Shoe Bomb

Richard Perle was donated some additional footwear last night during a debate over Iraq with Howard Dean:

Howard Dean, the newly minted leader of the Democratic Party, and former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle made clear their opposing views on the war in Iraq during a debate marred by a protester who tossed a shoe at Perle.

Perle had just started his comments Thursday when a protester threw a shoe at him before being dragged away, screaming, "Liar! Liar!"...

"Defense is a lot broader than swaggering around saying you're going to kick Saddam's butt," Dean said Thursday, drawing cheers from the crowd in this city that overwhelmingly voted Democratic last November.

Perle said the war in Iraq was justified based on the intelligence available at the time. "Sometimes the things we have to do are objectionable to others," he said.

The "intelligence available at the time" was political crap, and anyone with half a brain knew it. Perle is, as usual, talking out of his ass--and he was reminded of his propensity to do this when asked about a statement he made in September of 2003, when he said that within a year, "a grand square in Baghdad named for President Bush."

His reply?

"I'd be a fool not to recognize that it did not happen on the schedule I had in mind," Perle said, adding that he did not deny that the administration had made mistakes in Iraq.

But, Perle added, "I will be surprised, yet again, if we do not see a square in Baghdad named after this president." He did not specify a time.

A square? How about a cemetery? It'd be more fitting. Or maybe we can rename the Green Zone wall after the dauphin: the George W. Bush 25 Foot Reinforced Concrete Wall of Liberation--Entry via secure checkpoint only, all others will be shot--this means you, Iraqi citizens.

However, Perle IS dropping hints that he's leaving the sinking ship (the "mistakes were made" element of his public statements). I'll give him credit for having a rat's capacity to sense danger.