Two years ago today Gary Webb committed suicide-a tribute to a real journalist

[nam78_two]

Please K&R if you are so minded DUers.

The Webb story is one that always fills me with such sadness. I just watched the BET documentary on Freeway Ricky Ross the cocaine dealer at the heart of a lot of Webb's research. And then I remembered that Webb killed himself Dec.10 2004.

After his death, the same media machine that destroyed his career, swung into action and kicked his corpse for one last time :puke:

Here is a quick summary of his work for those unfamiliar with the story:
http://www.gnn.tv/videos/video.php?id=30


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb

Also,
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/20784/

Kicking a Dead Man

By Marc Cooper, LA Weekly. Posted December 18, 2004.

First the L.A. Times helped kill off Gary Webb's career. Then, eight years later, after Webb committed suicide this past weekend, the Times decided to give his corpse another kick or two, in a scandalous, self-serving and ultimately shameful obituary. It was the culmination of the long, inglorious saga of a major newspaper dropping the ball journalistically, and then extracting relentless revenge on an out-of-town reporter who embarrassed it.

Webb was the 49-year-old former Pulitzer-winning reporter who in 1996, while working for the San Jose Mercury News, touched off a national debate with a three-part series that linked the CIA-sponsored Nicaraguan Contras to a crack-dealing epidemic in Los Angeles and other American cities.

A cold panic set in at the L.A. Times when Webb's so-called Dark Alliance story first appeared. Just two years before, the Times had published a long takeout on local crack dealer Rickey Ross and no mention was made of his possible link to and financing by CIA-backed Contras. Now the Times feared it was being scooped in its own backyard by a second-tier Bay Area paper.

The Times mustered an army of 25 reporters, led by Doyle McManus, to take down Webb's reporting. It was, apparently, more important to the Times to defend its own inadequate reporting on the CIA-drug connection than it was to advance Webb's important work (a charge consistently denied by the Times). The New York Times and the Washington Post also joined in on the public lynching of Webb. Webb's own editor, Jerry Ceppos, also helped do him in, with a public mea culpa backing away from his own papers stories.


Here are some of the actual articles: http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/webb.html


And think about it:

Today Gary Webb is dead-his work is largely unknown still, while Robert Gates, the head of the CIA during the Iran-Contra scandal, is soon to be the secretary of Defense of the United States. :grr: :grr: :grr:

RIP Gary Webb-unembedded reporter.

[rurallib]

1. Didn't he commit 'suicide' with two bullets in the back of his head?

Maybe I have him confused with someone else?

[nam78_two]

2. It could well be a "suicide"

But, it did make sense that Kerry's loss might have depressed him further.

[rurallib]

4. My point was - didn't he die under some really, really suspicious

circumstances? I seem to recall reading that.

[phusion]

6. It was indeed two bullets to the front of the head...

and it was ruled a suicide by the coroner.

Sure sounds suspicious to me...

[rurallib]

7. Thanks for the clarification.

For some reason it stuck in my mind. Maybe because had he shot himself once, even in the front, it would have been hard to shoot a second bullet. And then to hit near the same spot also. I remember much questioning of the ruling on blogs.

[nam78_two]

10. I didn't know that!

What was he working on at the time? I thought since there didn't seem to be any spike of interest in his work, it was probably just depression due to Kerry's loss.

A win by Kerry would have meant a lot to him specifically I would think, since I was hoping Kerry would have opened the books again on BCCI, Iran Contra etc. I thought that might have validated his work some more.

[AntiFascist]

47. Too bad Kerry's career is also being slowly destroyed...

are we a narco-state yet?

[Wiley50]

13. It's always one of two ways with the BFEE

The other being bled to death in a motel bathroom

multiple self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head
unimaginable

Google Danny Casolaro

or Ray Lemme

[nam78_two]

14. Ah right...The "Octopus" guy

Yeah not a good idea to tangle with the BFEE.

[Wiley50]

17. Ray Lemme was an investigator with FL dept of Transportation

He was working on a tip he got from Clint Curtis at the time

Wayne Madsen got ahold of the crime scene pics
and sent them to me to post on DU

I did(with a warning that they were graphic in the subject line)

I still shudder to think of them sometimes

Funny thing
Most of these peoples friends and relatives
swear the victims did not seem despondent
enough to kill themselves

Go figure

[RagingInMiami]

16. The bullets were to the back of his head

[phusion]

19. Are you sure?

I've always heard they were to the front...

[ShaneGR]

18. What type of gun did he use?

By use I mean found near him. Was it an automatic?

[Wiley50]

20. .38 revolver. belonged to his father

But that really means little

The BFEE are very discreet

[benEzra]

44. Whether revolver or semiautomatic,

What type of gun did he use? By use I mean found near him. Was it an automatic?

