The following is a collection of quotes from Waters on a number of topics from her wide-ranging discussion at Cal-State Northridge, including comments made during a question-and-answer session that followed. Can the CIA Be Trusted to Investigate Itself? "Of course I'm skeptical of the CIA's own internal investigation, and no, I don't have a great deal of confidence that their inspector general will turn up the information we know is there, but this is just part of the whole process of forcing the truth to light." "[Former CIA Director] John Deutch is gone. Hello. Goodbye. What was that all about? How committed is this agency to answering the questions we've presented before them?" "We will never get George Bush's hands, clearly, where we think they were." Isn't Secrecy Necessary to Protect National Security? "A lot of people tell me that, when it comes to these obscure, clandestine federal agencies, that they are doing important work that relates to national security, and that I should not interfere with this important work. Well, I don't care what their work is all about.... Because it appears that the CIA not only is involved with drug dealers, but they're involved with the worst kinds of criminals in all manner of sordid affairs, just so they can say they're out there doing something." Wasn't the CIA Only Marginally Connected to Drug Dealing? "A lot of people get hung up on the [dollar] amount, saying that not that much money actually made it to the Contras from their cocaine sales. Well, as far as I'm concerned, one dollar from the sale of drugs funding the Contras should not be tolerated." "Other people argue about the degree to which the CIA may have been involved.... It doesn't matter. The government and the CIA cannot say they had no knowledge that this was happening." Has Crack Disproportionately Affected the Black Community? "It's better to have a job at McDonald's than to sell drugs. There is no defense for drug dealing. And there's no way to be involved with dealing drugs without getting hurt, going to jail, or both." "There is something wrong with our criminal justice system that is causing a disproportionate percentage of young black males to end up rotting away in federal prison on senseless drug charges." "I drive through the streets of South Central and point out to my driver the undercover FBI agents who are standing on the street corners just waiting to arrest people for buying or selling a single rock of crack cocaine.... I'm not going to sit back and let them be thrown into federal prison for selling one rock of cocaine while the big-time drug dealers cuddle up close to government agencies and go free." Are We Winning the War on Drugs? "It's time to take a serious look at the so-called 'war on drugs' in this country. We have no more need for PR programs masquerading under cute slogans like 'just say no.' We should make every effort to redirect the $15 billion already spent on federal drug and law enforcement in this country and spend it on ways aimed at cutting off the supply of drugs.... We should not support with foreign aid or in any other way any country that supplies drugs to the U.S." "When law enforcement is involved in drug dealing, they should get enhanced sentencing because they are the ones with the badges and the guns." "All over America, drugs and the money associated with them are some of the most corrupt influences you've ever seen. What you need to do is find out about the drugs that are 'confiscated' by law enforcement and what happens to them." How Will Your Investigation Help Expose Corruption? "What we're trying to do with our own investigation is to create a climate of suspicion around the CIA and their activities so that it is not considered crazy to be asking these questions about their involvement in the sale of crack. It may take 10 years' worth of work, but that's the goal." "We don't expect to be able to run our own 'sidebar' investigation and turn up any kind of 'smoking gun' evidence. We don't have the resources to tackle that kind of thing.... But I have gone to Managua... and we have met with shady people in the dead of night in horrible places, and will continue to do that in search of any information that can help us unravel all of this." "I am here to hold their [the CIA's] feet to the fire. I'm doing it in an unofficial capacity, and my efforts are probably unwanted, but that's not going to stop me." More on the CIA/Contra/Cocaine Connection What do you think? Tell us in the message boards!