Gary Webb, Investigative Journalist Dead: 'gunshot wounds to the head'

by redjade Sat Aug 19, 2006 14:35

'The L.A. Times and the New York Times published brief obituaries dismissing Webb as the author of "discredited" stories linking the CIA to Southern California drug sales.

Unlike the media pariahs who came after "Dark Alliance" — most notably fabulists Stephen Glass of the New Republic and Jayson Blair of the New York Times — Webb didn't invent facts. Contrary to the wholly discredited reporting on Iraq's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction by New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Webb was the only victim of his mistakes. Nobody else died because of his work, and no one, either at the CIA or the Mercury News, is known to have lost so much as a paycheck. The editors involved with the story, including Managing Editor David Yarnold, survived the scandal to receive generous promotions.

History will tell if Webb receives the credit he's due for prodding the CIA to acknowledge its shameful collaboration with drug dealers. Meanwhile, the journalistic establishment is only beginning to recognize that the controversy over "Dark Alliance" had more to do with poor editing than bad reporting.'

- By Nick Schou, NICK SCHOU is an editor for OC Weekly. His book, "Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb," will be published in October.

more at

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-sc...enter

by eeekkkk Thu Jan 06, 2005 00:39

"In a posting deep inside the official America’s Army Web site, the Army reveals that “players who request information (about the Army) ... may have their gaming records matched to their real-world identities for the purpose of facilitating career placement within the Army. Data collected within the game, such as which roles and missions players spent the most time playing could be used to highlight Army career fields that map into these interest areas ... ”

The Army has been collecting player information in a vast relational database system called “Andromeda,” Wardynski said, which recruiters will be able to use to look up a player’s statistics if one of them shows up in a recruiting office. A version of America’s Army now in development will take that a step further, allowing players to create a “persistent” online alter-ego, one that steadily progresses through the virtual ranks by taking additional training or specialized missions, generating valuable data along the way.

Recently, an updated version of the game called Special Forces was released, and there was a reason why that particular theme was chosen--one that had little to do with entertainment value. “Specifically, the Department of Defense wants to double the number of Special Forces soldiers, so essential did they prove in Afghanistan and northern Iraq; consequently, orders have trickled down the chain of command and found application in the current release of America’s Army, which features Special Forces roles, missions, and equipment,” a Navy-produced booklet states. "

by redjade Wed Dec 29, 2004 15:17

Webb's wife said it was suicide.

Al Giordano of NarcoNews said it was suicide.

So, I'd say its suicide.

but read more....

Gary Webb, Investigative Journalist Dead: 'gunshot wounds to the head'
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=67930

by the whole world is watching Wed Dec 29, 2004 14:44

The corporate media is saying that Gary Webb committed suicide. Webb, the author of 'Dark Alliance', was a great North American writer. He exposed CIA drug trafficking in South Central Los Angeles that funded terrorism in Nicaragua during the 1980s. Question: How can you committ suicide with two bullets in the head? How relevant is CIA drug trafficking today?
Inform yourself, see the video clip, 'Gary Webb in his own Words' http://www.gnn.tv/videos/video.php?id=30

Read his book, 'Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion'

What they are saying...

By Sam Stanton

Republished from Sacramento Bee
A flood of inquiries about Gary Webb's shooting death prompts statement.

Facing a barrage of calls from the media and the public, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office issued a statement Tuesday confirming that former investigative reporter Gary Webb committed suicide with two gunshots to the head.
“The cause of death was determined to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head,” the coroner’s statement said.

“Information and evidence gathered at the scene of death, including a handwritten note indicating an intention on the part of the decedent to take his own life, resulted in ‘suicide’ as the determined manner of death.

“The investigation is continuing and will take an estimated additional six to eight weeks to complete.”

The statement was issued because of the number of calls that had flooded the Coroner’s Office since The Bee reported Sunday that Webb’s death was caused by more than one wound.

Webb, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter, was found dead in his Carmichael home Friday morning.

Webb, who most recently had been writing for the Sacramento News & Review, is survived by his ex-wife and three children.

