Anatomy of A Smear

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Since then Reed has been waging a vendetta against Baker and Young. He began by filing a suit accusing them of fabricating a federal crime. More recently he has added Clinton to his list of targets. In an interview with TIME, he breathlessly proclaimed that "I just spoke to my lawyer and he says that a Clinton emergency fund was just increased considerably, and he seems to think that some kind of offer will be made to get this thing to go away." That was news to Reed's attorney, John Wesley Hall, a constitutional expert from Little Rock, who says he actually told Reed that no one would ever settle the suit. Adds Hall: "I haven't been able to corroborate ((Reed's story)), that's the problem."

No wonder. There is absolutely no proof that Reed ever worked with either the CIA or Seal. Oliver North denies that he has ever met or spoken with him. A couple with whom Reed claims he was dining on the night of his alleged conversation with Clinton say they have never been to the restaurant with Reed.

Over the past decade, Reed has shuttled from one job to another, leaving behind a string of charges that he absconded with company funds. Among his victims: an Illinois-based Japanese machine-tool company named Gomiya, which currently has a $600,000 judgment outstanding against him. Last month U.S. marshals seized Reed's van for Gomiya. Reed blames the CIA.

Given Reed's track record, why does anyone take him seriously? In part because there are so many unanswered questions about what was going on at Mena. In 1988 a federal grand jury that had investigated the affair for three years failed to return indictments, leading some state law-enforcement officers to grumble that the case had been scuttled by higher-ups in Washington. Clinton says the state has done everything it can to solve the mystery. But Charles Black, a deputy state prosecuting attorney, says when he asked the Governor to provide financial assistance so the state could conduct its own grand jury investigation in 1988, Clinton never got back to him. Last year Democratic Congressman Bill Alexander obtained $25,000 from the Federal Government to fund a probe by the state police, who will soon decide how to proceed with the investigation. That is a timely idea, if only to lay Reed's fabrication to rest.