Geodog

Richard Perle, Prince of Darkness and Scum, cashes in on Pentagon role

Richard Perle, Prince of Darkness, is scum. This man's past achievements include being the preeminent foe of arms control treaties and international organizations in the Reagan administration, serving as a lobbyist for Turkey and Israel, being the intellectual godfather of Bush's War on Iraq, and recently calling one of America's best journalists, Sy Hersh, "the next thing to a terrorist". Today he was revealed to be cashing in on his position as head of the Defense Advisory Board and his closeness to the Pentagon. According to an article in the NYT, Pentagon Adviser Is Also Advising Global Crossing, Perle will be paid more than half a million dollars if he can convince the Pentagon that it's OK for the Chinese to own the fiber network that the US uses for communications. Some quotes:

Perle is to be paid $725,000 by the company [Global Crossing], including $600,000 if the government approves the sale of the company...Perle has taken on a particularly important role, they said, since the company recently pulled back its request for the government to clear the sale in the face of opposition from the Defense Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Those agencies have said that the proposed deal presents national security and law enforcement problems, because it would put Global Crossing's worldwide fiber optics network — one used by the United States government — under Chinese ownership... Mr. Perle and his lawyers were preparing to file an affidavit dated March 7 and a legal notice dated today, March 20, that said he was uniquely qualified to advise the company on the matter because of his job as head of the Defense Policy Board...Mr. Perle's fee was largely contingent on the deal's being approved, an unusual arrangement in Washington legal circles.

Mr. Perle, who as chairman of the Defense Policy Board has been a leading advocate of the United States' invasion of Iraq, spoke on Wednesday in a conference call sponsored by Goldman Sachs, in which he advised participants on possible investment opportunities arising from the war. The conference's title was "Implications of an Imminent War: Iraq Now. North Korea Next?"

Perle and his lawyers claim that there is nothing in Perle's deal with Global Crossing that violates ethics rules. If there isn't, then there certainly should be. Perle certainly isn't the only one involved in such slimly dealings, nor are such dealings limited to Republicans. Not to be outdone, some Democratic scum are in the deal too:

Among others who have been retained to gain approval of the proposed deal are Thomas F. McLarty III, the former Clinton chief of staff; Stuart E. Eizenstat, a former deputy Treasury secretary

Excuse the soapbox here, but legalized corruption like this is destroying our Republic, and it is destroying citizen's confidence in government and in our other institutions, and their willingness to contribute to society. Why get in involved in politics, why contribute to the common welfare, if shady crooks like the folks who ran Global Crossing can always hire former government slime like Perle & Co. to buy their way out of trouble.

How far we have come from "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?"

Kudos to Stephen Labaton of the NYT for some fine investigative journalism. Digging up stories like this is what newspapers are supposed to do.