Such a case normally would have sparked little notice. But Webb gained notoriety in the 1990s after writing a series of stories for the Mercury News linking the CIA to Nicaraguan Contras seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government and to drug sales of crack cocaine flooding South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s.

His newspaper and others later questioned the conclusions in Webb’s reporting, and he left the San Jose newspaper in 1997 after being moved to a suburban bureau.

But Webb’s allegations spawned a following, including conspiracy theorists who have worked the Internet feverishly for days with notions that because Webb died from two gunshots he was killed by government agents or the Contras in retribution for the stories written nearly a decade ago.

Webb’s ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted such theories Tuesday, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper.

“The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide,” Bell said.

She said that before he died Webb wrote and mailed notes to family members and placed his baby shoes in his mother’s shed.

Webb had paid for his own cremation earlier in the year and had named Bell months ago as the beneficiary of his bank account, she said. He had sold his house last week, because he could no longer afford the mortgage, and was upset that his motorcycle had been stolen last week.

He had apparently laid out his driver’s license before taking his father’s .38-caliber pistol, which he kept in his nightstand, to shoot himself.

Coroner Robert Lyons said his office had been swamped with calls. “It’s unusual in a suicide case to have two shots,” he said, “but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility.”

Services for Webb are pending.

See also http://narconews.com/

by redjade Thu Dec 23, 2004 15:43

Jack Newfield, 66, Proud Muckraker, Dies

''Combine activism with writing," he wrote in a description of the approach. "Create a constituency for reform. And don't stop until you have achieved some progress or positive results."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/22/obituaries/22newfield.html
username/password: mediajunkie

by Brian Vernon Wed Dec 22, 2004 16:01

Its the same one. I see. Happy Xmas all.

by Brian Vernon Wed Dec 22, 2004 15:58

Could have said. I bow to your superior article, although don't have time to read it all now, what with packing and sh*t. Point taken about lengthy post, anything to shut that fecker up ;-)

by Ray Wed Dec 22, 2004 14:22

1. Don't post entire articles to comments when a link is available.
2. That's a really weak article. Not quite "Secret Lizard Rulers of the World" weak, but not too far off either.

by Brian Vernon Wed Dec 22, 2004 14:03

A newly discovered FBI document reveals that George Bush was directly involved in the 1963 murder of President John Kennedy. The document places Bush working with the now-famous CIA agent, Felix Rodriguez, recruiting right-wing Cuban exiles for the invasion of Cuba. It was Bush's CIA job to organize the Cuban community in Miami for the invasion. The Cubans were trained as marksmen by the CIA. Bush at that time lived in Texas. Hopping from Houston to Miami weekly, Bush spent 1960 and '61 recruiting Cubans in Miami for the invasion. That is how he met Felix Rodriguez.

by redjade Tue Dec 21, 2004 17:13

Gary Webb: Do What He Did
By Al Giordano
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/12/15/184725/08

by Devil Dog Tue Dec 21, 2004 14:27

I doubt you'd know one end of a Barrett from another...then again, I could be wrong, why not share your operational experience???

Which war crime did I participate in? The liberation of Iraq from SH? Yep, was proud to do so.

As for the Road to Basra/conscript thing - don't make me laugh - so it's wrong to kill conscripts in war, is that it? How exactly was it not a "combat situation"?

Re "Provo" - absolutely hilarious stuff - in your "active" imagination, I've gone from the Israeli embassy to the GS to a Loyalist terrorist group to the PSNI - where's next, I wonder?

Still waiting to hear about Ollie North and GHWB......

by Brian Vernon Tue Dec 21, 2004 14:18

I dont give a feck who you are, other than you are a right wing troll, which grates me. I do not write posts simply to contradict what someone has posted before, I will simply post an item of news that I find interesting or take part in a discusion, my opinions are my opinions.

I also said the gardai unit were here to stifle dissent - or debate as I should have correctly put it. And as for paranoia, you won't find me hiding behind the sofa.

Re : The murder of innocents - you appear to be in full support of the murder taking place in Iraq at the moment judging by your posts, and you also appear to be a cheer leader for the IDF. This is not surprising seing as you have admitted here to taking part in a war crime.

