Sarah McClendon and Mena

White House News Briefings | 1/9/03 | Scholastic

[Scholastic]

A little known fact is the only person to ever ask Clinton a public question about the events in Mena Arkansas, while he was President, was Sarah McClendon in 1994.

She also drilled Mike McCurry over the issue in September of 1996, an interesting exchange, in which a person named Helen (my guess is Helen Thomas) told McClendon to "put a sock in it" so she could get her question in. [both transcripts are bellow]

Hats off to this little old lady, not to mention prayers.

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October 7, 1994, Clinton Speech on His Administration's Progress.

CLINTON: Yes, Sarah?

SARAH McCLENDON, McClendon News: Sir, the Republicans are trying to blame you for the existence of a small airbase at Mena, Ark. This base was set up by George Bush and Oliver North and the CIA to help the Iran-Contras, and they brought in planeload after planeload of cocaine there for sale in the United States, and then they took the money and bought weapons and took them back to the Contras, all of which was illegal, as you know, under the Boland Act. But tell me, did they tell you that this had to be in existence because of national security?

Pres. CLINTON: Well, let me answer the question. No, they didn't tell me anything about it. They didn't say anything to me about it. The airport in question, and all the events in question, were the subject of state and federal inquiries. It was 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 within 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, and everybody who's ever looked into it knows that.

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HEADLINE: THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, DC REGULAR BRIEFING September 23, 1996, Monday

BODY:

MR. MCCURRY: Anything else? Any other subjects?

Q Yes.

MR. MCCURRY: Yes, ma'am?

Q You know, all this talk that we're getting every five minutes about the Republicans saying that Clinton hasn't done enough against -- to curb narcotics, why doesn't he answer that? Why doesn't he come out and say: The last two or three days around here there's been documented evidence that it was George Bush and Oliver North and the CIA that was bringing in the narcotics, and they're still doing it. The CIA is still bringing in the narcotics through Mena, Arkansas. Now why the devil doesn't -- excuse me for saying that -- but why in the world doesn't Clinton come out and say the Republicans are the ones who have bringing in narcotics?

MR. MCCURRY: Well, the president is on the --

Q Can you ask the president, for me, that question?

MR. MCCURRY: The first part of that question, the president is satisfied, as Director Deutch has indicated, that they are conducting an independent review of those allegations at the CIA and that is underway, as has been announced. Secondly, the president is --

Q I didn't quite understand what you said just then.

MR. MCCURRY: What I just said just then is, as Director of Central Intelligence, John Deutch has said, and assured members of Congress, an independent inspector general at the CIA is looking into some of the allegations that you just referenced. On the first --

Q They're looking into allegations?

MR. MCCURRY: They're --

Q Is that what you said, that they are looking into the allegations?

MR. MCCURRY: They're conducting an independent inspector general's review of the matter. On the first part of the question, the president is happy to talk about his record during the time he has been president and, frankly, his commitment going back all the years he's been in public service to combat drug trafficking and drug use.

Q Well, then --

MR. MCCURRY: This president has requested more funding from the Congress for anti-drug efforts than his predecessors did. He has put together a drug strategy now with the leadership of a four-star general. He supported the death penalty for drug kingpins, and he's worked vigorously to combat drug use and spoken to the issue publicly.

Q But why doesn't he just come out --

MR. MCCURRY: Helen?

Q -- and tell the Republicans: After all, you have been bringing them in for years.

MR. MCCURRY: Well, I believe that's what we are in the process of doing. I think we are attempting, as effectively as you can during a political season in which many misbegotten charges get made, to rebut some of that information. Helen?

Q Ambassador Deutch said that he's been waiting on some allegations --

Q [Helen Thomas?] Come on, Sarah, put a sock in it.

Q -- and his inspector general to find out something. (Laughter.) And all he has to do it turn around in his office and find it.

MR. MCCURRY: Well, we've -- that's exactly what he's doing. Helen?

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[Scholastic]

Ping

[Abcdefg]

You should have heard the Sinkmiester's answer when she asked him about the nonsense the radical conspiracy theorists were putting out about the national parks being taken over by the UN.

[Scholastic]

I do remember that, a bit. She always seemed to ask the good questions, even if she didnt buy into them. I wish I was in her shoes.

[JohnGalt]

"The local prosecutor did conduct an investigation based on what was within 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, and everybody who's ever looked into it knows that."


That is a gem; that local prosecutor/US Attorney Clinton is reffering to was none other than the current head of the DEA Asa Hutchinson who had the largest cocaine smuggling operation in the country running under his nose.

[HAL9000]

SARAH McCLENDON, McClendon News: Sir, the Republicans are trying to blame you for the existence of a small airbase at Mena, Ark.

Typical revisionism from McClendon. That airbase existed for decades before Clinton. The "Mena scandal" started with Democrats trying to portray Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Oliver North and the CIA as cocaine smugglers.

