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Perle resigns as DPB Chair

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richard Perle, a U.S. architect of the war on Iraq (news - web sites) who faced questions about conflicts of interest, offered to resign as chairman of a Pentagon (news - web sites) advisory panel, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Richard Perle, a U.S. architect of the war on
Iraq (news - web sites) who faced questions about conflicts of interest,
offered to resign as chairman of a Pentagon (news - web sites) advisory
panel, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

"As I cannot quickly or easily quell criticism of me based on errors of fact
concerning my activities, the least I can do under these circumstances is
to ask you to accept my resignation as chairman of the Defense Policy
Board," Perle wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday.

Rumsfeld accepted Perle's resignation as chairman but asked that he
remain a member of the board.

"He has been an excellent chairman and has led the Defense Policy Board
during an important time in our history," Rumsfeld said in a statement
released by the Pentagon. "I should add that I have known Richard Perle for
many years and know him to be a man of integrity and honor."

On Monday, Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, asked the
Pentagon's inspector general to probe Perle's work as a paid adviser to
bankrupt telecommunications company Global Crossing Ltd. and his
guidance on investment opportunities resulting from the Iraq conflict.

In his resignation offer, Perle said, "I am advising Global Crossing that I will
not accept any compensation that might result from their pending
acquisition and that any fee for past service would be donated to the families
of American forces killed or injured in Iraq."

GLOBAL CROSSING PLAN

He agreed to help Global Crossing, a bankrupt operator of an international
fiber-optic network, win U.S. approval to sell a 61.5 percent stake to
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte.

Perle said earlier he would be paid $125,000 for his advice and another
$600,000 if the government approved the deal.

The deal ran into problems with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the
United States, which counts Rumsfeld and other top national security
advisers as members.

The committee can block mergers and acquisitions it feels could harm U.S.
interests, and it raised concerns that Global Crossing's network would be
controlled by a company with strong ties to China. Hutchison is majority
owned by Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing.

A Global Crossing spokeswoman was not immediately available for
comment.

As chairman of the Defense Policy Board, created in 2001 to advise the
Pentagon, Perle had no official policymaking role and was not paid. He has
been influential in developing the Bush administration's plan to oust Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).

Last Friday, Perle expressed confidence about the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

"My impression is the same as I imagine most of you have: that this war is
going well, that the resistance has been minimal," he told a gathering at the
American Enterprise Institute think tank, where he is a "resident fellow."

"That doesn't surprise me. I think it doesn't surprise our planners. We've
been saying now for a very long time that there are very few people who
were prepared to fight for Saddam and even fewer who were prepared to die
for Saddam," Perle said.

The U.S.-led war was launched last week to oust Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein and rid the country of its alleged weapons of mass destruction.

It is the first war the United States has fought since a national security
strategy was announced last year that asserts Washington has the right to
launch pre-emptive strikes on countries deemed a threat even before the
United States itself is attacked.
 
 

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