New Evidence of Contra-Cocaine Scandal

[robertpaulsen]

New Evidence of Contra-Cocaine Scandal

December 9, 2013

Special Report: Since journalist Gary Webb died in 2004, the story that destroyed his life has slowly come into clearer focus, revealing how President Reagan’s beloved Contras really were enmeshed in cocaine trafficking. On this ninth anniversary of Webb’s suicide, new corroboration has emerged, reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

Nearly a decade before Gary Webb published his investigative series on cocaine trafficking by Nicaraguan Contra rebels, U.S. law enforcement received a detailed account of top Contra leader Adolfo Calero casually associating with Norwin Meneses, called “a well-reputed drug dealer” in a “secret” document that I recently found at the National Archives.

Meneses was near the center of Webb’s 1996 articles for the San Jose Mercury-News, a series that came under fierce attack from U.S. government officials as well as major news organizations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. The controversy cost Webb his career, left him nearly penniless and ultimately contributed to his suicide on Dec. 9, 2004.


Journalist Gary Webb holding a copy of his Contra-cocaine article in the San Jose Mercury-News.

But the bitter irony of Webb’s demise, which will be the subject of a 2014 movie starring Jeremy Renner as Webb, is that Webb’s much-maligned “Dark Alliance” series forced major admissions from the CIA, the Justice Department and other government agencies revealing an even-deeper relationship between President Ronald Reagan’s beloved Contras and drug cartels than Webb ever alleged.

Typical of the evidence that the Reagan administration chose to ignore was information provided by Dennis Ainsworth, a blue-blood Republican from San Francisco who volunteered to help the Contra cause in 1984-85. That put him in position to witness the strange behind-the-scenes activities of Contra leaders hobnobbing with drug traffickers and negotiating arms deals with White House emissaries.

MORE...

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/09/new-evidence-of-contra-cocaine-scandal/

Great to see Robert Parry is still on top of this. Let's hope Hollywood doesn't screw up Webb's story.

[Le Taz Hot]

1. I remember this when it happened

and I remember the San Jose Mercury News backing away from the story even though everything Webb wrote was factually correct. I wasn't aware that Webb had killed himself, however.

It will be interesting to see the movie and see if this stirs a buzz and shines light on this horrific episode in American history.

[BlueToTheBone]

7. I think he was "suicided"

[chimpymustgo]

11. Murdered, indeed.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/political-assassination-in-the-us-did-the-cia-kill-gary-webb

Political Assassination in the US: Did the CIA kill Gary Webb?

By Kurt Nimmo
Global Research, December 27, 2004

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.

“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,’” reports the Associated Press . “Webb died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Sacramento County coroner’s office.”

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.

-edit-

[BlueToTheBone]

12. Danny Casalaro was a great loss.

I remember when they killed him too. That was a really ugly war, both here and in Nicaragua.

[Gabi Hayes]

59. The Octopus. Inslaw:

Inslaw

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/inslaw_pr.html

this article is about the Inslaw debacle; barely touches upon Casolaro

for you 'conspiracy' buffs (as opposed to the "coincidence theorists" who love to gargle the government line....no spitters, please)



you can read the entire SPY Magazine Casolaro article on googlebooks:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Oepe_lUpLWAC&q=Danny+Casolaro&as_pt=MAGAZINES&source=gbs_word_cloud_r&cad=3#v=snippet&q=Danny%20Casolaro&f=false

find "page 56" .... click on it.

[summerschild]

24. I kept him (Gary Webb) in my "suicided" file. The coroner ruled his death a suicide.

A note was found. He was shot twice in the back of the head.


Danny was definitely "suicided".


Amazing statistical odds for suicide among investigative journalists curious about CIA activities...

[BlueToTheBone]

28. That seems to be a favorite method of suicide

2 shots to the back of the head.

[deutsey]

46. I've always thought Danny was killed

His body was quickly embalmed before his family was even notified of his death. From what I remember of the early reports, that was against the law in West Virginia.

I always thought it was odd that he allegedly cut his wrists and forearms several times, so deeply that some cuts nicked his arm bone.

Ever since the NSA spying revelations and even before when the PATRIOT ACT was pushed through Congress, I've wondered if the INSLAW scandal (involving a people-tracking computer program called Promis that was among the things Danny was investingating) didn't lead to the technology being used to spy on people today.

Ed Meese and other Reaganites were involved in the scandal.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/inslaw.html

[summerschild]

49. I agree and share your suspicions, deutsey.

When the NSA stuff started coming out I was instantly reminded of INSLAW and wondered if the current NSA tools are directly descended from Promis.

