Anti-war protests enter new stage with
transatlantic targetting of Richard Perle

Cambridge Students Against the War (CamSAW) press release.
 http://www.camsaw.org.uk
 http://www.peopleagainstempire.org
Cambridge – Tuesday 8 April 2003.
For immediate release.
For more information, contact George: 07812459903.
On-site contact: 07736284196.

At 4:00pm BST today, activists coordinated between San Francisco and Cambridge, UK to stage a “die-in” and perform street theatre at the offices of Cambridge-based company Autonomy. The action targeted the interests of
prominent American hawk, Richard Perle, currently a director of Autonomy (founded in Cambridge, corporate headquarters in San Francisco), a data processing company which has strong business relations with the intelligence
community. Autonomy's business stands to profit from the war in Iraq and the cultivation of fear that accompanies it and the broader “War on Terrorism” (The Guardian, 21 March 2003, “Pentagon hawk linked to UK intelligence
company”; Business Weekly, 4 April 2003, “Autonomy set for post-Iraq sales surge”).

Some of the 25 anti-war activists held banners outside Autonomy's offices at the Cambridge Science Park, while others performed street theatre on the theme of surveillance and death. Cars of employees were leafleted with information about the connections between Autonomy and Richard Perle, as well as his political background.

Activists seek to highlight the substantial connection between corporate business and the pro-war lobby in the Bush administration. Perle exemplifies this connection, and was recently forced to resign as chairman of the
Defense Policy Board after it emerged that he had been hired by the telecommunications company Global Crossing to lobby the Department of Defense on behalf of the bankrupt company (The Guardian, 28 March 2003, “Unfinished Business”).

The action aims to remind the public and employees of Autonomy that as they work, bombs are falling that have already killed thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians. “Autonomy's clients to date are believed to
include MI6 and GCHQ, the newly launched US Department of Homeland Security in Washington, and intelligence agencies in Italy” (The Guardian, 21 March 2003).

In the lead-up to the action, CamSAW participant Nick Gill said “It is important that analysis of what this war is about gives sufficient weight to the influence that business has had on the decision to go to war. Autonomy,
and Richard Perle, by their participation in the military and homeland security industry, stand to benefit greatly from the war in Iraq. Despite this, Perle continues to sit on the Defense Policy Board advising Donald Rumsfeld to go to war. Is this war about weapons of mass destruction, about Saddam, about human rights or about profit?”


Notes for Editors:

1.)Richard Perle has been described as “one of the architects of the war on Iraq”. He was once styled as the “Prince of Darkness” for his pro-military, anti-arms treaty views. He is a former Assistant Secretary of State. While he has symbolically resigned as chair of the Defense Policy Board over conflicts of interest, he still sits on that Board. He is widely recognized as one of the key minds shaping President George W. Bush's global strategy.

2.)As long ago as 1997, Richard Perle co-authored the “Clean Break” paper which provided a blueprint for a “secure” Middle East. In this paper, Perle called for Saddam Hussein to be removed and replaced by a Hashemite monarchy in order to reinforce Israel's position in the region. The paper goes on to suggest that the power of Syria needs to be “rolled back”. Perle has often
suggested elsewhere that change also needs to occur in Iran, Libya and North Korea.

3.)More information about Autonomy is available on their website ( http://www.autonomy.com). The Guardian quoted the company's CEO Mike Lynch, himself a Cambridge Ph.D., as saying that 'the threat of war in Iraq has helped sales to intelligence agencies, as “defense issues come more to mind, which frees up the mind to spend”' (21 March 2003).

4.)CamSAW was founded in response to the events of September 11th 2001 and the resulting “War on Terrorism” and attack on Afghanistan. This coalition of students from Cambridge University, Anglia Polytechnic University and
local higher education and sixth form colleges currently campaigns against the war on Iraq. See  http://www.camsaw.org.uk/