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Top Pentagon adviser resigns under fire
From Jamie McIntyre
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One of the Pentagon's top civilian advisers resigned Thursday, saying he wanted to defuse a controversy over charges he stood to profit from the war in Iraq. Richard Perle resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, an independent group that advises Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. But he will remain on the board at Rumsfeld's request. Perle, a strong conservative advocate for the Bush administration's hard-line approach to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said he was resigning because "I cannot quickly or easily quell criticism of me based on errors of fact concerning my [business] activities." "With our nation at war and American troops risking their lives to protect our freedom and liberate Iraq, I am dismayed that your valuable time, and that of others in the Department of Defense and the administration, might be burdened by the controversy," Perle wrote in a letter to Rumsfeld. "Richard Perle has a deep understanding of our national security process and an abiding interest in preserving America's freedom and strength," 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." Rumsfeld created the board in 2001 as a bipartisan advisory group. According to The Associated Press, its 30 members are a mix of former government and military officials, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former CIA Director James Woolsey, former Air Force Chief of Staff Ronald Fogleman and former Vice President Dan Quayle. Perle, 61, a former assistant defense secretary in the Reagan administration, was appointed chairman by Rumsfeld in 2001. Although the position is unpaid, it comes under ethics rules forbidding using public office for private gain. Critics said Perle had a conflict of interest because he took a consulting job for the bankrupt telecommunications firm Global Crossing Ltd., which is trying to get the government to approve its purchase by a joint venture of two Asian firms. The AP reported that according to lawyers and others involved in the bankruptcy case, Perle would receive $600,000 if the deal is approved, in addition to a $125,000 fee. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a government panel that can block deals it deems detrimental to U.S. interests and includes Rumsfeld and other national security advisers as members, is reviewing the deal. In his resignation letter, Perle said he would not accept any military-related compensation from Global Crossing and would donate "any fee for past service" to families of military personnel killed or injured in Iraq. According to Reuters news service, Perle also resigned as a consultant for Global Crossing. 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." Perle became embroiled in another controversy after a March 9 appearance on CNN's "Late Edition" during which he characterized journalist Seymour M. Hersh as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." An article by Hersh had just appeared in The New Yorker citing the Global Crossing controversy and reporting on a January lunch in Marseilles, France, that Perle had with Saudi industrialist Harb Saleh Zuhair and Saudi-born businessman Adnan Khashoggi. According to Hersh, Zuhair was interested in making an investment in Trireme Partners, a venture capital firm of which Perle is a managing partner. Nothing resulted from the lunch, Hersh reported, but the writer implied Perle, a well-known longtime critic of the Saudi regime, had improperly mixed politics and business. Perle dismissed Hersh's reporting as "irresponsible" and "complete nonsense." In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute last week, Perle said the United Nations has "been dealt a serious blow by Saddam Hussein because when the moment came for the U.N. to enforce its own brave words, it failed to do that." He said the Iraqi crisis would force the world community to begin "a debate about revising the U.N. charter" to enable it to deal with today's security threats. Perle said the United Nations was designed to prohibit one nation from invading another, not dealing with the threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. "We need either new institutions or a radically reformed approach to the United Nations, if the U.N. is going to be relevant to the security concerns we now face," Perle said. The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.
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