From your wired.com source above:

skip--
Designed as a case-management system for prosecutors, PROMIS has the ability to track people. "Every use of PROMIS in the court system is tracking people," said Inslaw President Hamilton. "You can rotate the file by case, defendant, arresting officer, judge, defense lawyer, and it's tracking all the names of all the people in all the cases."

What this means is that PROMIS can provide a complete rundown of all federal cases in which a lawyer has been involved, or all the cases in which a lawyer has represented defendant A, or all the cases in which a lawyer has represented white-collar criminals, at which stage in each of the cases the lawyer agreed to a plea bargain, and so on. Based on this information, PROMIS can help a prosecutor determine when a plea will be taken in a particular type of case.

But the real power of PROMIS, according to Hamilton, is that with a staggering 570,000 lines of computer code, PROMIS can integrate innumerable databases without requiring any reprogramming. In essence, PROMIS can turn blind data into information. And anyone in government will tell you that information, when wielded with finesse, begets power. Converted to use by intelligence agencies, as has been alleged in interviews by ex-CIA and Israeli Mossad agents, PROMIS can be a powerful tracking device capable of monitoring intelligence operations, agents and targets, instead of legal cases.

The huge amount of data NSA has been capturing and sifting through to conduct their recent "spying" is mind-boggling. It would seem PROMIS (or an advanced version of it) might be capable of extracting and manipulating data from multiple and diverse sources to actually make it manageable and connect it where applicable. Yes, Meese (who no doubt grew wealthy off of PROMIS) was one of many snakes inside the Reagan administration - and he is around EVEN NOW!

I'm sure you are aware there has been some speculation over Michael Hasting's recent fatal car accident. I haven't been convinced of any foul play there, but with the history and reputation of our surveillance agencies it's no wonder conspiracy theories abound.

[Coyotl]

32. You know why journalists commit suicide by two shots to the head?

So all the other journalist will know how to commit suicide!

[Kurovski]

33. Oh my God.

Yep.

[BlueToTheBone]

38. And here I thought they just wanted

to thoroughly investigate the effects of bullets in the brain.

[hootinholler]

57. Nah, any journalist worth his salt

Will only accept two sources.

[Ace Acme]

64. Two different sources

Not two inputs from the same source.

[Jesus Malverde]

10. I remember the Mercury news releasing the scoop only to be vilified by

The New York Times and the Washington Post both which led with over the top indignant criticism.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. The article rightly recounts

Howard Kurtz' role in that criticism. Today he's a "respected journalist."

The article also gives brief reference to what is known as the "October Surprise." ANOTHER story that has been neatly swept under the carpet.

[blm]

52. Howard Kurtz has ALWAYS been a media 'fixer' for the BFEE

.

[robertpaulsen]

17. What the CIA and MSM accomplished together on this story was a travesty of justice.

I think Parry's piece really drives home just what a tragedy those actors created.

[AikidoSoul]

51. I was in Honduras when it happened, and spoke with witnesses to the loading of cocaine onto

C130's at the Palmerolla Air Force base there. Here is my DU post on the topic from 2010:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2777893&mesg_id=2784584

Cocaine and the CIA continued

I have direct experience with contractors who reported witnessing cocaine being loaded and unloaded from C-130 type cargo planes at Palmerolla AFB in Honduras during the 1980s -- all of who worked under the auspices of the American Embassy, but the work was actually contracted via a U.S.corporation under contract with the military, DOD, and NSA at different times during that period.

At first we thought the co-workers had to be mistaken about what they had seen, but they insisted it was cocaine. There were three contractors who reported this to us over a period of two years. These were wide-eyed young guys who had high ideals. They had initially been wooed as corporation paid contractors for DoD, NSA and the U.S. military and were convinced that they were working for the highest ideals of the United States of America.

What was so striking and believable about their descriptions of what they saw -- cocaine cargo loaded and unloaded -- were their shaky, disturbed utterings. They were obviously shattered by what they saw. They were sick with disgust and worry... and became increasingly disturbed over the course of our tenure there. One of them was pale and had tears when he described what he saw. It was apparent to me that they had no choice because of the sheer emotional impact this had on them and their pre-conceived notions of what the United States stood for.

Since we did not witness these events with our own eyes, we made note of what they said and filed it away. We considered it here-say simply because we could not directly corroborate it -- but the fact that three persons reported the same thing had a great impact on us.

It wasn't until years later that the reports by those young contractors about the cocaine shipments in Honduras -- were corroborated by Mike Levine in his book "The Big White Lie".

