Al Jazeera: US hawk admits Iraq war 'illegal'

Al Jazeera ^ | Friday 21 November 2003 | Shaheen Chughtai

[presidio9]

A Pentagon official widely regarded as the key ideological driving force behind President George Bush's foreign policy has admitted the US-led invasion of Iraq is illegal.

Richard Perle, a senior adviser to the US defence secretary, said the US had broken international law, blaming French reluctance to attack Iraq for leaving Washington with "no practical mechanism consistent with the rules of the UN for dealing with Saddam Hussein".

"I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing," said Perle in London in comments published by the British media on Thursday. "International law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone."

Perle was speaking at an event organised by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on Wednesday.

The influential Pentagon official’s comments represent a clear break with official White House statements. President George Bush, presently on a state visit to the UK, has always insisted the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq or as an act of self-defence.

Bush’s main ally in the invasion of Iraq, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, has always said existing UN resolutions legitimised the attack on Iraq.

Critics astonished

Antiwar campaigners told Aljazeera.net on Friday they were astonished by Perle’s admission.

"It’s an incredible admission that Bush and Blair’s war in Iraq is illegal," said Andrew Burgin, spokesman of the Stop the War Coalition in London. "It underlines everything we’ve said about the so-called war on terror being an illegal campaign."

Burgin said the recent bomb attacks in Istanbul showed the illegality of the Bush-Blair campaign was "fuelling the level of terror around the world".

A British lawyer and leftist politician who has frequently criticised Washington's foreign policy, Louise Christian, told Aljazeera.net she was "greatly concerned" by Perle's admission and its implicit disregard for international law.

Prince of Darkness

Dubbed the Prince of Darkness by his critics - and a few awed admirers - because of his powerful behind-the-scenes influence, Perle is a senior member of the Pentagon’s defence policy board, which advises the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He resigned from the board's chairmanship amid controversy in March, however, after allegations of commercial conflict of interest.

Perle is also a key member of the Project for the New American Century, a rightwing think tank closely linked to the White House and credited with inspiring much of the Bush administration’s foreign policy.

He has been a hawkish advocate of projecting US power both diplomatically and militarily without the restraint of international bodies such as the UN.

[BenLurkin]

Problem (if any) is with "international law", not with anything we did.

[Question_Assumptions]

I'm sure that hiding Anne Frank was illegal. Should the family sheltering her have just done the legal thing and turned her in?

[thoughtomator]

It is a flight of fancy to believe that international law has any resemblance to actual law. International law is in reality nothing more than international custom.

[Maelstrom]

I'm not yet willing to buy this.

[David1]

Saddam Hussein was illegal!!!! The Mass graves were illegal!!!! The mass murders were illegal!!!! The shredding of humans through plastic shredders were illegal!!!! The torture was illegal!!!!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Looks like more America bashing by the Arab media. Who does Al Jazeera think they are, CNN?

[Levante]

"Burgin said the recent bomb attacks in Istanbul showed the illegality of the Bush-Blair campaign was "fuelling the level of terror around the world".

How convienient. ALWAYS, ALWAYS blame the victim, never the perpetrator. A true sign of mental illness. Burgin, go f#ck yourself.

[concerned about politics]

Antiwar campaigners told Aljazeera.net on Friday they were astonished by Perle’s admission.

Wait a minute. Wasn't this guy Perle one of those the A.N.S.W.E.R. group paid to speek in their anti-Bush documentary? If so, how much did they pay him for this? More than his retirement would pay?
I'm sure this guy is one of the people they bought. Anyone remember the thread about the anti-Bush documentary??

[PokeyJoe]

It's more likely that CNN thinks it's AL Jazeera.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

International law requires that the US surrender sovereignty to our enemies.

Globalists use international courts like US leftists use US courts... to illegitimately usurp power.

[zencat]

From a February 11th, 2003 interview with Bill Clinton:

Katie Couric: “Do you think the U.S. should wait for a second Security Council Resolution authorizing force?”

Former President Bill Clinton: “As a matter of international law, I don’t think we have to.”

[concerned about politics]

Check this out.(The New Yorker).....Khashoggi (Iran contra guy)is still brokering. In January of this year, he arranged a private lunch, in France, to bring together Harb Saleh al-Zuhair, a Saudi industrialist whose family fortune includes extensive holdings in construction, electronics, and engineering companies throughout the Middle East, and Richard N. Perle, the chairman of the Defense Policy Board, who is one of the most outspoken and influential American advocates of war with Iraq.

(snip)

Perle is also a managing partner in a venture-capital company called Trireme Partners L.P., which was registered in November, 2001, in Delaware. Trireme’s main business, according to a two-page letter that one of its representatives sent to Khashoggi last November, is to invest in companies dealing in technology, goods, and services that are of value to homeland security and defense. The letter argued that the fear of terrorism would increase the demand for such products in Europe and in countries like Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

(snip)

As chairman of the board, Perle is considered to be a special government employee and therefore subject to a federal Code of Conduct. Those rules bar a special employee from participating in an official capacity in any matter in which he has a financial interest. “One of the general rules is that you don’t take advantage of your federal position to help yourself financially in any way,” a former government attorney who helped formulate the Code of Conduct told me. The point, the attorney added, is to “protect government processes from actual or apparent conflicts.”

(snip)

Four members of the Defense Policy Board told me that the board, which met most recently on February 27th and 28th, had not been informed of Perle’s involvement in Trireme. One board member, upon being told of Trireme and Perle’s meeting with Khashoggi, exclaimed, “Oh, get out of here. He’s the chairman! If you had a story about me setting up a company for homeland security, and I’ve put people on the board with whom I’m doing that business, I’d be had”—a reference to Gerald Hillman, who had almost no senior policy or military experience in government before being offered a post on the policy board. “Seems to me this is at the edge of or off the ethical charts. I think it would stink to high heaven.”

Sooooo. Saudi ties, and this guy makes money off terrorism?

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I'm not an international lawyer, I just play one on FreeRepublic.

But ... it seems to me that the violation of 16 UN Security Council Resolutions by Iraq was adequate justification for us to enforce compliance. Further, if it was a violation, there would be a string of ACLU lawyers from SF to Boston filing suit against the US government and our coalition partners.

This is bunk. And probably a misquote by a sloppy or biased journalist.

[dennisw]

So what is considered a legal war by these Islamis and commies? Their bloody Jihad? A war that the UN approves of?

'Slamics like to brand illegal all actions taken against their idiotic Jihads

[Donna Lee Nardo]

I have always respected Richard Perle. I think he is on our side and he supports GWB; we will see how this shakes out...

[meenie]

What is Perle trying to prove? It is amazing seeing the neocons trying to save themselves by attacking each others policies and Perle now admitting that they broke the law. Naturally aggression against another is against international law. And to think that Perle is still on the Defense Policy Board. This whole board needs booted out of the Bush administration before they cause more damage.

[onedoug]

"Go ahead, skin it! Skin that smoke-wagon, 'n see what happens."

[concerned about politics]

See post #13. The more terrorism, the more money he makes through a venture-capital company called Trireme Partners L.P.,
Being on the side of the anti-war groups helps his business ties with Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
It sounds like his conflict of interest has changed to favor his business side, rather than his US security/Bush side.
Maybe he was told to get out of business, or get out of Washington.

[SICSEMPERTYRANNUS]

Saddam Hussein was illegal!!!! The Mass graves were illegal!!!! The mass murders were illegal!!!! The shredding of humans through plastic shredders were illegal!!!! The torture was illegal!!!!

What you said.

SIC