The morning headline that Alaska senator Ted Stevens, “who wields outsize influence over federal spending, was indicted on Tuesday on seven felony counts of failing to disclose gifts that he received from an oil services company” (read more at the Anchorage Daily News) was one thing — but another oil-rich bombshell, reported on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal, far outweighs it: Richard Perle (pictured here), “one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago…has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents outlining possible deals.”