From: Dr. Blake Nelson (bnelson301@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2003 - 17:36:23 EST
FYI --
Publication:The New York Sun; Date:Mar 12, 2003;
Section:National; Page:2
PERLE SUING OVER NEW YORKER ARTICLE
By ADAM DAIFALLAH Staff Reporter of the Sun
WASHINGTON — Richard Perle, the influential
foreign policy hawk, is suing journalist Seymour Hersh
over an article he wrote implying that Mr. Perle is
using his position as a Pentagon adviser to benefit
financially from a war to liberate Iraq.
"I intend to launch legal action in the United
Kingdom. I’m talking to Queen’s Counsel right now,"
Mr. Perle, who chairs the Pentagon’s Defense Policy
Board, a non-paying position, told The New York Sun
last night.
He said he is suing in Britain because it is
easier to win such cases there, where the burden on
plaintiffs is much less.
Mr. Hersh’s article, which appears in the March 17
issue of the The New Yorker magazine, said Mr. Perle
met for lunch with two Saudi businessman in France in
January in an attempt to
seek Saudi investment for a company Mr. Perle is
associated with, Trireme Partners L.P.
Trireme was created to "invest in companies
dealing in technology, goods, and services that are of
value to homeland security and defense," according to
Mr. Hersh’s article.
Mr. Hersh writes that Mr. Perle said that the
meeting was convened only to talk about a diplomatic
alternative to war in Iraq. One of the meeting’s
participants, Harb Saleh Al-Suhair, a Saudi born in
Iraq, wanted to discuss averting war with Mr. Perle.
But according to the article, both Saudi businessmen —
Mr. Al-Suhair and Adnan Kashoggi — thought the purpose
of the meeting was to discuss Iraq as well as Saudi
investment in Trireme.
But the article quotes all three participants
saying that Saudi investment in Trireme was not
discussed at the lunch, because, as Mr. Al-Zuhair
says, Mr. Perle said "he was above the money"and that
he "stuck to his idea that ‘we have to get rid of
Saddam.’" And to this day, according to the article,
no Saudi money has been invested in Trireme.
When asked what part of the article is incorrect,
Mr. Perle told the Sun: "It’s all lies, from beginning
to end."
The editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick, is
sticking by Mr. Hersh’s piece.
"It went through serious reporting, with four
members of the board talking to Sy [Hersh], and
rigorous factchecking, legal-checking and all the
rest," Mr. Remnick told the Sun.
He said he took issue with Mr. Perle’s description
of Mr. Hersh on CNN Sunday as "the closest thing
American journalism has to a terrorist."
"I would have thought after all this many years,
Mr. Perle would be a bit more refined than that," Mr.
Remnick said.
The Saudi Arabian ambassador to America, Prince
Bandar bin Sultan, is quoted in the article accusing
Mr. Perle of "blackmail."
A former deputy undersecretary of defense who
worked with Mr. Perle, Stephen Bryen, defended Mr.
Perle as well.
"It’s pretty outrageous for a leftwing columnist
to make accusations like this with no factual basis.
Most of the many hours he works each day are pro bono
to help the administration with its policy on Iraq. He
should get is a medal of honor," Mr. Bryen said.
A senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was
the architect of a briefing to Mr. Perle’s Defense
Policy Board on Saudi Arabia last summer, Laurent
Murawiec, said Mr. Hersh’s piece is "pure bull."
"It sounds like the kind of thing that’s done for
the sole purpose and intent to blacken someone.
Richard has been in public life for over 30 years and
his ethics have never been challenged by anybody. I
found the piece blindingly transparent as an ad
hominem hack job. It’s thoroughly disgusting," Mr.
Murawiec said.
Mr. Perle is a director of Hollinger International
Inc., which is an investor in the Sun.
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