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60 - PLACES/CITIES/Mena, Arkansas.md
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@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ On February 26, 1996 Inspector General [[Fred Hitz|Frederick P. Hitz]] opened ca
Reed, a former Air Force intelligence officer, is reported by *The American Spectator*'s [[R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.]] to have said that he trained Contra pilots under Seal's supervision at Nella; Tyrrell also reported that the trooper [[Larry Patterson]] said in a March 1995 deposition that he overheard talk of "large quantities of drugs being flown into Mena airport, large quantities of guns." L. D. Brown, a former member of Clinton's security detail, told Tyrrell he flew with Seal on October 23, 1984 from Mena to [[Tegucigalpa]] on a C-123K from which pallets of M-16 rifles were dropped, was recruited by CIA representatives [[Ken Cargile]] and Dan Magruder, and received $2,500; Tyrrell wrote that Brown's exact relationship with the agency may never be known.[^17] The CIA's 1996 review of a documentary featuring Brown and Welch said the credibility of Reed's book was "questioned somewhat."[^18] The CIA's 1995 briefing outline said Brown applied for CIA employment in 1988 and was rejected in November 1988, while the reported Inspector General summary said he was a candidate in 1984 and the agency decided in December of that year not to hire him.[^15][^11]
In *Dark Alliance* [[Gary Webb]] wrote, drawing on the historian [[Roger Morris]], that Seal's records "showed him to be a contract" CIA operative before and during Mena, and that coded records reportedly showed him on the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] payroll from 1982; the CIA's 1995 records search found no record of contact with Seal, and the reported 1996 Inspector General summary described "limited contact" in 1984. Webb wrote that Reed, author of *Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA*, said he was asked to help set up secret weapons-parts facilities in Arkansas and Mexico, one of them [[Park On Meter]] in [[Russellville]]. Webb also wrote that a former Arkansas State Police intelligence unit staff member testified to "a shredding party" in which nearly a thousand Mena documents, including ones referring to [[Oliver North]] and Reed, were purged, that the mechanic [[John Bender]] swore he saw Clinton at Mena three times in 1985, and that L. D. Brown said Clinton told him "That's Lasater's deal," referring to [[Danny Ray Lasater]]; Webb is the sole source for these passages as carried here.[^19] The *[[Washington Post]]*, according to Webb, confirmed the parking-meter company "did make some gun parts for [[Iver Johnson]]."[^19] Leveritt reported that in the fall of 1986 the FBI, investigating Lasater, learned from his pilot that on February 8, 1984 he flew Lasater and [[Patsy Thomasson]] to [[Belize]] to look at a horse farm for sale by [[Roy Carver]], weeks after the Belize ranch operation that [[Billy Earle Jr.]] told Welch Seal had planned.[^1]
In *Dark Alliance* [[Gary Webb]] wrote, drawing on the historian [[Roger Morris]], that Seal's records "showed him to be a contract" CIA operative before and during Mena, and that coded records reportedly showed him on the [[Defense Intelligence Agency]] payroll from 1982; the CIA's 1995 records search found no record of contact with Seal, and the reported 1996 Inspector General summary described "limited contact" in 1984. Webb wrote that Reed, author of *Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA*, said he was asked to help set up secret weapons-parts facilities in Arkansas and Mexico, one of them [[Park On Meter]] in [[Russellville]]. Webb also wrote that a former Arkansas State Police intelligence unit staff member testified to "a shredding party" in which nearly a thousand Mena documents, including ones referring to [[Oliver North]] and Reed, were purged, that the mechanic [[John Bender]] swore he saw Clinton at Mena three times in 1985, and that L. D. Brown said Clinton told him "That's Lasater's deal," referring to [[Danny Ray Lasater]].[^19] The *[[Washington Post]]*, according to Webb, confirmed the parking-meter company "did make some gun parts for [[Iver Johnson]]."[^19] Leveritt reported that in the fall of 1986 the FBI, investigating Lasater, learned from his pilot that on February 8, 1984 he flew Lasater and [[Patsy Thomasson]] to [[Belize]] to look at a horse farm for sale by [[Roy Carver]], weeks after the Belize ranch operation that [[Billy Earle Jr.]] told Welch Seal had planned.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Mara Leveritt, "Who's afraid of Barry Seal?" *Arkansas Times*, September 28, 2017. https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2017/09/28/whos-afraid-of-barry-seal
@ -72,6 +72,6 @@ In *Dark Alliance* [[Gary Webb]] wrote, drawing on the historian [[Roger Morris]
[^14]: CIA Office of Inspector General, Employee Bulletin IG EB No. 0007-96, "Inspector General Inquiry Regarding Mena, Arkansas," May 15, 1996 (CIA Reading Room 0001289765). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001289765
[^15]: Kathy Kiely, "CIA admits training at Mena," *Arkansas Democrat-Gazette*, November 9, 1996. https://archivesspace.wilkes.edu/files/normanmailer/65.9_HG2_HarlotsGhostSequelResearch_ArkansasDemocraticGazetteArticles_1996November9.pdf
[^16]: Letter, CIA Inspector General to Rep. James A. Leach, 1998 (CIA Reading Room 0001289865). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001289865
[^17]: R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "The Arkansas Drug Shuttle," *The American Spectator*, August 1995 (copy attached to the CIA note of July 19, 1995, CIA Reading Room 0001289860). Sole source for Brown's account as carried here. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001289860
[^17]: R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., "The Arkansas Drug Shuttle," *The American Spectator*, August 1995 (copy attached to the CIA note of July 19, 1995, CIA Reading Room 0001289860). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001289860
[^18]: CIA memorandum for the record, "Video Tape Review: National Empowerment Network, American Investigator, 'Mena, Arkansas Under Investigation,'" February 22, 1996 (CIA Reading Room 0001289764). https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-0001289764
[^19]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998, chapter 6. Sole source for the Morris, Bender, shredding-party, Park-On-Meter and Brown-Lasater passages as carried here.
[^19]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998, chapter 6.