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Richard Perle Resigns

Hmm, nobody else seems to have picked up on this yet, but Richard Perle has resigned:

Richard Perle, a prominent adviser to the Bush administration known for his hawkish views on Iraq and other national security matters, has resigned from the Defense Policy Board, saying he wanted to avoid being a lightning rod for criticism of the administration during a presidential election year.

Perle submitted his resignation from the board — a bipartisan advisory group with no decision-making power — in a Feb. 18 letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

“We are now approaching a long presidential election campaign, in the course of which issues on which I have strong views will be widely discussed and debated,” Perle wrote. “I would not wish those views to be attributed to you or the president at any time, and especially not during a presidential campaign.”

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed the resignation and said Rumsfeld has accepted it, thanking Perle for his long service on the board, which spanned 17 years. The resignation was first reported late yesterday by Knight Ridder.

The full text of his resignation letter is available here:

…

Since there is bound to be speculation about my departure from the DPB, I thought I would put what I said to you in writing.

Despite heated disclaimers, my membership on the defense policy board has led many people to see my articles, books and television appearances to associate my views with those of the administration or the Department of Defense. This results partly from a misunderstanding about the role and nature of the Defense Policy Board, exacerbated by the controversy surrounding policies I have advocated as a private citizen. A television viewer or newspaper reader, accustomed to zoning boards, school boards and appeal boards, is likely to think that the Defense Policy Board actually makes decisions, and that a member of it must be in a position to speak authoritatively about administration policy. The fact that the Defense Policy Board is not a decision making body but is simply a forum enabling the Secretary of Defense to hear a variety of opinions and observations (often opposed to one another) is simply not understood by the general public

We are now approaching a long presidential election campaign, in the course of which issues on which I have strong views will be widely discussed and debated. I would not wish those views to be attributed to you or the President at any time, and especially not during a presidential campaign. This is particularly true now since I have just published a book that calls for far reaching reform of government departments responsible for combating terrorism. Many of the ideas in that book are controversial and I wish to be free to argue them without those views or my arguments getting caught up in the campaign.

…

Wow. Am I the only one shocked by this? I mean, wasn’t Bush planning to run as a “war president”? Seems kind of an odd time to be distancing yourself from the biggest hawks on your staff (or vice versa, but I can’t imagine this really being Perle’s idea or decision). So will Paul Wolfowitz be next? And why isn’t this bigger news? This happened a week ago!