Replies

"Ever chase down that funny little thing about how Asa Hutchinson was a real dogged prosecutor back in Arkansas, except when it came to Barry Seals?"

"What is one to make of the riveting assertion, made by a convicted Colombian drug kingpin at Manuel Noriega’s Florida drug trial, that the Medellín cartel gave $10 million to the Nicaraguan contras? Carlos Leader is a key prosecution witness; the U.S. government cannot lightly assail his credibility. Another cartel figure, Ramón Milián Rodríguez, also testified under oath that the Medellín cartel had given millions to the Contras."
The Washington Post - Editorial - 1991

From Here:
"A startling indication of Bush's role in these developments was the testimony given to a U.S. Senate hearing in 1987, where Medellín Cartel money-launderer Ramón Milián Rodríguez revealed that he had given $10 million in cocaine profits to Félix Rodríguez, a long-term CIA agent who ran the drugs-for-guns exchange for George Bush. Milián told investigative journalist Martha Honey that Rodríguez had offered that, "in exchange for money for the Contra cause, he would use his influence in high places to get the [cocaine] cartel U.S. `good will.'. . . Frankly, one of the selling points was that he could talk directly to Bush. . . . The issue of good will wasn't something that was going to go through 27 bureaucratic hands. It was something that was directly between him and Bush."

Milián met with Rodríguez on Jan. 18, 1985. Four days later, Rodríguez met with Vice President Bush in the Executive Office Building.

The promised "good will" was not long in coming. Indicative is the role played by a former senior official of the Reagan-Bush Department of Justice, Michael Abbell. In November 1984, Medellín Cartel boss Jorge Ochoa and Cali Cartel boss Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela were sitting in a Madrid jail on drug charges, facing extradition--and probable life sentences--in the United States. Abbell, who had been the acting director and deputy director of the International Affairs section of the DOJ's Criminal Division from 1979 through 1984, abruptly quit that post, and travelled to Spain to testify against the extradition of Ochoa and Rodríguez to the United States, claiming that his old employer, the U.S. Department of Justice, had filed faulty papers against his new clients, the drug lords. Thanks to Abbell, Ochoa and Rodríguez were sent to Colombia, where they were eventually set free."

THE ORAL DEPOSITION OF WILLIAM C. DUNCAN
"9 Q. And it has been alleged that the Central Intelligence

10 Agency had some role in that operation. Is that the same

11 operation that you investigated?

12 A. Yes.

13 Q. And when you submitted the witnesses, the names of the

14 prospective witnesses to the U. S. Attorney in Arkansas, are you

15 referring to Mr. -- what was the name of the U. S. Attorney?

16 A. Asa Hutchinson.

...15 A. They were very frustrated, also. Mr. Whitmore, in fact,

16 made several trips to Fort Smith, Arkansas to complain to the

17 U. S. Attorney's Office.

18 Q. Did he relate to you the conversation he had had with the

19 U. S. Attorney?

20 A. On several occasions, and also related to me that the U.S.

21 Attorney wrote him a letter telling him not to come to his

22 office anymore complaining, that that was unprofessional

23 behavior.

24 Q. What was the conclusion of Mr. Whitmore concerning your

25 investigation and the manner in which it was handled by the U. S.

1 Attorney in Arkansas?

2 A. That there was a coverup.

3 Q. Are you saying -- do you agree with his-with Mr.

4 Whitmore's conclusion?

5 A. Absolutely.

6 Q. Are you stating now under oath that you believe that the

7 investigation in and around the Mena Airport of money laundering

8 was covered up by the U. S. Attorney in Arkansas?

9 A. It was covered up,"

BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING, INC.
(501) 372-5115
[END OF PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT]

THE ORAL DEPOSITION OF RUSSELL FRANKLIN WELCH - Re: Asa Hutchinson

"10 I remember when he came in as U. S. Attorney, everybody was
11 really relieved in western Arkansas because we had had some
12 uneventful prosecutions prior to that apparently. And he did a
13 good job. He had a lot of prosecutions. Well liked.
14 My first uncomfortable experience was at the first grand
15 jury session concerning money laundering where two witnesses,
16 Jim Nugent and Kathy Corrigan, testified, and I was up there
17 just for moral support more than anything else, and to see what
18 was going on . And after they came out of the -- out of their
19 session with the grand jury, each individually expressed concern
20 to Bill Duncan that they were disappointed, that they hadn't
21 been asked the proper questions. They didn't like what happened
22 to them in the grand jury room. And that concerned me a little
23 at the time. But Bill Duncan, I remember him telling them not
24 to worry, that Asa Hutchinson knows what he's doing, and that
25 there's a reason for what -- the way he's handling this. And Page 21

1 they tentatively accepted that. That was my first concern. But
2 based on what Bill told them, I felt a little better about the
3 situation. And I don't know what happened at the grand jury,
4 when they said they didn't feel like they were asked the
5 questions that they had been led to believe were the pertinent
6 ones for their testimony.
7Shortly after that -- I believe that's the last session I
8 can remember that Asa Hutchinson held with the grand jury
9 concerning this investigation. Shortly after that, I learned
10 that he was quitting his position and was going to run for some
11 political office, and that Mike Fitzhugh would be taking over."

