Rumors and allegations that Bill Clinton knew of, and condoned, drug running operations from within Arkansas have been around since before 1990. The story usually goes as follows: Cocaine and money from the South America was flown back from Central America to Mena. Cocaine shipments were so large that planes had to be fitted with side-doors which allowed the drugs to be easily dropped into remote clearings. This activity continued from the beginning of the Contra war in 1981 to 1986 when the Iran-Contra scandal was exposed. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Mena was one of the international centers for drug trafficking. DEA spokespeople stated that the traffic amounted to thousands of kilos of cocaine and hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.

Barry Seal, a self-confessed drug trafficker, smuggled drugs out of Mena. According to the Louisiana attorney general, Seal "smuggled between $3 billion and $5 billion in drugs into the United States." One of Seal's relatives stated: "It was true, but at this time Barry was working for the CIA." In 1985, one of Seal's pilots, Emile Camp, was killed in an unexplained plane crash near Mena. This plane, as well as others owned by Seal, were the same cargo airplanes which ran drugs out of Laos during the Vietnam war. After serving time in a federal penitentiary, Seal worked as an $800,000 a year informant for the CIA before he was killed by Medellin cartel hit-men in Baton Rouge.

With hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money flowing into Arkansas, it would be difficult to imagine that Governor Clinton knew nothing about the Mena operations. Eyewitnesses have attested that Clinton was aware of drug trafficking. State trooper L. D. Brown wanted to work for the CIA as part of the Mena operations. However, after he heard of the drug trafficking, he approached Clinton and said "that's Lasater's deal; that's Lasater's deal." Dan Lasater was an Arkansas millionaire who contributed large amounts of money to Clinton's gubernatorial campaigns, and he was also a convicted drug dealer. In addition, state trooper Bobby Walker and several CIA employees have stated that they saw Governor Clinton at the Mena airport on various occasions.

This document subject to change without notice - in order to better communicate my message.