Reporter Gary Webb Dead at 49

[John Simkin]

It has been pointed out that Gary Webb joins Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield (author of "Fortunate Son"), and Danny Casolaro as the fourth 'suicide' by a researcher, who had a detailed understanding of the structure and function of the Bush Crime Family.

According to one website:

"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."

[Shanet Clark]

Suicide, shmuicide! The technology keeps getting better. "Don't Open Door: Call 911" that is not a suicide note --- that is a bureaucratic reminder...this was one of the most scathing and incisive investigative reporters: GARY WEBB was fulfilling the OVERSIGHT function for a runaway and arrogant National Security structure under Reagan, Bush, Poindexter and North.

With the Cassolaro event to reflect on (I do not know Hatfield) the circumstances are grim, chilling and straight out of J.Edgar HOOVER and the Kennedy Johnson era. The excellent Jane MAYER and Doyle MCMANUS book Landslide: Unmaking of the President 1984-1988 tells the larger story of the drifting incompetence that allowed Casey, Singlaub and the arms merchants to act the way they did, the weapons were paid for by the drugs, which were then fought over and sold on your corner, especially if you lived in Oakland, Washington or Atlanta..........

Today's headline in the NYT was

PENTAGON WEIGHS USE OF DECEPTION IN BROAD ARENA: VALUE OF DISINFORMATION: The nation's credibility is at risk, Military Critics Contend.

I think the two are related, Gary Webb and this Military Industrial Imperative.

Tosh, you know anything about Gary Webb?

His story matches up with yours, doesnt' it?

Or how about Sally Denton's work? She confirms Gary Webb, doesn't she?

RE: Sally Denton's book, The Bluegrass Conspiracy; and "Mena"

Does this CIA sponsonship of cocaine in the 1980s explain the Kentucky group?

Do you have anything to say about ANDREW THORNTON?

[Chris Cox]

I like David Corn's work Blond Ghost, I like reading his stuff on web and seeing him on CNN. He's got some great work behind him. What I can't stand is he plays it "safe". Spits and runs.

Someone tell me what he means in referring to Webb's work:

"He was on to something but botched part of how he handled it" and "Webb's work - as flawed as it was" and "I maintained he had overstated the case and had not proven his more cinematic allegations." What are the details of Corn's gripe with Webb's research?

Another thing about Corn and fellows like him: after 911 he posted a blog about how stupid he thought the conspiracy theories were that he was getting, post WTC. Now time has shown that many NYers and the families of victims believe there is more being concealed than revealed about this horrible day.

I just hate to hear the words "Why should I apologize?" to Corn I say: "Why not?"

[Shanet Clark]

Chris

If I remember the Gary Webb story, he was fed a lot of disinformation, he was pretty aggressive and he had to back away from some things he printed. This happens when people won't come forward, when people in authority change their story and your news industry comes under pressure to soft pedal "un-American" and uncomfortable facts. But some was withdrawn and this got more play than the initial story, almost. What we don't know, but would have confirmed him, is the extent of CIA drug-running, the scope and depth of their penetration of the US market. Their willingness to middleman and push out non cooperative players in the heydey of the big south american cocaine 1980's was well known.

Small historical example: Ganja running Jamaicans, a family, gets a lot of pressure to buy weapons with cash profits, switch to harder drugs, and destabilize Michael Manley, the Liberal PM. Mr. Seaga benefitted from riots in the city of Kingston, and Manley was overthrown, legally. Where is the line between drugs, guns, cash, the CIA and US foreign policy in that early (1979) example?

With so much domestic and international crime CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET it is no surprise that a gentleman like Gary Webb would have a few overstatements and unconfirmed allegations in his publications..........

I like David Corn's work Blond Ghost, I like reading his stuff on web and seeing him on CNN. He's got some great work behind him.  What I can't stand is he plays it "safe".  Spits and runs.

Someone tell me what he means in referring to Webb's work:

"He was on to something but botched part of how he handled it" and "Webb's work - as flawed as it was" and  "I maintained he had overstated the case and had not proven his more cinematic allegations."  What are the details of Corn's gripe with Webb's research?

Another thing about Corn and fellows like him:  after 911 he posted a blog about how stupid he thought the conspiracy theories were that he was getting, post WTC.  Now time has shown that many NYers and the families of victims believe there is more being concealed than revealed about this horrible day. 

I just hate to hear the words "Why should I apologize?" to Corn I say:  "Why not?"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[William Plumlee]

Chris

If I remember the Gary Webb story, he was fed a lot of disinformation, he was pretty aggressive and he had to back away from some things he printed. This happens when people won't come forward, when people in authority change their story and your news industry comes under pressure to soft pedal "un-American" and uncomfortable facts. But some was withdrawn and this got more play than the initial story, almost.  What we don't know, but would have confirmed him, is the extent of CIA drug-running, the scope and depth of their penetration of the US market. Their willingness to middleman and push out non cooperative players in the heydey of the big south american cocaine 1980's was well known.

