CIA AND DRUGS

It's truly a shame that the CIA isn't a public corporation. If it
were, it could be charged under the RICO statute and forced to disband
by a federal judge.

I'm specifically referring to the Oct. 22 Column Left by Alexander
Cockburn that refers to a recently released inspector general's office
report which essentially sustains the truth of a 1996 story that
appeared in the San Jose Mercury News. The news story detailed the
agency's activities from 1982 to 1984 that supported the Nicaraguan
Contras' efforts to barter cocaine to this country for weapons to
further their revolution in Nicaragua. Furthermore, I do not believe
the agency would have engaged in this action without the blessings of
President Reagan and Vice President George Bush. The agency went one
step further by obstructing justice when it intervened in a 1984 drug
case in the Bay Area. We almost impeached Richard Nixon for a far less
significant obstruction of justice in 1973.

We have two notorious, uncharged criminal masterminds loose in our
society, Bush and Reagan. We also have a rogue agency that answers to
nobody and observes only the laws it wants to. This is not what
democracy is about!

It's long past time for a change.

I say abolish the CIA!

PATRICK SULLIVAN

Reseda, [California]

Checked-by: Patrick Henry