# the 6,000 (perhaps as many as 20,000) Iraqi civilians killed during the 41 days and nights of bombing by the British and the Americans in 1991 (during which time the civilian infrastructure was targeted, a war crime), including:
# the 500 civilians (including whole families) burnt alive and turned into cinders when American missiles penetrated a shelter in Baghdad;
# the tens of thousands of Iraqi conscripts slaughtered on the "Highway of Death" by U.S. Navy pilots during their attempted retreat from Kuwait in 1991 (another war crime because the soldiers killed were not in a combat situation);

I haven't heard the term "Provo" used round here in maybe 20 years, the only ones who use it are usually called Eugene and have spent a year or two in Templemore, and the Loyalist Murder Politicians and Brits just over the border, and Hugh Orde of course.

Ahh, thats where you are? Which barracks you assigned to? Maybe I can see it through the sights of my Barrett Light!!

by devil dog Tue Dec 21, 2004 13:49

"Provo" is hardly name calling, you described yourself as such.

I think you're the one who needs to improve your rebuttal techniques if that's the best you can do...I'll take it you don't have any such evidence, another example of preposterous claims being made on this site without any foundation.

by Brian Vernon Tue Dec 21, 2004 13:32

Provo?

Do you have any evidence to prove he didnt, ex military type now works for Garda?

by Devil Dog Tue Dec 21, 2004 12:51

Q. 1 - The sheer entertainment value - plus I like to debate/discourse/argue with those whose weltanschauung consists of being anti-America, anti-Israel, anti-prosperity, anti-freedom pro-IIRA etc etc

Q. 2 - see Q 1

Q 3 - "Ideals" on indymedia? Shurley shome mistake?? As for a "nom de plume", the majority of posters here, including those who run it, don't use their names. I didn't realise you had to post original threads to post here Brian, thanks for pointing that out.

Q 4 - Name calling? Nope, that's you - "madra", "scabby mutt" - But don't worry Brian, I've been called worse by better men than you! What exactly is "media & info 101"?

The paranoia is great!!!! Yep, I'm sure the cops are really spreading dissent here!!! Come on now Brian, I thought I was in the Israeli embassy - not it's the GS?? You're probably right about the arsehole bit (more name calling???) though.

Where have I "lauded the murder of innocents"?

And back to the original question - do you have any evidence to back up your claim theat GHWB was training Ollie North in the 1960's?

by Brian Vernon Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:28

Question: Why would a person who considers Indymedia to be full and loony's (loonymedia) visit the site regularly ?

Question: Why would a person who is so diammetrically opposed to all the ideals represented on Indy and who doesn't post himself - only to reply to others behind the veil of a nickname?

Question: Why would such a person start name calling and being a troll, and use rebuttal techniques probably learned in Media and Information 101?

Answer : Either he is an arsehole or a member of a Garda "Intelligence" (the ultimate oxymoron) or "Communications" unit which has been tasked with monitoring posts here and elsewhere in the free press in Ireland, possibly to stifle dissent and to stir up trouble among posters. Comes possibly from a military background and lauds fruequently the murder of innocents as great heroic deeds - especially if comitted by the British, US or the Zionist Entity!

Recognise anyone from my description?

by Brian Vernon Mon Dec 20, 2004 23:33

Im not the one hiding behind a nom de plume old boy, have nothing to hide see! Yes I'm a Pacifist Provo, like all the best ones. :-)

by devil dog Mon Dec 20, 2004 22:50

I just call people who make completely outlandish and unfounded accusations....glad to see I'm riling a Provo, "scabby mutt", tres amusant, Oscar Wilde is alive and well and posting on Loonymedia....Israeli embassy? Not me guvnor!!!

by Brian Vernon Mon Dec 20, 2004 17:28

Does everything I say have to get official clearance by you? Oh I see. My word is only valid if there is as hyperlink beside it? You still working nights at the Israeli Embassy?

Ok, here's one for you. How do you get a 140ft wide x 40ft high boeing 757-200 into a 12ft hole?

by Devil Dog Sun Dec 19, 2004 20:04

"This goes back a long way. All the way back to Kennedy in fact. G.Bush snr WAS [cia documents] in Texas on that fateful day. His bestest buddy was Oliver North [iranian /contra coke scandal] who trained under him in the 1960's. "

Yes Brian, imagine someone who lived in Texas actually being in Texas...how could they hope to cover this up????

