The clandestine war began quietly: telephone calls from out-of-town lawyers who urged reporters to look at this old federal case or that sealed police report. Next came the mystery faxes, great piles of inky black clippings, detailing the dubious investigative habits of the men who work for Kenneth Starr. And then last week the doors came off the hinges, as longtime Washington sources speaking only in exchange for anonymity offered tips, telephone numbers and spicy quotes that promised, as one did, that "Ken Starr's office is completely imploding."
Just when Bill Clinton's White House was girding for battle against Saddam Hussein,...