ARKANSAS: WHAT'S THE CONNECTION?

This comes from Sam Smith, the Editor of The Progressive
Review. Sam,a long time activist and friend of my sister,
provides manyof the posts that you read here. The Progressive
Review is one of my main sources for the news and information
that you can't and don't find elsewhere. My heartfelt thanks
to Sam and the work that he does to combat the corporate
domination of vital information that allows us to become and
be an informed electorate.............PEACE.............Scott


UNDERNEWS
FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
AUGUST 9 2007
Edited by Sam Smith

E-MAIL: mailto:news@prorev.com
LATEST HEADLINES & INDEX: http://prorev.com

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A FEW READERS have inquired why we are running our Arkansas
timeline.Here are a number of reasons:

- If Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani become the
candidates of their respective parties, it will be the most
mobbed-up campaign in American history. Never before will
both major campaigns have had such extensive involvement
with America's dirty underbelly.

- The Arkansas story was one of the worst covered of recent
times. In part this was because of a mainstream media losing
its capacity and interest in reporting real news, but it was
also because those reporters who did attempt it often paid
a price. At least ten of them  were fired, transferred off
the beat, resigned or otherwise gotten into trouble because
of their work on the scandals.

- The fact that sleazy, improper or illicit behavior fails
to result in conviction or loss of public office does not
constitute exoneration. It often reflects just another layer
of corruption.

- The Clintons' successful myth-making notwithstanding, the
Arkansasstory was not a rightwing conspiracy. Although the
conservative media took advantage of it - as they will after
Hillary Clinton is nominated - some of the earliest
journalists on the case were progressives including Alexander
Cockburn and your editor. Some of the Review's first stories
came from a progressive student group at the University of
Arkansas. Other early stories were by British journalists and
responsible reporters in the mainstream media.

- The story is in notable regards a bipartisan one. Among the
Republicans directly linked to the story are Asa Hutchinson,
Oliver North and George Bush the elder. Bill Clinton's
continuing close connection to the elder Bush began as he
served as a local agent for the Reagan administration's
Contra operations out of Arkansas. Hutchinson, who as US
Attorney helped to suppress the Arkansas drug story, went on
to be head of the DEA under Bush. It is also true that a
number of investigations - including Kenneth Starr's -
derailed at times when the GOP involvement in the drug-Contra
aspects of the Arkansas saga threatened to be exposed.
In short, the GOP tried to make as much hay as it could
without revealing its own role. That's why Monica Lewinsky
seemed the perfect out: unlike the Arkansas drug trade,
no Republican was involved.

- At the heart of the Arkansas story is a saga that many
politicians and journalists have tried mightily to ignore:
the role of the illegal drug industry  in our politics,
law enforcement, economics and social lives. Remember that
this industry has been estimated to be approximately the
same size as the legal pharmaceutical industry, one of the
most politically influential of the lobbies.  And, as British
journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard put it, Arkansas came
"perilously close to becoming a 'narco-republic'" on its own.
The Clintons ran this near narco-republic for a number of
critical years during their rise to power.

- It is important to bear in mind, however, that the primary
job of politicians in such circumstances is to look the other
way, just as regularly occurred during Prohibition. While
this may not create legal culpability, it at a minimum
includes sharing a social life and values as well as accepting
the beneficence of some of society's most corrupt
characters - hardly a recommendation for higher office.

- In the end, the Arkansas story tells us how different the
real Clinton tale is than the one their spinners and the media
have chosen to tell us. For example, it is not widely known
that 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton
machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes - with
33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself.
There were,in addition, 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges.
Fourteen persons were imprisoned. Over 100 witnesses in these
scandals either pled the Fifth Amendment or fled the country.
And while it is true that Starr conducted a lousy investigation,
it is also true that out of 19 independent counsel
investigations since 1978, only one produced more convictions
than Starr's and only 7 produced any indictments at all.

- In the end Democrats have two choices: either stop denying
what happened and deal with it now or wait for the Republicans
to throw it in their faces during the 2008 general election.

NOTE: For more on the Republican side of the story,
check these sites:

http://prorev.com/bush.htm
http://prorev.com/rudy.htm

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