Whether revolver or semiautomatic, the trigger would have to be pulled to fire the first shot, released, and pulled a second time to fire the second shot. Both types fire once and only once when the trigger is pulled, and won't fire again until the trigger is released and pulled a second time.

[Cleita]

23. Two bullets? No kidding it seems suspicious.

How do you shoot yourself in the head and then do it again?

[Wiley50]

24. You, I and many other people have asked that question

I remember seeing a movie once ( no idea what it was or where it could be found)
where a Chicago gangster, Frank Nitti, I think his name was
was portrayed on video, as shooting himself twice in the head
really a bizarre notion, I think.
It's a scary thought.
One, to be driven to suicide in the first place
and
two, to not have accomplished the task
and having still the consciousness to finish the job

It's just not credible to me

[Reterr]

41. I just googled it and it was weird

:shrug:

[Imagevision]

37. How on earth can somebody have two different gunshot wounds and their cause of death still be passed

off as a suicide?!!!

[Jankyn]

35. It was suicide.

Yes, he fired two bullets. The first was a hesitation shot that glanced off the side of his head. The second was the one that killed him.

He not only left a note, he'd told close friends that he was feeling suicidal.

While I certainly understand the desire to turn this into some BFEE conspiracy, it's simply not the case that he was murdered. Gary had battled depression for a good chunk of his adult life, and the way his work was being appropriated by conspiracy-theorists on the far-left was every bit as damaging as the way he was defamed by the mainstream media (Nick Schou's new book on the subject is very definitive.)

I worked with Gary for the last four months of his life. There are entirely too many people trying to keep their own conspiracy theories going by waving his name around.

He did some of the best investigative work journalism has ever seen. He was hard-headed and aggressive. He had some crappy editors at the Mercury-News. He got screwed by the major dailies. His reporting was vindicated.

He never reported that the CIA had deliberately started the crack cocaine epidemic, nor that they had dealt drugs. He accurately reported that the CIA ignored and abetted contra drug-dealing in impoverished U.S. neighborhoods.

Give the guy a break.

[Cleita]

38. Just my opinion, but that hesitation shot must have been

because he wasn't sure about what he was doing if in fact that is what happened. I think a miss like that, for me anyway, would have stopped there. I would not have tried again and thanked my lucky stars for my poor will to die. Sorry, but assassination made to look like suicide seems more plausible to me.

I mean the very same people who assissinated Salvador Allende tried to claim that he committed suicide with a machine gun. I think there were forty+ bullets in him. How does that happen? Does the gun get stuck?

[Imagevision]

43. It was murder/nt

[WiseButAngrySara]

48. It's possible for a double-bullet suicide to occur, but rare. ....n/t

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RagingInMiami]

5. I hope you don't mind that I post an old journal entry of mine on this same subject

As a journalist myself, this story has always intrigued me. Webb was in a class of his own when it came to investigative journalism. Chalk up another recommendation.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/RagingInMiami/2

[nam78_two]

8. Mind??!!! I am delighted you posted.

:toast:
I will definitely check that out! Thanks!

[truedelphi]

50. Thanks Raging - The Media never once mentioned any of those awards

any of those awards

I Guess a lot of people handing out journalism awards wear tinfoil caps
<not>

[Jcrowley]

9. Gary Webb

went into places few would.

The term I believe is 'suicided', but whatever, he was constantly under attack when he should have received plaudits. That's what happens when you're a threat to the state.

K&R

[eridani]

11. You need to edit your title.

It should read "committed suicide."

[nam78_two]

12. Fixed

Is it disrespectful to say "killed himself"? I was unaware of that...Anyway I fixed it-I guess this does sound better.

[RagingInMiami]

15. There is nothing disrespectful about "killed himself" if that is what he supposedly did

There is no difference between saying "killed himself" and "committed suicide". No difference at all.

Edited to add the word "supposedly" because I still have my doubts.

[nam78_two]

21. Thats what I thought

:shrug:

I agree with the "supposedly" part.

[Blue_Tires]

22. k+r

[Printer70]

25. Jesus Christ

Here I am about to retire for the night, and I read this story. This is the scariest thing I have read all year. Where do I start?

First, the LA Times did not go after Webb because they were scooped. The resources they dedicated and the tone of their piece does not square with how newspapers compete. Someone sounded the alarm- and the entire MSM sprung into action. There are few bases of power that exert influence over the mainstream press and one of them is the intelligence community. Thats why we haven't reformed our intelligence agencies since it produced phony evidence to justify war with Iraq. The attack against Webb was clearly well-orchestrated. This suggests to me that there is a limit to free speech and if you cross certain boundaries, you will pay the price.

