WASHINGTON – Richard Perle, a Pentagon adviser known for his hawkish views on Iraq, has resigned his membership on the Defense Policy Board, which counsels the secretary of defense on policy issues. In his resignation letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dated Feb. 18 and released Thursday, Perle said he quit because he did not want his controversial views "to be attributed to you or the president at any time, and especially not during a presidential campaign." "This is particularly true now since I have just published a book that calls for far-reaching reform of government departments responsible for combating terrorism," he wrote. "Many of the ideas in that book are controversial and I wish to be free to argue for them without those views or my arguments getting caught up in the campaign."
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