Are we taking bets about whether the 27 minutes will be lost/destroyed/erased in the future, or if it has already happened? The French saw what happened to Nixon and his tapes even with an 18 1/2 minute gap. Better to destroy the film, stage a pose in the best gee-Judge-Trebucq-we’re-sorry-it-was-an-accident Ollie North/Clinton tradition and rely on the good old legal principle recognized by all nations “Well, what are you going to do about it?” No raw footage= one cooked journalist, all in the great cause of getting rid of those dam Israelis. What’s a fine for the French equivalent of contempt of court? And being surprised that no reps of the press showed to cover this trial displays a charming naivete. The Press, raised on cocktails of 200 proof cynicism, laced with LSD in Dan Rather’s case, knows what to do when the past starts catching up.