Small historical example: Ganja running Jamaicans, a family, gets a lot of pressure to buy weapons with cash profits, switch to harder drugs, and destabilize Michael Manley, the Liberal PM. Mr. Seaga benefitted from riots in the city of Kingston, and Manley was overthrown, legally. Where is the line between drugs, guns, cash, the CIA and US foreign policy in that early (1979) example?

With so much domestic and international crime CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET it is no surprise that a gentleman like Gary Webb would have a few overstatements and unconfirmed allegations in his publications..........

I like David Corn's work Blond Ghost, I like reading his stuff on web and seeing him on CNN. He's got some great work behind him.  What I can't stand is he plays it "safe".  Spits and runs.

Someone tell me what he means in referring to Webb's work:

"He was on to something but botched part of how he handled it" and "Webb's work - as flawed as it was" and  "I maintained he had overstated the case and had not proven his more cinematic allegations."  What are the details of Corn's gripe with Webb's research?

Another thing about Corn and fellows like him:  after 911 he posted a blog about how stupid he thought the conspiracy theories were that he was getting, post WTC.  Now time has shown that many NYers and the families of victims believe there is more being concealed than revealed about this horrible day. 

I just hate to hear the words "Why should I apologize?" to Corn I say:  "Why not?"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shanet. Very good points: I wish I had the time to really get into this. Gary was set up and fed a lot of dis-information in order to cover an "ON-GOING" operation.

When he got to close to the "MEXICO THING" as the DEA documents called it, then the dis-information started. We talked about this and for awhile he did not know up from down on the information he was being fed. When the Mexican MDJF Police were murdered, drawn and quartered, he was going to cover that but it was quickly classified Top Secret by the CIA because of their operatives in place at the time of the massacre and it was said that methods and procedures would be compromised if the story got out.

A cover story was put in place and the Mexican Police that were killed were said to be drug runners. Nothing was said to the press about the C-130's and weapons bound for Central America flown by American crews... That at the time was the real story..., but he was feed wrong information by other media contacts of the CIA and the story was lost.

Later, when the questions about a CIA training base in Mexico at a ranch owned by a Drug Lord, he, as well as others were laughed at. When the Drug Route from Lejtas to the USA was found and uncovered, it too was classified and the story also was lost. Shortly after that Gary was feed the information about "Freeway" and he was set up by his own informants who were working for the CIA in the Media. They knew Gary would run with the story and they were waiting to shoot him down. AND THEY DID. The C-130 story. The Ranch. And the drugs for guns was covered. Another dedicated American, a lawman had also came across similar operations of the CIA . They called him KIKI. KIKI would not stop and he would not compromise. He was murdered.

[William Plumlee]

Suicide, shmuicide! The technology keeps getting better. "Don't Open Door: Call 911" that is not a suicide note --- that is a bureaucratic reminder...this was one of the most scathing and incisive investigative reporters: GARY WEBB was fulfilling the OVERSIGHT function for a runaway and arrogant National Security structure under Reagan, Bush, Poindexter and North.

With the Cassolaro event to reflect on (I do not know Hatfield) the circumstances are grim, chilling and straight out of J.Edgar HOOVER and the Kennedy Johnson era.  The excellent Jane MAYER and Doyle MCMANUS book Landslide: Unmaking of the President 1984-1988 tells the larger story of the drifting incompetence that allowed Casey, Singlaub and the arms merchants to act the way they did, the weapons were paid for by the drugs, which were then fought over and sold on your corner, especially if you lived in Oakland, Washington or Atlanta..........

Today's headline in the NYT was

PENTAGON WEIGHS USE OF DECEPTION IN BROAD ARENA: VALUE OF DISINFORMATION: The nation's credibility is at risk, Military Critics Contend.

I think the two are related, Gary Webb and this Military Industrial Imperative.

Tosh, you know anything about Gary Webb?

His story matches up with yours, doesnt' it?

Or how about Sally Denton's work? She confirms Gary Webb, doesn't she? 

RE:  Sally Denton's book, The Bluegrass Conspiracy; and "Mena"

Does this CIA sponsonship of cocaine in the 1980s explain the Kentucky group?

Do you have anything to say about ANDREW THORNTON?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Shanet: I am on the road and will get back to you on your questions in more detail. I just posted something. You might want to take a look at the DEA documents posted a few days ago and on the toshplumlee.info . This will give a little information into the dark side that Gary was concerned with. Later T

[Gary Buell]

Another link on Gary Webb. Notice that he was shot twice in the head:

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/vm,garywebb,12,14,04.htm

[John Simkin]

Another link on Gary Webb. Notice that he was shot twice in the head:

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/vm,garywebb,12,14,04.htm

Great article. Well worth reading. The quote from Gary Webb's book Into the Buzzsaw is significant:

"Do we have a free press today? Sure we do. It's free to report all the sex scandals it wants, all the stock market news we can handle, every new health fad that comes down the pike, and every celebrity marriage or divorce that happens. But when it comes to the real down and dirty stuff -- stories like Tailwind, the October Surprise, the El Mozote massacre, corporate corruption, or CIA involvement in drug trafficking -- that's where we begin to see the limits of our freedoms. In today's media environment, sadly, such stories are not even open for discussion."

