conspiracy to whip up bad publicity which could lead to the closure of the US Naval Air Station.

The allegation of possible complicity was made in a Royal Gazette editorial yesterday.

The paper said PrimeTime Live's claims of military VIPs soaking up taxpayers' cash to enjoy holidays at the Base smacked of a set-up.

It could be part of a conspiracy involving US Navy chiefs, or the congressional Armed Services Committee, the editorial alleged.

With a new President it may have been thought timely to cause a "stink'' to undermine the Base's role, it was claimed.

But Mr. Donaldson yesterday said his expose showed the Base no longer played an important military function.

In a letter to The Royal Gazette he wrote: "Come now. You can't really believe there was some vast conspiracy at work in our PrimeTime Live report last Thursday night, although I judge from your editorial that would be an easier explanation for you to accept than to have to face the facts.

"The fact is that the US Naval Air Station on Bermuda no longer has a mission of importance to the defence of the West.

"That is not Bermuda's fault or the US Navy's fault or PrimeTime Live's fault.

"But it is a fact. So why should the US taxpayer continue to foot the bill?'' Mr. Donaldson defended Arms Senior Chief Petty Officer George Randall Taylor and Second Class Petty Officer Thomas William Coggins -- the whistle-blowers who had alleged the junkets and improper freebies at the Base.

"Attempting to impugn our motives or those of the two sailors who spoke with us is not really a winning strategy.

"Shooting the messenger won't help. If you take issue with our findings, then, please tell us where we are wrong.

"There may be reasons we overlooked for keeping the base open but the only one you cite -- that closing the base would cost the Bermuda economy -- isn't one we think is particularly germane to our audience.

"While we can sympathise with your lament, we sympathise more with the notion that charity for working Americans begins at home.'' The Royal Gazette editorial was also criticised by Mr. Stewart Rawlings Mott, a backer of a non-profit law firm which is protecting the whistle-blowers against any backlash over their allegations.

Mr. Mott calls for the paper to come forward with evidence for a conspiracy.

"Otherwise this whimsy should be trashed -- or treasured as a piece of cockamanie editorial fiction.'' Opposition Senate leader Sen. Alex Scott yesterday also sprang to Mr.

Donaldson's defence, describing the editorial as "nonsense.'' "We have a tendency to mash and bash the messenger. Messenger-bashing has become a national Bermudian pastime,'' he told the Senate.

The Royal Gazette had claimed it had been "just too pat and too improbable'' for the whistle-blowers to spill all to ABC.

"Given the ramifications for those individuals and given what their anti-Navy expose would do to their careers, these two men must have been guaranteed top protection before they moved to do this thing.'' It added Mr. Donaldson seemed to set out to satisfy a pre-conceived notion of the Base being used as the US Navy's Club Med.

"The US Navy cooperated in that effort. It went so far that the local media, which might have asked embarrassing questions, was banned from the Base while Donaldson was there, reportedly at his suggestion.'' Last night Mr. David L. White, editor of The Royal Gazette , was unrepentant about the editorial.

"Our editorial suggesting a possible conspiracy within the US Navy to close the base is perfectly understandable,'' he said.

"It stems from two curious facts. First, the navy allowing a top journalist on to the Base for a report that condemns as a scandalous waste of US taxpayers' money -- all without a word raised in its defence -- and secondly, the coincidence, the day after the broadcast, of US Congresswoman Pat Schroeder calling for the Base to be closed if it cannot be justified militarily.''