Later it was Gary Webb and his series at the San Jose Mercury News. At first Webb's editors backed him up until huge pressure from the CIA was exerted on them and they turned on Webb -- who eventually committed suicide, or possibly was suicided. We'll probably never know the truth about what really happened to Gary Webb.

Here's a description yanked from the web on two Levine books about the CIA and drug smuggling, and about the complicity of the U.S. government in ALLOWING drugs to be smuggled as long as it SUPPORTED its agenda (right wing control and subjugation of leftists, and continued support of right-wing agendas):

Levine, Michael. The Big White Lie: The CIA and the Cocaine/Crack Epidemic -- An Undercover Odyssey. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1993. 472 pages.

And from WikiPedia (this checks out fine):

Michael Levine is a former senior United States law enforcement agent and has been called "America's top undercover cop for 25 years" by 60 Minutes. A 25 year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) he has gained much attention for his criticisms of the CIA and the DEA. He has even gone as far as claiming the CIA created La Corporacion, the "General Motors of cocaine".

Levine has testified as an expert witness in 500 civil and criminal trials internationally and domestically. He is a signatory to the 9/11 Truth Statement. <1>

Since 1995, he has hosted "The Expert Witness Radio Show" on the flagship station of the Pacifica Radio Network, WBAI-FM in New York. http://www.expertwitnessradio.org

[Le Taz Hot]

53. Wow!

And this was all under "St. Ronnie.

[AikidoSoul]

56. Remember too that during this period there was a huge crack cocaine epidemic in LA in the black

neighborhoods.

This is the way evil minds work. Put it out there to destroy the black neighborhoods. Put it out there so that those at the top of the food chain who organize this evil, have huge access to unaccountable cash via complex money laundering schemes.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on this. Just drawing on what I know. People at the very top of the food chain are definitely profiting for illegal drug money.

[Ace Acme]

63. Michael Ruppert claimed that the global illicit drug trade was worth $500 billion a year

... and that without all that cash, the international banking system couldn't function.

[WillyT]

2. HUGE K & R !!!

[dreamnightwind]

3. K & R

What happened to Webb is a terrible story.

Hurray for Robert Parry.

In the late 80's I had a car with a window sticker saying CIA - Cocaine Import Agency, till one night while it was parked in front of my parent's house in a more conservative area, someone smashed the window in.

There's a lot of resistance to looking at this issue, from the major news corporations who make their living propping up the establishment's world view, to the average Joe/Jane who thinks it's unpatriotic to question such things, or that our government would never do things like this. Webb was the victim of this mentality. Somehow Parry keeps on trucking.

[spanone]

4. k&r...

[Drew Richards]

5. yeah sure right...he killed himself....cough cough...bull shit...

[billhicks76]

16. American Hero

Webb and Parry are true American heroes. They told us the truth(the original "truthers&quot and pointed out that Bush under Reagan and then later imprisoned millions of Americans for crimes they abetted. Bush brought in the drugs, made money and then put millions of families here in jeapordy of the highest order. They are filthy souls guilty of treason. It's bad enough they brought those garbage drugs in and polluted America but to then go after poor people and imprison them for the drugs they provided is reprehensible and their family name should be tarnished forever.

[madokie]

6. I remember early on in Reagen's term that drugs became easy to get

during the '70 from late fall to mid summer you couldn't find pot around here. Reagan came into office and that all changed. During the '70s I never seen any coke but after Reagan's inauguration it became the drug of choice for many. It was everywhere.
I was a witness to this.

[hollowdweller]

19. Not weed

Columbian around here was 40 bucks an ounce for really stuff that didn't LOOK as good but was often more powerful than some of the current stuff that looks great but the potency is only soso.

Then in the 80's around here we saw a near drought of weed but tons of coke coming in. We also saw a lot of cheap good hash when Israel invaded Lebanon and their networks were moving it.

After Reagan Columbian went up to 60 and then higher, if you could get it.

Then drug testing took hold during Reagan also, and Operation Green Merchant targeted indoor growers and shops.

Reagan's term was a disaster for drugs in the US. Repressing weed and replacing it with coke.

[erronis]

25. Drug testing except for special cases

Dick Cheney got out of any drug testing (and most other background checks). GWB - you gotta be kidding!

Having been through a few "agency" checks over many years, I can attest that they were not very thorough. I would also guess that they could be influenced by some positive persuation or leaning upon. Given that a huge percentage of DC-area residents now hold Top Secret I'm guessing that it's no better than wearing a little flag in your lapel.

[summerschild]

30. The First Lady needed a meme.

So they gave her, "Just say no - - - "

What a blood soaked, sickening irony that one was!

