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Mena, Arkansas. If you haven't heard of it, don't worry: either you will, in which case the whole sordid mess has finally found the audience it so richly deserves, or you won't, in which case you were probably better off not knowing anyway. Because after months of research, the one thing we can say with certainty about US Government drug policy is, "If you have to ask, you're not allowed to know." The Mena story reeks of government hypocrisy on the subject of drugs. It's the place mentioned when talk of Oliver North's contra-guns-and-cocaine operation comes up (not often, in polite conversation, and we still wonder, wazzup wit that?) It's where drug smuggler Barry Seal based planes that flew guns down to Central America, then drugs back, then guns down again, etc., with impunity, literally right under the noses of local law enforcement. If there is, in Bill Moyers' legendary phrase, a "Secret Government," a government that runs the other, more official one, Mena is a good place to look for it. For Mena is what the 'Clintongate' scandals are all about, really; the commodities money was and is small potatoes, the Whitewater real estate deal simply par for the course in American political life. But around Mena swirls the smoke of real scandal: allegations of massive drug-smuggling with government complicity, whiffs of Oliver North's illegal, unconstitutional and national soul-corroding Iran/contra/cocaine connection. And all flavored with spicy rumors of secret Swiss bank accounts, hastening murder by death. That's what makes Mena so important. If there's to be a real Watergate-type Sam Ervin at-the-gavel scandal in the next four years, Mena is where it will be focused. So Mena is where we headed. The market in opium, heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the United States of America generates a gross volume of business in excess of US $130 billion a year, making the importation, sale and distribution of drugs an enterprise that generates more revenue than any of the largest multinational corporations in the world. It makes the gross volume of illegal drugs in the United States greater than the gross national product of all but a dozen nations in the world. It takes longer to get to Mena than it should; the map shows none of the slow winding curves that crawl back and forth through mountainous western Arkansas. From Little Rock to Hot Springs is a snap, then, just as you begin planning on lunch near the fabled Intermountain Regional Airport located in Mena, the road west recedes in front of you in torturous twists and turns, and before you're there it's late afternoon, and deep shadows are turning the landscape into a black and white picture with some sepia tinges where the setting sun hits the tops of bare white trees. It's pretty, almost picture-perfect country; the question is: does it hide a secret that could bring down a government?

The whole story can be read here.

There's been a lot of controvery over in alt.comp.freeware, a newsgroup that I follow, about a fella who has been making a pain of himself. He posts under the name Bear Bottoms or Bare Bottoms - can't remember off hand as I seldom pay much attention to his dribble.
But having said that you should check out this:

After The Progressive Review ran a brief item on Daniel Hopsicker's documentary on Mena, we received a message from William Bear Bottoms, who appeared in the film, complaining that the movie distorted the reality of Mena and the role that he and Barry Seal, the drug trafficker for whom he flew, played in it. We then commenced a two-part on-line conversation with Bottoms that is published below. For reasons of libel we have deleted a few names. To those unfamiliar with the story, it should be noted that Bottoms is one of the most controversial figures to have come out of the Arkansas scandals. There are those who put little credit in his testimony, calling him a disinformation agent of the CIA; others believe that his story is substantially or at least partly true. There is considerable evidence and testimony counter to Bottoms' claim of non-involvement; disputes over these issues have long raged over the Internet. It is worth noting that, in any event, Bottoms' story covers a time period prior to 1987. Curiously, one of those with whom Bottoms appears to have established some rapport is Russell Welch, who was long an undercover Arkansas state police officer observing activities at Mena. Among independent investigators, Welch is well regarded as a straight shooter -- one of the few admirable figures in this whole sordid story. Among other efforts to dissuade him from his surveillance he was on one occasion sprayed with the deadly poison anthrax. We attempted to start a on-line conversation with Welch but he felt that the media had treated him unfairly and declined to answer our questions. In the Hopsicker film, Bottoms and Welch are shown meeting for the first time. Almost from the start they seem to have established some rapport, which continues, witness Welch's receipt of our questions from Bottoms before we even contacted the lawman. And at the very least, both men are both critical of Hopsicker. The reader is warned that we are not, by publishing Bottoms' story, endorsing its veracity. Simply as a matter of oral history, as a convenience to researchers and as a fascinating tale, we pass it on. -- Sam Smith

The whole story can be read here.

So my question is this - why isn't this drug-smuggling sob in prison? He has stated clearly that he flew drugs into the country.