You've Gotta be Kidding Me

TalkingPointsMemo has a link to CalPundit that gives you a real good idea of just what kind of loon Richard Perle is--apologies to genuine avian loons, who are unfairly maligned birds (and they make nice decorations on Canadian dollar coins). Drum recently read Charlie Wilson's War, an account of the Texas congressman's effort to supply the mujahadeen during the 1980's. Seems that, back when we were establishing the Afghan mujahadeen movement--which morphed into the Taliban (see post below regarding Rambo III helping the nascent Taliban kick Soviet butt)--Perle hit upon what, in his twisted sense of reality, was a splendid little idea. Why not score a propaganda coup against the godless communists by enticing Soviet soldiers to desert to the Afghan side?

Um--one little problem: Soviet prisoners of war who weren't shot within a day or so usually ended up in a state that probably had them wishing they WERE dead. As far as defectors--well, read the CalPundit link--especially the Bill Casey quote. Ah, what the hell, here's what Casey said:

"What asshole would want to defect to these animals?"

Needless to say, his little scheme went nowhere--apparently they managed to find about a dozen "live" if not exactly living Red Army prisoners, of which three or four managed to make it to the United States, where they were quickly forgotten, including the one who robbed a 7-Eleven in Virginia.

As Mr. Drum says, consider Perle's grasp of reality whenever he opens his mouth. I think he'd have to take several steps back to this side of the fence before he can even be considered a genuine crackpot.