| Date: | Wednesday May 07, @02:44AM |
|---|---|
| Author: | admin |
| Topic: | Corporate Crime |
| from the msnbc.com dept. | |
(Graphic by theBigIdea)
L.A. Times: Perle ('The Prince Of Darkness') gave advice on making profit from conflicts
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES, May 7 — Pentagon adviser Richard Perle briefed an investment seminar on ways to profit from conflicts in Iraq and North Korea just weeks after he received a top-secret government briefing on the crises in the two countries, the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday.
PERLE, who until March was chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a group of outside advisers to the Pentagon, also serves on the board of several defense contractors. The revelation raises concerns about conflicts of interest.
The Times reported that Perle attended a Defense Intelligence Agency briefing in February and three weeks later participated in a Goldman Sachs conference call in which he advised investors in a talk titled “Implications of an Imminent War: Iraq Now. North Korea Next?”
Perle did not return phone calls or e-mails from the newspaper seeking comment.
UPDATED: Wed. May 7, 2003 - 11:14am
Last February, the Defense Policy Board, a group of outside advisers to the Pentagon, received a classified presentation from the super-secret Defense Intelligence Agency on the crises in North Korea and Iraq.
Three weeks later, the then-chairman of the board, Richard N. Perle, offered a briefing of his own at an investment seminar on ways to profit from possible conflicts with both countries.
Perle and his fellow advisers also heard a classified address about high-tech military communications systems at the same closed-door session in February. He runs a venture capital firm that has been exploring investments in that very area.
The disclosures in recently released board agendas and investment documents are the latest illustrations of how Perle's private consulting and investment interests overlap with his role on the board, an independent body advising the secretary of defense.
"...A financial advisor who participated in the conference call told Capitol Hill Blue that Perle offered "advice on how to cash if war broke out in Iraq and/or North Korea."
"...Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has asked the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate Perle's business activities and any conflicts they might pose for his membership. ..."
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies.
printed from The Republican Party Has SOLD OUT To The HIGHEST Bidder on 2004-06-03 14:59:03