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-- Mena, Arkansa - CIA - Arms for Drugs to Contras - Iran/Nicaragua?
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Re: Re: Mena, Arkansa - CIA - Arms for Drugs to Contras - Iran/Nicaragua?
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| Originally posted by occrider Well, I dunno about the whole CIA deal you're talking about, but the Iran-Contra scandal was NOT for money. The whole purpose of the Iran-Contra affair was to negotiate a trade with the Iranians of arms for hostages. If the US wanted to make money, I can think of far better methods such as the billion dollars weapons sales industry. But I haven't really studied the matter all that much. |
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| Selections from the Senate Committee Report on Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy chaired by Senator John F. Kerry http://www.pinknoiz.com/covert/contracoke.html |
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| BUSH PARDONS 6 IN IRAN AFFAIR, ABORTING A WEINBERGER TRIAL; PROSECUTOR ASSAILS 'COVER-UP' BUSH DIARY AT ISSUE 6-Year Inquiry Into Deal of Arms for Hostages All but Swept Away By DAVID JOHNSTON Special to The New York Times OTHER HEADLINES Clinton Completes Cabinet and Points to its Diversity: Corporate Lawyer, a Woman, Gets Justice Department Getting Things Done New York Teamster Leader Agrees to Suspension Christmas in Sarajevo: Prayers and Anguish W ASHINGTON, Dec. 24 -- Six years after the arms-for-hostages scandal began to cast a shadow that would darken two Administrations, President Bush today granted full pardons to six former officials in Ronald Reagan's Administration, including former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger. Mr. Weinberger was scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 5 on charges that he lied to Congress about his knowledge of the arms sales to Iran and efforts by other countries to help underwrite the Nicaraguan rebels, a case that was expected to focus on Mr. Weinberger's private notes that contain references to Mr. Bush's endorsement of the secret shipments to Iran. In one remaining facet of the inquiry, the independent prosecutor, Lawrence E. Walsh, plans to review a 1986 campaign diary kept by Mr. Bush. Mr. Walsh has characterized the President's failure to turn over the diary until now as misconduct. Decapitated Walsh Efforts But in a single stroke, Mr. Bush swept away one conviction, three guilty pleas and two pending cases, virtually decapitating what was left of Mr. Walsh's effort, which began in 1986. Mr. Bush's decision was announced by the White House in a printed statement after the President left for Camp David, where he will spend the Christmas holiday. Mr. Walsh bitterly condemned the President's action, charging that 'the Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed.' Mr. Walsh directed his heaviest fire at Mr. Bush over the pardon of Mr. Weinberger, whose trial would have given the prosecutor a last chance to explore the role in the affair of senior Reagan officials, including Mr. Bush's actions as Vice President. 'Evidence of Conspiracy' Mr. Walsh hinted that Mr. Bush's pardon of Mr. Weinberger and the President's own role in the affair could be related. For the first time, he charged that Mr. Weinberger's notes about the secret decision to sell arms to Iran, a central piece of evidence in the case against the former Pentagon chief, included 'evidence of a conspiracy among the highest ranking Reagan Administration officials to lie to Congress and the American public.' The prosecutor charged that Mr. Weinberger's efforts to hide his notes may have 'forestalled impeachment proceedings against President Reagan' and formed part of a pattern of 'deception and obstruction.' On Dec. 11, Mr. Walsh said he discovered 'misconduct' in Mr. Bush's failure to turn over what the prosecutor said were the President's own 'highly relevant contemporaneous notes, despite repeated requests for such documents.' The notes, in the form of a campaign diary that Mr. Bush compiled after the elections in November 1986, are in the process of being turned over to Mr. Walsh, who said, 'In light of President Bush's own misconduct, we are gravely concerned about his decision to pardon others who lied to Congress and obstructed official investigations.' In an interview on the 'McNeil-Lehrer Newshour' tonight, Mr. Walsh said for the first time that Mr. Bush was a subject of his investigation. The term 'subject,' as it has been used by Mr. Walsh's prosecutors, is broadly defined as someone involved in events under scrutiny, but who falls short of being a target, or a person likely to be charged with a crime. In the inquiry into the entire Iran-contra affair, a number of Government officials have been identified as subjects who were never charged with wrongdoing. What Charges Are Unlikely The prosecutor said he would take appropriate action in Mr. Bush's case, implying he might contemplate future legal action against the President for withholding relevant documents. But prosecutors have said in the past that charging a President or former President with wrongdoing would be highly unlikely without overwhelming evidence of a serious crime. C. Boyden Gray, the White House counsel, said today that Mr. Bush had voluntarily supplied the disputed material to Mr. Walsh, asserting that the notes contained no new information about the affair. Mr. Gray said Mr. Bush wanted make the notes public, but did not say when. President-elect Bill Clinton, at