Sarah McClendon and Mena

When I first received a pre-publication copy of Terry Reed's book, I was intrigued and strongly inclined to believe his story. The original allegations of a CIA-cocaine conspiracy had already been circulated by leftist radicals like Alexander Cockburn and the "Arkansas Committee" in an effort to smear President Reagan and Oliver North, but Reed's portrayal of a Clinton's involvement in Arkansas was interesting.

After several years of checking it out - mostly by other people, but also myself - Reed's story was discredited. The efforts to blame the CIA for cocaine smuggling in Arkansas have only diverted attention from the true culprits - the Tyson organization. It was the perfect cover story, and shifting the blame to the CIA served Tyson, Clinton and Hutchinson well.

To give one example of why I don't believe Terry Reed - he alleged that missile nose cones were being manufactured at the POM parking meter factory. It happens that my college roommate was the night watchman at that factory during the time period of Reed's allegations. He has been a good friend of mine for over 30 years, and he has always been honest with me. When I asked him whether he noticed any nose cones around POM when he worked there, he said certainly not.

There are dozens of other allegations in Reed's book that don't check out either, and the bottom line is that Terry Reed is a liar. There are many other people who started out believing Reed, but after some time dealing with him have come to the same conclusion.

I'm not particularily a fan of the CIA but I realize that they perform a necessary function for the US in dealing with foreign countries. There are plenty of legitimate problems to criticize the CIA for - but Mena ain't one of them.

well, I appreciate you being patient enough to explain those things to me and to others hopefully. I didn't read Terry Reid's book. But I certainly agree with you that the CIA does have a lot of very legitimate purposes. If some hot-heads like me were to just eliminate funding for them, then that would be a pretty big mistake. I'm convinced that they do protect us from WMD.

Some people (liberals) bash the CIA in order to get america to dis-arm and be weak. Some people do it because they think the CIA has stepped over the line and become a tyrant. I'm in the 2'nd group.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me.

"42-year-old Carlos Ghigliotti, the infra-red imaging expert who proved the government fired shots during the Branch Davidian stand-off, was found dead Saturday (April 29, 2000) afternoon." [http://www.888webtoday.com/waco4.html]

"FREE REPUBLIC BREAKING NEWS: Carlos Ghigliotti Death Ruled A Result of Natural Causes " [http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a391b214632df.htm]

The story seems to have died out.

Coincidentally, Laurel, MD figures in this story and in the sniper story last year - "And some of the hijackers stayed at a motel in Laurel, which is also in PG County, and not far from Bowie. And Laurel has a radical mosque." [http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/765210/posts]

Also, researching this, I can't help noticing that FreeRepublic was on both the Ghigliotti and sniper stories.

Didn't Sarah investigate Promis and Danny Cassalero, also? Promis just resurfaced, and with her death on the heels of that, I seemed to vaguely remember her connection to it.

Whether DOJ violated the terms of use for Promis is a legitimate point of contention, but it is merely a contractual dispute. Mark Levin, whom I have the highest respect for, insists that Inslaws rights were not violated, but I'm not so sure.

But the allegations that Promis was some sort of Orwellian Big Brother software capable of tracking every person and financial transaction on the planet is a wild fantasy. There are not termite-embedded Promis terminals with micro-satellite uplinks. There was no Fifth Column of Kentucky hackers blackmailing politicians into resigning. This crap came straight out of a fictional novel about the NSA written in the early 1980s.

Office of Former President William Jefferson Clinton
New York, New York
For Immediate Release
January 8, 2003
Statement Of William J. Clinton On The Passing Of Sarah McClendon
I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Sarah McClendon, a remarkable journalist who covered more Presidents than anyone in American history. Few women covered the White House when Sarah arrived in 1944 and wrote about Franklin D. Roosevelt. Since then, presidents and White House correspondents came and went, but for decades there was nothing to keep Sarah McClendon from doing her duty, reporting the news for her readers.
Time never diminished Sarah's feisty spirit or her quest for the facts. She never held back. All the trappings of the presidency did not sway her in the least. And all of us who called on her in news conferences did so with a mixture of respect and fear, I suspect, because we would never quite know what she might say. But whatever it was, she brought such enthusiasm and tenacity to the issue at hand that I couldn't help but admire her spirit. She didn't just ask questions. She demanded answers. Answers to questions that may not have dominated conversations inside the proverbial Beltway, but were very much on the minds of American families. She had a way of cutting through the process stories and insider gossip to ask about real issues that mattered to real people.
My thoughts are with Sarah's family and friends at this moment of loss. And I pray that the legacy of her full life will comfort them. Her voice will be missed at news conferences. Her stories will be missed by her readers. But I hope St. Peter is prepared for the kinds of questions that nearly a dozen presidents had to face. Because for Sarah McClendon, I imagine, Heaven is a place where her every question gets a good answer.
###

started by Nixon.

Republicans generally are responsible for most of the really great ideas ... it's they who made abortion a "vital" prong of our national defense policy.

Given the way the Dems always take the blame -- and the heat (as at Waco, for example) -- after a while you have to figure it's they who are the Stupid Party.

But don't tell David Keene that ... he's PROUD to be a member of the Stupid Party.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.