Letters to the Editor
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Richard Perle? What next, Ken Adelman?
It's not only the exclusion of war opponents, it's the choice of war proponents. What, if anything, does an architect of this catastrophe have to do or say to become discredited to the point where they stop asking his opinion? We reached a point long ago when the idea that Richard Perle be allowed anywhere near a microphone should have become ridiculous. I mean, besides being an Iraq invasion pusher for years, wanting to install his best bud Chalabi as head of an Iraqi government that would immediately recognize Israel, and an enthusiast for pre-emptive wars against Iran, Syria, and North Korea, here are a few choice Perle quotes that should have nailed his mouth shut for years:
- Saddam Hussein's reign of terror is about to end. He will go quickly, but not alone: in a parting irony, he will take the UN down with him. Well, not the whole UN. The "good works" part will survive, the low-risk peacekeeping bureaucracies will remain, the chatterbox on the Hudson will continue to bleat. What will die is the fantasy of the UN as the foundation of a new world order.
- If we let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely, and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy but just wage total war, our children will sing great songs about us years from now.
- A year from now, I'll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush.