Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Starr-crossed Clinton nearing war with special prosecutor

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 10:45 a.m.

Is it time to suspend the rules?

Even in the depths of unrelenting warfare, civilized countries have done their best to pretend to confine their killing ways to a set of rules with which both or all sides would comply. Mostly. There are rules about how opposing armies could be killed and with what kind of weapons. There are rules that cover the way prisoners of war are to be treated and how civilians would be dealt with should they find themselves in the middle of armed conflict. In short, the rules of engagement known as the Geneva Convention allow all parties to an armed conflict to, at least, live the pretense of civility.

Apparently, those rules just ain't good enough to be applied to the escalating war between Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr and the President of the United States, Bill Clinton. Unless something dramatic happens between the time I write this column and the time it is published in the SUN, less than 24 hours later, it is safe to expect that the war of wills will continue on its out of control path toward an end that few can see and no one should even want to imagine. But, until the sides actually take up arms against each other, a sight I trust we will never see in this country, the Geneva Convention is out and some other applicable parameters will have to suffice.

And that's the problem. Normally, whenever a prosecutor is out to prove a case or investigate a charge, that prosecution, in all of it aspects, is controlled or supervised by a judge who acts according to established law. In the case of Special Prosecutor Starr, there are rules but they are set by Congress and supposed to be administered by a judge with some oversight responsibility by the Attorney General. And therein lies the Achilles Heel that threatens to not only destroy the office of the presidency but, by extension, our very faith in our democratic institutions and their ability to help us govern ourselves.

Make no mistake about it, the stakes in L'Affair Monica are huge. This is no longer a real estate cum suicide cum hush money cum travel office cum FBI files cum what may investigation into what the President did and when, if ever, did he do it. We are now in the throes of an out-of-control, get the President at any cost effort that rests solely on the nature and extent of President Clinton's sex life. And, while I will be the first to admit that all the sordid and rumored details are titillating to be sure, I am not certain that the American people are all that concerned or interested in digging any deeper.

But that is exactly where Starr and his clan are going. As deep as they can until somebody somewhere, somehow comes up with something that will stick to the President and by which Starr can claim justification for the multi-millions of dollars he has frittered away for the past four years. And there is no one ready, willing or able to force him to put on the brakes and, at least, comply with some kind of rules of civilized engagement.

It appears that the only way to bring this matter to a close -- because no one in a position to do so has the political spine to shut this thing down and save all of us the agony and frustration of watching our country humiliated around the world -- is to let Kenneth Starr do it himself. And it seems that he is anxious to do so.

Already the whining has started. Here is a man who has dragged mothers and fathers, friends and faux friends before a Grand Jury whose singular purpose is to destroy the President of the United States. What that means is simple. If they can destroy the man we elected to lead our country, then ruining the lives of every lesser human being along the way is of little consequence or concern. Here is a man who presides over a $40 million prosecution team that, if it can't take all the credit, can at least share in the blame for the outrageous leaks that have come from the Grand Jury investigation ( most of which bear little resemblance to the truth and a great deal of similarity to a first class smear and intimidation effort). And, here is man who says he'll investigate charges of those leaks and has yet to report back on what he's found or if he's even looked.

That's one side. On the other is an administration besieged with subpoenas for practically every employee of the White House who has ever seen the President. In a scorched-Earth policy reminiscent of nothing we have ever seen in this country, Starr has forced good and decent working men and women to hire counsel at costs that could approximate their annual salaries, just so they can testify before the Grand Jury about what they have or haven't seen, may or may not know and might or might not think. And all that testimony has usually come to naught. If it has been difficult to get people to serve their country in the past, wait until potential public servants learn that the price of such service has just escalated beyond the reach of most Americans.

Beyond the subpoenas, though, are the selective leaks that almost always have to be retracted by those too willing to publish, the damage already having been done, of course. And in the middle of all this nonsense, the President and all his men and women actually have some work to do. Like a country to run. But, that doesn't stop Starr. Finding out whether Clinton had sex is far more important than whether the pending deal with Iraq will actually protect Americans in the future. And what about the budget, schools, welfare, the economy and a myriad of other issues which must be attended to but aren't because time and attention has to be given over to the Grand Jury effort?

To be sure, Starr is not completely to blame. A Congress too scared to raise a voice beyond a whisper and an Attorney General who is uncharacteristically verbally handcuffed can make a difference. But they won't. And a citizenry so upset with what is happening yet too dumbstruck to express its outrage adds to the collective impotence. So Starr gets a free ride to wherever his dirty little mind will take him. Right?

Maybe. For in his zeal he has trod upon the toes of something far more powerful than a president. Now he is stomping all over the First Amendment and that will cause the media giant to react. For sure, it will have to awake from its slumber and its resulting sexual fantasies, but it will. That's because Starr has entered that space reserved exclusively for the press.

The flames of this scandal have been fanned by the media. No question about it. They have used their sources for leaks the size of which could sink the Titanic. They claim that is their right. And now Starr wants to know who is on the receiving end of some of those leaks -- but just the ones that say bad things about him and his.

That's a no-no Mr. Special Prosecutor. Travel down this road at your peril. For as much as every two-bit journalist wants a Pulitzer at the expense of our President and our country, not one of them will stand still while you interfere with their First Amendment. It appears you may have gored the wrong ox.

Stand down Starr or stand aside. Lest you be left in the wake of the juggernaut of self-preservation.

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