From: [m--eg--n] at [ix.netcom.com] (Marnie Regen)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: CIA probes Mena drug running
Date: 8 Aug 1996 16:26:49 GMT

Washington Post
August 7, 1996

CIA probes drug, arms claims

Allegations of illegal shipments at Arkansas airstrip to be pursued

    WASHINGTON - The CIA's inspector general is investigating claims 
that U.S. intelligence agencies were involved in illegal arms shipments
and drug smuggling at an isolated airstrip in Mena, Ark., during the 
years Bill Clinton was governor.
    A representative for the CIA said Inspector General Frederick Hitz 
is preparing a report on allegations that the CIA was involved in arms 
shipments from Mena to the Nicaraguan rebels during the 1980s, and that
pilots hired by the agency brought back large shipments of cocaine.
    CIA official Mark Mansfield said the inspector general would report
on possible contracts between the agency and Arkansas state officials 
during the 1980s.  His report also will deal with allegations that the 
CIA attempted to influence or curtail law enforcement investigations of
the airstrip.
    Hitz was asked to investigate the Mena airport by CIA director John
Deutch, who was acting on a request from House Banking Committee 
Chairman Jim Leach, R-Iowa.  Leach's panel is looking into the possible
laundering of drug money generated at Mena.
    Leach's Banking Committee staff has been looking at a variety of 
claims about Mena emanating from a collection of Arkansas law 
enforcement officials and various figures operating in the shadowy 
netherworld on contract with intelligence agencies.  One congressional 
investigator likened sorting through the allegations to being trapped 
in "a hall of mirrors."
    Congressional sources said Leach made the request to the CIA about 
six months ago and expects a report from Hitz in late summer or early 
fall.
    The latest claims are contained in "Boy Clinton," a book by 
American Spectator Editor R. Emmett Tyrrell published this week.  In 
it, Tyrrell asserts that Clinton knew about CIA operations and cocaine 
smuggling at Mena.  He cites as sources Arkansas state troopers, 
including one on the governor's security detail who says he was also a 
contract employee for the CIA during the mid-1980s and informed Clinton
of what was going on at Mena.
    Clinton has said he had nothing to do with any activities at Mena. 
"Mena is the darkest backwater of the right-wing conspiracy industry," 
said White House official Mark Fabiani.  "The allegations are as 
bizarre as they are false."
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