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This is not significant.
Perle resigned
from Global but according to the Reuters’ version said that he had largely
accomplished his job for them, advising them to create a proxy committee of “distinguished
individuals[KWC] “ to help with their image problems. Sure, he is donating the
portion of the fee he’d already earned to the families of US GI’s. Not hard work for the money. Also, all he
did was resign as chairman of the Defense Policy Board – Rumsfeld insisted on keeping
him on the committee, so it’s not like his voice won’t be heard. So they moved
his chair at the table. Since the
minutes and meetings are private and not accountable to citizens, this was
pitiful public relations damage control. Karen Iraq
Adviser Perle Quits as Head of Pentagon Panel WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Richard Perle, a U.S. architect of the war on Iraq, resigned on Thursday as
chairman of a Pentagon advisory panel after facing allegations of a conflict of
interest over his work for the bankrupt telecommunications firm Global Crossing
Ltd. Perle said he would remain a member of the Defense Policy Board
while stepping down as chairman, and quit his consulting job with Global Crossing. "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 wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld accepted
Perle's resignation as chairman but asked that he remain a member of the board, and Perle
said in a telephone interview that he agreed to stay on the board. "He has been an
excellent chairman and has led the Defense Policy Board during an important
time in our history," Rumsfeld said in a statement. "I should add
that I have known Richard Perle for many years and know him to be a man of
integrity and honor." In a letter to Chris
Nash, a senior vice president at Global Crossing, Perle wrote: "In light
of the recent controversy reported in the press, I think it best that I
withdraw from performing any further services for the company. I believe most of my work on your behalf
is complete."
On Monday, Rep. John
Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, asked the Pentagon's inspector general to probe
Perle's work as a paid adviser to Global Crossing and his guidance on
investment opportunities resulting from the Iraq conflict. Conyers said
on Thursday Perle's continued membership on the Pentagon panel was problematic.
"I have no plans to
withdraw my request for a review of Mr. Perle's conflicts of interest by the
Defense Department inspector general," he said. In his resignation
letter, Perle said, "I
am advising Global Crossing that I will not accept any compensation that might
result from their pending acquisition and that any fee for past service would
be donated to the families of American forces killed or injured in Iraq." Perle said by telephone that the $125,000 fee received for
work he had already done for Global Crossing would be donated. He had said
previously that he would have been paid another $600,000 if the government
approved the deal. GLOBAL CROSSING PLAN Perle agreed to help
Global Crossing, a bankrupt operator of an international fiber-optic network,
win U.S. approval to sell a 61.5 percent stake to Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and
Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. The deal ran into
problems with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which
counts Rumsfeld and other top U.S. national security advisers as members. The committee can block
mergers and acquisitions it feels could harm U.S. interests, and it raised
concerns that Global Crossing's network would be controlled by a company with
strong ties to China. Hutchison is majority-owned by Hong Kong's richest man,
Li Ka-shing. Perle said he advised Global Crossing to establish a
board of distinguished individuals to serve as a proxy to guide the company forward and that
the company went further to provide assurances the deal would not harm U.S.
security. "The work we have done provides for
additional measures that go substantially beyond a standard proxy board and
provides the utmost protection for national security," Perle said in a
letter to Global Crossing dated Thursday. As chairman of the
Defense Policy Board, created in 2001 to advise the Pentagon, Perle had no
official policymaking role and was not paid. He has been influential in
developing the Bush administration's plan to oust Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein. Last Friday, Perle
expressed confidence about the U.S.-led war on Iraq. "My impression is
the same as I imagine most of you have: that this war is going well, that the
resistance has been minimal," he told a gathering at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, where he is a "resident
fellow." "That doesn't
surprise me. I think it doesn't surprise our planners. We've been saying now
for a very long time that there are very few people who were prepared to fight
for Saddam and even fewer who were prepared to die for Saddam," Perle
said. The U.S.-led war was
launched last week to topple Saddam and rid Iraq of its alleged weapons of mass
destruction. Iraq denies having such weapons. It is the first U.S.
war fought under a national security strategy announced last year that says
Washington has the right to launch pre-emptive strikes on countries deemed a
threat even before the United States is attacked. |