As for GHWB & North, seeing as North graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1968 then went to Viet Nam as a Marine Lt, can you give us some evidence showing that GHWB was grooming a junior officer to help take over the US from the 1960's????

by Brian Vernon Sat Dec 18, 2004 15:55

Four Bush biographers, Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, Danny Casalaro, and now Gary Webb—all “suicide” victims. What are the odds all of these people actually committing suicide?

...Examining the male U.S. suicide rate for recent years, we can extrapolate a conservative estimate of 17 male suicides per 100,000 people, or 0.017%. The odds of 4 specific, male biographers committing suicide would be the 4th power of 17/100000, or 8.3521 4.913 x 10^-17… roughly 1 chance 10,000,000,000,000,000. About as good a definition of impossible as you can get

by William Thu Dec 16, 2004 23:30 USA

A murder is not necessarily a conspiracy. Murder is a common activity for Americans these days--in its myriad forms. Sometimes it is just "getting the job done".

by redjade Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:41

Gary Webb, the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who broke the story of the CIA's involvement in the importation of cocaine into the U.S., died December 10, 2004, reportedly from self-inflicted gunshots to the head.

It was a tragic end to a brilliant, and tragic, career.

[....]

In honor of Webb's legacy of "authentic journalism," GNN presents this exclusive interview, in which Webb discusses Dark Alliance, the media maelstrom, and the story's historical importance.

The video was produced by a team of GNN's video students at the School of Authentic Journalism 2002 seminar in Merida, Mexico.

Video 66.6 MB Quicktime
http://demandmedia.net/?op=displaystory;sid=2004/12/15/192132/40

by Barry Thu Dec 16, 2004 12:18

I remember reading somewhere its actually mammy Bush whose the brains of the outfit. Poppa and jnr do what she tells them apparently.

by Brian Vernon Thu Dec 16, 2004 07:17

Oops, apologies. Sorry rejade didnt see it.

Ruminatiing on this whole situation - one can't help asking the question "who is actually running the show in America"? Is it indeed Daddy Bush from the wings? Was this a strong message to all the other Investigative Journalists intent on sticking their noses into the Borgi......sorry the Bush's affairs?

This goes back a long way. All the way back to Kennedy in fact. G.Bush snr WAS [cia documents] in Texas on that fateful day. His bestest buddy was Oliver North [iranian /contra coke scandal] who trained under him in the 1960's.

I wouldn't give dubya the credit for being able to wipe his own arse never mind setting up the WTC/Pentagon scam, but on the other hand Daddy Bush has had long ties to the CIA and was Director for a number of years.

http://serendipity.li/wtc2.htm

http://serendipity.li/wtc3.htm

by Brian Vernon Thu Dec 16, 2004 06:47

Reporter's suicide confirmed by coroner

A flood of inquiries about Gary Webb's shooting death prompts statement.

Facing a barrage of calls from the media and the public, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office issued a statement Tuesday confirming that former investigative reporter Gary Webb committed suicide with two gunshots to the head.

"The cause of death was determined to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head," the coroner's statement said.

Jaysus the Yanks would buy anything!!

by Barry Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:47

But given the mans background and the undoubtedly highly dangerous and powerful people he crossed it all sounds decidedly dodgy.

And America is a dodgier place than usual now "the crazies" are firmly in charge.

by Ray Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:38

Survive a bullet through the brain? No.
Survive a bullet that glances off your temple and goes through your cheek? Sure.
Yeah, it would be painful, and it might be enough to shock some people out of firing again. But not everyone.

by Barry Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:35

The infamous "double-tap" 2 shots to the head is the trademark of an assassin, usually a govt one.

by Barry Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:24

sometimes. But that doent mean youd be in any state to fire a second one. That would be highly doubtful. While it mightnt kill you outright theres no way youd be able to carry on what youre doing.

Imagine the sensation of having a red hot poker hammered into your head with a blow from a sledgehammer. Youd be all over the place instantaneously.

