[A-List] Europe/US rivalry: Perle on Iraq

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Europe lacks moral fibre, says US hawk

Edward Pilkington and Ewen MacAskill
Wednesday November 13, 2002
The Guardian

Richard Perle, a leading Pentagon adviser on Iraq, last night launched an
extraordinary tirade against Europe which he accused of losing its moral
direction and providing succour to Saddam Hussein.

"I think Europe has lost its moral compass. Many Europeans have become so
obsessed by the prospect of violence they have failed to notice who we are
dealing with," he said in an interview with the Guardian.

Mr Perle expressed serious reservations about the United Nations chief
weapons inspector, Hans Blix, and the ability of his team to disarm Iraq.

But he reserved his most scathing comments for Germany and Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder's new anti-war stance.

"Germany has subsided into a moral numbing pacifism. For the German
chancellor to say he will have nothing to do with action against Saddam
Hussein, even if approved by the United Nations, is unilateralism," Mr Perle
said.

France, which led resistance within the UN security council to the Bush
administration's drive for an automatic mandate for war against Iraq, fared
little better.

Did the French show more signs of moral fibre? "I have seen diplomatic
manoeuvre, but not moral fibre," Mr Perle said.

He exempted Tony Blair from his criticism, saying the British prime minister
had displayed the outrage towards President Saddam that should be felt.

But he accused the European left in general of choosing to ignore the
realities of the Iraqi leader's excesses.

"I don't see how anyone, particularly any liberal, can say anything that can
be construed as protecting the regime of Saddam Hussein. And yet that's the
position that many on the left have taken."

Mr Perle's comments reflect the strained ties between Washington and Europe
since George Bush came to power in 2000 over a range of issues, from the
environment to trade and now Iraq.

US-German relations slumped to their worst since 1945 in the wake of
Chancellor Schröder's recent anti-Iraq war election campaign.

Mr Perle, who is close to key hawks within the Pentagon and who was an early
advocate of regime change in Baghdad, predicted that Iraq was just the first
of a long list of dictatorships and countries harbouring terrorists that
merited the international community's attention. He mentioned Iran, Syria
and North Korea.

Referring to North Korea's recent admission that it had a nuclear weapons
programme, he said: "Now you understand what he [President Bush] meant by
axis of evil. There are some people you can't do deals with. You could not
do a deal with Hitler, and you can't do a deal with Saddam Hussein or with
North Korea."