Mena: The Oral Deposition of Richard J. Brenneke

A selective passion for truth

By Mara Leveritt
Feb. 12, 1999

Last week I suggested that, rather than probing ad nauseum the president's lies about his extra-marital alliance(s), Washington could do us a favor by turning its investigative lights onto a question with some genuine national significance, to wit:

Precisely what was the relationship between various branches of the government, particularly the CIA, and this country's super-cocaine kingpins, such as Arkansas's own Barry Seal, during the 1980s?

The column did not exactly provoke a stampede to pick up the gauntlet. As I had outlined, there are powerful, bipartisan reasons why the questions about Seal have languished.

Republicans don't want to touch them for fear of where the answers might lead. The trail already points to the offices of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush.

Likewise, Democrats are not keen on kicking up a lot of dirt about Barry Seal, a major cocaine smuggler who, for reasons that remain a mystery, was allowed to base his multi-million-dollar operation in Arkansas, under the very eye of the Arkansas State Police, for four years while Bill Clinton was governor.

What did happen after that column appeared was that a reader called to remind me of the role played in the Seal saga by our own Republican Congressman Asa Hutchinson, the House manager who has been lately so aggressive in his prosecution of Clinton in the Senate.

Having listened to Hutchinson expound repeatedly on his desire only to get at "the truth" of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, I am struck (as was my caller) by how remarkably unaggressive he was -- in fact, how surprisingly hands-off he was -- back in the 1980s when, as the U.S. attorney for western Arkansas, Hutchinson had the chance to prosecute Seal, the smuggler.

We now know that during the time that Seal headquartered his operation at Mena he was being watched by U.S. Customs officials, as well as by agents for the DEA, the FBI, and the IRS. Former IRS agent William Duncan has testified that Hutchinson, who was among the first to know of Seal's arrival in Arkansas, called a meeting in early 1983, at which Duncan was assigned to investigate Seal's suspected money laundering. Duncan did, and he tried to have members of Seal's gang indicted.

But when the IRS investigator asked Hutchinson to subpoena 20 witnesses who were prepared to testify about the alleged drug-trafficking at Mena, Hutchinson balked. Only three of the 20 were called, and of those, two later complained that they had not been allowed to present their evidence to the federal grand jury. The grand jury never indicted Seal or anyone else involved with him at Mena.

In 1991, five years after Seal was murdered, Duncan testified about his experience. "Are you stating now under oath that you believe that the investigation in and around the Mena airport of money laundering was covered up by the U.S. Attorney in Arkansas," he was asked. "It was covered up," he said.

Since then, I have spoken with Paul Whitmore, a former Chief of Criminal Investigation for the IRS, who was Duncan's superior. He oversaw the Seal investigation and concurs with Duncan's assessment that presentation of Duncan's evidence was blocked by Hutchinson's office.

At the time, and to this day, however, Hutchinson has cast himself as an anti-drug crusader. In light of that, I wrote to him after his election to Congress. I explained that I have had a Freedom of Information request pertaining to Barry Seal before the FBI for several years -- a request that the FBI has acknowledged should have been filled a long time ago. In light of that, I asked Hutchinson if he would intercede on my behalf to get the records released.

I was curious as to how hard Hutchinson would work to bring to light public records about a politically sensitive investigation in which he had played a significant part. As it turned out, he was not helpful at all. He replied that he had contacted the FBI concerning my request and that when he heard back from the agency he would "be back in touch" with me. That was more than a year ago. He has not been "back in touch."

By contrast, Rep. Vic Snyder, to whom I placed the same request, has been diligent in his support of my appeal. It seems to matter to Snyder that the Justice Department can flaunt a federal law, delaying by years, if it wants, the release of public information. The agency still hasn't budged on the Seal records, but Snyder's push for their release distinguishes him in this otherwise dark affair.

As for Hutchinson… I hope that some day he is held to account, as he would hold Clinton to account, for certain events of the past -- events that even this self-proclaimed seeker of truth might prefer would never come to light.

Somebody has to help make sure Drugs Enter America.

It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope.
We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth,
and listen to the song of that siren
till she transforms us into beasts.
Is this the part of wise men,
engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty?
Are we disposed to be the number of those
who, having eyes, see not,
and having ears, hear not,
the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?
For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost,
I am willing to know the whole truth;
to know the worst, and to provide for it.

Patrick Henry

"We're going to have to give up some of our liberties"
Frank Keating - September 11, 2001 - CNN Radio

"Compassionate Corruption"

Move on.