a news conference in Little Rock, Ark., to announce his remaining Cabinet selections, said he wanted to learn more about the pardons, adding, 'I am concerned by any action that sends a signal that if you work for the Government, you're beyond the law, or that not telling the truth to Congress under oath is somehow less serious than not telling the truth to some other body under oath.' Mr. Bush, in a statement accompanying the pardon, seemed to anticipate his critics, acknowledging that his decision might be interpreted as an effort to 'prevent full disclosure of some new key fact to the American people.' He said, 'That is not true.' Asserting that 'no impartial person has seriously suggested that my own role in this matter is legally questionable,' the President sought to position himself on the side of greater openness. Mr. Bush said he had asked Mr. Walsh to provide him with a copy of his testimony to the prosecutor, which he would make public. Lobbying by Ex-Reagan Aides Today's action followed intensive lobbying by former Reagan aides to pardon Mr. Weinberger and a series of meetings in recent days at the White House, culminating with the President's decision this morning. Republicans, long angered by the prosecution, were incensed by the new indictment of Mr. Weinberger four days before the election. The indictment said Mr. Weinberger's notes contradicted Mr. Bush's assertions that he had only a fragmentary knowledge of the arms secretly sold to Iran in 1985 and 1986 in exchange for American hostages in Lebanon. Mr. Weinberger was also charged with testifying falsely to Congress that he did not recall whether Saudi Arabia had ever contributed to the contras. Prosecutors said his notes showed that he had known of the Saudi contributions. Records made public over the years included no evidence that Mr. Bush knew about he secret efforts to arm the Nicaraguan rebels, but they did suggest he knew of Iran operation almost from its inception in 1985 and took part in crucial meetings where the arms sales were openly discussed as an arms-for-hostages swap. The Reagan Administration's public policy was never to bargain for the freedom of hostages. Mr. Bush said today that the Walsh prosecution reflected 'a profoundly troubling development in the political and legal climate of our country: the criminalization of policy differences.' Question of Politics He added: 'These differences should have been addressed in the political arena without the Damocles sword of criminality hanging over the heads of some of the combatants. The proper target is the President, not his subordinates; the proper forum is the voting booth, not the courtroom.' In his comments, Mr. Bush said he was trying to 'put bitterness behind us,' asserting that each of the men he was pardoning had a long record of public service and had already paid a heavy price for their involvement in the affair in damaged careers, hurt families and depleted savings. The Iran-contra affair, the worst scandal of Mr. Reagan's Presidency, came into the open in the fall of 1986 with the disclosure of two intertwined secret operations: the arms sales to Teheran, and the diversion of profits from those sales to help finance a covert weapons supply network to the contras, set up in 1985, after Congress barred direct aid to the rebels. Besides Mr. Weinberger, the President pardoned Robert C. McFarlane, the former national security adviser, and Elliott Abrams, the former assistant Secretary of State for Central America. Both officials had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of withholding information from Congress about support for the contras. Others Who Are Pardoned The President also pardoned Clair E. George, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency's clandestine services, who was convicted earlier this month, at his second trial, of two felony charges of perjury and misleading Congress about both the contras and the Iran initiative -- crimes for which he faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Two other intelligence officials were granted clemency, Duane R. Clarridge, the former head of the C.I.A.'s European division, who was awaiting trial on charges that he misled Congressional investigators about a missile shipment to Iran in 1985. The other was Alan D. Fiers Jr., once a rising star with the agency, who had pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information about the contras from Congress and who later decided to cooperate with the prosecution, becoming Mr. George's chief accuser at both his trials. Mr. Bush described Mr. Weinberger as a 'true American patriot' and he said clemency was granted both to spare him torment and cost of lengthy legal proceedings as well as out of a concern for the health of Mr. Weinberger, who is 75 year old. Mr. Weinberger, who was asked at a news conference today whether his notes contained any entries that might be embarrassing to Mr. Bush, replied: 'No, certainly not. There's nothing in those notes that in any way contradicts what President Bush said, or what President Reagan said.' But not since President Gerald R. Ford granted clemency to former President Richard M. Nixon for possible crimes in Watergate has a Presidential pardon so pointedly raised the issue of whether the President was trying to shield officials for political purposes. Mr. Walsh invoked Watergate tonight in an interview on the ABC News program 'Nightline,' likening today's pardons to President Richard M. Nixon's dismissal of the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, in 1973. Mr. Walsh said Mr. Bush had 'succeeded in a sort of Saturday Night Massacre.' Democratic lawmakers assailed the decision. Senator George J. Mitchell of Maine, the Democratic leader, called the action a mistake. 