Jeff Koopersmith Dead Man Walking    1  |  2 |  3 |  4

Perle is also a first-rate liar: he claims loudly and often that France is protecting oil investments in Iraq. However, Perle is well aware that the facts do not support his position and that French oil companies had no binding agreements to develop Iraqi oil fields as he has claimed.

In fact, French exports to Iraq last year fell to 0.15 per cent of its total exports. The Middle East last year added up to only 3 per cent of both French and German Exports, and 0.5 per cent of French direct investments are in Arab countries as compared to a whopping 25 % in the United States.

Of course, the US is the largest importer of Iraqi oil, taking two-thirds of its exports some months, according to Energy Intelligence.

About two weeks ago, an exposé of Perle's business affairs appeared in the March 17th issue of The New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh. Perle, remarkably, smeared Hersh as a "terrorist" for having the impudence to report them.

Mr. Hersh's article said Mr. Perle had lunch with two Saudi businessman in France in January in an endeavor to seek Saudi venture capital for a company Mr. Perle is associated with, Trireme Partners LP. Trireme was fashioned to "invest in companies dealing in technology, goods, and services that are of value to homeland security and defense," according to Mr. Hersh's article.

Mr. Hersh writes that Mr. Perle claimed that the meeting was convened only to talk about a diplomatic alternative to war in Iraq.

One of the meeting's participants, Harb Saleh Al-Suhair, a Saudi born in Iraq, wanted to talk about forestalling war with Mr. Perle. But according to the article, both Saudi businessmen -- Mr. Al-Suhair and the infamous Adnan Khashoggi -- thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Iraq as well as Saudi investment in Trireme.

The Hersh article quotes all three men saying that Saudi investment in Trireme was not discussed at the lunch, because, as Mr. Al-Zuhair says, Mr. Perle said "he was above the money" and that he "stuck to his idea that 'we have to get rid of Saddam.'" And to this day, according to the article, no Saudi money has been invested in Trireme.

But remember -- Seymour Hersh also wrote a book on Henry Kissinger, "The Price of Power," and stated there the revelation that FBI wiretaps had heard Richard Perle -- then foreign policy aide to Senator Jackson -- passing National Security Council classified material to the Israeli Embassy; which had enraged Henry Kissinger.

There is no love lost between Hersh and Perle.

As for the money Perle could earn from Trireme? This little exchange between Wolf Blitzer of CNN and Perle is revealing:

PERLE: I don't believe that a company would gain from a war. On the contrary, I believe that the successful removal of Saddam Hussein, and I've said this over and over again, will diminish the threat of terrorism. And what he's talking about is investments in homeland defense, which I think are vital and are necessary. Look, Sy Hersh is the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist, frankly.

BLITZER: Well, on the basis of -- why do you say that? A terrorist?

PERLE: Because he's wildly irresponsible. If you read the article, it's first of all, impossible to find any consistent theme in it. But the suggestion that my views are somehow related for the potential for investments in homeland defense is complete nonsense.

BLITZER: But I don't understand. Why do you accuse him of being a terrorist?

PERLE: Because he sets out to do damage and he will do it by whatever innuendo, whatever distortion he can -- look, he hasn't written a serious piece since "My Lai" [an exposé of American slaughter of women and children in Vietnam].

Perle also has a directorship in Autonomy, a British information technology contractor for the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies, according to other sources. A British paper wrote that Perle is a Pentagon "hawk" working for British software company Autonomy and helping to sell products to intelligence agencies around the world.

The Guardian newspaper said, "Perle is a director of Autonomy" whose software uses "cunning artificial intelligence" algorithms. And so far, said the report, MI6, GCHQ, the the US Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have bought Autonomy software to aid them in bugging computer conversations."

The Guardian also claims that Mr. Perle was the one pushing the link between Iraq and Al Qaeda although just before he made these statements George W. Bush said no such links existed.

The newspaper adds that Autonomy garners nearly a third of its sales from "spook organizations," and quotes CEO Mike Lynch as saying that war sold more software.

To add to this, a corporate governance watchdog, The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), is concerned about the autonomous status of Richard Perle, the Pentagon adviser and his position on the board of Autonomy, the software group. The NAPF said it might recommend that shareholders abstain should Mr. Perle, a non-executive director of Autonomy, seek reappointment when his term of office expires this summer. NAPF fears that he is not independent of Autonomy's management.

Last October, Autonomy reportedly won a major contract with the US Office of Homeland Security, which, of course, was created to deal with threats posed by terrorism on US soil.

But did it think about the threat that Perle's dual role might present?

Autonomy's web site lists Mr. Perle as a director -- and reveals the following other business interests:

Richard Perle, Director
Richard Perle has served as a director of Autonomy since February 2000. Mr. Perle has served as Resident Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research since 1987. Mr. Perle is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hollinger Digital Inc. and a Director of Morgan Crucible plc, where he serves on the remuneration committee, Hollinger International and AppNet,Inc., where he serves on the audit and remuneration committees. Mr. Perle is a member of the International Advisory Board of Hollinger Inc. Mr. Perle holds an M.A from Princeton University and an A.B from the University of Southern California.

It was Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, who appointed Mr. Perle chairman of the powerful Defense Policy Board, which has weighty influence on US defense policy. Mr. Perle, as chairman, is required to follow government rules of ethics which include prohibitions against using his position for private gain.

While NAPF does not suggest that Mr. Perle used his influence in Washington and at the White House to help Autonomy win contracts, it is very concerned about the way Perle is paid. Since his appointment to Autonomy's board in February 2000 Perle has drawn no salary, but has been given a reported total of 122,500 share options. NAPF guidelines state that share options compromise the the independent status of independent directors.

Perle also holds a directorship in DigitalNet, a Virginia-based communications company with US Army and Defense Department contracts.

And in a revelation late last week that followed on the heels of Sy Hersh's scathing New Yorker article, it came to public attention that Perle also has a sweet consulting deal with bankrupt Global Crossing, which is paying him lots of money to lubricate its acquisition by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd - a company with close ties to Beijing. Global Crossing's management, according to the grapevine, hired Perle to help "overcome national security concerns" within the Pentagon about the Hutchison takeover.

And these are not small concerns for the Pentagon. They arise from long-standing links between Hutchison's billionaire owner Li Ka-Shing and the Communist Chinese government -- including its armed forces.

The Defense Department is not exactly pleased to see a Chinese-connected firm take hold of Global's huge fiber-optic networks, which is used -- by the way -- by American military and defense agencies.

NEXT: But wait! It gets better!

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