Perle Suing Hersh

The New York Sun reports that Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle is suing New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh over Hersh's recent Perle profile. In case you might think Perle's lawsuit may have any more merit than his recent accusation that Hersh is a terrorist, note that Perle is filing suit in the United Kingdom, rather than in the country where story's subject, writer and magazine all reside. [Imagine de rigeur explanation of the UK's notoriously plaintiff-friendly libel laws here.] "I intend to launch legal action in the United Kingdom. I'm talking to Queen's Counsel right now," the doughy, lisping foreign policy hawk tells the paper. The Sun goes so far afield as to quote former Lyndon LaRouche cultist Laurent Murawiec as saying Hersh's piece is "pure bull," before concluding, "Mr. Perle is a director of Hollinger International Inc., which is an investor in the Sun."

Comments

[joe]

So now the case drags on for years, during which the public is repeatedly reminded of the charges made against Perle, and the crummy "terrorist" accusation. Then the verdict comes down and the appeals start. Perle's reputation ends up trashed, the cause for which he's been agitating is stained by association, and (as the inevitable backlash against USA Patriot politics comes to pass) Perle gets to be a poster child for antiterrorism excess - especially as every non-right wing journalist in America and Britain flock to Hersch's defense. This is the strategic thinker leading the largest revision of our foreign and military policy since the end of WWII?

[Jim]

Is this type of lawsuit even meaningful? I guess maybe if the New York Sun is sold in the UK. Otherwise I'm surprised the Iraqi government isn't trying to prosecute all of the people in the US media who are badmouthing Saddam. I'm sure it's against their laws...

[Lefty]

Yes, this is the mastermind of our foreign policy.

I'm not real cogent of the British legal system but I imagine they'll have some type of discovery process which will force Perle to either hide his documents or produce all kinds of stuff he'd rather not. If there's a jury, finding 12 British citizens without some serious problems with Perle's politics will be next to impossible. And if he should succeed in getting a judgement it's beyond me how it would ever be enforced.

Plenty of fuel for the bloggers, though.

[dhex]

what a wuss...

[Just Some Poor Schmuck]

"doughy, lisping foreign policy hawk "? Nothing like a little personal attack. Is there, Tim?