2 shot suicide, no way.

by Ray Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:16

If you're using too small a gun, or aim it at the wrong place, a single gun shot is survivable. There's not enough detail about the incident to support a conspiracy theory.

by Barry Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:12

Suicide my backside. Impossible. The odds against it must be in the millions. The odds of a reporter whod exposed all the dirt he had shooting himself twice in the head defy belief.

He was bumped off. His exposure of all that dirt must have cost some people millions of $$$$.

I see the EX-WIFE handily popped up to give her opinion. EX-wives, along with ex-girlfriends are notorious liars usually, whose word should NEVER be listened to.

Theyre bad news.

by redjade Wed Dec 15, 2004 17:00

Facing a barrage of calls from the media and the public, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office issued a statement Tuesday confirming that former investigative reporter Gary Webb committed suicide with two gunshots to the head.

"The cause of death was determined to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head," the coroner's statement said.

[....]
"The investigation is continuing and will take an estimated additional six to eight weeks to complete."
[....]
Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, discounted such theories Tuesday, saying the 49-year-old Webb had been distraught for some time over his inability to get a job at another major newspaper.

"The way he was acting it would be hard for me to believe it was anything but suicide," Bell said.
[....]
Coroner Robert Lyons said his office had been swamped with calls. "It's unusual in a suicide case to have two shots," he said, "but it has been done in the past, and it is in fact a distinct possibility."

by Barry Wed Dec 15, 2004 16:22

There wouuldnt be a number of holes. Thered just be a huge bloody mess. The shot doesnt spread out until its travelled a distance,when it leaves the barrel its fairly compact.

(jesus yous lot are a morbid bunch)

by Reality Check Wed Dec 15, 2004 15:56

Wounds in the plural refers to the fact that a shotgun is exactly that - small balls of shot.
A single blast from a shotgun will deliver several wounds as the shot will strike in different places. There would be no possibility of the weapon being fired multiple times unless he missed badly with the first one. There would, however, be multiple wounds as the shot would be sprayed all around the head area. Here's the encylopedia definition: "A shotgun is a firearm typically used to fire a number of small balls, the shot, from a smoothbore barrel of relatively large diameter. Also the bullets that are shot can be spread into many small balls. The energy of any one ball of shot is fairly low, making them useful primarily for hunting birds and other small game, or as close-combat weapons where the short range ensures that many of the balls of shot will hit the target."

Remember: Loose phraseology does not a conspiracy prove.

by Mike Tue Dec 14, 2004 23:03

A wound (singular) would be suspicious.

I assure you, Redjade, that if you took any pistol of say .38 special or 9 mm or bigger and fired it point blank at your skull there would be two wounds; one where the bullet went in and a big one where it came out the other side.

Now a whole bunch of wounds from several bullets, that'd be more unusual but not impossible depending on the weapon found. Say you pointed a machine pistol set on "auto" at your head and pulled the trigger -- you'd probably manage than two.

A single wound is not impossible either. But you'd be unwise to point a low powered weapon like a .22 long at your head and pull the trigger. Most suicides want to die, not leave themselves crippled and with a very low powered round there is a chance of that.

by - Tue Dec 14, 2004 20:24

Rest in Peace all you victims of cocaine, investigative journalism, the drug trade, the bad people, the bullets in the head, the conspiracies, the wars, the war, the terror, the taking of one's own life, et cetera.
& if you can't rest,
well- there's still work to be done.

by Brian Vernon Tue Dec 14, 2004 19:02

J.H. Hatfield, the man who penned a controversial biography of George W. Bush and was later humiliated after revelations about his criminal past became public, was found dead of an apparent suicide in a hotel room in Springdale, Ark, Friday afternoon. He was 43.

Hatfield appeared on the national radar after his book, Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President, appeared in 1999, and alleged that a confidential source told him Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972, but had his record expunged through his father's political connections.

