You're Either With Us or You Are a Terrorist!

The following is an excerpt from the March 9, 2003 episode of CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer cnn.com

Richard Perle is a close advisor for George W. Bush and chairs the Pentagon Defense Policy Board. He is a veteran of President Reagan's administration.

The recklessness of top Bush officials, as demonstrated here, is one of the reasons why Americans should be alarmed at the draft Domestic Security Enhancement Act that recently was leaked from the Department of Justice.

The DSEA would give John Ashcroft (and effectively Bush himself) the power to officially designate organizations as "terrorist" and strip citizens of U.S. citizenship for supporting such organizations (Section 501).

BLITZER: Let me read a quote from the New Yorker article [by Seymour Hersh], the March 17th issue, just out now. "There is no question that Perle believes that removing Saddam from power is the right thing to do. At the same time, he has set up a company that may gain from a war."

PERLE: I don't believe that a company would gain from a war. On the contrary, I believe that the successful removal of Saddam Hussein, and I've said this over and over again, will diminish the threat of terrorism. And what he's talking about is investments in homeland defense, which I think are vital and are necessary.

Look, Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist, frankly.

BLITZER: Well, on the basis of -- why do you say that? A terrorist?

PERLE: Because he's widely irresponsible. If you read the article, it's first of all, impossible to find any consistent theme in it. But the suggestion that my views are somehow related for the potential for investments in homeland defense is complete nonsense.

BLITZER: But I don't understand. Why do you accuse him of being a terrorist?

PERLE: Because he sets out to do damage and he will do it by whatever innuendo, whatever distortion he can -- look, he hasn't written a serious piece since Maylie [sic] (presumably the My Lai massacre of the Vietnam War was the intended reference).

Editors note: days after this interview, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government honored Mr. Seymour with the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism.

Two weeks later (March 24), the New York Times published this staff editorial elaborating on Mr. Perle's gross conflict of interest:

Richard Perle's Conflict

As chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle has been an influential architect of the Bush administration's Iraq policy and war plans. At the same time, it turns out, he has signed on to represent a major telecommunications company that has a strong financial interest in lobbying the Defense Department. This is a conflict pure and simple, and Mr. Perle should immediately drop one of his two roles.

Mr. Perle, who served as an assistant defense secretary under President Reagan, is indisputably an important part of the current Defense Department. His position as chairman of the policy board, to which he was appointed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, is unpaid. But he is nevertheless considered a "special government employee" and is subject to federal ethics rules.

Global Crossing, the telecommunications giant, is now in bankruptcy. It has retained Mr. Perle to help persuade the Defense Department to drop its objections to a proposed sale to foreign buyers in Hong Kong and Singapore. The deal has been opposed by the Defense Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a threat to national security because it would put Global Crossing's fiber optics network, which is used by the United States government, under foreign control. Mr. Perle stands to make up to $725,000 from his work for Global Crossing.

Mr. Perle insists that there is no conflict in his case because the Defense Policy Board is not involved in approving the Global Crossing deal. But that is not the right test. Global Crossing's fee is clearly payment, at least in part, for the influence Mr. Perle exerts through his Defense Department post, and federal ethics rules prohibit using public office for private gain. To remove the conflict, Mr. Perle will have to choose between the gain and the office.

© 2003 New York Times Company

Update: On March 28, 2003, the Wall St. Journal reported that Mr. Perle resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board (but will remain on the board) and ceased advising Global Crossing Ltd. The story notes that "Mr. Perle's resignation comes weeks after the New Yorker magazine disclosed that he met in France with a Saudi Arabian arms dealer at a time when he was soliciting investment in a homeland-security fund he had set up. The fund, Trireme Partners, made presentations to potential investors elsewhere noting Mr. Perle's seat on the defense board."