A Sad Saga: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER GARY WEBB
The Sad Saga of Gary Webb
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=84357;show_parent=1
Gary Webb and the art of the CIA cover-up
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=84406;show_parent=1
AMAZING Excerpt:
The homeowner was dead from two (2) gunshot wounds to his head. How can a Brain dead shoot the second shot??? Must have missed the first time!!!OH SHOOT!!
52 journalists died during 2003 in the practice of their chosen profession. Reporters are becoming an endangered species and excellent, fearless reporters who do not bend to the power of industry money and government are a true rarity. The current situation begs for a strong first amendment and citizens with the courage to demand the freedoms it assures from their government and from the courts.
You can read this entries at:
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/960242.htm
Shanti Renfrew
Gary's Memorial Webpage
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2004-12-13/feature.asp
Gary Webb: Do What He Did
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/12/15/184725/08
Informant: Carolyn
--------
12/18 - One Green recounts Gary Webb Memorial Service
I went up to Sacramento for Gary Webb's funeral service this afternoon. I managed to get to the ballroom at the Doubletree just after the last seat was taken in a room that had at least 200 people in it, most of them pillars of the community, but a sprinkling of motorcycle type friends of his kids and so forth. Across the front of the room were pictures from his life, awards he had won for his journalism (I saw his Pulitzer Prize among them). and nice arrangements of flowers. There was a laptop computer with an attached projector to the left of most stuff, and it was projecting a snapshot of Gary with a serious look on his face, with the caption Gary Webb, 1955-2004 on the screen behind the podium.
Almost immediately, Gary's brother kicked things off by telling the story of his life. He started with the mimeograph machine they had gotten as little kids. The speaker had gotten bored with it after about seven words, but it had fascinated Gary. It had shown him the power of the written word, and after playing with it the guy knew he wanted to write. All his life the guy had aimed for being a journalist, and the twenty years he spent doing investigative journalism were the happiest of his life. Gary's brother explained that the guy was not expecting to have his character assassinated by the mainstream media after he broke the story of the CIA's selling of cocaine to finance their dirty little wars. After the damage was done, Gary had found it impossible to get another job in the field, his wife had left him with their kids, and he just got tired of waking up every day with nothing to do.
He was followed by a string of other speakers. Family members spoke highly of the guy's loyalty and willingness to help. A Latino guy that had never met Gary talked about his friends in college that had gotten lots of cheap drugs "from these two big Mexican guys." He said that in reading the book he recognized them from their descriptions, so he knew the book was the real deal. Michael Rupert, the author of Crossing the Rubicon, said that this was a dark day for the profession of journalism. He said that if professional journalism has sunk to the point where talents like Gary Webb are not treasured, the time has come to fight back. He explained the Revolutionary Latin American custom of calling the roll of those willing to fight, and that every person who was willing to stand with a fallen leaders cause to the end would exclaim "Presente!" when the roll call reached their name, partly to scare the status quo that wanted that person forgotten. He finished by reading off "Gary Webb", and we all said "Presente!" on que. The last thing was a slide presentation by Webb's sons, showing pictures from his life to the tune of the long solo on the back side of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.
After the prepared speeches were finished, we went down stairs for a reception. I found myself at a table with a couple of other guys, one of whom was bubbling with conspiracy theories about who shot Gary Webb. After a little while two young women sat down and introduced themselves as the daughters of Gary and his brother. They said that Gary had clearly committed suicide. Later, talking to his sister in law, I heard the same story. She said the guy had sent letters to every family member about it, saying things like "scatter my ashes in the ocean at the beach on a sunny summer day, so I can body surf for eternity."
Tian Harter
My conclusion is that the people who really killed Gary Webb were the ones that poisoned his name to protect the drug runners and the people they were funding.
Informant: sash
--------
Gary Webb Memorial Forum
This Sunday December 26th at 1:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 2936 West 8th. St., Los Angeles, CA., 90005
NICARAGUAN AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION NICANA
Gary Webb's children will spend this Christmas Holidays without their father. As you may know he was found dead at his home in Sacramento, on Friday, December 10th by a moving company workers who called authorities. The mainstream press has kept strict silence about the event, a very different approach to the one they took in August of 1996 when the San José Mercury News published his explosive 3 article series about the CIA, the Contras and Cocaine trafficking into the United States.