Some news outlets, including Salon, reported on the allegation. But soon after, details about Hatfield's past came out, including a report by the Dallas Morning News that he was convicted for hiring a hit man in a failed attempt to kill his employer with a car bomb in 1987. Hatfield denied he was the same James Hatfied with the Dallas criminal record, but later recanted.

by redjade Tue Dec 14, 2004 17:53

Total Coverage: The CIA, Contras, and Drugs

August 25, 1998
http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/coke.html
But information on Contra/drug connections kept coming. In 1987, the allegations eventually led to a Senate investigation (anybody remember that one?) led by John Kerry (D-Mass.). Among the juicier moments:

Senator KERRY: What did you do with those drugs?
Mr. MORALES: Sell them.
Senator KERRY: What did you do with the money?
Mr. MORALES: Give it to the Contras.
Senator KERRY: All right.

But did the Kerry committee report find that the U.S. knew about Contra coke-dealing? Here's an excerpt from the executive summary:
-
[I]t is clear that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers. In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter.
link: http://www.webcom.com/pinknoiz/covert/contracoke.html
-

What was the response when the Kerry Committee report was released? According to a Lexis-Nexis search, only four major papers reported the committee's findings -- none on the front page. The NEW YORK TIMES' story, tucked away on Page 8, did mention one of the committee's more interesting findings: "The State Department paid $806,401 between January and August 1986 to four companies that distributed humanitarian aid to the contras but 'were owned and operated by narcotics traffickers.'"

by redjade Tue Dec 14, 2004 17:51

Robert Parry of Consortiumnews.com says:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/121304.html
By maintaining the contra-cocaine cover-up – even after the CIA’s had admitted the facts – the big newspapers seemed to have understood that they could avoid any consequences for their egregious behavior in the 1990s or for their negligence toward the contra-cocaine issue when it first surfaced in the 1980s. After all, the conservative news media – the chief competitor to the mainstream press – isn’t going to demand a reexamination of the crimes of the Reagan-Bush years.

That means that only a few minor media outlets, like our own Consortiumnews.com, will go back over the facts now, just as only a few of us addressed the significance of the government admissions in the late 1990s. I compiled and explained the findings of the CIA/Justice investigations in my 1999 book, 'Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & ‘Project Truth.’'

Contra-Cocaine Case
'Lost History', which took its name from a series at this Web site, also describes how the contra-cocaine story first reached the public in a story that Brian Barger and I wrote for the Associated Press in December 1985. Though the big newspapers pooh-poohed our discovery, Sen. John Kerry followed up our story with his own groundbreaking investigation. For his efforts, Kerry also encountered media ridicule. Newsweek dubbed the Massachusetts senator a “randy conspiracy buff.” [For details, see Consortiumnews.com’s “Kerry’s Contra-Cocaine Chapter.” http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/102904.html ]

[....]

Another crack in the defensive wall opened when the Justice Department released a report by its inspector general, Michael Bromwich. Given the hostile climate surrounding Webb’s series, Bromwich’s report opened with criticism of Webb. But, like the CIA’s Volume One, the contents revealed new details about government wrongdoing.

According to evidence cited by the report, the Reagan-Bush administration knew almost from the outset of the contra war that cocaine traffickers permeated the paramilitary operation. The administration also did next to nothing to expose or stop the criminal activities. The report revealed example after example of leads not followed, corroborated witnesses disparaged, official law-enforcement investigations sabotaged, and even the CIA facilitating the work of drug traffickers.

[....]

Consequences
To this day, no editor or reporter who missed the contra-drug story has been punished for his or her negligence. Indeed, many of them are now top executives at their news organizations. On the other hand, Gary Webb’s career never recovered.

At Webb’s death, however, it should be noted that his great gift to American history was that he – along with angry African-American citizens – forced the government to admit some of the worst crimes ever condoned by any American administration: the protection of drug smuggling into the United States as part of a covert war against a country, Nicaragua, that represented no real threat to Americans.

by redjade Tue Dec 14, 2004 17:49

Michael C. Ruppert says
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/121304_gary_webb.shtml
In death the major press is beating him almost as ruthlessly as they did in real life. No part of the major press has acknowledged that Webb's work was subsequently vindicated by congressional investigations and two CIA Inspector General's reports released in 1997 and 1998. FTW did report on Webb's vindication and his legacy has - at least at the level of authentic journalism - not been lost.