When Bush lost the election, a couple of guys (Terry Reed and Gene Wheaton) came up with the bright idea to shift substitute Clinton as the culprit in this phony scandal.

The net result of the Mena scandal was to provide a cover for the Tyson cocaine-smuggling operation in Arkansas, where Clinton received most of his money while he was governor. The whole mess was buried when Clinton pardoned everyone who was successfully prosecuted by Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz. But that led to the Pardons for Sale scandal...

[philman_36]

You should have heard the Sinkmiester's answer when she asked him about the nonsense the radical conspiracy theorists were putting out about the national parks being taken over by the UN.
Nonsense? What do you call the U.S. Biosphere Reserves

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Location Map
The UN started the Biosphere Reserves program, not the U.S.! Are you sure you know of what you speak of?

[Red Jones]

republicans ... ... democrats ... ... the only serious question about them seems to be 'which one is worse?'. Seriously, these two parties don't serve us. The reason why we are being treated as peasants or slaves by a ruling class that is behaving likes kings did 500 years ago is because we elect about 98% of the republicans and the democrats whenever they run for re-election. If we re-elected only 30%, then it would be a whole different ball-game.

Everyone knows McClendon was a very biased liberal. But she had a sense of right and wrong, she was sincere, she had the integrity to ask a question where she knew she was confronting the corrupt about their evil deeds. We used to have a whole country of people who would diligently protect us from this corruption. Now, we have people who pretend it doesn't exist, who wink at it, who are happy if the party they're loyal to is involved in the corruption if only the other party is punished. We are being treated like peasants or slaves and our interests manipulated by our rulers who don't even show their faces to us.

For those who are unaware: At Mena, Arkansas our own government brought in not just large quantities of cocaine, but actually around 80% of all the cocaine that came in during the 80's. To those who are skeptical, why have so many people with real CIA ties say that this happened? Why do so many authors quote un-named sources in important places who confirm it. Why do different ex-CIA people tell corroborating stories? Ex-LAPD people say they remember when CIA came to them and told them they were going to show black gangs how to make crack cocaine. The CIA itself released info in late 98 and in early 99 saying themselves that they had been involved in smuggling drugs into the US for 20 years.

The people who tell these dark stories say that George Bush was the guy in charge. It was done in Clinton's Arkansas because that was the easiest place to get away with it; Clinton was involved as a person who covered up and took payoffs, but he did not create that corruption. A nation that accepts these types of leaders (the Bushes) is a nation headed for big trouble.

Bush/Clinton/Bush, they're all on the same team.

[aristeides]

Sarah McClendon just died at age 94. She at least was not Arkancided.

[Abcdefg]

Sarah called it nonsense, then Slick rambled but never denied it. He talked about how resources must be shared or something like that.

[Abcdefg]

started by Nixon.

[philman_36]

Sarah called it nonsense...
Then Sarah didn't know diddly!

[Abcdefg]

No, she didn't.

[Red Jones]

Democrats trying to portray Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Oliver North and the CIA as cocaine smugglers.

so, those two press releases by the CIA, one in late 98 and one in February of 1999 where the CIA said that they've been involved in smuggling drugs into the US for 20 years were just lies, just propaganda put out by the democrats to blame the republicans.

I can remember that idiot who led the CIA in LA back in 97 or so talking to locals after the San Jose article came out. He was saying emphatically that all the stories about CIA involvement in cocaine epidemic were lies. Then in late 98 and early 99 they (CIA) themselves issued a press release admitting to the involvement in drug smuggling.

But it doesn't matter, blind ideologues don't care about reality. Republicans are happy if only we can blame the Democrats. Democrats are happy if only they can blame the Republicans. America's welfare, truth, right & wrong, these things mean nothing.

Meanwhile, the Republicans and the democrats work together to do things that the overwhelming majority of americans disapprove of and that are bad for our country. And the slimeballs who rule us privately smile at our stupidity and think smugly that they are superior to us masses lost in our primitive passions.

[Sal]

...Slick rambled but never denied it. He talked about how resources must be shared or something like that.

Worse'n that. He made some reference to how the economy had become global, the world had changed, and that we were now interdependent. And you're right--he didn't even attempt to refute any of the charges she mentioned in her question.

[Scholastic]

I couldnt have said it better myself.

[Red Jones]

that local prosecutor/US Attorney Clinton is reffering to was none other than the current head of the DEA Asa Hutchinson who had the largest cocaine smuggling operation in the country running under his nose.

That was so incredible what you said about Asa Hutchinson. and exactly true too. He was a prosecutor in Arkansas and allowed all that corruption. So, now he's promoted to being head of DEA. But he's a Republican so that's good people say. Maybe back in 99 when he voted to impeach he was just establishing his credentials with certain portions of our population, but he still serves the machine that rules us.

