-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.arktimes.com/mara/090399mara.html <A HREF="http://www.arktimes.com/mara/090399mara.html">Opinion Mara Leveritt September 03, 1999</A> ----- Don't stop at Waco, Asa By Mara Leveritt September 03, 1999 n Good for Asa Hutchinson. This week the Arkansas congressman called for a bipartisan inquiry into the federal government's use of incendiary tear gas canisters during the final hours of the siege at Waco. Among other things, Hutchinson wants to know why it took the Justice Department six years to acknowledge the FBI's use of the devices, and why, when the information was released, it directly contradicted what the FBI had previously claimed. Hutchinson is right to be demanding answers. Congress should be concerned. Its members were lied to by the Justice Department during hearings in the aftermath of the debacle at Waco. And the nation was lied to, as well. The result is that the FBI, having fired the incendiary devices, followed by round after round of denials, is now in the painful position of having shot itself in the foot. So, way to go, Congressman. Pursue those questions about who consulted with whom, to what extent the Army's Delta Force was involved, why the attorney general was kept (as she claims) completely in the dark, and whatever other dark secrets whose answers ought to come to light. But, please, don't stop there. You're right that what happened at Waco cries out for investigation. But don't forget that there are federal secrets concerning a town in Arkansas that have been even more deeply buried. I refer, of course, to Mena, my favorite (and perhaps your least favorite) topic. As you may remember, I contacted you, asking your help in persuading the FBI to honor a Freedom of Information request about Mena that I'd had on file with them for years. You promised your assistance, but Rep. Vic Snyder, to whom I'd also written, actually went to work. The FBI stalled, but Snyder's staff persisted. Finally, their efforts paid off -- at least partly. Two weeks ago, I received 488 pages of FBI records pertaining to Barry Seal, the cocaine smuggler who, as you know, moved his billion-dollar drug business from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to the airport at Mena, Arkansas in 1982. You were the U.S. attorney for Arkansas's western district at the time, and, according to at least one former agent, you called a meeting soon after Seal arrived to advise federal investigators in the state that the smuggler was setting up shop. But, though he was constantly watched, Seal was never stopped. He operated from Mena, apparently unimpeded, until 1986, when he was murdered by Colombian operatives. Unlike the situation at Waco, the situation that had developed at Mena wasn't known until after Seal's death. But, as details about it slowly emerged, they gave rise to some serious questions. �Why, for instance, had Seal, who, by the government's own estimate, had imported between $3 billion and $5 billion worth of drugs, never spent more than four months inside an American prison? �Why, after he reportedly became an informant, working for the DEA in Miami, were investigators in Arkansas and Louisiana not notified of the change? �What happened to the drugs that Seal testified he brought into the United States -- and to the millions of dollars he said he earned -- during the time he was supposedly cooperating with the DEA? �And, since this is a story with roots in Arkansas, why did neither you, the Republican U.S. attorney when Seal arrived, nor the Democratic governor, Bill Clinton, ever take any known action to see that he was stopped? Opening the box from the FBI, I hoped that the documents inside would answer some of these questions. Unfortunately, they did not. Instead, they raised several even more intriguing questions. For example, according to one document, the Justice Department kept tight control of the investigation into Seal's murder, "since," as an assistant attorney general explained, "this is a case with apparent national and organized crime dimensions�" But many of the pages sent were heavily blacked out. And almost 300 were missing entirely. A cover letter explained that some of these deletions had been made to protect privacy or confidentiality, or for law enforcement reasons. But this is what I found most interesting. Notes explaining several of the deletions said that they had been made under provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 and the CIA Act of 1949. So it's quite a mess, you see, these jumbled references to organized crime and national security, to Colombian drug cartels and the CIA -- all within the heavily censored file of a smuggler who found safe haven in Arkansas during the last four years of his life. So here's something else I'd like you to call for, if you wouldn't mind, while you're calling for investigations into Waco: �What was the relationship between Barry Seal and the CIA? And what did this smuggler have to do with national security? News | Food | Dining | Movies | Recent | Quiz | Classifieds | Archives | Entertainment | Home | E-Mail Copyright �1996, 1997, 1998 Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