The Nicaraguan American National Association, NICANA and the Oscar Romero Ministry of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, cordially invites you to a Forum about Gary Webb's life. Although the Holidays are already with us, we ask you to take a couple of hours of your precious family time to come and join us as a tribute to Gary's memory. The Forum will take place this Sunday, December 26th at 1:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles; 2936 West 8th. St., Los Angeles, CA., 90005. For more information please call (213) 364-2909 or (323) 633-0537. Parking available at corner of 8th and Westmoreland. First Church is located 1/2 block East of Vermont on 8th St.
Hope to see you there. Many thanks,
Lenin Barahona,
Vice-president
Informant: Frank
--------
Journalist Who Blew Whistle On CIA Drug Trade 'Commits Suicide'
Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles, has died at age 49. Webb was found Friday morning at his home in Sacramento County, dead of an apparent suicide. Moving-company workers called authorities after discovering a note posted on his front door that read, "Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance."
Webb died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Sacramento County coroner's office.
Webb was part of the San Jose Mercury News reporting team that won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/reporter_webb_suicide.htm
WAS GARY WEBB "SUICIDED" TO KILL NEW BOOK?
https://twoday.net/static/omega/files/was_gary_webb_suicided_to_kill_new_book.htm
Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered
Webb Spoke Of Death Threats, 'Government People' Around His Home Credible sources who were close to Gary Webb have stated that he was receiving death threats, being regularly followed, and that he was concerned about strange individuals who were seen on multiple occasions breaking into and leaving his house before his apparent 'suicide' on Friday morning. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. Webb's 1996 series in the Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s.
Today's Alex Jones Show, aired on the GCN radio network featured interviews with Chico Brown and Cele Castillo. Castillo is author of "Powder Burns", Cocaine, Contras & The Drug Connection. A retired DEA agent, Castillo personally witnessed CIA drug smuggling operations. Chico Brown, was former business parter and co-defendent with 'Freeway' Ricky Ross, the biggest drug dealer on the west coast supplied by the CIA.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2004/141204webbmurdered.htm
Assassination of US Investigative Journalist Gary Webb?
What a weekend for conspiracy theory! I don't know where to begin. Why not with Gary Webb? Yesterday I wrote about Potential Witness Syndrome, one symptom of which is "suicide by multiple gun shot wounds to the head". This is apparently exactly what Gary Webb died of (watch as the stories are refined to change 'wounds' to 'a gunshot wound'). Webb was one of the premier investigative journalists in the United States, and author of the classic book "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion", a book that everyone should read, both for its content and as an model of how to do investigative reporting. The disgusting American press did a hack job on him, claiming that he overstated his case, an outright lie which you can see if you read his book. He was meticulous in defining his thesis, which was that the CIA turned a blind eye to the selling of crack in Los Angeles because proceeds from the sales were used to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. This thesis was true, but was deeply embarrassing to the CIA and other journalists who failed to cover the story.
It was a particularly dangerous idea because it demonstrated what a crock of shit the war on drugs is, with the U.S. government allowing extremely destructive drug sales - and drug sales which were particularly destructive to one racial group - in the United States when such sales suited it for other political purposes.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2004/141204assassinationofwebb.htm
Gary Webb Death - New Math Of Bush Reporter 'Suicides'
Now that Gary Webb joins Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, and Danny Casalaro as the fourth 'suicide' by a researcher who had a detailed understanding of the structure and function of the Bush crime family, the math on the odds of the Bush suicides have changed. "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. A person would stand a better chance of playing the Canadian lottery 6/49 exactly twice in one's lifetime and winning the grand jackpot BOTH TIMES! (That is, picking 6 numbers out of 49 possible numbers and matching all 6 numbers out of 6 random draws, on 2 separate occasions, and having only purchased two Canadian lottery tickets ever.)
This calculation should be regarded as a conservative estimate: the actual odds against such a "coincidence" would be much greater. For example, if any of the biographers were female, the odds would be even greater."