Here's another interesting set of facts. In February of 1993 the US government abruptly cut spending on the DEA by 50%. They were ordered to lay off 50% of all employees including 50% of the 470 undercover agents they had actively chasing bad guys in Miami Vice types of operations. Many of those laid off were actively on the trail of real smugglers. Our own government's statistics showed that between 92 and 96 drug use in america nearly doubled. But all the tv media told us that this was unrelated to any government policy.

The spending cutbacks did not result from a congressional vote either. Clinton merely asked leaders of the Senate and leaders of the House if they would agree to the unusual and immediate cutbacks in previously approved budget items. They said 'yes' and the cutbacks were implemented.

Of course, real, professional and uncorrupted law enforcement people will all tell you that the undercover agents of the DEA were the most effective, dollar for dollar, way to spend money to keep drug availability more rare. The drug smugglers in essence were given a green light, they did their marketing thing and drug smuggling went up dramatically, that's what happened.

In 1995 funding for the DEA was restored and in fact increased. But Clinton had already put his own boy into the top DEA position. What are the odds that he was not corrupt? This new head of DEA decided that 50% of all DEA resources should be spent chasing drug smugglers inside the US rather than their historical and congressionally mandated role of strictly trying to stop drugs from coming into the US.

I'm sure that Bush is not a big coke-snorter the way Clinton used to be. I'm sure Bush doesn't lie about everything the way Clinton used to. I'm sure that Bush doesn't ask 21 year old employees to go down on him and then give them an 80 grand a year job as a reward. But Bush is part of the machine that rules us, just like Clinton. Otherwise, why is Asa Hutchinson, the person accused of corruption regarding Mena head of the DEA? Someone merely accused of such corruption shouldn't be allowed anywhere near that job.

[philman_36]

There is always Larry Patterson's testimony which blows away Clinton's "I know nothing" attitude.
"Attic dust"...The Crimes of Mena (Penthouse Magazine - July 1995 issue)
AIR AMERICA ACTS I-V
Clinton made his first public statement on Mena at a press conference in 1991 in which he said " there are apparently linkages to the federal government", he also said, "there are all kinds of questions as to whether Seal had any links to the CIA and whether that banked into the Iran-Contra deal".
Snip...Of Clinton’s reticence to discuss the Mena case, Bill Plante and Micheal Singer of CBS news have written "That a Republican administration was apparently sponsoring a contra aid program in his state and protecting a smuggling ring that flew tons of cocaine through Arkansas was indisputable". One thing is certain, that is that Bill Clinton, on most occasions, has an unusually keen faculty for sniffing out political advantage. It stretches the boundaries of plausibility that he would have missed the possible political bonuses inherent in the Mena situation, that is unless he unless he had a good reason for missing them.

[Cicero]

My own reading of the situation is that V.P. George H. W. Bush and Oliver North conducted a cocain-smuggling operation in order to raise money to fund the Contras, who were defunded by an act of a Democratic congress who preferred having a Communist regime in Nicaragua. Noriega was also involved. It was probably a grievous mistake, but their reasons, at least, were patriotic. It was the only way they could come up with to continue their war against a Communist takeover of Latin America that was threatened by Castro and the Sandinistas, absent congressional funding. Ronald Reagan doubtless gave his approval but was not directly involved.

Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas at the time, took a rakeoff and supervised the operation locally. He seems to have been behind the killing of the boys on the railroad track. It has also been said that $100,000,000 in drug smuggling money disappeared, and that clinton probably was the guy who took it.

Tyson was also heavily involved in smuggling operations at the time, possibly in connection with Mena.

Finally, I don't think George W. Bush is the same as George H. W. Bush. At least I hope not, and so far I have been encouraged by his actions.

[JohnGalt]

I suspect your an unrepentant left-libertarian so we probably disagree on many aspects of Mena.

From where I am sitting, and having read a fair amount on the subject, the operation involved uber patriot Ollie North hiring some pilots to fly guns down to the Contra's. The program would be funded with monies from the arm sales in Iran.

The CIA mentioned they had an old contact who was now a Governor in Arkansas. Clinton of course spied on anti-war protestors at Oxford for the CIA. So Clinton gets paid a visit and told that the they would use a little strip called Mena Airport to fly out guns.

They hire the greatest pilot in the world, Barry Seal to form a team. Barry goes along with it because he was facing trouble with the DEA in Miami. Barry gets a team together, and the gun running begins, only Barry and the Boys are bringing loads of cocaine back with them. Dan Lassiter was the point man in Arkansas, and the famous quote attributed from Clinton by LD Brown, "That's Lassiter's deal."

When the operation ends, things get murky, because someone told LD Brown to fly to Mexico and murder, as it turned out to be, Terry Reed. LD got cold feet.

I should also mention, Senator John Kerry investigated Mena in the late eighties and proclaimed a clean bill of health.

There is no evidence that I am aware of the CIA orchestrating a drug running operation to fund anything. That sounds like the left wing spin to make an otherwise unsexy story of Southern Dixie Mafia corruption look like a grander conspiracy with old foe the CIA.