Anthony Lake

Re “Political Games Leave a Void in Leadership,” editorial, Feb. 13: The headline of your editorial did not fit the piece. It is not Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) that is playing a political game but rather [CIA director nominee] Anthony Lake. The specific issue, among many, is that Lake was the progenitor of the horrific idea that Iran should be the benefactor of the Bosnian Muslim element in the former Yugoslavia, in spite of international embargoes and sanctions approved by the U.N.

Further, Lake participated in this subterfuge so far as to help conceal it from the agency he is now nominated to lead. What faith should the staff of the CIA have in Lake when they know that he wanted to hide the truth from them when he was President Clinton’s national security advisor?

Shelby is doing the right thing. Helping separate the wheat from the chaff, or the rotten apple from the barrel, by avoiding a cattle-rush to judgment in approving Clinton’s nominations for critical executive branch leadership positions. Perhaps March 11 will be the dawning of a new day; without Lake at the helm of the CIA.

JAMES G. SHAW

Fullerton