The press hasn't even bothered with the usual 'he was known to be depressed' stories yet.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/new_math_bush_reporter_suicides.htm
From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 18th, 2004
--------
Why they hate Gary Webb
CounterPunch
by Alexander Cockburn
12/18/04
There are certain things you aren't meant to say in public in America. The systematic state-sponsorship of torture by the US used to be a major no-no, but that went by the board this year (even though Seymour Hersh treated the CIA with undue kindness in Chain of Command: the Road to Abu Ghraib). A prime no-no is to say that the US government has used assassination down the years as an instrument of national policy; also that the CIA's complicity with drug dealing criminal gangs stretches from the Afghanistan of today back to the year the Agency was founded in 1947. That last one is the line Webb stepped over. He paid for his presumption by undergoing one of the unfairest batterings in the history of the US press, as the chapter from Whiteout we ran on our site yesterday narrates...
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12182004.html
Dangers of questioning government actions
by Don Wycliff
Chicago Tribune
01/06/05
I have a confession to make: I still think Gary Webb had it mostly right. I think he got the treatment that always comes to those who dare question aloud the bona fides of the establishment: First he got misrepresented -- his suggestion that the CIA tolerated the contras' cocaine trading became an allegation that the agency itself was involved in the drug trade. Then he was ridiculed as a conspiracy-monger -- joked one commentator, Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, 'Oliver Stone, check your voice mail.' In the end, Webb was rendered untouchable. I know that I risk being marked down as something of a nut for saying I think Webb was fundamentally right...
http://tinyurl.com/5rbu8
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
--------
CIA, Contras And Cocaine
An interview with the recently deceased investigative reporter -- Gary Webb -- who exposed CIA involvement in contra drug trafficking.
http://www.tompaine.com/index.php#passiton
Investigative reporter Gary Webb died last week. Webb reported on a dark chapter in U.S. foreign policy that in the end exposed connections between cocaine trafficking and the Nicaraguan contras.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20742/
To learn more about the story -- especially if you were playing with Legos back in 1996 and don't know who the "contras" are-- watch this video of Webb talking.
http://www.guerrillanews.com/videos/video.php?id=30
--------
Correction and new information on the email I forwarded to you about Gary Webb last Monday December 20th
From Frank Dorrel
Last Monday, December 20th, I forwarded you an email which I had received from John Judge regarding the death of Gary Webb. I should have made some calls and done a little research of my own before I forwarded that email to you. Since then I have learned that some of the statements in that message are not true.
In an email sent to John Judge by Kurt Webb (Gary's brother), Kurt said that the suicide letters Gary sent to his children were not forgeries. This was somehow either misinterpreted or misunderstood by John Judge, in his talks with John Hankey or misinformation coming from the investigator that John Hankey hired to look into this case.
The family all believes that these suicide notes from Gary were real. The family definitely believes that Gary committed suicide and has made it clear that if they had any doubt, they would have called for an investigation. Some of the family members have been made aware of this email I forwarded and were very upset by it. I apologize for sending it to each of you without checking into to it more thoroughly. Kurt Webb, in his email to John Judge, asked him to stop and desist all further emails of this kind as it has been hurtful to the family. He made it clear that the family is not cooperating with John Hankey in any type of investigation.
Mike Ruppert contated me as soon as he received the email I forwarded and asked me to not send that email out to any more people, as it contained some incorrect information and was being hurtful to the family. Mike was very upset with John Hankey and with me for forwarding it.
I have talked with John Hankey since then. I want to say that I have known John for some time now. I like and respect John very much. He teaches English in East Los Angeles to (I believe) 8th graders and has bought many copies of "Addicted To War" from me to give to his students over the last few years. John also made the new film called "JFK II" which was used as a premium during the last fund drive at KPFK and sold many copies. I believe that John was doing what he thought was the right thing to do by hiring an investigator. In no way did he have any wrong or bad intentions with the actions he took. But sometimes things can be misunderstood or become confused as information is pased from one person to another and then to another and as people allow their hurt or anger begin to interfer with open & sincere communication.
I'm sure that all of us feel very sad over the death of Gary Webb, a man who was a fearless truth-teller, a journalist who revealed some very important and shocking information about what certain elements of the CIA and our government were doing. And I am also certain that we all feel compassion for Gary's family in this situation. Many of us have wondered if maybe it wasn't a suicide and that somehow Gary was killed by someone represeting the government. This was the concern of both John Hankey, John Judge and others.