'It is not as the President stated today a matter of criminalizing policy differences,' he said. 'If members of the executive branch lie to the Congress, obstruct justice and otherwise break the law, how can policy differences be fairly and legally resolved in a democracy.' The main supporters of the pardon were Vice President Quayle, the Senate Republican leader, Bob Dole, and Mr. Gray, one senior Administration official said today. The decision, discussed in private, seemed to coalesce in the last three weeks although Mr. Bush was said to believe that Mr. Weinberger had been unfairly charged ever since the former Reagan Cabinet officer was first indicted in June. Throughout the deliberations, Mr. Bush consulted with Attorney General William P. Barr and Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser, who had sat on a Presidential review panel that examined the affair in early 1987. In lengthy Oval Office meetings in the last week, Mr. Bush and his advisers, none of whom offered a sharp dissent, discussed how to balance their desire to grant a pardon with their realization that such an act would almost certainly provoke hostility. In the end, Mr. Bush's advisers decided he could surmount his critics by expressing, as did in his statement, his willingness to make public additional documents about the affair, like his statement to the prosecutors and Mr. Weinberger's notes. Charts Caspar W. Weinberg, former Secretary of Defense. Charged with perjury and making false statements stemming from a secret missile shipment to Iran in 1985. Trial was scheduled for next month. Duane R. Clarridge, former senior C.I.A. official. Charged with seven counts of perjury and making false statements stemming from secret missile shipment to Iran. Trial was scheduled for March. Clair E. George, former head of C.I.A. covert operations. Found guilty this month on two felony counts of lying to Congress. Was awaiting sentence. Elliott Abrams, former Assistant Secretary of State. Pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress. Sentenced to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service. Alan G. Fiers Jr., former head of C.I.A. Central American Task Force. Pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress. Sentenced to one year probation and 100 hours of community service. Robert C. McFarlane, former national security adviser. Pleaded guilty in 1988 to withholding information from Congress. Sentenced to two years' probation and 200 hours of community service and fined $20,000. (pg. A1) 'Presidential Pardons, Historically' Article 2 of the United States Constitution gives the President broad power 'to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States.' Most Presidents grant hundreds of individual pardons during their terms of office, and a few, including Abraham Lincoln and Jimmy Carter, have granted blanket amnesties, another form of pardon, to a whole class of people. Pardons can be granted at any time, before or after a person has been convicted of a crime. The following are among the more noted Presidential pardons: Thomas Jefferson, elected in 1800, pardoned all those convicted of violating the Alien and Sedition Acts enacted two years earlier. The Act expired in 1800, and was later found unconstitutional. Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, and Andrew Johnson, in 1868, proclaimed amnesty for Confederate soldiers. Andrew Johnson, in 1869, pardoned Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg after Mr. Booth assassinated President Lincoln. Warren G. Harding, in 1921, pardoned Eugene V. Debs, a Socialist who was jailed for sedition, and dozens of others jailed under World War I seidtion and espionage laws. Richard M. Nixon, in 1971, commuted the prison term of Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the teamsters' union, on the condition that Mr. Hoffa not resume union activities. Gerald R. Ford, in 1974, granted a full pardon to Mr. Richard M. Nixon, who had resigned the Presidency because of the Watergate scandal. Jimmy Carter, on the first day of his Presidency in 1977, proclaimed amnesty for those who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War. President Ford, earlier, had offered a more limited amnesty for the Vietnam War resisters. Ronald Reagan, in 1989, pardoned George Steinbrenner 3d, the owner of the New York Yankees, who had been convicted on illegal contributions to Mr. Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. George Bush, in 1989, pardoned Armand Hammer, the chairman of Occidental Petroleum, who had pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to Mr. Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. Chart: 'Touched by Scandal' AWAITING TRIAL AND PARDONED Caspar W. Weinberger: The former Defense Secretary, who operated within the inner circle of Ronald Reagan's advisers on military and diplomatic affairs, was indicted in June on five felony charges, including accusations that he had lied to Congress and concealed more than 1,700 pages of notes from a personal diary recording his discussions with other officials about arms sales to Iran. He was indicted again on Oct. 30 on a charge of making a false statement to Congress. The indictment was brought to replace a similar charge dismissed in September by a Federal district judge. He was scheduled to stand trial next month. Duane R. Clarridge: The Central Intelligence Agency's former chief of European operations was indicted Nov. 26, 1991, on 10 counts of perjury and making false statements stemming from a secret missile shipment to Iran in November 1985. He pleaded not guilty on Dec. 6, 1991. On Dec. 10, a Federal judge ordered prosecutors to drop two charges from the indictment. No trial date had been set. GUILTY AND PARDONED Clair E. George: The highest-ranking former C.I.A. official charged in the scandal, he was indicted Sept. 6, 1991, on 10 counts of perjury, false statements and obstructing Congressional and Federal investigators. He pleaded not guilty on Sept. 12, 1991. Three obstruction-of-justice charges were dismissed by a Federal judge last May 18; two new obstruction-of-justice charges were filed two days later. A first trial ended in a mistrial in August, when the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. After a second trial, he was found guilty on Dec. 9 of two counts of lying to Congress, and faced sentencing in February of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Robert C. McFarlane: President Reagan's national security adviser from to December 1985, he pleaded guilty March 11, 1988, to four misdemeanor charges of withholding information from Congress. On March 3, 1989, he was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service and fined $20,000. Elliott Abrams: Former Assistant Secretary of State pleaded guilty on Oct. 7, 1991, to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress about secret Government efforts to aid the Nicaraguan rebels. Prosecutors said that he knew that Oliver L. North, then a National Security Council aide, had been in contact with people supplying the contra rebels and encouraged them to continue to aid the rebels despite a Congressional ban on such aid. He was sentenced Nov. 15, 1991, to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service. Alan G. Fiers Jr.: The former head of the C.I.A.'s Central American Task Force, who had worked for Mr. George, pleaded guilty on July 9, 1991, to two misdemeanor charges of withholding information from Congress about diverting money from Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan contras. He was sentenced Jan. 31, 1992, to one year's probation and 100 hours of community service. GULITY AND NOT PARDONED Carl R. (Spitz) Channell and Richard R. Miller: Both businessmen who helped Oliver L. North raise money from private donors for the contras. Both pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to defraud the Government by soliciting tax-deductible donations for non-deductible purposes, and both were sentenced to probation. Albert A. Hakim: An Iranian-born businessman who created a company to funnel arms and money to the contras. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 21, 1989, to a misdemeanor charge of providing an illegal gratuity to Mr. North by paying for a security fence at Mr. North's home. He was sentenced on Jan. 24, 1990, to two years' probation. Richard V. Secord: A retired Air Force major general who played a crucial role in the secret arms shipments to Iran and support for the Nicaraguan rebels. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 8, 1989, to lying to Congressional investigators. He was sentenced on Jan. 24, 1990, to two years' probation. Thomas G. Clines: The former C.I.A. agent was a business partner of Mr. Secord and Mr. Hakim in supplying arms to Iran. He was convicted Sept. 18, 1990, on four felony counts involving the underreporting of his earnings to the Internal Revenue Service in 1986 and 1987 and falsely telling the Government that he had no foreign bank accounts. On Dec. 13, 1990, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison and fined $40,000. A Federal appeals panel upheld the convictions on Feb. 27, 1992. He began serving his jail sentence on May 25, the only defendant in the scandal to go to prison. CASES DIMISSED John M. Poindexter: President Reagan's national security adviser from December 1985 to November 1986 was convicted on April 7, 1990, on five counts involving charges that he obstructed, conspired to obstruct and made false statements to Congress. He was sentenced June 11, 1990 to six months in prison. A Federal appeals panel threw out the convictions on Nov. 15, 1991, on the ground that Mr. Poindexter's testimony to Congress under immunity was improperly used against him. Joseph F. Fernandez: The case against the former C.I.A. station chief in Costa Rica was dismissed after the Government refused a defense request for classified documents. Oliver L. North: The former Marine lieutenant colonel was a staff member of the National Security Council. Was convicted on May 4, 1989, on three felony counts for his role in the Iran-contra affair: aiding and abetting obstruction of Congress, destroying security council documents and accepting an illegal gift. He was acquitted on nine counts. He was sentenced July 5, 1989, to two years' probation and 1,200 hours of community service and fined $150,000. On Sept. 16, 1991, the convictions were thrown out on appeal because testimony in the trial might have been influenced by Mr. North's testimony before Congress under immunity. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/gen...hisday_big.html |
With figures as colorful as Barry Seal - who had George Bush Sr's private phone number in his possession when he was killed, "Freeway" Ricky Ross, Ollie North, etc, how could anyone NOT want to know about this convoluted but captivating story?
