U.S. Sen. John Kerry challenges mistaken direction and leads efforts to change our nation’s course.

In Vietnam, he saw we were making huge mistakes. Despite incomprehensible loss of life, according to Robert S. McNamara the Vietnamese lost 3.2 million people and we lost 58,000 Americans, and enormous destruction. The Vietnamese kept on fighting. Kerry realized we could not kill enough of Vietnamese to make them embrace freedom and democracy and he spoke out.

In the 1980s as a freshman senator, Kerry investigated criminal activity going on in the White House. Congress had restricted or prevented military assistance to the Contras because of unspeakable human rights violations in Nicaragua. Also, there was a ban on selling arms to Iran. Despite tremendous pressure and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Kerry led successful efforts that exposed the Iran-Contra, CIA drug and the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal complex.

Kerry learned of a secret operation headquartered in the White House basement that sold arms to Iran to raise funds for the Contras, bypassing both of the Congressional bans. The CIA was secretly transporting arms and supplies to the Contras.

To maintain that secret the CIA had to ignore drug shipments back into the U.S. on the CIA’s planes. The Contras had turned to drug trafficking to make up for the loss of CIA-Congressional oversight funds. Drug cartels knew the CIA couldn’t expose their operation. The moneys were being laundered at the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.

Kerry knows the vast and complex BCCI operation inside and out. Among the list of nefarious characters doing business at BCCI was Panama’s Manuel Noriega, now in a U.S. prison for drug trafficking, and Abu Nidal’s terrorist organization. In his report on BCCI, Kerry recommended further investigation of evidence of a secret Pakistani nuclear weapons program. The advice was ignored and Pakistan developed and tested the weapons. Plus the chief Pakistani nuclear scientist sold weapons plans and technology to other nations such as Libya, Iran and North Korea. Drugs, terrorism, nuclear proliferation all with money laundered at BCCI.

What did the CIA do when it uncovered BCCI’s corrupt dealings? It joined them by making use of their secret channels to hide funding for the Contras and numerous other clandestine projects all around the world.

These sorry chapters in our history were largely laid to rest because of the heroic efforts of Kerry. But were they? There are many threads leading from the scandals of the 1980s to the current administration and people it appointed to high office. And now we have Iraq.

Kerry has demonstrated his courage, tenacity, and willingness to lead in dangerous, difficult, and unrewarding but necessary endeavors. He’s been our messenger, or perhaps our mirror, showing us our dark side. Many have recoiled at that image and refuse to accept those truths. We must examine and accept before we can change. Terrorists justify their actions as response to our dark side.

Jerome Arnold

Cannon Beach