DETROIT -- Pride and greed are such eternal sins, manifested and condemned throughout the Bible, and often the source of the biblical God's conflicts with his people, those of the covenant. Today war rages in the land of Abraham's birth. He was the human side of that covenant and the spiritual father of the three great monotheistic religions that sprang from the desert. The fanatic, fundamentalist expressions of all those faiths are found in the themes that are the dark backdrop for the violence justified in the name of God.
A principal theorist for war with Iraq and its leading tactician are caught up in those human failings which the God of the covenant admonished his people would lead them to suffering. Pride grips Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and greed has snared Richard Perle, the man who long favored war with Iraq and fought those he viewed as false prophets of peace.
First Rumsfeld. He is increasingly petulant with those who in any way question his judgment and his war plan in Iraq. In the Bush administration, where arrogance is considered a virtue, Rummy acts like hubris in a Humvee. But now he's taking his lumps. One field commander has already said of the situation on the battlefield, "We didn't war game for this."
The "New Yorker" magazine's Seymour Hersh reports Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon planners that considerably more troops and armor would be needed to fight a war in Iraq. Hersh reports that, on at least six occasions, Rumsfeld had major run-ins with professionals at the Pentagon during planning sessions and insisted that the proposed level of ground troops be sharply reduced. A senior Pentagon planner told Hersh Rumsfeld stridently dismissed advice from career military people. "He thought he knew better. He was the decision-maker at every turn. ... This is a mess Rummy put himself in because he didn't want a heavy footprint on the ground."
Instead, the defense secretary has his foot in his mouth. The "New Yorker" report also shows Rumsfeld overruled advice from war commander Tommy Franks to delay the invasion until troops denied access through Turkey could be brought in by another route and miscalculated the level of Iraqi resistance.
The diplomatic debacle with Turkey is exhibit A for what arrogance, ignorance and insensitivity can do. Heads should roll for this mess, and Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell should be the first to nobly volunteer for the political guillotine. But since that's a French invention, hanging will have to do, or the electric chair President Bush is so fond of.
Turkey had serious problems with a preemptive war with Iraq from the get-go. In Gulf War I, Turkey had to deal with a monumental refugee problem as Kurds from northern Iraq flooded across the Turkish border. The Turks are also worried about the creation of an independent Kurdish state when Iraq is restructured and what that might mean to Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey. While justice cries out for a Kurdistan, doing that in the chaos and confusion of post-war Iraq is unsettling at best for the Turks. And polls show more than 90 percent of the Turkish people oppose the war.
The Bush administration tried bribery, which has worked in the past. But the Turks have long memories. After Gulf War I, when Bush the Elder promised but failed to deliver economic support, the Turks referred to an old saying that roughly translates, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
Last minute diplomatic efforts to convince the Turks were a disaster, but that didn't prevent Rumsfeld from ordering three dozen ships packed with tanks and heavy equipment for the Army's 4th Infantry Division to anchor off the Turkish coast. The presumption of consent outraged the already reluctant Turks. Rumsfeld, buoyed with the confidence of his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, who assured us, "Turkish support is assured," kept the much-needed troops and equipment there until after the war started. The ships pulled anchor and headed toward the Red Sea and off to Iraq -- late, however.
Seymour Hersh is on a roll. The reporter who broke the story of the massacre of civilians in My Lai, Vietnam, first uncovered Richard Perle's financial dealings, which at very least appear to be a way of cashing in on his Pentagon connections. Perle is a former deputy defense secretary in the Reagan administration and until last week he was chairman of the Defense Policy Board. That's a group of former policy-makers, politicians and military types who advise the Pentagon. Rumsfeld appointed Perle to the nonpaying, yet highly influential post.
In another "New Yorker" piece, Hersh reported Perle was working to set up an investment company, looking at opportunities in post-war Iraq. Perle hooked up with a Saudi arms dealer to plot that plan. "There is no question that Perle believes that removing Saddam from power is the right thing to do. At the same time, he has set up a company that may gain from war," Hersh wrote.
Perle went ballistic, using hellish hyperbole and saying, "Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." But for Perle, the terrorist attacks were not over. The New York Times learned Perle had a contract to advise a communications company that is seeking permission from the Defense Department to be sold to Chinese investors. Perle got a retainer and fee from Global Crossing to work on the deal. It was a mere $725,000, chump change for the Bush crowd.
Global Crossing is in bankruptcy and the sale to a Hong Kong billionaire has some problems. Global makes sophisticated communications equipment and the Defense Department and FBI have some national security reservations about the sale. The deal has to be reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government group that's raised objections.
Enter Richard Perle stage right. He signed on with Global Crossing to gain approval for the deal. In an affidavit Perle signed for the bankruptcy proceedings, he was unabashed. "As the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, I have a unique perceptive on and an intimate knowledge of the national defense and security issues that will be raised by the CFIUS review process that is not and could not be available to the other CFIUS professionals."
Caught red-handed by the terrorist Times, Perle used a thread-worn canard -- blame the secretary. He said he had not read the affidavit carefully and that the reference to his chairing the Defense Policy Board was "a clerical error" that should have been deleted. Perle resigned the chairmanship, but he's still going to stay on the board. He said he didn't want to do anything that might "distract" his old pal Rummy.
No criticism from the Bush administration, where there really is no such thing as a conflict of interest. We don't know what other deals Perle may have with other companies with matters before the Defense Department.
Hopes for a quick end to the violence seem dashed, although prayers should never end. Watching the war on television offers many choices. One of the best is the CBC. Those of us who can catch the "National" at 10 and 11 p.m. should. The Canadian reports offer far greater depth than found in the shrill, superficial rants on most of the American networks and cable news services. Give the CBC a try and compare what you see with the others.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 1 2003 |