George Bush led the Reagan Administration's effort to stop the flow of drugs into the United States.

He says his 1982 work as head of the Administration's South Florida Task Force, set up to coordinate drug enforcement efforts, is one of his proudest achievements.10/

But objective observers have a different view...

• The nonpartisan General Accounting Office (GAO) reported in October 1982 that "it is doubtful whether the [South Florida] task force can have any substantial long-term impact on drug availability.11/

As head of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System (NNBIS) from March through April 1985, Bush didn't improve his record...

• The GAO reported in duly 1985 that the NNBIS's results were "minimal" and the improvements it achieved fell "far short of substantially reducing the flow of illegal drugs."12/

But there's a larger question about Bush's anti-drug record: Did he ignore a drug-dealing dictator in our midst?

Panama's army commander Manuel Noriega, a CIA informant throughout the Reagan years,13/ was indicted for drug trafficking by two US grand juries in February 1988. George Bush says he was unaware of reports or evidence of Noriega's drug involvement until the general was indicted.14/

But reports of Noriega's drug ties had long been circulating in U.S. intelligence agencies and the White House.

• A 1981-83 National Security Council staff member testified before a House committee that he had seen a "21-cannon barrage of evidence" in intelligence data linking Noriega and the Panamanian military to drug-running.15/

• White House National Security Adviser John Poindexter upbraided Noriega about his drug and money laundering activities during his December 1985 visit to Panama.16/

• Reagan Administration officials reported that US Ambassador to Panama Everett Briggs, one of the Administration's earliest and most vocal critics of Noriega, told Bush of Noriega's drug ties during a December 16, 1985 meeting they had to "discuss US relations With Panama and narcotics matters."17/

Although Briggs denied this report (following calls from Bush campaign aides),18/ the record shows that in the weeks before his meeting with Bush, Briggs repeatedly sent "extremely strong" cables to the State Department recounting allegations of Noriega's drug involvement,19/ and that 17 days after his meeting with Bush he briefed a Congressional delegation about Noriega's drug ties.20/