ian : You have been reasonable in your critic of the people here that believe Clinton needs to be removed.
What is your reaction to the article from the today's WSJ editorial about Mena ? Am I crazy to be convinced that something terribly wrong is going on with the man ? I just cannot understand why people are so passive with this.
Wall Street Journal
March 3, 1999 Micah Morrison
A Place Called Mena
--Just Some Facts
By Micah Morrison, a Journal editorial page writer.
Reacting to the Juanita Broaddrick story, White House spokesman Joe
Lockhart said the Journal editorial page "lost me after they accused the president
of being a drug smuggler and a murderer." We made no such charges, of course.
But we'll give Mr. Lockhart a pass on the grounds of hyperbole; we have indeed
reported stories about the seamy side of Bill Clinton's Arkansas.
Most of our stories--as opposed to gamier Arkansas tales traded on the
Internet--have revolved around Mena Intermountain Regional Airport in western
Arkansas. Even as careful an observer as David Frum, writing in Commentary,
criticizes "wild charges" including "drug-smuggling via Mena airport." Since drug
smuggling at Mena is established beyond doubt, a brief review of some facts
seems in order:
Mena was a staging ground for Barry Seal, one of the most notorious drug
smugglers in history. He established a base at Mena in 1981, and
according to Arkansas law-enforcement officials, imported as much as
1,000 pounds of cocaine a month from Colombia. In 1984 he became an
informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, flying to Colombia
and gathering information about leaders of the Medellín cartel. He testified
in several high-profile cases, and was assassinated in Baton Rouge, La., in
1986.
Two investigators probing events at Mena say they were closed
down--William Duncan, a former Internal Revenue Service investigator,
and Russell Welch, a former Arkansas State Police detective. They fought
a decade-long battle to bring events at Mena to light, pinning their hopes
on nine separate state and federal probes. All failed. And Messrs. Welch
and Duncan were stripped of their careers.
In 1986, Dan Lasater, Little Rock bond daddy and an important Clinton
campaign contributor, pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution. The scheme
also involved Mr. Clinton's brother, Roger. Both Mr. Lasater and Roger
Clinton served brief prison terms. Gov. Clinton later issued a pardon to
Mr. Lasater.
On Aug. 23, 1987, teenagers Kevin Ives and Don Henry were run over by
a northbound Union Pacific train near Little Rock in an area reputed to be
a haven for drug smugglers. Gov. Clinton's state medical examiner, Fahmy
Malak, quickly ruled the deaths accidental, saying the two boys had fallen
into a deep sleep side by side on the railroad tracks after smoking too
much marijuana. A second autopsy concluded the boys had been
murdered and their bodies placed on the tracks. Despite public outcry, Dr.
Malak remained medical examiner until just before Mr. Clinton's
presidential campaign.
In 1990 Jean Duffey, the head of a newly created drug task force, began
investigating a possible link between the train deaths and drugs. Her boss,
the departing prosecuting attorney for Arkansas's Seventh Judicial District,
gave her a direct order: "You are not to use the drug task force to
investigate public officials." In a 1996 interview with the Journal, Ms.
Duffey said: "We had witnesses telling us about low-flying aircraft and
informants testifying about drug pick-ups."
Dan Harmon, who had earlier been appointed special prosecutor for the
train deaths, took office in 1991 as seventh district prosecutor. Ms. Duffey
was discredited, threatened, and ultimately forced to flee Arkansas. In
1997, a federal jury in Little Rock found Mr. Harmon guilty of five counts
of drug dealing and extortion, and sentenced him to eight years in prison
for using his office to extort narcotics and cash.
Mr. Lockhart to the contrary, we have never accused Mr. Clinton of a direct role
in these events. Obviously, as governor for 12 years, he was ultimately
responsible for Arkansas law enforcement. As president, he has commented only
once about events at Mena. Asked about it during a 1994 press conference, he
said that it was "primarily a matter of federal jurisdiction" and "they didn't tell me
anything about it."
In 1984, Seal flew his C-123K to Nicaragua in a Central Intelligence
Agency drug sting of Sandinista officials. The CIA rigged a hidden
camera in the plane, enabling him to snap photos of several men--including
a high-ranking Sandinista--loading cocaine aboard the aircraft. In 1986,
eight months after Seal's death, his plane was shot down over Nicaragua
with an Arkansas pilot at the wheel and a load of ammunition and contra
supporter Eugene Hasenfus in the cargo bay.
Three days after the 1996 presidential election, the CIA issued a brief
report saying it had engaged in "authorized and lawful activities" at the
airfield, including "routine aviation-related services" and a secret
"joint-training operation with another federal agency." The agency said it
was not "associated with money laundering, narcotics trafficking, arms
smuggling, or other illegal activities" at Mena.
The statement was issued in response to a probe by investigators for the House
Banking Committee, directed by Chairman Jim Leach. His report has been often
promised and often delayed. Yesterday Leach spokesman David Runkel said that
Banking Committee investigators are "putting the finishing touches" on their
report. "While there is an extraordinary story to be told, it's unlikely that the
president is going to be too severely embarrassed."
Whatever Mr. Clinton's involvement as governor, something singular was going
on at Mena. Perhaps Mr. Leach will yet shed some light on the mystery.
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