Richard Perle's Departure Signals Decline Of Cheney Camp

by Franz Schurmann

(PNS) -- The audience stirs restlessly in their seats, but the curtains just keep ruffling. All the playgoers know is the name of the play, "The Greater Middle East." Yet, in this presidential election year, few doubt that big events are shaping up backstage.

They are expecting the main actors to be Vice President Dick Cheney and his advisor Richard Perle, who, with President Bush's blessings, gallantly battle two evil opponents, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

The playgoers, mostly Jews, Christians and Muslims, intuit that the play will be about war and peace. Most hope that peace can follow the several wars in the region. But in Iraq, it looks like the White House planners and the generals on the ground think that, not war or peace, but both will prevail after June 30, when America returns sovereignty to Iraq. Cheney himself has warned that wars between America and its adversaries could continue for decades.

Jews, Christians and Muslims know about the wisdom of King Solomon, written down in the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon lists 14 adages, each beginning in the form "there is a time for X and a time for Y." That means one can't have both at the same time.

The 14th pair of opposites reads, "there is a time for war and a time for peace." Therefore, according to King Solomon, President Bush and his planners and generals must choose between war and peace. Cheney's statement shows he thinks a series of wars, not peace, will continue for a long time.

However, in past years several presidents made peace with our enemies when victory was hopeless: Eisenhower in the Korean War, Nixon in the Vietnam War, Reagan pulling the Marines out of Lebanon after 252 were Marines killed in a terrorist attack, and Clinton removing the Marines from Somalia.

A little-publicized event in early March revealed something of what's going on behind the curtains. An official statement read, "U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman made a quick tour of the Greater Middle East, which took in Morocco, Egypt, Bahrain, and Jordan. Marc Grossman appeared in an upbeat mood." Grossman may have been upbeat, but it's likely the quick trip was a last-ditch public relations attempt to shore up the Greater Middle East concept popular among neo-cons. Cheney and Perle are arch hawks, and they have many enemies in this election year.

George W. Bush may still be a staunch believer in his vice president's vision of a "Greater Middle East," where the fall of Iraq spreads pro-Western and secular democracies in the region. But in a letter dated Feb. 18, but not posted until the 25th, Richard Perle, the vice president's main adviser on the wars in the Middle East, announced his resignation from the Defense Policy Board. The delay may mean that Bush spent seven days mulling over the letter before finally accepting Perle's resignation.

A few days after the Perle resignation, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak rushed to Riyadh to confer with Crown Prince Abdullah. And both of them conferred with Syria's young president Bashar al-Assad. They then came out with a vitriolic denunciation of the Greater Middle East concept, especially its push for democratization and secularism. Within days after Feb. 25, the whole Arab and Muslim world was full of similar, but also carefully phrased, denunciations.

But where does Bush fit into the play? We know that in earlier public appearances he seemed often to be egged on by the neo-cons. By accepting Perle's resignation he has weakened, if not severed, his relations with them. He may already be asking Dick Cheney also to consider resignation.

When they entered presidential office in January 1969, Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew's world views were identical. By October 10, 1973, they had split dramatically, when Nixon asked Agnew to resign one day after the start of the Yom Kipper War. Ten days later, the United States suffered its worst oil crisis since the automobile era began.

An important date, June 30, is looming for George W. Bush. It was Bush who insisted to Kofi Annan and Paul Bremer that he could be flexible on all issues regarding Iraq except the June 30 handover date. If Bush's acceptance of Richard Perle's resignation marks an ideological split with Cheney, then he will have walked in the footsteps of several Republican presidents. But Bush will soon have to make a statement on Iraq, coming up with a new policy to replace the Greater Middle East policy.