ARLINGTON: NATION'S SYMBOL OF HONOR, DUTY

The flap that arose over allegations of favoritism in allotting burial plots within the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery is interesting on several levels. A report published in Insight magazine raised the question of possible favoritism for Democratic campaign contributors, an issue that apparently had been under investigation by a congressional committee since last summer. Talk radio hosts jumped on the issue and fanned the flames.

It now appears clear that the reports of any such transgressions, at least as part of a widespread Clinton administration policy, were wildly overblown. Those who jumped on the issue before they had the facts necessary to justify their claims have suffered deserved blows to their credibility. Other issues linger, however.

Among these is the question as to why so many people would believe this early report. The answer to this involves the innumerable self-inflicted wounds to its own reputation by the Clinton administration. Such reports wouldn't have been believed had they been published about the previous two administrations, with their heightened sense of respect, even reverence, for the military. The Clinton administration has actively flaunted and violated existing campaign finance laws with a ruthlessness not seen in any previous administration, including that of the only president to resign from office in a scandal: Richard Nixon. So when the allegations were made, it struck many that there was nothing being alleged here that was beneath an administration that had shown itself to have so few scruples. Clintonoids won't be heard to sound outraged when they have consistently and so shamelessly flouted the law.

Finally, it appears that Secretary of Defense William Cohen may have actually intervened on behalf of the deceased father of a congressional staffer whose family sought a burial at Arlington. This is most regrettable, and Cohen must answer for his role. Arlington is among the most hallowed of any American ground, its very name a byword for duty, honor and country and for what Abraham Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion." These values, above all, must never be compromised.