May/June 2004 Issue

Are We Better Off: In His Own Words

Richard Perle is widely credited as the “intellectual architect” of the Iraq invasion. But with the clarity of hindsight, it’s clear that the former Defense Policy Board member trafficked in more than faulty intelligence; he also put forward a number of prognostications that turned out to be, well, off target.

Photo: AFP Imageforum

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“Iraq is a very wealthy country. Enormous oil reserves. They can finance, largely finance,
the reconstruction of their own country. And I have no doubt that they will.”

—PBS interview
July 11, 2002

 

“We are not talking about a massive invasion along the lines of 1991. We’re talking
about a much more modest effort in which the United States would assist Iraqis in freeing
their country.”

—Washington Post interview, August 22, 2002

 

“UN weapons inspectors are being seriously deceived…. It reminds me of the way
the Nazis hoodwinked Red Cross officials inspecting the concentration camp at Theresienstadt
in 1944. The SS even organized a phony concert to show what a wonderful new home the Jews had.
But Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has MORE evidence of secret weapons dumps.”

—Writing in the News of the World, February 23, 2003

 

“The predictions of those who opposed this war can be discarded like spent cartridges.
You remember them? We will kill hundreds of thousands. We will create thousands of new terrorists.
The Arab world will rise up and set the region aflame. Tony Blair and George Bush knew better.”

—Writing
in the News of the World, April 13, 2003

 

“Relax, celebrate victory.”

—Writing in USA Today, May 2, 2003

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“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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