In closing I want to say that it is my wish that those of us who are involved in the Peace and Justice Movement can and need to continue to work together and not allow misunderstandings or differences of opinion to separate us from doing the work we are all engaged in. Our job, our mission is difficult enough as it is. I would like to be in support of all of you, of all of us who are trying to make the world a better place for all of the people who share this Earth with us. We all have made mistakes and will probably continue to do so. But by working together and trying to understand each other a little more we will have a much better chance of helping to bring peace and justice to the human race.
If you would like to send a contribution to the Gary Webb Memorial Fund (which goes to the family) or send condolences to the family, the address is listed below:
Gary Webb Memorial Fund
Susan Bell
552 Fisher Circle
Folsom, CA 95630
--------
Dangers of questioning government actions:
It has been almost a month since he died and I haven't been able to get Gary Webb out of my mind. You remember Gary Webb, don't you? He's the investigative reporter who in 1996 produced a series of stories, on the connections between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Nicaraguan contras.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0501060112jan06,0,5603781.column
http://snipurl.com/btnx
From Information Clearing House
--------
Gary Webb was not 'murdered'?
http://mindcontrol.twoday.net/stories/460590/
THIS is WHY GARY WEBB was MURDERED
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/483692/
The Life and Times of Gary Webb
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=74781;show_parent=1
--------
A Cuban Perspective on Gary Webb
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=73825;show_parent=1
--------
SAYING GOODBYE TO A GIANT
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/122004_goodbye_giant.shtml
--------
Links:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/121304_gary_webb.shtml
http://www.rense.com/general60/REPORT.HTM
Microbiologist a very dangerous profession
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/496456/
Did 22 SDI Researchers really ALL Commit Suicide?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/510479/
Dead Scientists DO Tell Tales
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/495508/
The Murder of Dr. David Kelly
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/442565/
A Death in New York: Nicole duFresne
http://mindcontrol.twoday.net/stories/496412/
Was Hunter Thompson Suicided?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/542407/
How The U.S. Military Threatens Journalists
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/541962/
Giuliana Sgrena: 'My truth'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/557163/
Squad seeks tips in death of researcher - What you know WILL kill you
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/468874/
THE DEATH OF GARY WEBB = NOMINATION OF JOHN NEGROPONTE
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=80775;show_parent=1
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=84357;show_parent=1
Gary Webb and the art of the CIA cover-up
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=84406;show_parent=1
AMAZING Excerpt:
The homeowner was dead from two (2) gunshot wounds to his head. How can a Brain dead shoot the second shot??? Must have missed the first time!!!OH SHOOT!!
52 journalists died during 2003 in the practice of their chosen profession. Reporters are becoming an endangered species and excellent, fearless reporters who do not bend to the power of industry money and government are a true rarity. The current situation begs for a strong first amendment and citizens with the courage to demand the freedoms it assures from their government and from the courts.
You can read this entries at:
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/960242.htm
Shanti Renfrew
Gary's Memorial Webpage
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2004-12-13/feature.asp
Gary Webb: Do What He Did
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/12/15/184725/08
Informant: Carolyn
--------
12/18 - One Green recounts Gary Webb Memorial Service
I went up to Sacramento for Gary Webb's funeral service this afternoon. I managed to get to the ballroom at the Doubletree just after the last seat was taken in a room that had at least 200 people in it, most of them pillars of the community, but a sprinkling of motorcycle type friends of his kids and so forth. Across the front of the room were pictures from his life, awards he had won for his journalism (I saw his Pulitzer Prize among them). and nice arrangements of flowers. There was a laptop computer with an attached projector to the left of most stuff, and it was projecting a snapshot of Gary with a serious look on his face, with the caption Gary Webb, 1955-2004 on the screen behind the podium.
Almost immediately, Gary's brother kicked things off by telling the story of his life. He started with the mimeograph machine they had gotten as little kids. The speaker had gotten bored with it after about seven words, but it had fascinated Gary. It had shown him the power of the written word, and after playing with it the guy knew he wanted to write. All his life the guy had aimed for being a journalist, and the twenty years he spent doing investigative journalism were the happiest of his life. Gary's brother explained that the guy was not expecting to have his character assassinated by the mainstream media after he broke the story of the CIA's selling of cocaine to finance their dirty little wars. After the damage was done, Gary had found it impossible to get another job in the field, his wife had left him with their kids, and he just got tired of waking up every day with nothing to do.
