Robert Gates’ Bid for CIA Post

Robert Gates claims that he “has learned the lesson of Iran-Contra . . . “ (front page, Sept. 17). As the multifarious realities of this and other governmental misdeeds continue to unfold, we all are learning that lesson. Unfortunately, the lesson is that high government officials and their associates are above the law.

With the exoneration of Oliver North for his role as the Iran-Contra fall guy, it became clear that the architects of this multitiered crime, involving murder, drug-smuggling and illegal weapon sales to a hostile terrorist government, will never see their day in court.

This sends a horrible message, albeit a necessary one, to the populace at large: The government can execute you for the crimes it can commit with impunity.

Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of this revelation is that many of the people involved in these criminal enterprises are not only not elected but indeed are private citizens hired by appointees to do their dirty work.

When this ever-escalating pyramid of lawbreakers threatens to expose the elected official at the top, the guilty along the bottom are charged with minor offenses related to the high crimes but only resulting in a fine or acquittal as soon as the story leaves the headlines.

The consequence of this behavior is an increasing disdain for the rule of law that crosses all ethnic and socioeconomic boundaries creating a society in which the only concern is personal ascendancy. CRAIG SIMMONS

Van Nuys