Arkansas Committee
The Arkansas Committee was a political registered student organization at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States, from 1989 to 1992. The organization particularly investigated allegations of corruption in government such as the Iran-Contra scandal.
The records of the Arkansas Committee primarily consist of photocopies members made of public documents such as court records and depositions, along with newspaper and magazine clippings. Sound cassette InterViews with various parties and video cassette tapes of Committee hearings and productions are also included.
In 1992, the Committee charged that former Governor Bill Clinton did little to investigate the possibility that the Mena Airport was used as part of a gun and [...] smuggling operation in the mid 1980s. The Committee sought documentation that would support claims that the state of Arkansas was involved with money laundering on a massive scale may have found the missing link in their three year search.
The Committee initiated an investigation by the United States House of Representatives, headed at that time by James Leach of Iowa. In 1995 James Leach announced to the media that his subcommittee on banking services in the U.S. would carry out an investigation of charges that Mena, Arkansas was used a base of illegal arms and [...] smuggling for the benefit of the Contra insurgency in Nicaragua, also known as Contras. The principle character in this story was Barry Seal, convicted [...] smuggler and informant of the U.S. Government. The report of the investigation was never made public by the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services. The Arkansas Committee is the source of the investigation and the former president of the Committee is the only person who was ever told by the author of the report of what is contained in the report that was written by the chief investigator but not released to the public.
Reference to the Arkansas Committee and/or Mark Swaney has been published in at least five books with regard to unexplained, unanswered questions regarding the activities in Arkansas from 1982 to 1986.
Officers
- Mark Swaney, President: 1989 - 1992
- Eric Talaska, Vice President: 1992
References
- General
- Specific