Note to journalists. You will not see a better headline than the headline on Steve Walt's latest post at Foreign Policy: "Richard Perle is a liar". Is there a more electrifying phrase in the English language? Walt delivers:
The bottom line is simple: Richard Perle is lying. What is
disturbing about this case is is not that a former official is trying
to falsify the record in such a brazen fashion; Perle is hardly the
first policymaker to kick up dust about his record and he certainly
won't be the last. The real cause for concern is that there are hardly
any consequences for the critical role that Perle and the
neoconservatives played for their pivotal role in causing one of the
great foreign policy disasters in American history. If somebody can
help engineer a foolish war and remain a respected Washington insider
— as is the case with Perle — what harm is likely to befall them if
they lie about it later?
Let's keep a few facts in mind. Perle
and his neoconservative buddies helped develop and sell a policy that
has left over 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead and more than 30,000 wounded,
was directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis,
and will end up costing the United States more than a trillion dollars.
Yet instead of having the integrity and courage to acknowlege his role
and admit his mistakes…
Perle now offers us a squid's ink cloud of lies and prevarications.
Although his absurd claims have been promptly and properly challenged, does anyone seriously think he will pay a larger price? The National Interest was
all-too-willing to publish his rewriting of the historical record, and
no doubt prestigious organizations like the Council on Foreign
Relations will be happy to give him a platform at future meetings. Look
for him on the Lehrer Newshour and CNN too; heck, he could even end up with his own show on Fox News.