He was followed by a string of other speakers. Family members spoke highly of the guy's loyalty and willingness to help. A Latino guy that had never met Gary talked about his friends in college that had gotten lots of cheap drugs "from these two big Mexican guys." He said that in reading the book he recognized them from their descriptions, so he knew the book was the real deal. Michael Rupert, the author of Crossing the Rubicon, said that this was a dark day for the profession of journalism. He said that if professional journalism has sunk to the point where talents like Gary Webb are not treasured, the time has come to fight back. He explained the Revolutionary Latin American custom of calling the roll of those willing to fight, and that every person who was willing to stand with a fallen leaders cause to the end would exclaim "Presente!" when the roll call reached their name, partly to scare the status quo that wanted that person forgotten. He finished by reading off "Gary Webb", and we all said "Presente!" on que. The last thing was a slide presentation by Webb's sons, showing pictures from his life to the tune of the long solo on the back side of Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.
After the prepared speeches were finished, we went down stairs for a reception. I found myself at a table with a couple of other guys, one of whom was bubbling with conspiracy theories about who shot Gary Webb. After a little while two young women sat down and introduced themselves as the daughters of Gary and his brother. They said that Gary had clearly committed suicide. Later, talking to his sister in law, I heard the same story. She said the guy had sent letters to every family member about it, saying things like "scatter my ashes in the ocean at the beach on a sunny summer day, so I can body surf for eternity."
Tian Harter
My conclusion is that the people who really killed Gary Webb were the ones that poisoned his name to protect the drug runners and the people they were funding.
Informant: sash
--------
Gary Webb Memorial Forum
This Sunday December 26th at 1:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles 2936 West 8th. St., Los Angeles, CA., 90005
NICARAGUAN AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION NICANA
Gary Webb's children will spend this Christmas Holidays without their father. As you may know he was found dead at his home in Sacramento, on Friday, December 10th by a moving company workers who called authorities. The mainstream press has kept strict silence about the event, a very different approach to the one they took in August of 1996 when the San José Mercury News published his explosive 3 article series about the CIA, the Contras and Cocaine trafficking into the United States.
The Nicaraguan American National Association, NICANA and the Oscar Romero Ministry of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, cordially invites you to a Forum about Gary Webb's life. Although the Holidays are already with us, we ask you to take a couple of hours of your precious family time to come and join us as a tribute to Gary's memory. The Forum will take place this Sunday, December 26th at 1:00 PM at the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles; 2936 West 8th. St., Los Angeles, CA., 90005. For more information please call (213) 364-2909 or (323) 633-0537. Parking available at corner of 8th and Westmoreland. First Church is located 1/2 block East of Vermont on 8th St.
Hope to see you there. Many thanks,
Lenin Barahona,
Vice-president
Informant: Frank
--------
Journalist Who Blew Whistle On CIA Drug Trade 'Commits Suicide'
Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking in Los Angeles, has died at age 49. Webb was found Friday morning at his home in Sacramento County, dead of an apparent suicide. Moving-company workers called authorities after discovering a note posted on his front door that read, "Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance."
Webb died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Sacramento County coroner's office.
Webb was part of the San Jose Mercury News reporting team that won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/reporter_webb_suicide.htm
WAS GARY WEBB "SUICIDED" TO KILL NEW BOOK?
https://twoday.net/static/omega/files/was_gary_webb_suicided_to_kill_new_book.htm
Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered
Webb Spoke Of Death Threats, 'Government People' Around His Home Credible sources who were close to Gary Webb have stated that he was receiving death threats, being regularly followed, and that he was concerned about strange individuals who were seen on multiple occasions breaking into and leaving his house before his apparent 'suicide' on Friday morning. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. Webb's 1996 series in the Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s.
Today's Alex Jones Show, aired on the GCN radio network featured interviews with Chico Brown and Cele Castillo. Castillo is author of "Powder Burns", Cocaine, Contras & The Drug Connection. A retired DEA agent, Castillo personally witnessed CIA drug smuggling operations. Chico Brown, was former business parter and co-defendent with 'Freeway' Ricky Ross, the biggest drug dealer on the west coast supplied by the CIA.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2004/141204webbmurdered.htm
Assassination of US Investigative Journalist Gary Webb?
