Monday, March 01, 2004

But his resignation wasn't voluntary. Already embroiled in a tangle of commercial conflict of interest controversies, Perle last year stepped down as the DPB chairman, but held onto his membership. Now, according to reliable sources, Perle was outright fired because of two last straws.

Last Straw No. 1--maybe it should be called Next-to-Last Straw--was the report in the Times of London that an internal investigation at Hollinger International, where Perle served as a member of the board of directors, turned up the fact that Perle failed to disclose to shareholders a $3 million bonus that he received--among other things, a violation of Securities and Exchange Commission rules. Sources report that the Pentagon's inspector general brought this to Rumsfeld's attention.

Last Straw No. 2 was Perle's call for the ouster of Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Rumsfeld might have fired Perle over the Hollinger mess, but his attack on the DIA chief tipped the scales. The DIA has recently weighed in forcefully on the intelligence scandal over Iraq's AWOL WMDs. The DIA, in particular, attacked Ahmad Chalabi, Perle's friend, who is the leader of the Iraqi National Congress--and whose bogus, lying defectors were responsible for misleading the U.S. intelligence community, including the DIA.

11:04 AM |