[casi-analysis] casi-news digest, Vol 1 #35 - 3 msgs

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Today's Topics:

   1. Perle, Chalabi, Frum, Hollinger, 'Ethics' and Much More ... (farbuthnot)
   2. Immediate Release - Scott Ritter on Media Responsibility for the
       War on Iraq (Charles Jenks)

--__--__--

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 21:34:31 +0000
Subject: Perle, Chalabi, Frum, Hollinger, 'Ethics' and Much More ...
From: "farbuthnot" <asceptic@DELETETHISfreenetname.co.uk>
To: casI-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]

 =A0
=A0Published on Thursday, February 26, 2004 by Knight-Ridder
Hawkish Bush Advisor Perle Quits Defense Policy Board
by Jonathan S. Landay, John Walcott and Joseph L. Galloway
=A0
WASHINGTON - Richard Perle, one of the most outspoken advocates for invadin=
g
Iraq, has quietly resigned from the Defense Policy Board, an influential
bipartisan Pentagon advisory group.
Perle informed Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld that he was quitting
the board in a letter dated Feb. 18, although a week later a Pentagon list
of board members still included him. A copy of the letter was obtained by
Knight Ridder.

KNOWN AS THE=A0 'PRINCE OF DARKNESS'
Right-wing US politician Richard Perle
(AFP/File/Stephen Jaffe)
Perle's resignation comes as President Bush, who had hoped to ride popular
support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to a second term, finds his
administration facing a growing number of congressional, legal and internal
investigations into dubious prewar intelligence on Iraq and lucrative
contracts for Iraqi reconstruction.
In his letter, Perle said he was resigning after 17 years on the board so
that the Bush administration and the Department of Defense would no longer
be associated with his outspoken views on Iraq and other matters.
"We are now approaching a long presidential election campaign, in the cours=
e
of which issues on which I have strong views will be widely discussed and
debated," Perle wrote. "I would not wish those views to be attributed to yo=
u
or the president at any time, and especially not during a presidential
campaign."
Perle didn't return a telephone call seeking comment on his resignation, an=
d
a Pentagon spokesman would confirm only that he had resigned.
In recent weeks, Perle has called for the resignation of CIA Director Georg=
e
Tenet, criticized Secretary of State Colin Powell and other current and
former senior U.S. officials as "soft-liners" and urged the Bush
administration to consider pulling out of the United Nations if the agency
doesn't legalize pre-emptive attacks on states that harbor terrorists.
Perle also is a prominent supporter and close friend of Ahmad Chalabi, a
member of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council who's the subject of a
Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into exaggerated and fabricated
intelligence about Iraqi weapons programs and ties to Osama bin Laden.
In the run-up to the invasion, Perle advocated installing Chalabi as Iraq's
interim leader, and he told Knight Ridder in a July 2003 interview that CIA
and State Department opposition to this plan led to the insurgency against
the U.S.-led occupation.
Perle served as the board's unpaid chairman from July 2001 until March 2003=
,
when he quit the post while the Pentagon inspector general looked into
whether he had violated ethics rules by representing companies that had
dealings with the Defense Department. He was cleared of any breaches and
remained a board member.
A British newspaper reported last week that questions also have been raised
about $3 million in bonuses that Perle reportedly received in 2000 and 2001
from the firm Hollinger International. The company is investigating
undisclosed payments to its executives, according to The Times of London.
Perle's resignation coincides with the publication of a book he co-authored
calling for "bold action" against Iran, North Korea and other "sponsors of
terrorism," including U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. The book, "An End To Evil: Ho=
w
to Win The War on Terrorism," co-authored with David Frum, argues that Iran
and North Korea "present intolerable threats to American security."
"We must move boldly against them both and against all the other sponsors o=
f
terrorism as well: Syria, Libya and Saudi Arabia. And we don't have much
time," the book argues.
Although the Defense Policy Board is a bipartisan advisory committee that
has no role in making policy, Perle was an influential member of the group,
which includes Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith and I. Lewis Libby,
Cheney's chief of staff, who were the most outspoken proponents of a
pre-emptive attack on Iraq.
In his resignation letter, Perle wrote that too often his views have been
seen as those of the administration's. "Many of the ideas in that book are
controversial and I wish to be free to argue for them without those views o=
r
my arguments getting caught up in the campaign," he wrote.
Perle and Frum are fellows at the American Enterprise Institute, a
Washington think tank that's a leading champion of conservative causes.
Cheney was a fellow there; his wife, Lynne, still is.
Perle served as an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan
administration. He earned the nickname "Prince of Darkness" for his
passionate opposition to detente with the former Soviet Union and to
arms-control treaties, which he considered unenforceable.
To read the full text of Perle's resignation letter, go to: Richard Perle's
resignation
=A9 2004 Knight-Ridder




--__--__--

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 10:44:32 -0500
Subject: Immediate Release - Scott Ritter on Media Responsibility for the
        War on Iraq
From: Charles Jenks <charles@DELETETHISmtdata.com>
To: <casi-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk>

Immediate Release

"Some in the Media are extremely complicit in this..."

Hear Scott Ritter's February 26th press conference at
http://www.traprockpeace.org/scott_ritter_25feb04.html

On Thursday, February 26, Scott Ritter gave a press conference at the
MacDuffie School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In the wide ranging and hard hitting press conference, Ritter described and
denounced major media's role in deceiving the American people into war.
Ahmed Chalabi concocted lies that US neoconservatives used to justify war,
such as claims that Iraq was involved with 9/11. The New York Times and
PBS's Frontline misinformed the American people. Ritter showed how
neo-conservatives tried to use war to implement the pre-war Project for the
New American Century. He describes in detail how The New York Times relied
on Chalabi, ignored evidence to the contrary and failed its responsibility
to corroborate Chalabi's claims. Now, even Chalabi admits he was lying in
order to topple Iraqi regime. "The CIA's number one objective in Iraq was
never disarmament, it was always the elimination of Saddam Hussein."

Ritter took questions from Andrew Stelzer of WMNS radio, Tampa, Florida;
Cameron Cobane and Tom Skiba of MacDuffie School; and Noah Bein of
Northampton High School; with beginning and closing questions from Sunny
Miller, Executive Director of Traprock Peace Center, who moderated the live
press conference with call-in participants. After the press conference, Jim
Polito, WGGB/TV 40 (ABC) in Springfield, MA interviewed Ritter for the
evening news. Photo =A9 2004 Charlie Jenks

After the press conference, Ritter spoke and fielded questions from 200
students at the MacDuffie School. He spoke on the harsh realities of war an=
d
the responsibilities of citizens to ask hard questions of leaders who would
lead them into war. As is typical for Ritter, he stayed long after his talk
to talk with students and faculty.



Charles Jenks, attorney at law
President of the Core Group
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-1633; Fax 413-773-7507
charles@mtdata.com
http://traprockpeace.org






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