What a weekend for conspiracy theory! I don't know where to begin. Why not with Gary Webb? Yesterday I wrote about Potential Witness Syndrome, one symptom of which is "suicide by multiple gun shot wounds to the head". This is apparently exactly what Gary Webb died of (watch as the stories are refined to change 'wounds' to 'a gunshot wound'). Webb was one of the premier investigative journalists in the United States, and author of the classic book "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion", a book that everyone should read, both for its content and as an model of how to do investigative reporting. The disgusting American press did a hack job on him, claiming that he overstated his case, an outright lie which you can see if you read his book. He was meticulous in defining his thesis, which was that the CIA turned a blind eye to the selling of crack in Los Angeles because proceeds from the sales were used to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. This thesis was true, but was deeply embarrassing to the CIA and other journalists who failed to cover the story.
It was a particularly dangerous idea because it demonstrated what a crock of shit the war on drugs is, with the U.S. government allowing extremely destructive drug sales - and drug sales which were particularly destructive to one racial group - in the United States when such sales suited it for other political purposes.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2004/141204assassinationofwebb.htm
Gary Webb Death - New Math Of Bush Reporter 'Suicides'
Now that Gary Webb joins Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, and Danny Casalaro as the fourth 'suicide' by a researcher who had a detailed understanding of the structure and function of the Bush crime family, the math on the odds of the Bush suicides have changed. "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. A person would stand a better chance of playing the Canadian lottery 6/49 exactly twice in one's lifetime and winning the grand jackpot BOTH TIMES! (That is, picking 6 numbers out of 49 possible numbers and matching all 6 numbers out of 6 random draws, on 2 separate occasions, and having only purchased two Canadian lottery tickets ever.)
This calculation should be regarded as a conservative estimate: the actual odds against such a "coincidence" would be much greater. For example, if any of the biographers were female, the odds would be even greater."
The press hasn't even bothered with the usual 'he was known to be depressed' stories yet.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/us/new_math_bush_reporter_suicides.htm
From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 18th, 2004
--------
Why they hate Gary Webb
CounterPunch
by Alexander Cockburn
12/18/04
There are certain things you aren't meant to say in public in America. The systematic state-sponsorship of torture by the US used to be a major no-no, but that went by the board this year (even though Seymour Hersh treated the CIA with undue kindness in Chain of Command: the Road to Abu Ghraib). A prime no-no is to say that the US government has used assassination down the years as an instrument of national policy; also that the CIA's complicity with drug dealing criminal gangs stretches from the Afghanistan of today back to the year the Agency was founded in 1947. That last one is the line Webb stepped over. He paid for his presumption by undergoing one of the unfairest batterings in the history of the US press, as the chapter from Whiteout we ran on our site yesterday narrates...
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn12182004.html
Dangers of questioning government actions
by Don Wycliff
Chicago Tribune
01/06/05
I have a confession to make: I still think Gary Webb had it mostly right. I think he got the treatment that always comes to those who dare question aloud the bona fides of the establishment: First he got misrepresented -- his suggestion that the CIA tolerated the contras' cocaine trading became an allegation that the agency itself was involved in the drug trade. Then he was ridiculed as a conspiracy-monger -- joked one commentator, Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, 'Oliver Stone, check your voice mail.' In the end, Webb was rendered untouchable. I know that I risk being marked down as something of a nut for saying I think Webb was fundamentally right...
http://tinyurl.com/5rbu8
Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
--------
CIA, Contras And Cocaine
An interview with the recently deceased investigative reporter -- Gary Webb -- who exposed CIA involvement in contra drug trafficking.
http://www.tompaine.com/index.php#passiton
Investigative reporter Gary Webb died last week. Webb reported on a dark chapter in U.S. foreign policy that in the end exposed connections between cocaine trafficking and the Nicaraguan contras.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20742/
To learn more about the story -- especially if you were playing with Legos back in 1996 and don't know who the "contras" are-- watch this video of Webb talking.
http://www.guerrillanews.com/videos/video.php?id=30
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Correction and new information on the email I forwarded to you about Gary Webb last Monday December 20th
From Frank Dorrel
Last Monday, December 20th, I forwarded you an email which I had received from John Judge regarding the death of Gary Webb. I should have made some calls and done a little research of my own before I forwarded that email to you. Since then I have learned that some of the statements in that message are not true.
