European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 5, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Anna Quindle Kennedy Case gives Rise to uneasy thoughts i have had a Hundred arguments about the William Kennedy Smith Case about whether sometimes women say no when we really mean maybe about whether we should have certain expectations when we agree to go certain places with certain people about whether anybody really believes innocent until proven guilty anymore. And Ever since prosecutors released the statements of three women who say that Smith also attacked them a two alleged attempts one alleged rape none reported to the police All described in some detail a i have even argued with myself. Perhaps the prosecution is trying to deprive the defense of its Star witness the medical student who burst into Public consciousness from the Toothy tousle headed mass of Kennedy cousins when a woman in Palm Beach fla., said he bad raped her at the family estate. Perhaps prosecutors Are sending the message that they can refute any representations of Pristine past history. But they sent that message through the new spa it ers with evidence that May be inadmissible and will Likely pollute the jury Pool. That makes me uneasy. The defense is supposed to represent a client. The. Prosecution is supposed to do More to serve the system. A but there is another part of me to and it argues another Way. It is the part that knows that a rape prosecution is different from All others. It is the part that knows the Assumption of innocence for the defendant Means the alleged victim is assumed to be guilty at least of lying if not much More. A a in a not on trial a said the woman who alleged she was sexually abused by d group of st. Johns University jocks. But of course she was and the jury found her wanting and so acquitted the jocks. While defense lawyers in the Palm Beach Case bemoaned revelations by the prosecution they filed motions asking for the details of a any and ally abortions it performed on the alleged victim and for information on Ter use of contraception. I have no doubt that if they Tad unearthed three previous false rape accusations on Ter part the evidence would be Here on my desk. This being the 1990s, the defense has also introduced a poll 41 percent of Palm Beach county residents believe Smith is guilty or probably guilty. I bet preconceived notions go both ways. I would like to see some polling on How Many people assume women routinely make false accusations of rape on How Many assume that Nice men from Good families Are unlikely to Haynes Johnson engage in sexual assault. We Are All of us swayed by appearance As swayed As the Young woman who May look Forward to a Blind Date with a personable professional Man and wind up on the floor of his apartment the bruises beginning to purple. Our hearts and minds Are in the arguments about this Case. It is funny How we put the two together because so often they diverge. My mind is uneasy about the Way attorneys on both sides have traded the symmetry of the courtroom for the imperfect venue of. The front Page. But my heart is elsewhere. Rape is always a Shadow if you Are female in a Way that is often inexplicable to your male friends so is the knowledge that it is far easier to perpetrate than prosecute. We say that rape cases Are one persons word against another a but that is Seldom True. A they Are usually Only the word of the alleged victim because the prosecution bears the Burden of proof. The defendant often sits silently next to. His attorney combed and suited never taking the stand but sending a message nonetheless could a Guy like me have done a thing like this there is still a kind of superstition that the rapist is visually recognizable. I wish. A rape Case does not have one accused. It has two. The prosecutor becomes a kind of defense attorney for the alleged victim she is the embodiment of the prosecution Case and defense attorneys have been known to attack dress drinking drug use gynaecological psychological and sexual history to fashion an acquittal Independent of the Central Issue whether certain acts were performed without consent. The prosecution strategy in Palm Beach is Clear. Just As defense lawyers Are fighting hard for their client so the prosecutors arc fighting for theirs within the limits of the Law. After All the arguments i cannot condemn that. I cannot entirely put out of heart or mind the possibility that someday i might need a prosecutor fighting on my Side. C the new York . Government does t escape Bocci cancer each Day brings More disturbing revelations about the great Bocci scandal and each Day the evidence increasingly Points toward one conclusion that the United states government knew about this vast illegal conspiracy and chose to do nothing about it. No longer can there be any question about what government officials knew and when they knew it clearly they knew lots and knew it for a Long time. The latest link in this lengthening Chain came wednesday with the admission that the Cia has known about criminal activities by the Bank of credit and Commerce International for at least five years. A s sen. John f. Kerry d-mass., said a in 1986, the Cia knew that Bocci was a criminal Enterprise and owned the first american Bank and told a number of other government agencies. There is no evidence on record that any of these agencies told the Federal Reserve what they knew nor is there any evidence of Federal Law enforcement taking any  Kerry then posed the critical question a yet despite the fact that a number of agencies were told about the secret ownership of first american by Bocci apparently no one did anything about it. The question is Why a that question embraces much More than Complex worldwide operations of Bocci the Quot Bank of Crooks and Crimi  it goes to the heart of other secret activities about which High government officials claimed no knowledge a and lied to keep that knowledge from being known publicly. Millions of dollars for secret Iran Contra arms shipments Are reported to have flowed through Bocci for instance. So did untold millions in drug Money laundered by panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega a operatives some of whom Are in jail today. For years Noriega used Bocci As his personal Bank to launder proceeds from narcotics trafficking. That connection Between Noriega drugs arms Iran Contra and . Intelligence agencies is now fully documented. So is the link Between the Cia and the illegal military assistance to .-backed Contra forces in Nicaragua. Thanks to the recent court acknowledgement by Cia official Alan d. Fiers the Public now knows that top Cia officials were deeply involved in those operations. Fiers also has stated that contrary to previous official denials his superiors knew that proceeds from secret . Shipments to Iran were being diverted to assist the contras. Thus the Contra re Supply operation led by former White House aide Oliver l. North was not As claimed by Reagan administration officials. A rogue operation or an off the shelf operation disconnected from the Cia. They were directly connected a and apparently connected to the operations of Bocci. There Are allegations not yet proved that the Cia used Bocci As a Channel to fund some Covert operations. On top of that comes the disclosure that the Cia not Only knew that Bocci was a a criminal Enterprise but shared that information with other government agencies. So again the key question Why Wasny to anything done about it Here the Noriega Case is instructive. As Early As 1978, an agent of the drug enforcement administration was reporting information to superiors that directly linked Noriega and illegal narcotics trafficking. In 1983, the commanding general of the . Southern come based i Panama Gen. Paul Gorman ordered an investigation into Noriega so connections and  As a result the general raised questions about Noriega a possible involvement in laundering of drug Money with . Embassy officials there. In effect they told him not to worry about Noriega that a things Are of a he later testified. High level . Officials also knew about Noriega a criminal activities and looked the other Quot Way. A senior staff member of the National Security Council during the Reagan administration in the Early 1980s, Norman Bailey testified three years ago before the House select committee on narcotics abuse and control a Clear and i convertible evidence was at Best ignored and at worst hidden and denied by Many government agencies and departments of the government of the United states in such a Way As to provide cover and Protection for Noriega a activities while at the same time assuring that they did the maximum damage to those very interests that the officials involved were sworn to uphold and  the reason Noriega was a., a amp ans to an end. Whatever Means were necessary to accomplish . Intelligence goals were acceptable. The same can be said about Bocci. This is no summer  of a scandal in Washington a convenient Story to fill a no news void. This is the real thing and it is certain to grow worse. C the Washington Host the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government