European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday january 27, 1991 the stars and stripes a 4 Page 11columnswalter  review of ethics Washington a to avoid sequels to the Keating five Case sen. Robert Dole r-kan., proposes the front Page test Don t do it if you  want to read about it in the newspapers. Dole the Senate Republican Leader thinks that ought to be a guideline for senators intervening with Federal regulators on behalf of their constituents. So he has introduced legislation to require Public disclosure of congressional contacts with Federal agencies on regulatory matters or on government contracts. In a system in which political campaigns demand huge sums of Money and constituents demand services a which sometimes Means intervention with government agencies a conflicts seem just about inevitable. Campaign Money and intervention for a Man who provided a lot of it Are the ingredients of the keat Fig rive Case now before the ethics committee. After two months of hearings the panel is set to begin deliberating of the conduct of five colleagues deciding if their help to a savings and loan Boss fighting Federal regulators went beyond ethical Bounds. The five Are Republican John Mccain of Arizona and democrats Alan Cranston of California Donald w. Riegle  Michigan Dennis Deconcini of Arizona and John Glenn of ohio., a their defense argued that if they Are guilty of misconduct so Are most other senators because everybody needs Campaign contributions and everybody intervenes for constituents. A a couple of senators to avoid personal accountability have raised the a everybody does it defense a Robert s. Bennett the special counsel said. A a everybody does no to do what was done  he argued that the link Between Keating donations and efforts on his behalf by three of the senators went beyond the Bounds of any routine constituent service. A a a Quot a a a if everybody does what was done Here then that Means this place does no to have an infection that can be cured a it Means that you re terminal a Bennett said. Still Many if not most of the individuals and inter costs who seek intervention with regulators and other Federal officials Are Campaign contributors they re not As blatant about the connection As was Charles j. Keating jr., who once said publicly that he certainly hoped head gained influence with the $1.3 million he and his associates donated to the campaigns and causes of five   a v. A a a the connection is the Issue. The senators say they acted to help Keating because he was a constituent or had business interests important to their constituents and claimed he was being treated unfairly by Overly zealous Federal regulators. Bennett says interceding Wasny to necessarily wrong but the apparent tie to contributions made it so. A Senate re election Campaign costs an average of about $4 million or $13,000 for every week of a six year term. At those prices Campaign fund raisers Arentt Likely to be turning away donors because they have axes to be ground with the Federal bureaucracy. Constituent service is part of the Job of a senator or representative and that Means going to Bat for people who think a government Agency is doing them wrong. A More and More constituents Are requesting the assistance of their congressmen at the same time that those congressmen must ask More and More of the same constituents for Campaign contributions a Bennett said at the Start of the Keating five hearings. How can our system of government maintain the appearance and the reality of integrity As these trends continue a even so Bennett said senators a a can and must have the Power to pressure regulators. The premise is that they la do so in order to keep regulatory agencies acting properly not punit ively or Over zealously that a a very Fine line a businessman under regulatory pressure almost always deems it  v a a a a we Don t just pick up everything that comes in and say it s a constituent so i be got to go and lean on a regulator someplace Glenn said. A we say there has to be some justification. A Glenn is one of two senators Bennett says should be exonerated and dropped from the Keating five Case. The other is Mccain. A a a. Glenn said the ethics investigation should not make senators so leery that they fail to intercede when constituents Are being treated unfairly by the government. My regulator on behalf of a constituent we should be comfortable Reading about the intervention on. The front Page of the  a a a a a the associated press Ltd a Anthony Lewis win to  one week of the War with Iraq i am persuaded by three propositions v a a a a a a a a a a. A the War is going to be longer and uglier than most americans at first believed. A the political consequences in the Middle East will be extremely dangerous., a the United states has no real Choice now but to go on to the end a the end of iraqi president Saddam Hussein a Power. A the Public began with expectations of a Short Wari those feelings were encouraged by colourful television film of wizard american weaponry. Secretary of defense Dick Cheney has warned from the Start against  but the military contributed to it. Spokesmen put out selective videotapes of remarkably accurate bombing. They emphasized the High numbers of air sorties though numbers prove Little. They prematurely claimed air superiority Over Iraq. The television networks added a Good Deal of hype. Can has done a remarkable Job in Many respects. But on the first night of the War it was guilty of an unforgettable example of misreporting a statement that iraqis Republican guard had been a a decimated in Kuwait by . Bombing. The guard remains. By now All concerned have pulled Back from Rosy forecasts. Print reporters have done a Fine Job of pointing out the Basic truth that iraqis main forces air and ground have not been committed and remain Safe underground As far As we know there have been no significant defections of iraqi forces. Gen. Colin Powell chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warned that Saddam May be deliberately holding Back. His strategy then would be to suck the allies into a ground attack in Kuwait a against forces dug in behind trenches mines barbed wire and fires. The allies can Pound the iraqi troops in Kuwait mercilessly from the air. B-52s arc doing that right now. The Hope is the iraqis will eventually give up. But that was the Hope in Vietnam. It is True that the terrain offers Little or no cover in the persian Gulf there Are no Jungles. /. A. But the iraqis have had five months to go underground in Kuwait perhaps As deep As the vietnamese who survived american bombing in tunnels. Despite the military cautions now being expressed there is still no significant doubt the allies can win the War. But what of the political outcome on that score there Are extremely worry ing signs. Egypt is by far the most important Arab country opposing Iraq. When. I was there two weeks ago president Hosni Mubarak sounded Gung to for War. He said it would last a a couple of Days or a couple of weeks at  egyptians disliked Saddam because he cheated Many egyptian workers in Iraq out of their pay. But How Youssef m. Ibrahim of the new York times reports that sentiment in Egypt a is clearly shifting in favor of  egyptians have been shocked by the intensity of the Allied bombing seeing in it a carelessness about the value of Arab lives. Rami Khouri a palestinian journalist in Amman edited the English language Jordan times for seven years. He is a measured thoughtful Man respected by Many Western reporters. So when he warns that the War is creating an ant Western tide it is significant. And he has just done that in a piece for new perspectives quarterly. Khouri has no illusions about Saddam his occupation of Kuwait or his ultimate defeat but the political future after the War he writes will be determined by a the bitter and resentful sentiments of hundreds of millions of grassroots arabs. Every Day that Iraq holds out against the United states and strikes against Israel the grassroots emotional support for Iraq grows stronger. It is Likely to result in serious political turmoil throughout the Region including changes in  we May not like that message. We cannot. But we had belter listen. It is not Only in Egypt and Jordan that anti Western emotions Are rising. They Are evident in Algeria Tunisia Morocco Mauritania. All these concerns political and military argue that president Bush would have been Wiser to let sanctions continue working rather than plunge into War. But now that we Are in it to pull Back would be far worse than pressing the War to the quickest possible end. It is a just War a if. Not As 1 believe a Wise one. No one can doubt Saddam is a vicious dangerous Leader. He cannot be left in Power now. We can Only Hope the War will not drag on and that Bush is thinking about How to mitigate the political consequences. A a new Yorlli times. The opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government