Richard Perle Has His Panties in a Bunch Over Iran

To a warmongering neocon whose only real concern is the fate of Israel, 'diplomacy' is a dirty word. And, you know there's something seriously wrong with someone who pits Rick Santorum (Look! WMD in Iraq!) against Condi Rice and declares Santorum as the victor (as much as I lack respect for Rice).

That someone is Richard Perle, who is now seiously pissed off at Bush for actually allowing diplomacy to take place to deal with Iran.

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) tried two weeks ago to pass the Iran Freedom Support Act, which would have increased the administration's too-little-too-late support for democracy and human rights in Iran. But the State Department opposed it, arguing that it "runs counter to our efforts . . . it would limit our diplomatic flexibility."

Back in 2003, , Perle stunned almost everyone when he declared that the Iraq war was 'illegal', but he was also quick to blame international law as the obstacle and his disdain for the UN knows no bounds. He sees it as a barrier to US domination and aggression. Obviously, anybody who would suggest using diplomacy, thus blocking the neocon agenda for democracy by force in the Middle East, is a threat to Mr Perle.

Yet, oddly enough, he hails back to the Reagan days as some sort of sentimental time even though not one shot was fired to end the Cold War. But Perle would never admit that a policy which included diplomacy worked in that case.

Twenty years ago, I watched U.S. diplomats conspire with their diffident European counterparts to discourage President Ronald Reagan from a political, economic and moral assault on the Soviet Union aimed at, well, regime change. Well-meaning diplomats pleaded for flexibility at the negotiating table, hoping to steer U.S. policy back toward d?tente[sic]. But Reagan knew a slippery slope when he saw one. At the defining moments, he refused the advice of the State Department and intelligence community and earned his place in history.

That's a rather facile impression of what was a long and complicated process.

Yes, the State Department and the intel community are the real enemies of any president according to Perle. If he had his way, it seems, they and the UN would be abolished and the president, under the doctrine of the infamous unitary executive, would have unilateral power to decide the fate of the United States.

We've already seen how that's working out, haven't we Mr Perle?

Following the path of lies that Bush led the international community down prior to the invasion of Iraq, Bush's power in the world has been reduced. So, simply attacking diplomacy as the root of all evil in incredibly narrow-minded. No, Mr Perle, the world is no longer buying what your president is selling and you, as one the instigators of the war with Iraq, are as much to blame for that lack of credibility as Bush is now.