Perle Cites Errors in Iraq, Urges Power Transfer

Reuters, Yahoo news ^ | August 27, 2003 | Reuters

[prairiebreeze]

PARIS (Reuters) - Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon (news - web sites) adviser and architect of the U.S. war to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said the United States had made mistakes in Iraq (news - web sites) and that power should be handed over to the Iraqis as fast as possible.

In an interview with the Le Figaro daily newspaper to be published Thursday, Perle defended the U.S.-led war in Iraq and restated his belief that France had been wrong to lead international opposition to the conflict.

"Of course, we haven't done everything right," said Perle, according to the French text of the interview. "Mistakes have been made and there will be others.

"Our principal mistake, in my opinion, was that we didn't manage to work closely with the Iraqis before the war, so that there was an Iraqi opposition capable of taking charge immediately," he said.

"Today, the answer is to hand over power to the Iraqis as soon as possible," he added.

Perle resigned in March as chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board over alleged conflicts of interest, but remains an influential figure in neo-conservative circles.

He also renewed criticism of President Jacques Chirac's refusal to back the war. Chirac wanted more time for U.N. inspectors to search for any banned weapons.

The United States and Britain said Saddam had deliberately foiled the inspections and failed to provide evidence that it had scrapped its chemical, biological and nuclear programs.

"You have to understand that since September 11, the United States cannot allow the most terrible weapons in the world to be in the hands of the worst regimes in the world," Perle told Le Figaro, referring to the 2001 hijacked airliner attacks on U.S. landmarks that killed some 3,000 people.

Washington and London used the weapons charge, dismissed by Iraq as a pretext to wage war, to justify military intervention against Saddam. To date, no such weapons have been found.

[prairiebreeze]

"Our principal mistake, in my opinion, was that we didn't manage to work closely with the Iraqis before the war, so that there was an Iraqi opposition capable of taking charge immediately," he said.

Huh? Is he proposing that more TIME would have been beneficial?? How long would he keep the troops sitting out in the ocean or in Kuwait? And just who are these Iraqi's we should have worked with? Betcha they would have stepped right up to the plate and helped us with Uday and Queasy and the Old Man looking over their shoulder. Hmmph!!

Prairie

[MizSterious]

Remember this is Reuters. I'd like to see some confirmation that this is what he said.

[cake_crumb]

We had no chance to really "work" with the Iraqi people before toppling Saddam. We could only slip so many agents in without their being detected, and Saddam sure wouldn't have given permission if asked if we could please send 22,000 agents in to work with the Iraqi people.

Something tells me he might not have said these things QUITE as Reuters spins them.

[Indianer]

I don't see that he said more time would have been beneficial. In fact, he criticizes Chirac for seeking more time. He says more communication with the Iraqis who were to provide leadership for a new government would have been beneficial.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon (news - web sites) adviser and architect of the U.S. war to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said the United States had made mistakes in Iraq (news - web sites) and that power should be handed over to the Iraqis as fast as possible."

In an undertaking of this magnitude, there are bound to be mistakes and unforeseen developments, so this is hardly a revelation or even news. As for turning over power to the Iraqis ASAP, this has always been the plan and still is. Once again, this is not news.

[prairiebreeze]

Yes, you're right, it's important to recognize that it's Reuters. The rest of the article seems reasonable--dissing the French etc. That's why this comment seemed so disjointed to me. If he DID say it, then whazzup with that??

Prairie

[Shermy]

Rearm most of the army. Tell them the truth that the instability is caused by Saudi and Iranian interference at top wanting to keep Iraqi power down, Iraqi oil offline, and Saudi and Iranian oil prices up. The religious propaganda is just cover for the real interests at play. The Iraqis will understand when explained they're not getting their fair share. Both Saddam and their neighbors want to keep them down.