So also is this photomontage (the production of pictures by rearranging selected details of photographs to form a new and convincing unity) produced by the German artist, Helmut Herzfelde. A pacifist and Marxist, Herzfelde, changed his name to John Heartfield in 1916 in protest against German nationalism.

The picture was created just before he was forced to flee from Nazi Germany in 1938.

The text reads: "Whoever reads bourgeois newspapers becomes blind and deaf".

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWheartfield.htm

[John Simkin]

Interesting statement made by Congresswoman Maxine Waters:

http://www.newsmakingnews.com/vm,garywebb,...axinewaters.htm

“I am stunned and pained with the loss of Gary Webb. Gary was a friend and one of the finest investigative journalists that our country has ever seen. The Dark Alliance series was one of the most profound pieces of journalism I have ever witnessed. Gary’s work was not only in depth, revealing and confrontational but it single handedly created discussion and debate about the proliferation of crack cocaine and the role of the CIA.

“Unfortunately, the major news papers attempted to silence him by undermining his personal character and his professional integrity. Through his diligence, he has brought to the attention of the American public the failed policies of the CIA and the drug war.

“I spent two years working with Gary following his revelations and I am convinced that his work was factual and well documented. Unfortunately, as stated before, the attack on Gary Webb by major media outlets such as the LA Times, Washington Post and the New York Times were devastating and destructive.

“It is interesting that at the time that he uncovered and exposed the deficiencies of the CIA, he was attacked as rogue. It is only recently as an unintended bi-product of the war on terror that the rampant problems and mismanagement of the CIA have come to light.

“When he pointed out the numerous red flags concerning the CIA including their turning of a blind eye to the trafficking of cocaine from Nicaragua during the conflict between the contras and the Sandinistas, he was painted as the enemy.

“Gary Webb is a journalist of courage and I truly believe that the latest revelations about the intelligence communities’ failures have vindicated him.

“I will miss him and in his memory I can only hope that rather than silencing, we as a country will cultivate and encourage courageous truth seeking journalists like Gary Webb,” Congresswoman Maxine Waters said.

[Shanet Clark]

Attempted suicides who injure themselves or miss with the first shot very rarely then return to take a second, life-taking, shot. If there were two shots it was never a suicide in the first place. It could have been any of the organized drug gangs that did it, but they wouldn't have made it look like a phony suicide, so.... you know who....

[John Simkin]

Here is an extract from a letter being circulated by Ed Sherry. It provides important information on the Gary Webb case.

I am in touch with a JFK assassination researcher in Los Angeles who is working hard to insure an independent and thorough investigation into the recent death of journalist Gary Webb, who broke the award-winning "Dark Web" story on the CIA and crack cocaine for the San Jose Mercury News before being threatened and fired, and who continued to research and write. He was recently found dead in his house, which he had been forced to sell, and the local coroner ruled that no foul play was involved and it was apparently a suicide. John Hankey, the researcher in Los Angeles hired a private investigator, promising $300, who spoke to Webb's family and viewed the body. Two wounds at the back right of the head with two exit wounds at the left cheek. Webb's son is suspicious because the alleged weapon used was an old .38 with a trigger mechanism that was very hard to pull, so he doubted it could have been pulled again after the first shot had done its damage. Gary Webb's brother believes that the suicide notes left behind are forgeries. The family has agreed to delay cremation and allow a full autopsy. We have an agreement to do that work from leading forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who has also recommended that a criminal investigator be hired to look at the death scene. The family is also aware of the importance of Webb's research and the preservation of his papers. Hankey is setting up the Gary Webb Memorial Fund to receive pledges and donations to support this investigation, since he cannot cover the costs himself. The autopsy basic costs will be $6,000 and the private investigator and criminal investigator will also have to be paid. Time is of the essence, so he will rely on sincere pleges to move forward on this quickly. He is creating a bank account and a website to take donations. He can be contacted at info@jfkii.com or at 310-301-7712. Several researchers into political assassinations and covert operations have already signed on to help. If you can assist in any way, please contact him directly now. It's the least we owe those who try to expose the truth.

[John Simkin]

Important article on the Garry Webb case.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/...bye_giant.shtml

[Dawn Meredith]

Important article on the Garry Webb case.

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/...bye_giant.shtml

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

______________________________________

Thank you John, and especially thank you Mike Ruppert, for the update on Gary Webb.

He was still "murdered", to requote Lisa(Pease) : "The truth won't set you free it will get you killed".

Dawn

[Guest Stephen Turner]

Thought I would revive this ancient thread on Gary Webb, for Randys perusal..

[Randy Downs]

Apologies, didn't mean to be/get redundant. I came across a couple of references to Webb, didn't know there were already established threads.

Randy