While a poll conducted by the BBC World Service finds Iran and the US having “a negative influence on the world”, Richard Perle, a key backer of the US-led war in Iraq, offers some gems on Iran and suggests that the West shouldn’t wait too long before embarking on military action:
“If you want to try to wait until the very last minute, you’d better be very confident of your intelligence because if you’re not, you won’t know when the last minute is. And so, ironically, one of the lessons of the inadequate intelligence of Iraq is you’d better be careful how long you choose to wait.”
Perle appears to be saying that intelligence is an imperfect science and shouldn’t be relied upon to make military decisions. Therefore, military action should be an option because the West simply says Iran is a threat. No real evidence is required. Perhaps a hot flush is enough. The fact that Perle is even listened to, let alone respected in some circles, beggars belief.