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| Originally posted by tiesto14 you do know that the guy who makes the fromthewilderness site and all those conspiracys spent some time in a mental hospital because of dellusional thoughts and paranoia right?...i tend to stay away from that site because the guy who started the newsletter is basically a quack. |
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| KBR awarded Homeland Security contract worth up to $385M |
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| Originally posted by DaveSZ If you think Ron Paul is a Neocon, you must have very very leftish views. |
I'm reading the book "whiteout" by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair that go into great detail regarding the US alliance with drug traffickers and ex-Nazi's throughout the cold war era.
If even half the shit I've been reading is true, then it's very bad news.
I highly recommend this book. For the anti-conspiracy bunch, this book is filed with official bibliographies and references to sworn count cases and freedom of information act sources.
In short, I believe that the CIA since it's inception in the 50's has been using the some segments of the US population as unwitting guinea pigs for experiments with bio weapons and drugs. They've also turned a very blind eye to drug trafficking thru certain channels because it financed their black ops.
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| Originally posted by pmoisse I'm reading the book "whiteout" by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair that go into great detail regarding the US alliance with drug traffickers and ex-Nazi's throughout the cold war era. If even half the shit I've been reading is true, then it's very bad news. I highly recommend this book. For the anti-conspiracy bunch, this book is filed with official bibliographies and references to sworn count cases and freedom of information act sources. In short, I believe that the CIA since it's inception in the 50's has been using the some segments of the US population as unwitting guinea pigs for experiments with bio weapons and drugs. They've also turned a very blind eye to drug trafficking thru certain channels because it financed their black ops. |
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| Originally posted by tiesto14 i dont get it....i mean in all honesty i wanted to learn and talk about this subject then you come in here and mock me with your "zzzzzzzz"....for what?...if you are not interested dont look, dont post and dont worry.... |
Make up your own mind 
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| Originally posted by matty Yes you are right about the CIA arming the contras in Nicaragua. Same could be said for the death squads in Brazil and Argentina. Anyways, if you want to learn more on this i suggest getting Noam Chomskys Washington Connection and the Third World Fascism. The book talks about the government involvement in central/south america, south korea, iran/iraq, and everywhere else in the world |
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| Originally posted by infinity HiGH "Secret History of the CIA" by Joseph Trento |
CIA? Coke? NEVER..!?
http://djd.newsvine.com/_news/2007/...tons-of-cocaine
..mind. 
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| Originally posted by Trancer-X I'm going to have to read that. Thank you and thank goodness for the FOIA!!! |
Such a shame we imposed our will on Nicaragua's democratically elected government. The sad thing is, we keep repeating such mistakes, only this time, it's on a grand scale..
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| Originally posted by pmoisse Did you (or anyone else) pick this book up? Thoughts? If I was still living in Canada I would happily send mine to them to read. |
Here's a good copy of a WSJ article that I found earlier. It's from 1997.