We're spending our own billions instead of using the Iraqi oil for reconstruction as previously promised. In turn we are subsidizing Saudi and Iran and OPEC with more billions at the same time with higher oil prices and higher percentages of overall OPEC production quota. Saudi/Iran's expense in "strategic" oil disruptions has brought them immense profits in return.

[Paleo Conservative]

If we half-assed prepared for all possible contigencies, we might not have been well prepared against the worst ones. The important capability is to be able to adapt rather than to adhere to a rigid script. It is impossible with finite time and budget constraints to be completely prepared for all possible contingencies.

[Steve_Seattle]

You are correct - Reuters is spinning comments that are quite unremarkable in order to make them seem like an admission of failure calling for a major change of direction. But Perle really doesn't do that at all; he just repeats some obvious truths and restates our basic objective of turning power over to the Iraqis ASAP.

[RightWhale]

power should be handed over to the Iraqis as fast as possible.

Everything is moving forward expeditiously.

[cake_crumb]

"That's why this comment seemed so disjointed to me. If he DID say it, then whazzup with that??"

I doubt he said it in the context Rooters is pretending.

It's just more "Quagmire" hype from the Terrorist News Wire Service.

[cake_crumb]

"Rearm most of the army. Tell them the truth that the instability is caused by Saudi and Iranian interference at top wanting to keep Iraqi power down, Iraqi oil offline, and Saudi and Iranian oil prices up. The religious propaganda is just cover for the real interests at play."

The Iraqi army? Iran has been trying to take over Iraq from within for years, and Saudi is Sunni - Saddam's favorite flavor. They already know all that.

[Pikamax]

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.lefigaro.fr/&prev=/search%3Fq%3DLe%2BFigaro%2Bdaily%2Bnewspaper%26num%3D20%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG


their website hasn't update yet.

[zarf]

Looks like the policy is shifting, this is a major trial baloon.

[cake_crumb]

Which article am I looking for? Not the one about the continued fingerpointing over the heat deaths...the one about the Iraqi police force?

[Pikamax]

oh no. I just put the link up to the Le Figaro website so when the perle article is up, someone can check the article to see how much did Reuters get wrong.

[cake_crumb]

"I just put the link up to the Le Figaro website so when the perle article is up, someone can check the article to see how much did Reuters get wrong."

Oh, I see. Thank you for the link.

[APRPEH]

re-arm the army? why? a better question is where is the former iraqi army? the us scored a great intelligence victory before the war convincing the iraqi military to go home. however successful the intelligence operation, it was a stupid strategic decision based upon short term political reasoning. today, american soldiers are dying specifically because there are hundreds of thousands of former iraqi soldiers who went home with their AKs, rocket propelled grenades, morters, etc. wouldnt have made more sense to catch them on the battlefield, kill them and break their toys? isnt that what armies are supposed to do? now we are trying to control a heavily armed country with 150,000 soldiers. we probably need a minimum of 500,000 on the ground to disarm the iraqis. without doing so, no "nation-building" will ever occur. see also http://www.deprogramprogram.com/wbswebpage.cfm?pagetextid=nofrontgetsaddam for a reasonable analysis...

[cake_crumb]

They're getting the arms from thousands of weapons caches all over the country. Unlike our troops, the Iraqi army knew where to find them.

[APRPEH]

okay. but again the question is What iraqi army? we are not seeing organized military operations. so that leaves me with the guess that there are plenty of iraqi men of military age who are on the sidelines waiting. the question then is, are they out of the game or waiting for something.. either way, unless they are waiting for salaries paid for by the us taxpayer, they are bidding their time.. this is why i say, it is most urgent to disarm iraq.. i love firearms.. dont get me wrong. i just dont want them in the hands of people who, with just a little incentive will take cheap shots at us soldiers. better to be proactive in this regard. the pearle comments, if true are probably a trial balloon from POTUS. bush knows what i am saying (or is being told) and isnt willing to commit the force structure needed to do the job. (apologies to Rummy, but he works for the man)