Prosecutor for Iraqgate Inquiry

Perhaps more than any other single factor, your painstaking investigation of the Iraqgate mess has dragged it out into the open, and this gives great weight to your demand for appointment of a special prosecutor.

The official inquiry should logically focus on taking the sworn testimony of Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates and his station chiefs in Rome and London. The involvement of an Italian bank in illegal loans to Iraq almost certainly did not start in Atlanta. Now the British government is embarrassed by the revelation of high-level connivance in evading controls on exports to Iraq.

Considering the Bush Administration’s zeal in aiding Iraq, this may be more than coincidence. It should be recalled that Gates, as CIA deputy director, had been instrumental in procuring South African arms for Iraq.

As a safeguard against abuses of power, the Ethics in Government Act needs to be renewed. Those who deplore the reputed $40-million cost of the Iran-Contra special counsel’s activities ignore the fact that the whole process would have been much less tedious and expensive if the Administration had not obstructed it at every turn, usually on the specious ground of national security. I think my share of the cost--say, 18 cents--was money well spent.

MARSHALL PHILLIPS

Long Beach