Perhaps we should take a break on looking for Saddam Hussein,
Osama bin
Laden, William “Slots” Bennett, or even James J. “Whitey” Bulger. For me, the key question today is:
Where is Richard Perle?
Before the launching of Iraq War No. 2, in March 20, 2003, Perle, America’s Iago, regularly appeared
on TV and cable TV programs, on radio, and in the print media, too. He repeated, ad infinitum, ad
nauseam, why it was so absolutely critical for the U.S. to immediately invade Iraq.
America was “at risk,” he said, with that ubiquitous smirk on his mug. There wasn’t a moment to
lose. “Saddam has WMD,” he told us, and he also “hates America” and poses a dire “threat to our
security?”
The shifty Perle, the Mother of all Neo-cons, also predicted, like former Defense Department
official, Ken Adelman, that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would be a “cakewalk!” It will be “easy,” he
boasted. We would also be “exporting democracy” to the Iraqi people, who will “welcome us” with open
arms “as liberators,” he claimed over and over again in similar words. Cakewalk! Easy! Exporting
Democracy! Liberators! Sure!
Now, Perle is among the missing! The man with the sinister-looking scowl hasn’t showed up on the
Talking Head circuits since about the time the U.S. occupation of Iraq began going sour. Could he be
hiding out in his beloved Israel, in a safe house provided by Benjamin Netanyahu, a/k/a
“Bend-the-Truth Yahoo”? Or, are the War Hawks, Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman
(D-CT), telling him to keep a low profile by working temporarily as an extra on a Hollywood movie?
Who knows?
It’s a certainty that the idea of “regime change” for Baghdad was first hustled in Zionist Israel. A
1996 paper concocted by Perle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser, entitled, “A Clean Break: A New
Strategy for Security the Realm,” called for, inter alia, “the removal of Saddam
Hussein and the
installation of a Hashemite monarchy in Baghdad.”
The “realm” Perle, Feith and Wurmser were seeking to secure, however, wasn’t America’s, but
Israel’s! The study was intended as a blueprint for the then-upcoming Likud-dominated government of
Netanyahu. Feith now works for “our” Defense Department, in a high policy post, while Wurmser is
planted in the State Department as a “special assistant.” (“Examining the Role of Israel-and its
American Friends-in Promoting War on Iraq,” Allan C. Brownfeld, WRMEA, May, 2003).
For a while, Perle was a chief honcho of the Defense Policy Board, which advised Donald Rumsfeld
and reported directly to another shadowy figure, Deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz. Perle was
recently forced to resign from the top post, but still remains on the Board.
Perle is a notorious Israeli Firster. He is a member of the Jewish Institute of National Security
Affairs (JINSA). He is also a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a hard line,
right wing “think tank,” that has slated Iran as America's next war target. Perle advocates a
so-called “Pax Americana,” a new American Empire, which promotes America’s world domination. Gee, I
wonder if Israel will benefit from that scheme, too?
Perle serves, also, on the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy
(FDD)-another right wing group, which is, of course, fanatically pro-Israel. He hangs out with
Super-Hawks, such as: Charles Krauthammer, William Kristol and Gary Bauer.
In fact, Perle is a master deceiver! American soldiers are now dying in Iraq, 30 since President
George W. Bush declared “mission accomplished” on board the USS Lincoln, on May 1, 2003. As the body
bags of our fallen heroes return to Dover, Delaware’s Air Force base, loved ones have every right to
blame Perle, and his ilk, for their losses.
The Iraq invasion was not a “cakewalk.” Iraq doesn’t have WMD, nor did it have any ties to
terrorists, as Perle tooted. And, the Iraqi people bitterly resent the U.S./British invasion and
occupation of their country.
The unnecessary and immoral destruction by Coalition Forces of Iraq’s gas, water and electrical
works, the bombing of their cities, pollution of their lands and rivers by toxic chemicals, leaking
raw sewage and tons of depleted uranium, the death and injuries to countless thousands of innocent
civilians, and the mostly total collapse of its social, health, cultural and monetary systems, too,
has been a human catastrophe of the first magnitude. A country of 25.5 million souls has become a
living hell for no darn good reason. Opponents of the war have nothing to regret.
Democracy, Perle’s rotten lies to the contrary, is not, like Coke Cola, an exportable product.
Americans troops now face death around every corner in Iraq, as the situation on the ground begins to
resemble the guerrilla warfare conditions of the British-occupied north of Ireland during the late
70s. The Iraqi war will only be over when the Iraqi people say so. The cost to U.S. taxpayers could
hit $1.6 trillion. And, this totally uncalled for conflict has created even more enemies for America
around the globe.
A final question: Will the slippery Perle, America’s Iago, ever be forced to answer to the people
for his incalculable wrongdoing?
