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Seal federal informant posing as smuggler { March 1 1989 } THE WASHINGTON POST INTRIGUE IN THE ARKANSAS OZARKS JACK ANDERSON DALE VAN ATTA Column: JACK ANDERSON March 1, 1989; Page e17 The joke around Mena, Ark., is that everyone works for the Central Intelligence Agency. Mena is a tiny town of 5,000 nestled in the Ozark Mountains, far from the interstate. Its most noteworthy landmark is what locals call "The Barry Seal Memorial Airport," in memory of a notorious drug smuggler From 1982 to 1986, Seal used the airport as the headquarters for a massive drug-dealing, arms-smuggling and money-laundering operation. During part of that time, he was both a smuggler and an undercover federal informant posing as a smuggler. Seal paid the ultimate price for playing both sides of the fence: He was killed in 1986 by the Medellin cocaine cartel of Colombia. State and local police suspect that the Mena airport is still being used by smugglers. But efforts to prove that have been stymied at every turn. Police have been stonewalled by the Justice Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and even the Internal Revenue Service. When the heat is on, the suspects fall back on the line that worked for Barry Seal. They say they work for the CIA. [krigskrönikans betoning] Sources tell us that several Mena businesses have used that line to discourage state officials from asking too many questions about their activities. A former top Pentagon criminal investigator checked through the Pentagon's top secret "black" channels to see if the government is sanctioning any covert activities in Mena. The answer was no. Sources familiar with the ongoing activities in Mena speculate that the area is one of several places used to ship private aid to the Nicaraguan contras. "They pushed Ollie {North} aside and kept going," one source said. A congressional investigator told our associate Jim Lynch that covert support operations that used to be in highly visible places in southern Florida were moved to remote locations. The former Pentagon investigator said some of those operations are suspected of financing their private military aid by running drugs. Since Seal's death, a new cast has settled in at the Mena airport. One business calls itself an "international aircraft delivery company," another "delivers aircraft parts all over the world." State police are wondering why all those international services picked a remote base in the Ozarks. Among the strange goings-on in Mena was the construction of a primitive airstrip 15 miles from town. The former Pentagon criminal investigator claims that until a year ago, the strip was used for commando training and to teach pilots how to land without lights. Last year, Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.) asked the General Accounting Office to investigate any government involvement in drug and arms trafficking to Central America. He specifically wanted to know about a link to Mena. A string of letters shows that the National Security Council told the GAO it would speak for the administration in the investigation. Then the NSC instructed other government agencies not to cooperate with the investigation, and it gave the GAO no answers

Barry boys [jpg] Barry gunned down baton rouge Barry seal sentenced 10 years Barry seal Barry worked cia dea Bush barry seal Casey seal clinton cocaine { January 28 1981 } Casey_1 [gif] Casey_2 [gif] Casey_3 [gif] Cia airline tied to cocaine iran contras Colombian seal slayers convicted { May 14 1987 } Intrigue arkansas wp3 1 89 [jpg] Intrigue in the arkansas ozarks { March 1 1989 } Legacy of a slain drug informer { February 28 1989 } Mena quiet little place Mena secret cia base Seal federal informant posing as smuggler { March 1 1989 } Seal killed testified in noriega trial Slain informer wp2 28 89 [jpg] Slain informer wp2 28 89b [jpg] Files Listed: 21

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