Here's some perspective on IC's:
LAWRENCE WALSH,
BEYOND BELIEF
Former Iran-Contra Independent Counsel
Lawrence Walsh has embarked on a second career
assailing Kenneth Starr's Whitewater investigation.
Last week, he blasted Starr's decision to bring
Marcia Lewis, mother of alleged presidential
paramour Monica Lewinsky, before a grand jury.
Much of the press agrees with Walsh that forcing a
mother to testify "against" her daughter is an
unbelievably cruel and virtually unprecedented act.
They're mistaken: Lewis is not being asked to testify
"against" her daughter. The grand jury is investigating
President Clinton, not Monica Lewinsky, and Lewis
may have valuable information about any possible
quid pro quo regarding a New York job that might
have led Lewinsky to falsify the affidavit in which she
denied having an affair with the president.
But leaving that aside for a moment, let's take a look
at Walsh's own record. Consider: During the
Iran-Contra investigation, Walsh subpoenaed Betsy
North, the wife of Lt. Col. Oliver North, North
lawyer Brendan Sullivan - even North's pastor. In
one go, Walsh flung down and danced upon
spousal, attorney-client, and even pastoral privilege.
To the best of our knowledge, none of those who
currently profess shock - shock! - at Starr's efforts
even said boo about Walsh's far more serious
attacks on privacy and privilege.
Also, as the Landmark Legal Foundation's Mark
Levin has pointed out, Walsh publicly cited
supposedly secret grand-jury testimony more than
600 times in his final report. Starr, by contrast, has
merely been accused of leaking such testimony,
without a shred of evidence.
Unlike Starr, Walsh abused his office and made a
mockery out of fairness and justice. To denounce
this self-righteous Savonarola as a hypocrite would
do an injustice to hypocrites everywhere.
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