It wasn't enough that they villanized Webb, and got him fired from his job (remember, he was a Pulitzer Prize winner and this was just one set of articles), led to a spiral in which he got divorced, but they blacklisted him from the mainstream media. No job, no livlihood, no reputation.

Second, I looked it up and there were two bullet shots to the head. This is not common. And given the motive of the intelligence community, this is just...concerning.

It's possible I am way off base here. But are there other examples where someone has blown the lid on serious wrongdoing by the CIA within the United States in the mainstream press and gotten away with it?

[Wiley50]

26. On that question, I must defer to our resident historian on such matters

if Mr. Octafish is still watching this thread

Could you weigh in on this?

[nam78_two]

27. I am glad to read your post Printer70

I posted this so that people who hadn't heard about Gary Webb might see the thread and look this up and mostly I just got the people who are well-versed in this :).

But please do read this up and look into stuff related to this-it is indeed a scary story and more people need to know about this.

[Printer70]

28. OK

I did some research into this case. What I read has totally freaked me out. I should mention that I didn't read a conspiracy page- I got info from different reports, then made sense of it based on what I know. At this pt., I'm too wound up to go into the details. But I'll say this: Intelligence agencies are not just proficient at gathering information, but in interpreting (read "spinning") that information to draw conclusions. That's precisely how the CIA et. al baited us into Iraq; they didn't provide us with their raw data, they provided their interpretation of that data. And apparently it was convincing. Based on the Webb case, it now appears clear to me that they used this ability to not only discredit Webb's article (Webb's list of journalistic awards is enormous; check Wikipedia) but also to explain away his "suicide".

The other details in this case point to assasination. Even the evidence from that day suggests they did it in a way that is consistent with past reports I've seen of how other intelligence agencies around the world carry out such an operation.

I'm speechless.

[ftr23532]

33. Be sure to check out Robert Parry's work for more on this

He was one of the original AP reporter that started cracking the Iran Contra story back in the mid 80's and witnessed both the governmental and press cover ups as well as the rise of the well-coordinated right wing media machine. His book, http://www.amazon.ca/Lost-History-Contras-Cocaine-Project/dp/1893517004">Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' is a great read. Also check out Consortium News, his independent journalism website which covers a lot of these types od topics, had a great http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/120906.html">article on Gary Webb last week.

[bobbolink]

29. Thank you so much for remembering, and honoring him.

:pals:

RIP, Gary. Job well done. :cry:

[nam78_two]

30. Isn't it sad?

:(
:hi: Bobbolink.

[bobbolink]

34. so much so that it's overwhelming...

And there are so many stories like this.... it truly is hard to comprehend.

I really do believe this is a big part of why this country is in so much denial. It takes so much out of all of us to understand all this, and to keep trying to stay informed about it.

:cry:

[DemReadingDU]

31. morning kick

[AzDar]

32. Kick n/t

[Scriptor Ignotus]

36. holy crap

i just finished reading "Into the Buzzsaw" and Webb has an amazing article in there, all about the writing and fallout of Dark Alliance. I didn't even know he had died! This is so sad.

Interesting how he shot himself in the face...twice.

[Imagevision]

39. Webb Spoke Of Death Threats, 'Government People' Around His Home

[Reterr]

40. wow-I had never heard of this stuff..thanks.

[Mrspeeker]

42. Thats BS! HE was shot by the CIA!

He was shot two times in the back of the head. I don't care about the corners report either the CIA can tell anyone what to do. Just straight facts...Its fucking impossible to shot yourself two times in the back of the head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thingfisher]

45. The Gary Webb story

should have been shouted from the house tops.
The sad fact (as Octafish has mentioned on this thred) is that there is plenty of evidence to bring the BFEE to justice. The fact that nothing is ever done about it is what I find so disturbing. Apparently their influence and control is so great that they can do what ever they want without worrying about the consequences.

Whenever some corageous individual does begin to lift the veil, he succumbs to suicide or is in some other way dispatched from the scene. As with all other suspicious events, mystery surrounds the facts and leads to endless speculation and takes its place next to all the other "conspiracy theories" that always accompany the nefarious acts of this criminal cabal.

If we had a truly functioning judicial system, these criminals would be charges and tried on the ample evidence that is already available.

This crap (of which so many Americans are not even aware) saps the confidence we would like to have in our institutions.

[pberq]

46. Kick & Nominated - thank you for this tribute to Gary Webb

[WiseButAngrySara]

49. Thanks for this info. Very sad but informative. ....n/t

[IWantAChange]

51. Excellent post. Knew a little - am now better informed - thanks.