European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 25, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes tuesday August 25.1987 Anthony Lewis Bork s role in watergate must be considered . La Wirtl  nomination of Robert h. Bork id the supreme court raises questions hat cannot be tightly decided questions of importance and difficult 1. Judge Bork is a Man of High intellect and distinguished experience in the Taw. But in his record and in his outspoken views Here arc mailers thai must concern the Senate and the  first is a matter of history his role in 1he watergate affair. I is not history in a Dusty sense. What he did then Mai lers new in fact and  remembers Hal Bork Dis missed Archibald cos As watergate Spe Cial prosecutor. It was saturday oct. 20. 1973 the saturday night massacre. President Nixon wanted Cox out be cause he had subpoenaed while House laps he apes Ihal eventually san Nixon. The attorney general and his Dep Uty would not carry out the president s order to fire the special prosecutor. Bork became acting attorney general and did. The crucial questions arose immediately after the massacre. Would the of fice of special prosecutor continue would the subpoena for the tapes be pressed those were the questions that aroused the country and brought a fire storm of Public outrage Down on the White  was Bork s role in those questions in 1982, at a hearing on his Nomi nation to the . Court of appeals he said he had dealt with them at once the Day after the massacre at a meeting with Cox s Deputy. Henry s. Ruth jr., and  told them i wanted them to continue As before with their investigations and with their prosecutions he said that they would have Complete Independence and thai i would guard that Independence including their right to go to court to get the White House tapes or any other evidence they  the record does not support Hiil statement. On the next working Day oct. 23, Bork issued an order retroactive to oct. 21, the morning after the massacre. It said this order abolishes the office of watergate special prosecution Force. The functions of that office revert to the criminal division la was the criminal division of inc Justice department whose bungled investigation of water Gate Ted 10 the Call for a special prosecutor in the first place Jim Fain Ruth s recollection is in Accord with the record. In a conversation recently he said the meeting mentioned by Bork was very Lens. Bork Lold him and a colleague to Brief the head of the criminal division. Henry Pelc sen who would make the decisions on whether to prosecute and so on. No Ruth said he did t guarantee our Independence in the sense of a Spe Cial prosecutor. As to whether we would run into barriers if we subpoenaed this or that tape nobody knew the answer that evening. All that was done after the  pubic outrage forced Nixon Loback Down. On the afternoon of oct. 23 his lawyers amazed the court by saying he would after All comply with the laps subpoena. On oct. 26 Nixon said he would accept a new special prosecutor. Only after that on nov. 2, did Bork Issue a new order establishing the of fice of watergate special prosecution  the Reagan while House perhaps drawing on Bork s 1982 testimony has credited him with saving the watergate investigation. In a Brief ast month on the Bork nomination it said immediately after carrying out the president s instruction to discharge Cox Piork acted to safeguard the watergate investigation and its Independence. He promptly established a new special prosecutor s office giving it authority to pursue the investigation without interference. He expressly ensured the special prosecutor s office Complete ind Epen right to subpoena the tapes Dence As Well As his right that version of history contradicts not Only the record but Bork s Well known views then and now. He agreed to Dis miss con because he thought a president had inc Power to remove a special prosecutor for subpoena ing his tapes indeed he thought As be later testified Hal the idea of a special prosecutor Independent of the president was unconstitutional. In Bork s View presidential Power was so great that it overrode a formal Justice department regulation providing that the watergate prosecutor will not be removed except for extraordinary  a resp cycled Feder Al judge Gerhard a. Go sell held Hal the regulation had the Force of Law and that Bork s firing of Archibald Cox was therefore  Bork was not part of inc watergate coverup no one thinks int. But his views of presidential Power made him insensitive to the moral and constitutional Challenge Ilia watergate presented. In a prospective supreme court Justice that View is highly Rev clan. Cne Lmh tin j a frs i of Etc Media often now themselves to be manipulated people in my Trade Are Seldom sillier than when we dust off our Lorene ties to debate professional ethics. The faustian phrase gives the game away we got along Fine in the news business until some of us Learned where to put inc Finger bowl doily. Then we began to exalt ourselves As a profession. Since we be done almost As much damage to society As doctors and lawyers. From Gary Hart to George Bush to Jim Bakker to Ollie North we be had lots to Lut Tut Over recently. Abe Rosenthal sex editor of the new York times and self anointed keeper of the flame was scandalized when inc Miami Herald slaked Oul Hart s tryst. Several Pic so offing colleagues joined in. Did they want the her Ald to ignore a tip that the senator was dallying after making conversion to monogamy a Centrepiece of his Campaign our business always has had a grungy Side. Panting colonials swarmed inc docks when ships brought accounts of smarmy London trials. We routinely publish the sexual Eluvin of Rock stars and show Biz. Why exempt poli ins Well bet. Ise anybody is entitled to privacy if he s willing to pay some modest dues. These include not trying to have it both ways posing As judge Hardy for voters and Warren Beany for party girls. No two sit Uii Lions arc the same. It s impossible to while a Sci of commandments covering them All. The press is a raucous mass of diverse outlets ranging from the National enquirer to the times 10 lbs it agrees thank god about nothing. Its raunch level is surprisingly Low in View of the 1960s revolution that popularized pc and extra marital sex and brought homosexuality Oul of the closet. This is a Radi Cally different culture from when i was Young. Each question has to be decided on its own. Han made womanizing an Issue. George Bush did not and should not have responded to allegations. The times was absurd to ask for raw Fri files and medical records of candidates. Which brings us to Ollie North. North is a far More serious ethical indictment of us than our occasional bemused Cal with cd sheets and not for the reasons usually cited. He used National to for a Sermon against leaks riling capture of the Achille Lauro hijackers. Newsweek Ihnn identified him As its leaker on that Story the Washington press was horrified. Identifying leaders jeopardizes the political colander from which Many of my Brethren drink. In inc ensuing Brouhaha nol much was said about the real problem which is that leaks permit Anonymous officials to distort Ine news to their own purpose while avoiding any accountability. Whether Newsweek should have lingered North de pends on what kind of Deal it made with him. Whether it should have had any kind of Deal is another Story. Leaks Seldom arc faithful to truth. The press should be much warier of them. The Public knows. Though we worry about credibility a recent Survey showed 90 percent giving us Good Marks on believability. But 55 percent said we arc too easily manipulated by Gocr mint. Politicians big Busi Ness and the military. Thai s Irue. We re seduced by the trappings of Power flattery and competitive pressures into letting ourselves be used by the hype machines thai Are an Industry in Washington. We be become More Lap than watchdog. That s a much deeper problem than which if any keyholes to Peep through. Id coi not by a the opinions Bifi Lefiti in Tiff in Furi i d Cinco s on in nag 1 111010 of it blk Khoii and Aramco Ltd to do conium in iepis4  5 Oltha Slars do Stopf d Tow u i in Izlo.