So, about your son…

The New York Times has taken a quality-over-quantity approach to the WikiLeaks cables so far, favoring occasional big-picture reports over the Guardian et al.’s zone-flooding approach. Most recent is an excellent piece by Ginger Thompson and Scott Shane on the picture the cables paint of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s transformation "into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies." The whole piece is worth a read.

Among the source cables, the documents from the U.S. embassy in Conakry, Guinea — which caught the attention of the DEA as it emerged as cocaine trafficking hub — are notable for their (occasionally ironic) narration of the country’s drug-smuggling troubles. Best is a perceptive and elegantly written May 2008 cable, signed by Ambassador Phillip Carter III, recounting a meeting with Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate, whose relationship with President Lansana Conté (who died seven months later) was strained by, among other things, the fact that Conté’s son Ousmane was suspected of being the country’s preeminent drug kingpin:

[Kouyate] told the Ambassador that he then went to the First Lady, Henriette Conte, about Ousmane’s complicity. Henriette reportedly described Ousmane as totally out of control, and directed the PM to take the matter up directly with the president. When Kouyate raised the incident, President Conte reportedly asked why his son would do such a thing. Kouyate told the president that it was a way for his son to get rich quickly and that it reflected poor character. Kouyate said that he reminded Conte that he had raised concerns about Ousmane years ago with the President but that nothing had been done. Kouyate then revealed a confidence from Conte to the Ambassador, mentioning that the President has had no contact or any communication with his son in over two years.

The elder Conté fired Kouyate two weeks later. As for the ailing strongman — who would die in December 2008 of an unspecified illness believed to be diabetes — the last we see of him in the cable is this arresting King Lear moment:

As the [prime minister] was leaving, the Ambassador asked him about Conte’s health. Kouyate, slowly shaking his head said that "the president’s health is up and down but he is not doing well." He admitted that "it is difficult to deal with that man", revealing that he is never sure what he is thinking. The Ambassador stated that he has been hearing much criticism of the president and that he is not well regarded in the countryside. Kouyate said that one does not need to leave Conakry to hear the same thing. He said that at a opening ceremony for a new stadium at the small university in Sonfonia, the crowds jeered every time Conte’s name was mentioned. According to Kouyate, he had to admonish the crowds to be respectful, particularly given that the stadium is named after President Conte. "It was incredible" he said, shaking his head again with forlorn look on his face.