From: Mark Keesee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.arktimes.com/mara/020599mara.html
Arkansas Times
February 05, 1999
Opinion
Less Lewinsky, more Barry Seal
By Mara Leveritt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I consider the trial unfolding in Washington little more
than a tawdry spectacle -- bread and circuses, if you will
-- distracting us not only from crucial affairs of state,
but from a far nastier scandal that could tarnish Democrats
and Republicans alike.
The bipartisan nature of this ugliness, I suspect, is why
no one has made much of a stink of it. To me, what's being
avoided while we engage in this silliness is no less than a
question of aid for the enemy at a time when we are at war.
I would go so far as to use the word treason if this were a
formal, military conflict, but the war I speak of is the
War on Drugs, so betrayal may have a different meaning.
What we do know is that while our nation has been
conducting this costly War on Drugs, parts of our own
government have seriously obstructed that very effort,
helping major, international drug smugglers -- identified
by our leaders as the enemy -- by turning a deliberate,
blind eye to their activities and allowing them to continue
to bring cocaine into the U.S.
While we taxpayers have funded the creation of countless,
state and federal drug task forces, witnessed the
relentless expansion of prisons, and seen thousands doomed
to life behind bars through the imposition of mandatory
sentences, we also have had to face the reality that these
Draconian measures are failing.
In November, 1996, the San Jose Mercury-News published a
remarkable series of articles by reporter Gary Webb that
offered a grim look at this war's history. The gist was
that, beginning in 1979, certain elements of the CIA,
seeking to help Nicaragua's Contra rebels, developed
questionable associations with drug smugglers, some of whom
went on to supply the crack epidemic that swept Los Angeles
and other cities across America.
The CIA issued denials, and the Mercury-News fired Webb,
saying he had overstated his case. But many Californians
found the allegations credible, and in response to the
resulting clamor, the CIA appointed an inspector general to
investigate the series' contentions. Months later, the
CIA's inspector general reported that, yes, the agency had
maintained ties with suspected drug traffickers during the
1980s, though he insisted there was "no information" that
the CIA had actively participated in the trafficking of
drugs.
The release of a second, more detailed report had been
repeatedly delayed. Another disturbing bit of history has
also come to light. Letters that have recently surfaced
between former CIA Director William Casey and William
French Smith, a former U.S. attorney general, reveal that
in early 1982, the Justice Department released the CIA from
its obligation to report suspected violations of U.S.
narcotics laws, when the alleged violators were not CIA
employees.
In other words, while parts of the U.S. government were
spending billions on eradication, interdiction and
incarceration as tactics in the War on Drugs, the Justice
Department secretly arranged for the country's main
intelligence arm to legally protect drug smugglers when it
chose to.
This information is of particular interest here in
Arkansas, where many of us have wondered for years how
Barry Seal was able to operate his well-documented
cocaine-smuggling business, importing, by his own account,
millions of dollars worth of cocaine, without any official
interference. Seal, who claimed he was working for the CIA,
moved his operation to Mena in the spring of 1982 --
apparently, as the ink was drying on the Casey-Smith
agreement. All that put him out of business four years
later was his murder in Louisiana.
The question ever since has been: who was protecting Seal?
Two years ago, the CIA acknowledged that it had conducted
"training exercises" at Mena while Seal had his
headquarters there, and that Seal had indeed worked for the
agency, in a "limited" capacity. It took a decade to
extract those admissions. We can assume they're but the tip
of an iceberg.
Republicans will have a lot of explaining to do if
questions about the CIA's connections to cocaine ever get
the attention they deserve, since much of the questionable
activity took place on the Reagan/Bush watch.
But Democrats are on the hook too, especially President
Clinton, who has yet to offer the least explanation for why
Seal was allowed to operate unimpeded in Arkansas for
years, even though the nature and scope of Seal's
activities were known to the DEA, the FBI, the IRS, the
Louisiana State Police, and the Arkansas State Police
before Seal landed his first aircraft at Mena.
There may be a good explanation for why our prisons were
filled with petty drug dealers while people like Seal
stayed in business. If so, it's time for us to hear it. If
not, then this spectacle known as Monicagate is diverting
attention from crimes that truly deserve the adjective
"high."
Copyright ©1998 Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc.
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