
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 14, 1990                   TAG: 9006140477
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHY POINDEXTER DESERVES JAIL

JOHN POINDEXTER, mastermind of the Iran/Contra cover-up, on Monday became the only one of its principals to get a jail term. He faced as much as 25 years in prison and fines of $1.25 million. He was given only six months - concurrent sentences on each of five felony counts - and was not fined.

The sentence is more symbolic than punitive. Judge Harold Greene said: "If the court were not to impose such a penalty here, when the defendant before it was the decision-making head of the Iran/Contra operation, its action would be tantamount to a statement that a scheme to lie and to obstruct Congress was of no great moment."

Just so. Critics of the investigation persist in dismissing it as political. They say that the admiral, who served 33 years in the Navy and the U.S. government, and others had patriotic motives. Congress, they say, is spineless, and what's wrong anyway with lying to a group that is itself mendacious?

The critics' view is narrow, cynical and self-serving. Patriotism has often been a convenient cloak for selfish actions; it cannot justify efforts to subvert the democratic system. Congress surely is less than perfect. But it was set up by the founders to represent the people, and it can hardly carry out its function if other branches of government are allowed to deny it full and truthful information. As the president's national security adviser, Poindexter had a special obligation to tell Congress the truth. His punishment is, if anything, too light.

It's important to keep in mind that, by attempting to deceive Congress and overrule its intent of halting aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, the White House was conferring on the executive branch an imperial status. If a president, abetted by his staff, can work his will in secret and not have to account to the people for it, the people have lost their grip on democracy.

President Reagan has eluded the ultimate responsibility that should be his. Now Poindexter's trial and sentencing bring the Iran/Contra investigation to a climax. Special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh is poring through stacks of personal notebooks kept by former White House aide Oliver North, released in response to a public-interest lawsuit. Information in them could lead to additional indictments, but the major figures have been disposed of.

Careful perusal of the notebooks also could fill in a few of the gaps remaining in the Iran/Contra chronicles, and raise added questions of responsibility. But discovery of any "smoking gun" is unlikely. The public probably knows about as much now as it ever will.

One hopes the public will remember. Twice in less than 15 years, the White House has directed a covert assault on constitutional principles. Twice it has been turned back, but with a large element of luck. Democracy is not self-sustaining. Eternal vigilance, said Thomas Jefferson, is the price of liberty. How easily we are lulled.

by CNB