Richard Perle, former assistant secretary of Defense for security affairs, said links between Iraq and worldwide terror recently have been well documented, and that toppling Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein not only will have beneficial effects for the people of that country, but also for Israel and the people of Iran.

Perle addressed approximately 175 major contributors to the United Jewish Federation at a dinner co-chaired by Jerry and Carole Turk on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the La Jolla Torrey Pines Hilton. "On the Sunday talk shows, you will see people say it is not possible to establish a link between Saddam Hussein and terror," Perle told the attendees. "That is simply not true. There are links and they are well documented. They were not well understood before Sept. 11, and the reason for that was that the intelligence community, principally the CIA and other agencies in the intelligence community, adopted a theory, a model of reality, and in that model of reality secular terrorists and religious terrorists did not get together.

Richard Perle Herb Targum photo

"On the contrary, it was their belief that the relationship was one of hostility and therefore they never looked to see whether links were established," Perle asserted. "A small number of people in the Defense Department who were doubtful about this theory" decided to examine archival material, including interviews with defectors and communications that had been intercepted, and "within a matter of weeks began to discover extensive links between Iraqi intelligence and the organization of Osama bin Laden."

The evidence was so conclusive that CIA director George Tenet recently reversed himself and acknowledged the links in a letter to the U.S. Senate, Perle said.

"Terrorism is of one piece," he told the UJF contributors. "Terrorism against Israelis in Israel, against Israelis in Africa, against Americans. It is all of a piece.

"One of the things that we have learned is that terrorists work together; they work together in much the same way that the criminal underground works together. You need someone to help with a safecracking in Phoenix, and you happen to live in Detroit, you will find someone who will help you in Phoenix. There is an underground communication.

"There is an underground communication among terrorists as well," he said. "We found the Irish Republican Army assisting Colombian terrorists in the manufacture of explosives. The IRA is good at that. We are beginning to wake up to the cooperative arrangements that exist among terrorist organizations around the world."

Perle described Saddam Hussein as "one of the most unrelenting opponents in history" toward Israel, noting that the Iraqi leader regularly sends checks to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers and harbors terrorists.

Perle served as an assistant secretary of Defense under Caspar Weinberger during Ronald Reagan's presidency, and although in private business today, he keeps close to the Defense Department as the civilian chairman of its policy advisory board.

He said toppling Saddam Hussein will be a relief for average Iraqi citizens, because "this is a man who has ruled by such terror, such unimaginable terror, that there are very few Iraqis who will fight for him."

A couple of months ago, a surgeon working in a Baghdad hospital defected from Iraq by traveling to Turkey through the Kurdish region, Perle reported. The man told authorities that he couldn't bring himself to comply with standing orders from Saddam Hussein that young men who had deserted from the Iraqi armed forces should have their ears cut off.

"In some cases, these were teenagers who were desperate to see an ailing parent," Perle said. Furthermore, he said, "we know and have ample documentation that Saddam routinely uses
rape as a means of political control, but in this case family members are forced to observe.

"It is an unspeakable regime, and for the life of me I cannot understand why there is such solicitousness in the United Nations for Saddam Hussein or why our allies abroad are so reluctant to fully support the United States and the President."

Perle urged early action against Saddam, whom he described as "a man who is brutal to his own people, who possesses chemical and biological weapons, who is working furiously to achieve a nuclear capability, and if we leave him in place, he will only become more dangerous with the passage of time."

Asked during a question-and-answer session about Iran, Perle predicted that if Saddam Hussein is brought down, it could hasten a revolution that already is brewing among young people in neighboring Iran.

"The people of Iran are fed up with the government that now controls every aspect of their lives," he said. Because the government and religious powers in Iran are "the single largest source of money for terrorist activity, particularly against the Israelis," Perle said American policy should be to encourage "what is already an inchoate revolution among the broad masses of the Iranian people, who are simply fed up.

"Per-capita income in Iran today is half of what it was when the Shah was deposed," he said. "The population is a very young population — half of it under 20 — and they don¹t like having every aspect of their lives dictated to them by clerics who had seized power.

"Then you have a window on the outside world through satellite television, and they know it is not necessary to live that way. So I think there will be a revolution, and I think it will be hastened by bringing down Saddam Hussein.

"The Iranians will look next door and think, if Saddam Hussein can be brought down, who cannot be brought down?"

Attending Perle¹s speech were contributors to the United Jewish Federation campaign who gave $10,000 per individual or $15,000 per couple. Balancing the appearance by the conservative Republican, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, a liberal Democrat, will be the featured speaker Jan. 16 at the annual UJF's Men¹s Event.