Flashback: In 1997, the CIA was pressured to investigate allegations that it had knowingly helped spread crack-cocaine throughout American cities. The allegations were a farce and the investigation proved as much. But when it came to releasing a report on the findings, Eric Holder stepped in to block the release, ostensibly to prevent the agency from clearing its name.
This is the same Eric Holder who dismissed charges against the Black Panthers in a voter fraud case in Philadelphia. The same Eric Holder who is intent on investigating the CIA interrogations in the war on terror.
Source: CNN.com
The premise of the investigation is ridiculous - and it was ultimately refuted when the report was finally released:WASHINGTON (Dec. 18) -- Attorney General Janet Reno's deputy said Thursday that he had ordered a delay in this week's scheduled release of CIA and Justice Department reports on the racially sensitive subject of alleged CIA involvement in the introduction of crack cocaine into black neighborhoods of southern California.
Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters he stopped the release of a report by the CIA, and another by Justice Inspector General Michael Bromwich because of "law enforcement concerns," but he refused to elaborate.
Holder told reporters, "There are things we do not want to have compromised. They are not related to the underlying allegations."
Other high-ranking Justice Department officials tell CNN the unspecified concerns do not affect the central issues of government involvement in the introduction of crack.
A published report in Thursday's Los Angeles Times says the CIA report declares it has no responsibility for the crack, and rejects charges it aided drug-runners who helped fund the Nicaraguan "Contras."
Holder would not predict when the report would be released. He said he and Bromwich had briefed key lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), about the delay.
"[Waters'] reaction, I think, yesterday was a pretty good one," Holder said, but he acknowledged he had not discussed the findings of the reports with her. Holder said he had shared the full extent of the secret reports with the intelligence committees.
Waters and many African-American leaders in South-Central Los Angeles publicly accused the CIA of helping introduce crack cocaine into their community. They cited an investigation by The San Jose Mercury News which claimed CIA involvement. The report, however, was contradicted by several other news organizations.
Source: NDSN.org
The CIA found no evidence that the CIA "directly or indirectly" was linked to allies of the Nicaraguan contra rebels involved in crack cocaine sales in Los Angeles. The most recent allegations of such a link stem from a series in the San Jose Mercury News in August 1996, which suggested that the CIA knowingly allowed a California drug ring to sell crack cocaine in South-Central Los Angeles in the 1980s to funnel profits to CIA-backed Contras in Nicaragua (See "CIA Allegedly Linked to Crack Epidemic in Los Angeles ..." NewsBriefs, October 1996). (John Diamond, "CIA Clears Itself of Involvement with Crack Cocaine," Los Angeles Times, December 19, 1997, p. A5; Tim Weiner, "C.I.A. Says It Has Found No Link Between Itself and Crack Trade," New York Times, December 19, 1997, p. A23; Walter Pincus, "Inspectors General Find No Ties Between CIA, L.A. Drug Dealers," Washington Post, December 19, 1997, p. A2).This incident tells us two critical things about Holder and his handling of the current CIA investigations:
- Holder has always been gunning for the CIA. (See also: Holder Investigates CIA)
- Holder is more than happy to delay a report or investigation to serve his own purposes, whatever they may be. (See also: Holder Cancels Investigation into Black Panther Voter Fraud)
