Another dissident suicided.
Official (A.P.) version:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- 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.
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.
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."
After quitting the newspaper in December 1997, Webb continued to defend his reporting with his 1999 book "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion."
Kurt Nimmo's "most-common-reaction" version:
Write about the CIA and drugs, end up dead. You may recall Webb’s 1996 series in the San Jose Mercury about how the CIA sold coke in Los Angeles and used the money to fund the Nicaraguan Contras in the 1980s. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for his coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Even so, he had a difficult time keeping a job, mostly because editors and publishers are a timid lot these days.
[...]
A post on the Indybay forum notes:
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. A person would stand a better chance of playing the Canadian lottery 6/49 exactly twice in one’s lifetime and winning ther 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.
Now that Bush has his “mandate,” we will probably see other critics fall victim to accidents and suicides. Crime families usually deal harshly with their enemies—and so does the CIA.
Another hero for truth leaves us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Gary's family and friends.
UPDATE: Robert Perry has penned a powerful memorial -- complete with scathing media analysis -- here.
UPDATE: As we mentioned in comments at 12th Harmonic, Mike Ruppert has come out with his assessment of the Webb "suicide."
I called the Coroner shortly after the first flash came in here from Bay Area journalist and producer Kellia Ramares. His time of death was listed at 8:20 AM. Since it was Saturday, the homicide detectives would have been off and had to be paged. I estimate two hours (minimum) for them to get to the crime scene (unless a uniformed supervisor handled it). Add three hours minimum for crime scene, photos etc; that means he went to the Coroner's most likely around 1 PM. It could have been much later depending on response times on a Saturday before Christmas.
When I called the Sacramento Coroner's Office at 8:20 PM on Saturday I spoke with an unidentified female who stated that he had just been there since late that afternoon. I identified myself as a friend, ex-cop and journalist and she confirmed a single shot to the head. I wasn't sure it was our Gary Webb so I got his date of birth, hair and eye color. They matched. Gary was a good looking man with a moustache and I asked if that fit. She hesitated for quite a while before answering, "I can't tell."
This led me to suspect that the weapon used was a shotgun.
I then confirmed his death with the San Jose Mercury News and the L.A. Times. We will see if later facts don't mesh with what has been reported thus far.
I called the Times again at about 9:15 because I wanted to make sure someone said some good things about Gary. I dropped some names and got to the writer or the editor on the story who wouldn't ID himself. He said he'd have someone call me back to get my statement. No one ever called back and then the Times published their maliciously spiteful obituary just after midnight Sunday. It was clear to me that they wanted/needed to put a spin on his death.
Gary Webb deserved better than this and those of us who knew him and benefited from his work will see that he gets it.
I am going to the funeral and I will be asking questions in Sacramento. Given the disproportionate number of "suicides" of authors and journalists who have covered such stories, and the mainstream's horrendously dishonest coverage of such events, it is right to see if there are grounds to be cautiously suspicious of these accounts. But it is also right to avoid hysteria and unsupported conclusions until there are solid reasons to suspect foul play.
Gary would have wanted us all to do this by the numbers, patiently and thoroughly. That was his style. That was why he was so good.
When funeral arrangements are announced FTW will publish them and we encourage all of our subscribers to send flowers, write letters and show their thanks to this man who changed all of our lives forever.
It wouldn't hurt if you wanted to let the L.A. Times know what you think of their obituary.
Sleep well, Gary. Wherever men and women of honor gather together from now on, your name will be spoken with reverence, respect and gratitude.
0 comments:
Post a Comment