- - - - -

Alexander Cockburn And Jeffrey St. Clair say:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12132004.html
Webb was a great reporter whose best-known work exposed the CIA'S complicity in the import of cocaine into the United States in the 1980s, during the US onslaught on the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. His devastating series Dark Alliance, published in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996, provoked a series of wild attacks in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post, purporting to demolish Webb and exonerate the Agency.

The attacks were without merit, but the San Jose Mercury News buckled under the pressure and undercut its own reporter with a groveling and entirely unmerited retraction by its publisher. It was a very dark day in the history of American journalism.

[....]
Later this week we will run a longer reprise on Webb and his famous series.

- - - - -

Jeff Cohen (of FAIR http://FAIR.org ) says
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1213-31.htm
While Webb's series could be faulted for some overstatement in presenting its powerful new evidence (a controversial graphic on the Mercury News website superimposed a person smoking crack over the CIA seal), the fresh documentation mightily moved forward the CIA-Contra-cocaine story that national media had been trying to bury for years. Any exaggeration in the Mercury News presentation was dwarfed by a mendacious, triple-barreled attack on Webb that came from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.

[....]

In this weekend's mainstream media reports on Gary Webb's death, it's no surprise that a key point has been overlooked -- that the CIA's internal investigation sparked by the Webb series and resulting furor contained startling admissions. CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz reported in October 1998 that the CIA indeed had knowledge of the allegations linking many Contras and Contra associates to cocaine trafficking, that Contra leaders were arranging drug connections from the beginning and that a CIA informant told the agency about the activity.

[....]

In this era of "embedded reporters," an unembedded journalist like Gary Webb will be sorely missed.

by redjade Tue Dec 14, 2004 17:46

Obituary: Gary Webb, prize-winning investigative reporter
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/11744167p-12630255c.html
Gary Webb, a prize-winning investigative journalist whose star-crossed career was capped with a controversial newspaper series linking the CIA to the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles, died Friday of self-inflicted gunshot wounds, officials said.

Mr. Webb, 49, was found dead in his Carmichael home Friday morning of gunshot wounds to the head, the Sacramento County Coroner's Office said Saturday.

He left a note, but officials would not disclose its contents.

- - - - -

Gary Webb, 49, former MN reporter, author
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10399522.htm?1c
Mr. Webb was perhaps best known for sparking a national controversy with a 1996 story that contended supporters of a CIA-backed guerrilla army in Nicaragua helped trigger America's crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. The ``Dark Alliance'' series in the Mercury News came under fire by other news organizations, and the paper's own investigation concluded the series did not meet its standards.

- - - - -

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Gary Webb, reporter who exposed CIA, dies
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Obit%20Webb

The articles did not accuse the CIA of directly aiding drug dealers to raise money for the Contras, but implied that the agency was aware of the activity.

Major parts of Webb's reporting were later discredited by other newspaper investigations. An investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department found no evidence of a connection between the CIA and the drug traffickers.

In 1997, then-Mercury News executive editor Jerry Ceppos backed away from the series, saying "we fell short at every step of our process." Webb was transferred to one of the paper's suburban bureaus.

"This is just harassment," Webb said after his demotion. "This isn't the first time that a reporter went after the CIA and lost his job over it."

by redjade Tue Dec 14, 2004 17:44

No longer on the San Jose Mercury News website

but archived here.....

America's 'crack' plague has roots in Nicaragua war
Colombia-San Francisco Bay Area drug pipeline helped finance CIA-backed Contras
Published: Aug. 18, 1996
http://www.constitution.org/abus/narc/day1main.htm

Shadowy origins of 'crack' epidemic
Role of CIA-linked agents a well-protected secret until now
Published: Aug. 19, 1996
http://www.constitution.org/abus/narc/day2main.htm

War on drugs has unequal impact on black Americans
Contra case illustrates the discrepancy: Nicaraguan goes free; L.A. dealer faces life
Published: Aug. 20, 1996
http://www.constitution.org/abus/narc/day3main.htm

by redjade Tue Dec 14, 2004 17:43

http://www.salon.com/comics/comics1961125.html

This Modern World
http://www.thismodernworld.com