A L S O +T O D A Y Toppling Saddam By Frank Smyth Clinton wants a new government in Baghdad, but he and the Iraqi opposition are unlikely to be up to the task   T A B L E+T A L K Is it unpatriotic to question capitalism? Join the discussion in Table Talk's Social Issues area   R E C E N T L Y Brother on brother By Murray Waas Whitewater witness David Hale attempted to suborn perjury by his own brother by asking him to falsely corroborate illegal acts by President Clinton (11/17/98) The mark of Cain: a tale of two brothers By Murray Waas Though they traveled the same path from the family dirt farm through law school, the Hale brothers turned out different as night and day (11/17/98) The whaling that wasn't By David Neiwert Environmentalists and Indians clash over whether gray whales matter more than native culture and treaty rights (11/16/98) Target: Saddam By Jeff Stein Forget inspections. The goal is to bring him down this time, says David Kay, who led the first U.N. inspection team in Iraq (11/16/98) Paula Jones lawsuit settled A Salon Staff Report Clinton coughs up $850,000, but no apologies (11/16/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.
		C O M M E N T A R Y - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A dozen questions Congress should ask Kenneth Starr BY DAVID TALBOT, MURRAY WAAS AND JOAN WALSH | Congress finally gets to interrogate the great interrogator. On Thursday, independent counsel Kenneth Starr will appear before the House Judiciary Committee as it decides whether to pursue an impeachment inquiry against President Clinton. The committee chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., has announced his intention to limit questions to Starr. The 37 committee members will be given five minutes each to question the independent counsel about the allegations of bias, leaks, conflicts of interest and collaboration with Clinton's enemies that have plagued his inquiry from the outset. As Salon has revealed, Starr pursued his initial investigation into Whitewater with the key assistance of David Hale, a tainted witness who stands accused of taking money and legal help from anti-Clinton activists at the Arkansas Project, a secret $2.4 million project to undermine Clinton financed by Starr's former patron, Richard Mellon Scaife. When Starr's Whitewater inquiry went nowhere, he latched onto Paula Jones' civil suit, and then when that failed, he wired Linda Tripp and finally snared Clinton on adultery. The ties between Starr, Tripp and Jones -- which have not been satisfactorily explained -- helped the independent counsel create a perjury trap for the president in his Jones deposition that would lead to the impeachment crisis. To enable committee members to use their five minutes well, Salon has prepared a list of questions that Starr should be asked. 1) What was the nature of your contacts with the Paula Jones legal team prior to your appointment as independent counsel? 2) Did you know that your partner at Kirkland and Ellis, Richard W. Porter, was assisting the Paula Jones legal team? 3) When did your office first learn of allegations of payments to David Hale by conservative political activists? 4) Was your office aware of attempts by David Hale to suborn perjury from his brother Milas regarding Whitewater? 5) Did you ever discuss with your friend and former Justice Department colleague Theodore Olson the Arkansas Project and/or David Hale? 6) What steps did your office take to maintain the independence of special investigator Michael Shaheen to investigate David Hale? 7) Did you or your office ever inform the attorney general, or the three-judge panel that appointed you, of the ties between you or your law firm and the Paula Jones legal team? 8) How and when did you learn of the existence of Linda Tripp's tapes? 9) Why has your office refused to disclose the salaries and other compensation paid to you and your prosecutors? 10) What steps are you taking to accommodate the special master investigating potentially illegal leaks by your office to the media? 11) In a letter to Steven Brill, editor of Brill's Content, you denied your prosecutors ever suggested Monica Lewinsky wear a wire and secretly record conversations with Vernon Jordan and the president. But Lewinsky testified to the grand jury that your office indeed made that demand. Who is telling the truth? 12) Having now served as independent counsel, would you favor reauthorization of the independent counsel statute? And would you like to see changes to the statute? N E X T+P A G E+| What every American citizen should know about Starr and his probe