In an email sent to John Judge by Kurt Webb (Gary's brother), Kurt said that the suicide letters Gary sent to his children were not forgeries. This was somehow either misinterpreted or misunderstood by John Judge, in his talks with John Hankey or misinformation coming from the investigator that John Hankey hired to look into this case.
The family all believes that these suicide notes from Gary were real. The family definitely believes that Gary committed suicide and has made it clear that if they had any doubt, they would have called for an investigation. Some of the family members have been made aware of this email I forwarded and were very upset by it. I apologize for sending it to each of you without checking into to it more thoroughly. Kurt Webb, in his email to John Judge, asked him to stop and desist all further emails of this kind as it has been hurtful to the family. He made it clear that the family is not cooperating with John Hankey in any type of investigation.
Mike Ruppert contated me as soon as he received the email I forwarded and asked me to not send that email out to any more people, as it contained some incorrect information and was being hurtful to the family. Mike was very upset with John Hankey and with me for forwarding it.
I have talked with John Hankey since then. I want to say that I have known John for some time now. I like and respect John very much. He teaches English in East Los Angeles to (I believe) 8th graders and has bought many copies of "Addicted To War" from me to give to his students over the last few years. John also made the new film called "JFK II" which was used as a premium during the last fund drive at KPFK and sold many copies. I believe that John was doing what he thought was the right thing to do by hiring an investigator. In no way did he have any wrong or bad intentions with the actions he took. But sometimes things can be misunderstood or become confused as information is pased from one person to another and then to another and as people allow their hurt or anger begin to interfer with open & sincere communication.
I'm sure that all of us feel very sad over the death of Gary Webb, a man who was a fearless truth-teller, a journalist who revealed some very important and shocking information about what certain elements of the CIA and our government were doing. And I am also certain that we all feel compassion for Gary's family in this situation. Many of us have wondered if maybe it wasn't a suicide and that somehow Gary was killed by someone represeting the government. This was the concern of both John Hankey, John Judge and others.
In closing I want to say that it is my wish that those of us who are involved in the Peace and Justice Movement can and need to continue to work together and not allow misunderstandings or differences of opinion to separate us from doing the work we are all engaged in. Our job, our mission is difficult enough as it is. I would like to be in support of all of you, of all of us who are trying to make the world a better place for all of the people who share this Earth with us. We all have made mistakes and will probably continue to do so. But by working together and trying to understand each other a little more we will have a much better chance of helping to bring peace and justice to the human race.
If you would like to send a contribution to the Gary Webb Memorial Fund (which goes to the family) or send condolences to the family, the address is listed below:
Gary Webb Memorial Fund
Susan Bell
552 Fisher Circle
Folsom, CA 95630
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Dangers of questioning government actions:
It has been almost a month since he died and I haven't been able to get Gary Webb out of my mind. You remember Gary Webb, don't you? He's the investigative reporter who in 1996 produced a series of stories, on the connections between the Central Intelligence Agency and the Nicaraguan contras.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0501060112jan06,0,5603781.column
http://snipurl.com/btnx
From Information Clearing House
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Gary Webb was not 'murdered'?
http://mindcontrol.twoday.net/stories/460590/
THIS is WHY GARY WEBB was MURDERED
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/483692/
The Life and Times of Gary Webb
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=74781;show_parent=1
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A Cuban Perspective on Gary Webb
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=73825;show_parent=1
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SAYING GOODBYE TO A GIANT
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/122004_goodbye_giant.shtml
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Links:
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/121304_gary_webb.shtml
http://www.rense.com/general60/REPORT.HTM
Microbiologist a very dangerous profession
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/496456/
Did 22 SDI Researchers really ALL Commit Suicide?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/510479/
Dead Scientists DO Tell Tales
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/495508/
The Murder of Dr. David Kelly
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/442565/
A Death in New York: Nicole duFresne
http://mindcontrol.twoday.net/stories/496412/
Was Hunter Thompson Suicided?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/542407/
How The U.S. Military Threatens Journalists
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/541962/
Giuliana Sgrena: 'My truth'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/557163/
Squad seeks tips in death of researcher - What you know WILL kill you
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/468874/
THE DEATH OF GARY WEBB = NOMINATION OF JOHN NEGROPONTE
http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=80775;show_parent=1
Starmail - 15. Dez, 22:20
