WELL I hate to say “I told you so,” but I agree with the anti-war campaigners who reacted with astonishment recently when the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.

JUST days before US-led forces invaded Iraq, officials claiming to speak for a frantic Iraqi regime made a last-ditch effort to avert the war, but US officials rebuffed the overture, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

Richard Perle, a senior Pentagon official during President Ronald Reagan’s administration, today quit as chairman of the Defence Policy Board that is a key advisory arm for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

A senior Pentagon adviser today accused France of striking a deal with Saddam Hussein to oppose military action in return for a lucrative oil contract.