PLACE CALLED MENA—JUST SOME FACTS

Reacting to the Juanita Broaddrick story, White House spokesman Joe
Lockhart said the Journal editorial page "lost me after they accused the
president of being a drug smuggler and a murderer." We made no such
charges, of course. But we'll give Mr. Lockhart a pass on the grounds of
hyperbole; we have indeed reported stories about the seamy side of Bill
Clinton's Arkansas.

Most of our stories as opposed to gamier Arkansas tales traded on the
Internet have revolved around Mena Intermountain Regional Airport in
western Arkansas. Even as careful an observer as David Frum, writing in
Commentary, criticizes "wild charges" including "drugsmuggling via Mena
airport." Since drug smuggling at Mena is, established beyond doubt, a
brief review of some facts seems in order: • Mena was a staging ground for
Barry Seal, one of the most notorious drug smugglers in history. He
established a base at Mena in 1981, and according to Arkansas law
enforcement officials, imported as much as 1,000 pounds of cocaine a month
from Colombia. In 1984 he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement
Administration, flying to Colombia and gathering information about leaders
of the Medellin cartel. He testified in several highprofile cases, and was
assassinated in Baton Rouge, La., in 1986. • Two investigators probing
events at Mena say they were closed downWilliam Duncan, a former lnternal
Revenue Service investigator, and Russell Welch, a former Arkansas State
Police detective. They fought a decade long battle to bring events at Mena
to light, pinning their hopes on nine separate state and federal probes.
All failed. And Messrs. Welch and Duncan were stripped of their careers.

• In 1986, Dan Lasater, Little Rock bond daddy and an important Clinton
campaign contributor, pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution. The scheme
also involved Mr. Clinton's brother, Roger. Both Mr. Lasater and Roger
Clinton served brief prison terms. Gov. Clinton later issued a pardon to
Mr. Lasater.

• On Aug. 23,1987, teenagers Kevin Ives and Don Henry were run over by a
northbound Union Pacific train near Little Rock in an area reputed to be a
haven for drug smugglers. Gov. Clinton's state medical examiner, Fahmy
Malak, quickly ruled the deaths accidental, saying the two boys had fallen
into a deep sleep side by side on the railroad tracks after smoking too
much marijuana. A second autopsy concluded the boys had been murdered and
their b,odies placed on the traJcks. Despite public outcry, Dr. Malak
remained medical examiner until just before Mr. Clinton's presidential
campaign. • In 1990 Jean Duffey, the head of a newly created drug task
force, began investigating a possible link between the train deaths and
drugs. Her boss, the departing prosecuting attorney for Arkansas's Seventh
Judicial District, gave her a direct order: "You are not to use the drug
task force to investigate public officials.' In a 1996 interview with the
Journal, Ms. Duffey said: "We had witnesses telling us about low flying
aircraft and inforrnants testifying about drug pick ups."

• Dan Harmon, who had earlier been appointed special prosecutor for the
train deaths, took office in 1991 as seventh district prosecutor. Ms.
Duffey was discredited, threatened, and ultimately forced to flee Arkansas.
In 1997, a federal jury in Little Rock found Mr. Harmon guilty of five
counts of drug dealing and extortion, and sentenced him to eight years in
prison for usinghis office toextort narcotics and cash. Mr. Lockhart to the
contrary, we have never accused Mr. Clinton of a direct role in these
events. Obviously, as governor for 12 years, he was ultimately responsible
for Arkansas law enforcement. As president, he has commented only once
about events at Mena. Asked about it during a 1994 press conference, he
said that it was "primarily a matter of federal jurisdiction" and "they
didn't tell me anything about it." • In 1984, Seal flew his C 123K to
Nicaragua in a Central Intelligence Agency drug sting of Sandinista
officials. The CIA rigged a hidden camera in the plane, enabling Sum to
snap photos of several menincluding a high ranking Sandinista—loading
cocaine aboard the aircraft. In 1986, eight monthstafter Seal's death, his
plane was shot down over Nicaragua with an Arkansas pilot at the wheel and
a load of ammunition and contra supporter Eugene Hasenfus in the cargo bay.

* Three days after the 1996 presidential election, the CIA issued a brief
report saying it had engaged in "authorized and lawful activities" at the
airfield, including "routine aviation related services'! and a secret
"joint training operation with another federal agency." The agency said it
was not "associated with money laundering, narcotics trafficking, arms
smuggling:, or other illegal activities" at Mena.

The statement was issued in response to a probe by investigators for the
House Banking Committee, directed by Chairman Jim Leach. His report has
been often promised and often delayed. Yesterday Leach spokesman David
Runkel said that Banking Committee investigators are "putting the ffnishing
touches" on their report. "While there is an extraordinary story to be
told, it's unlikely that the president is golng to be too severely
embarrassed. "

Whatever Mr. Clinton's involvement as governor, something singular was
going on at Mena. Perhaps Mr. Leach will yet shed some light on the mystery.

Mr. Morrison is a Journal editorial page writer.