Global Crossing presumably hired Perle, former assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, as a lobbyist because he wields an enormous amount of power around the Pentagon. Perle is one of the biggest hawks in the nest: key adviser to buddy and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and a leading architect and proponent of the Bush administration�s bellicose policies toward Iraq.
The Pentagon and the Federal Bureau of Investigation objected to Global Crossing�s sale to Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, which was accused last year by Perle's fellow hawks of being a front for China's People's Liberation Army. The FBI was concerned because the US government uses Global Crossing�s fiber-optics networks and a sale would put the networks under control of the Chinese government. Global Crossing said it would pay Perle $125,000 plus an additional $600,000 if the deal went through.
Jason Leopold Asia Times Mar 29, 2003
