Posted: 6/15/05
Final Draft - by Cliff Buchan
Revelation of Deep Throatís identity a bittersweet ending
Mysteries are always appealing. So it has been for the past 30 years when it came to Watergate and the question of who was Deep Throat?
For those of us who were young adults in the 1970s, the saga of the Watergate scandal and the eventual resignation of President Nixon filled our lives.\And at the center of it was the anonymous source who provided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward with the tips that he and fellow reporter Carl Bernstein needed to crack this major story.
Deep Throat was no doubt a pariah in the conservative circles. In liberal circles he was a knight in shining armor.
Recently, after staying out of the limelight for 31 years, Deep Throat stepped forward.
W. Mark Felt, now 91, a former deputy director of the FBI in the early days of Watergate, revealed to the world that he was the high-ranking government official who provided the tips.
I had hopes that after 31 years, the reaction to Feltís revelation would have been widely accepted and acknowledged. It wasnít, of course, in the conservative circles.
The talking heads who cable TV and talk radio trotted out last week regurgitated some of the garbage that was heard in 1974 when Nixon finally bowed to the pressure. To avoid impeachment and the chance of criminal indictments, he resigned and got out of Dodge, as they say in the westerns.
It was interesting to listen to the likes of convicted Watergate conspirator Chuck Colson vilify Felt during a CNN interview. Felt has been called a traitor and worse in the past week.
Could or should Felt have done otherwise? Some of his critics said he should have pressed his case before government officials who would have pressured Nixon to do the right thing. Now there is an idealistic concept.
In retrospect I believe Felt did the only thing he could in an effort to bring some control back to the government that was running the show. And as it turned out, it was a White House out of control and willing to take any means to achieve its ends.
With the FBI director at the time in lockstep with Nixon, where could Felt have really gone?
As the aftermath of Watergate proved, these were a bunch of outlaws running the White House. That Nixonís duplicity was never found criminal is itself unbelievable.
The Watergate burglary was just one offense. There were wire taps, money laundering from Nixon campaign coffers, obstruction and the dirty tricks that still give politics a bad name today.
If anything, perhaps the revelation by Felt will reopen young eyes to what government can become when power corrupts.
Several years ago when the actions of then President Clinton destroyed his credibility with many Americans, I could not forget the Nixon days and how American standards for politicians have changed.
In some ways Watergate is partly responsible for how we look at politicians and government officials today.
No one can condone the moral transgressions of Clinton but in the big picture of abuse of power, his mistakes pale in comparison to the crimes committed by the Nixon thugs.
Some will question Mark Feltís motives or the financial motives of his family in this sudden announcement. Woodward had planned to reveal his source after Feltís passing, but that changed last week when Vanity Fair, not the Washington Post, broke this story.
It was Woodward and the Post, with a pledge to protect Feltís identity in the early 1970s, that protected its promise. Yes, there are times and circumstances when anonymous sources are needed to shed light on important topics.
As mysteries go, this was one for the ages. It could just as well have remained a mystery but I believe that Felt did what he had to do in the early 1970s and is today doing what he feels is best for his legacy.
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