If the Minister of Defence is so concerned about due process in the investigation of defence issues, then he should suspend others rather than Brigadier Ian Marshall, National's Defence spokesperson Max Bradford said today.

"Orchestrators of the army campaign to influence Government defence decisions, and Major General Dodson who has been found guilty of ordering the shredding of documents should be the first to go, starting with Lieutenant Colonel Gordon.

"Mark Burton stands accused of a serious double standard when the writer of the 'Gordon letter' Lieutenant Colonel Gordon and Major General Dodson continue in their jobs but Brigadier Marshall is stood down. If the Minister is so concerned about due process these two should be suspended as well.

"Brigadier Marshall did not give the Gordon letter to the National Party. The letter was given to me by a civilian and former defence force colleague of Brigadier Marshall who was so concerned about its contents he believed it should be exposed.

"If the Gordon letter hadn't seen the light of day, the Army's conspiracy to capture defence policy and money would have continued to poison the country's defence forces.

"As it is, the Army succeeded in conning Mark Burton to disband the air combat force, which has now turned out to be a major defence and policy mistake by the Clark Government.

"Now the Government is punishing the messenger, and at that, the wrong messenger," Mr Bradford said.

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