“Follow the money.” That was the directive given to Washington Post journalists Woodward and Bernstein by their confidential source code named “Deep Throat” to get to the bottom of the Nixon White House cover-up of the Watergate burglaries in 1972.
It was, in part, from the persistence of the Fourth Estate that resulted in the creation of the Senate Watergate Committee, which ultimately led to the indictments of forty administration officials, the convictions of several others, and the resignation of a sitting president as articles of impeachment were being introduced in the House of Representatives.
Notice here that it was not just the crime, but the cover-up. Especially the cover-up.
In consideration of last week’s announcement of a Select Committee on Benghazi, truth-seeking Americans titillated by the formation of this committee would be well advised to recall the backroom dealings that established the Senate Watergate Committee and the political perimeters to which it was bound. The back story is nicely articulated by Jeffrey Lord in his article published in the American Spectator titled Trey Gowdy and the Real Lesson of Watergate. Although I am in favor of the formation of a truly independent investigative body, my hopes for the whole truth to be made known are not only tempered by history, but the magnitude of the crime, not scandal, that is now simply known as “Benghazi.”
