European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 Colin mrs a the stars and stripes thursday july 16,1987 Andrew Glass that special moment in Iran Contra hearings All great congressional hearings in our times have in common a special moment when pretence clears and the Core of the inquiry stands revealed in i9s4, during the first of these nationally televised sessions Joe Mccarthy accused the army of coddling communists. Mccarthy s end came when a crusty Boston lawyer asked the senator have you no shame in 1973, As the watergate scandal unfolded that moment came when the sen ate committee revealed that Richard Ninon had secretly bugged every Oval office conversation since 1971. We knew then that if a prosecutor could Ever Lay his hands on those tapes Nixon was through. The Iran Contra proceedings Haven t run their course. Yet for me the highlight of these hearings will always be the moment when la. Col. Oliver North explained Why he had cashed a $100 travel or s Check at a hosiery shop. It troubled him. Would people suspect Hanky Panky perhaps think he was buy ing lingerie for his Beautiful Secretary then his Best Friend his wife Balsy. Saved him you know what she Lold me of course you did you of Buffoon. You went there to buy leotards for our two Little girls " any superficial resemblance to Nix on s cloth Coal pales before the mythic potential. That stuff belongs in an Art form perfected in America the mov ies. My mind reeled Back 4s years from Parkland hosiery to a Jungle Fox Hole. Night bugs chirp As the squad awaits an attack. Slumping lower in my seat i Chew a Juicy fruit As re freshing Waves of Cool air Wash through he theater. Then William Bendix taps a Young but sad Jimmy Stewart on the Arm and says something like did t anyone Tell you you of Paloska the japs already knew about the secret base before you spilled the Beans to them la s not your fault that pretty nurse got William Buckley i want to what Oliver has t0 say 6ive North immunity s0wecanrnpoot what happened he vis too Busy to watch the remorse. Expiation. Enlightenment. Thai s the Story line that shaped North s Days on the witness stand. It was a theme worthy of an in Marine who stand poised to tour the country in Triumph spinning his anti communist yarns if that is he avoids a stint in the Slammer for having obstructed Justice. Its too bad that White House image makers round it impolitic for Ronald Reagan to watch North s performance. There s a scene in helical of the Navy a movie about world War ii submariners which Reagan made in 1957, that tits the situation quite Well. To save the boat. Reagan leu his Best Friend drown he a pcs until his movie if Nancy Davis whom Reagan later married consoles him because after All he d done what he had to do. While Olin presidents preside Over a secular society the successful ones know thai people live by their myths television s immense Power allows North to fill these needs. For some he s a real live Steve Canyon the comic Page air Force colonel who foils commies at every turn. Ollic slave is ready to meet the bad Guys on equal terms anywhere in he. World Only slay away from my Gal and my kids. An earlier generation might hive recognized North As Lanny Budd the implausible hero of 11 novels by Upton Sinclair who happens to be on hand for nearly All the momentous events of the Day. For the French North is an Ameri can Fried Georges Boulanger a Soldier on horseback upholding the royalist cause against the pc Leninist mobs of the third Republic. Bui our judgment should t be too harsh. I recall Robert Kennedy once Tell ing me that military men ought to Hale the enemy the Way thoroughbreds love to run. Occasionally he said you la get a Guy like Matt Taylor the army general after whom Kennedy named a son who understands geopolitics. Most of them Don t. That s Why you need a Strong pre con Maui Sev who should pay High costs of Legal defense there is a general feeling that something is not quite right in the arrangement we have set up seeking 10 expunge evil from Washington. The problem was neatly highlighted a month ago when former Secretary of labor Raymond Donovan faced the cameras after a jury had bund him not guilty of any of the crimes and offences charged by an ambitious prosecutor. He was freed he was exonerated he had resigned a Cabinet Post had suffered he obloquy of the defendant indicted typically in the most invidious language available and he and his firm were Short in j million. He wanted to know he told the press what the american people who Are presumed to be behind such legislation As providing a special prosecutor for Dono Van thought about the Deal they had struck. Right away the accountant types did their figuring and if this figuring is to be trusted we assume that each of the lawyers hired by or. Donovan and his company received 5500,000 per year devoted to his defense. The reaction is if Donovan wants 10 spend that kind of dough let him be responsible for it Don t ask the Uppa cars to worry about it. And it is True that the Market for Fibril class lawyers has driven Legal . I have once before cited a very successful Middle Agni lawyer in Washington who told me a few years ago that notwithstanding his relative affluence if he Wen charged with a serious crime he would not be Able to afford to pay a first class lawyer what such a lawyer would demand in order to explore at the ave Nues open to a successful defense. So then we need to begin by persuading the Public that the proposal before the House is not a Bill to sustain $ 500,000-pcr-Ycar fees for lawyers. A formula could almost certainly be worked out thai would appease such a problem. Possibly one could encourage a Rosier of first class lawyers who would be willing to Lake on Public cases for reduced though not for Penu rious fees. Such lawyers in addition to whatever Good feeling is gotten from serving pro Bono pub co would have the satisfaction of the publicity attaching 10 their publicized cases. But to return to the defendants. In most corporate business businessmen demand and get before consenting to serve at directors of Public companies a warranty that guarantees that All the expenses of lawsuits against he company and its directors will be paid by the corporation. There arc obvious exceptions Here if a director murders the president he is presumably not acting in the line of duly unless a very severe Case can be made against the behaviour of the president. But arrange ments of some sort shielding those who Woik in the pub Lic sector is overdue. I engaged or. Ira Glasser the talented executive director of the american civil liberties Union in a discussion of the question seeking to discover whether the Acle was broadly in sympathy with the objective of getting Congress to agree to compensate exonerated Public servants for the Cost of their own defense there was a Little Hemming and hawing Here in part because or. Glasser correctly pointed out that there is no counterpart for the special protections being sought for Public servants in the private sector. Or. Smith Slonic can be charged with murder the jury can find him not guilty and or Smil Slone is still left owing h is lawyers the Cost of his defense unless he is destitute in which Case he state pays for his defense. Or. Gasser wonders not unnaturally Why Prece dents should attach to Public servants when there arc private sector defendants who also Sutler from wrong headed Public prosecution. I in has a Point and in arc Are Many who believe that at least in civil suits the British Rule should be adopted. In is that the innocent party is reimbursed his Legal fees by the guilty party this lends to discourage frivolous libel suits out in criminal mailers there is no Way in which reimbursement can be achieved. The Best perhaps the Only answer to the Acle is thai we proceed one step at a time. We have seen Jimmy Carter s chief of staff Hamilton Jordan Pum Meled for trafficking in cocaine except he did t do it. We saw previous charges against de Meuse investigated and jettisoned. Leonard garment the distinguished attorney who served As counsel for president Ninon wrote about the quandary in commentary Magazine and makes the interesting Point will Pru Dent men recognising the True hazards of office con sent to serve in is Lime for congressional intervention
