What do Richard Perle and Smokey the Bear have in common?

Posted By David Kenner Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - 4:07 PM Share

At a New America Foundation event today, featuring some of America's grandest grand strategists, Richard Perle proved willing to play with fire metaphors.

It all began when Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Walter Russell Mead described what he saw as the contradictory nature of American power. The United States usually attempts to preserve the international status quo, Mead argued, while at the same time acting as the world's "arsonist," whose interventions and innovations are responsible for some of the world's largest conflicts.

That was all it took to get Perle, who was by far the most unenthusiastic panelist regarding Obama's first year, talking about forest fire prevention. "Sometimes fires are put out by setting deliberate fires," he noted. "I think you sometimes set a fire to contain a fire, in order to deprive the fire you're hoping to contain of combustible material, which would enable it to spread or expand. So I'm not against using fire to fight fire."

"I'm not an expert on fires," Perle noted, preempting any accusation that the New York-born foreign policy analyst knows little about fire-fighting techniques.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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VIGOROUS

5:31 PM ET

December 22, 2009

in common?

We know Smokey the Bear would never accept Russian help suppressing US wildfire

Given Perle's record in foreign affairs, I suspect he would be at one with the Forest Service on this one:

http://www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/15979

*(The US is not alone. See recent Australian news on this topic.)

MIGHTYWIND

5:00 PM ET

December 23, 2009

There isn't enough time

You know, the only way Smokey the Bear could ever really stop a forest fire, like sending addicts to drug rehab, is to stomp and urinate all over the fire himself.

SKHURRAMS

2:39 PM ET

December 25, 2009

watch 90210 free

JIM BURNINISKI

11:38 PM ET

December 22, 2009

Richard Perle Vs Smokey

Looking forward for more

REVIEWBOB

6:32 AM ET

January 27, 2010

Given Perle's record in

Given Perle's record in foreign affairs, I suspect he would be at one with the Forest Service on this one: