One Less Mystery Of Life

Former FBI Deputy Director W. Mark Felt has been identified as "Deep Throat," the mysterious anonymous source of much of the Washington Post's information used to unravel Watergate. He almost single-handedly saved this country from President Nixon's obsessive desire to control all aspects of our federal government and trample the US Constitution into dust.

Nevertheless, some of Nixon's old cronies are trying to trash Mr. Felt and the service he did for his country. Pat Buchanan, for one, claims that Nixon was brought down by "a snake in the FBI." Excuse me, Mr. Buchanan, but Nixon was brought down by his own illegal acts. It's not like Felt could have gone through channels to report what he knew--his superiors, FBI Director L. Patric Gray and Attorney General John Mitchell, both were implicated in Watergate themselves.

Charles Colson and G. Gordon Liddy, who both served time for their actions connected to Watergate, complain that Felt is just trying to make money and "violated law enforcement ethics." Talk about pots calling kettles black! They both have made lucrative livings by trading on their Watergate infamy . . . and Liddy, who engineered the 1972 break-in at the Democratic Party's National HQ in the Watergate building, has no business at all complaining about someone who violates law enforcement ethics. Breaking the law is far worse than violating ethics, especially when the violation results in justice being done: i.e., that the lawbreakers are found out and punished.

Some question Felt's motives. They claim he did what he did out of bitterness. He was passed over in favor of Gray to be FBI director when J. Edgar Hoover died. However, it's not like he made up what he told Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein. Even if he was bitter, and even if his bitterness prompted any part of his actions, he was telling the truth.

As a rule, I do not believe in the "either/or" scenario. To ask the question "was Felt a hero or a villain?" is improperly to limit the terms of the debate. There are normally more than two sides to any issue.

For those who insist on framing the debate as an "either/or" question, however, I for one will come down firmly on the side of Felt as hero. Who cares what his motives were? He did the right thing for the country when the country desparately needed it.