been a target of criticism from the left, who view him as being a key force pushing US foreign policy in a militaristic direction.

Works
Perle is co-founder of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a spin-off from the American Enterprise Institute.

Perle is author of many articles and three books:

Hard Line (1992) (ISBN 0394565525)
Reshaping Western Security (ed.) (1991) (ISBN 0844737909)
An End to Evil: how to win the war on terror (with David Frum, 2003) ISBN 1400061946
In 1992 he produced the PBS feature The Gulf Crisis: The Road to War.

External links
(http://www.aei.org/scholars/scholarID.49,filter./scholar.asp)
Richard Perle's Conflict, Editorial/Op-Ed, The New York Times, March 24, 2003 (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/24/opinion/24MON3.html)
Thank God for the death of the UN, Comment by Richard Perle, The Guardian, March 21, 2003 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,918812,00.html)
Lunch with the Chairman, an article by Seymour Hersh for the New Yorker, Mar. 17 2003 (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030317fa_fact)
Saddam's Ultimate Solution: Host Transcript (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/saddam/transcript.html), Wide Angle, July 11, 2002 - interview with Richard Perle
http://judicialwatch.org/cases/104/perle.htm (http://judicialwatch.org/cases/104/perle.htm)
Counterpunch: Serving Two Flags (http://www.counterpunch.org/green02282004.html)
Disinfopedia's Wiki on Richard Perle (http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Richard_N._Perle)
Famous Ohio State University Debate (http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=8409) - Noam Chomsky vs. Richard Perle, 1988; MP3
Hollinger International's management profiles of their current executive officers and directors (http://www.hollingerinternational.com/mgmt/mgmt.asp)
U.S. SEC - Breeden Report (http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/868512/000095012304010413/y01437exv99w2.htm) Report of Investigation by the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Hollinger International Inc]
Sep. 1 2004 Washingon Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50704-2004Aug31.html) article on Hollinger "Kleptocracy"



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