OPINION:
If Republican Senate nominee Judge Roy S. Moore sexually abused four women and one was only 14 years old at the time, he should withdraw from the U.S. Senate race immediately. But that’s a big “if.” After being silent for more than 30 years — during which time Mr. Moore ran for many offices — these women are accusing Mr. Moore now, when it is too late under Alabama law for another Republican to be put on the ballot. If he withdraws, the election of a Democrat is guaranteed. That smells.
In the early 1960s, I was the station legal officer at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina. The wife of one Marine accused another Marine of raping her. The accused said the sex was consensual. I asked the woman if she would take a lie-detector test and she said yes. After the test showed likely deception on her part, she cried and admitted she had lied because another Marine had seen her lover leave her house early in the morning. She lied to save her marriage. A year later the wife of another Marine alleged rape. Again, after a failed lie-detector test, she also admitted she had lied.
Mr. Moore should ask the FBI to supply a lie-detector examiner to test him. He should offer to pay for the examiner to give tests to the four accusing women, too.
CARL H. MIDDLETON
Arlington
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