The Break-In That History Forgot (Head Watergate Plumber in NYT)

[struggle4progress]

The Break-In That History Forgot
By EGIL KROGH
Published: June 30, 2007

Seattle

THE Watergate break-in, described by Ron Ziegler, then the White House press secretary, as a “third-rate burglary,” passes its 35th anniversary this month. The common public perception is that Watergate was the principal cause of President Nixon’s downfall. In fact, the seminal cause was a first-rate criminal conspiracy and break-in almost 10 months earlier that led inexorably to Watergate and its subsequent cover-up. ~snip~

The premise of our action was the strongly held view within certain precincts of the White House that the president and those functioning on his behalf could carry out illegal acts with impunity if they were convinced that the nation’s security demanded it. As President Nixon himself said to David Frost during an interview six years later, “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” To this day the implications of this statement are staggering. ~snip~

I finally realized that what had gone wrong in the Nixon White House was a meltdown in personal integrity. Without it, we failed to understand the constitutional limits on presidential power and comply with statutory law.

In early 2001, after President Bush was inaugurated, I sent the new White House staff a memo explaining the importance of never losing their personal integrity. In a section addressed specifically to the White House lawyers, I said that integrity required them to constantly ask, is it legal? And I recommended that they rely on well-established legal precedent and not some hazy, loose notion of what phrases like “national security” and “commander in chief” could be tortured into meaning. I wonder if they received my message.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/opinion/30krogh.html?em&ex=1183348800&en=361d60fb8fa90599&ei=5087%0A

Nixon plumber who went to prison tells story
Egil Krogh has advice for government workers: 'Never fail to ask, 'Is this right?' "

By KATHY GEORGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

"Ever since pleading guilty and serving a prison sentence, I have felt a growing need to convey my deep regret and apology to all Americans for my criminal actions as head of Nixon's White House plumbers."
-- from an unpublished manuscript by Egil "Bud" Krogh

~snip~ He was the first to plead guilty, and the first White House staff member to go to jail. He even insisted on being sentenced before he testified in the Watergate case, saying it would be wrong to reduce his own prison time just because he implicated others.

At the time, he told special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski, "The more I've thought about it, the clearer I've seen that even though there may well have been some damaging impacts on the national security from (Daniel) Ellsberg's releasing the Pentagon Papers, those impacts simply can't justify the invasion of Fielding's rights ...

"It violates a fundamental principle in our country: the right of an individual to be protected from an unlawful action by his government." ~snip~

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/139617_plumber15.html

[Gman]

1. They paid even less attention to it

than they did Clinton's report on OBL and terrorism and what else they would be dealing with.

[jaysunb]

2. There are some lessons to be learned here.

But I don't see any of this current crowd as having a shred of interity or loyalty to the country or the constitution....

[MADem]

3. EGIL Krough!!! Now there's a name from the past!!!!

And how interesting, he did the "I Vas Only Followink ORDERS" routine like so many of the GOP seem to do. He later, to his credit, came to see the light--how fascinating that he warned the BushCo White House of the potential to fall into that trap.

That second link is a wonderful character study.

Thanks for posting these--I'd forgotten about old Egil!!!!

[aquart]

4. I did NOT forget.

[EVDebs]

5. Strachan knows something...How'd he get to keep his law license

"...John Ehrlichman stated Strachan "knows a lot, that he's not telling.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_C._Strachan

Maybe someone finally followed the money and/or was another of the intelligence community's WH plants.

I haven't forgotten, either, Aquart

[tailwind]

6. NeoCon=666

Watergate is just the tip of a huge iceberg.

WhiteHouse = criminality everywhere.