Copyright 1996 Omaha World-Herald Company  
                               Omaha World Herald
                   December 13, 1996 Friday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 28
LENGTH: 579 words
HEADLINE: CIA and False Rumors
 BODY:
   A report by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department should have helped to lay to rest one of the most explosive and irresponsible accusations ever 
leveled against the Central Intelligence Agency.
   The claim was that the CIA in the 1980s raised money to fund the contra
rebels in Nicaragua by introducing crack cocaine to south-central Los Angeles,
touching off widespread addiction among black people and an epidemic of
drug-related crime. Some people in that community accuse the agency of wanting a community that was large enough to produce revenue.
   They claim that the agency picked a black community for racist reasons.
   The allegation that the CIA flooded Los Angeles with crack surfaced in
1990. A deputy sheriff had been accused of stealing drug money. The defense
lawyer tried to divert attention from his client by accusing the federal
government of involvement in the local drug trade. That notion was spread
further by a series of articles in the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News last
summer.
   However, both the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department have investigated the allegation. Neither found evidence to support
it.
   The sheriff put seven full-time investigators on the project for two months. 
They interviewed 58 people, reviewed hundreds of documents and produced a
3,500-page report. They even unearthed previously covered-up wrongdoing by
sheriff's deputies in drug raids in the 1980s.
   But they found no sign of a crack pipeline run by the CIA or the contras.
   Rumors about crack dealers with ties to the CIA were exposed as false.
   A significant byproduct of the investigation was the discovery of copies of
letters from a New York literary agent to "Freeway" Ricky Ross, a former crack
dealer now serving a life sentence. The agent sought the rights to stories by
Ross in which he claimed to have worked with the CIA.
   One of the literary agent's letters was sent to Ross in care of Gary Webb,
the writer of the stories in the San Jose paper. The literary agent told
investigators that Webb was offered the same deal as Ross. The agent first said 
Webb had accepted, then said there had been no formal agreement. In any event,
the credibility of the newspaper was undermined.
   Indeed, the air has been let out of this conspiracy balloon. Sad to say, true
believers have been known to embrace conspiracies long after the life has gone
out of them, especially if there is something to gain.
   Certainly the way to combat falsehood is to determine the truth. U.S. Rep.
Maxine Waters, a Democrat from Los Angeles who is the new head of the
Congressional Black Caucus, said the sheriff's report "raises more questions."
She didn't say what those questions are, but she vowed that they would be
pursued in congressional hearings.
   Her response might seem like a brush-off of the sheriff's report.
   Nevertheless, the idea of congressional hearings has merit, and Congresswoman
Waters should not be faulted for wanting hearings. CIA Director John Deutch,
during a public meeting with 800 residents of south-central Los Angeles four
weeks ago, promised a complete investigation. Congressional hearings should help
assure the public that the search for the truth is being conducted with
appropriate thoroughness - after which, we hope, the residents of south-central 
Los Angeles can be confident that their government has told them the truth.