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| Mysterious Mena: CIA Discloses, Leach Disposes By MICAH MORRISON WALL STREET JOURAL January 29, 1997 The word on Capitol Hill is that Rep. Jim Leach will soon wrap up his inquiry into the spooky goings-on at remote Mena in western Arkansas. For more than a decade, state and federal probes of supposedly government-related drug smuggling, gun running and money laundering at Mena Intermountain Regional Airport have hit a stone wall. But Mr. Leach already can claim some success: He kept the pressure on the Central Intelligence Agency until it completed a still-classified internal probe of the allegations; in a declassifed summary released in November, the CIA for the first time admitted that it had a presence in Arkansas. The agency was not "associated with money laundering, narcotics trafficking, arms smuggling, or other illegal activities" at Mena, the report concludes. But the CIA did engage in "authorized and lawful activities" at the airfield: a classified "joint-training operation with another federal agency" and contracting for "routine aviation-related services." At the center of the web of speculation spun around Mena are a few undisputed facts: One of the most successful drug informants in U.S. history, smuggler Barry Seal, based his air operation at Mena. At the height of his career he was importing as much as 1,000 pounds of cocaine per month, and had a personal fortune estimated at more than $50 million. After becoming an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, he worked at least once with the CIA, in a Sandinista drug sting. He was gunned down by Colombian hit men in Baton Rogue, La., in 1986; eight months later, one of his planes--with an Arkansas pilot at the wheel and Eugene Hasenfus in the cargo bay--was shot down over Nicaragua with a load of Contra supplies. What had then-Gov. Bill Clinton known about CIA activities at Mena? Asked at an October 1994 press conference, President Clinton said, "They didn't tell me anything about it." Events at Mena, Mr. Clinton continued, "were primarily a matter for federal jurisdiction. The state really had next to nothing to do with it. The local prosecutor did conduct an investigation based on what was in the jurisdiction of state law. The rest of it was under the jurisdiction of the United States Attorneys who were appointed successively by previous administrations. We had nothing--zero--to do with it." Mr. Clinton was right about federal jurisdiction, but wrong about Arkansas involvement. As reported on this page, local attempts to investigate Mena were tanked twice by the Mr. Clinton's administration in Little Rock, which refused to allocate funds. And in July 1995, a former member of Gov. Clinton's security staff, Arkansas State Trooper L.D. Brown, suddenly stepped forward claiming he had worked with the CIA and Seal running guns to the Contras--and cocaine back to the U.S. Mr. Brown says that when he informed the governor about the drug flights, Mr. Clinton replied, "that's Lasater's deal"--a reference to Little Rock bond daddy Dan Lasater, a Clinton crony later convicted on an apparently unrelated cocaine distribution charge. The CIA report does not directly address the Lasater allegation. It says trooper Brown applied to the agency but was not offered employment and was not "otherwise associated with CIA." Barry Seal was associated with CIA, but only for "a two-day period" while his plane was being outfitted for the DEA's Sandinista sting. The CIA also says it found no evidence of tampering in earlier money-laundering prosecutions, as several Arkansas investigators have charged. And what does the CIA say about Mr. Clinotn's knowledge of CIA activities at Mena? It gives its boss wiggle room that parses nicely with his statement that " they didn't tell me anything." In response to Mr. Leach's question about whether information was conveyed to Arkansas officials in the 1980s, the report states that "interface with local officials was handled by the other federal agency" involved in the joint Mena exercise, side-stepping the issue of what Mr. Clinton knew. The Clinton White House has gone to great lengths to discredit the Mena story. It figures in the notorious White House conspiracy report and was denounced by former Whitewater damage-control counsel Mark Fabiani as "the darkest backwater of right-wing conspiracy theories." Beltway pundits tend to dismiss Mena as an excess of the Clinton critics. But in Arkansas the campaign is more vicious. With a passive press having long ago abandoned the field, Mena investigators such as former Arkansas State Police investigator Russell Welch and former IRS agent Bill Duncan were stripped of their careers after refusing to back away from the case. Mr. Leach's CIA report provides some vindication for the two Arkansans. Mr. Leach's full report is not likely to resolve all the questions surrounding Mena, but it might provide important details about that "other agency" and related mysteries. In Arkansas, meanwhile, the Little Rock FBI office is following leads in a sensitive drug-corruption probe involving the Linda Ives "train deaths" case and allegations of Mena-related drug drops. The big drug-corruption question is what network encompassed the Barry Seal operation. The answer could come by following the money on some of the smaller questions, such as whether those CIA contracts for "aviation-related services" went to one of Seal's front companies at Mena. But in forcing an admission from the U.S. intelligence community, Mr. Leach already has performed an important service: He's demolished the notion that nothing happened at Mena. Mr. Morrison is a Journal editorial page writer. http://www.idfiles.com/menamystciadis.htm http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationSt...970129.wsj.html |
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