[madokie]

31. Maybe where you are but not around here

weed and coke were every where on any street corner, so to say, to be had where previously for about 6 months of the year we went without. Once in a while someone in our group would make a trip south and if they were lucky we'd have something to toke. Then came reagan and poppy and all that changed.

[radhika]

8. Will they look again at his 'suicide' ? n/t

[wildbilln864]

9. big k & r! n/t

[Holly_Hobby]

14. K &R !!! n/t

[G_j]

15. K&R

for the truth

[Ace Acme]

18. The movie next year should provide a nexus for discussion

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/11/03/sneak-peek-jeremy-renner-kill-the-messenger/3307565/

Starring Jeremy Renner, "Kill the Messenger" is based on Nick Shou's 2006 book
Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb

Webb's 1996 story about the Nicaraguan contras' cocaine trafficking (1) seems to be largely corroborated by Sen. Kerry's investigations in 1989 (2) that earned Kerry a Newsweek squib calling him a "randy conspiracy buff" (2) but Kerry's findings were themselves validated by the CIA Inspector General report in 1998 (2).

Webb wound up dead with two bullets in his head in 2004.

(1)http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/120909.html
(2)http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/102904.html
(3) http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/11/03/sneak-peek-jeremy-renner-kill-the-messenger/3307565/

[robertpaulsen]

20. I hope those facts are in the movie.

Truthfully, I'm somewhat agnostic on whether he was "suicided"; which is rare for me as I'm firmly convinced other controversial "suicides" such as David Kelly and Daniel Casalaro were murder. Bottom line, the CIA and the Radical Establishment Media (REM) are responsible for his death, regardless of whether they pulled the trigger or just drove him to pull the trigger by ruining his life and livelihood.

[AikidoSoul]

60. Tell me please, how does someone commit suicide by putting TWO bullets in their head?!!! NT

[Ace Acme]

62. Ask the coroner. I don't know. It does happen. But it sure looks hinky. nt

[hootinholler]

21. JHC on a trailer hitch

That's a deep report. Thanks for bringing it to show and tell!

[Octafish]

22. Same Corporate McPravda that said Iraq had WMDs and Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone...

...told us Gary Webb was a liar about the CIA and Contra cocaine.

Yet, history has shown each time the media were lying.

[JohnyCanuck]

34. Not surprising....

They were (and, IMHO, still are) the mockingbird media.

CIA Funds and Manipulates US News Media – Operation Mockingbird

Excerpt below from the Youtube info on the above video:

According to the Congress report published in 1976:

"The CIA currently maintains a network of several hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct access to a large number of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets."

Senator Frank Church argued that misinforming the world cost American taxpayers an estimated $265 million a year.

In 1948, Frank Wisner was appointed director of the Office of Special Projects (OSP). Soon afterwards OSP was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). This became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. Wisner was told to create an organization that concentrated on "propaganda, economic warfare; preventive direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-Communist elements in threatened countries of the free world."

Later that year Wisner established Mockingbird, a program to influence the domestic and foreign media. Wisner recruited Philip Graham from The Washington Post to run the project within the industry. According to Deborah Davis in Katharine the Great; "By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of The New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles.

snip

In 1977, Rolling Stone alleged that one of the most important journalists under the control of Operation Mockingbird was Joseph Alsop, whose articles appeared in over 300 different newspapers. Other journalists alleged by Rolling Stone Magazine to have been willing to promote the views of the CIA included Stewart Alsop (New York Herald Tribune), Ben Bradlee (Newsweek), James Reston (New York Times), Charles Douglas Jackson (Time Magazine), Walter Pincus (Washington Post), William C. Baggs (The Miami News), Herb Gold (The Miami News) and Charles Bartlett (Chattanooga Times). According to Nina Burleigh (A Very Private Woman), these journalists sometimes wrote articles that were commissioned by Frank Wisner. The CIA also provided them with classified information to help them with their work.

[Octafish]

35. Thank you, JohnyCanuck! Mr. Colby had to answer in executive session, about who's on the tee vee.

...and pumping it out for a bunch of publications. The Church Committee was the last time Congress stood up to CIA. From what we now know, the spooks did all they could to destroy Church for it.

Frank Church warned us about the Secret Government and then got the Treatment

The CIA and the Media

Wanna know why Media ignore war criminals? CIA calls the shots.

DEA Agents Agree: CIA means Cocaine Importation Agency

Gary Webb was tops.

[JohnyCanuck]

45. And thanks for those additional links n/t

[robertpaulsen]

50. Thanks to both of you for your contributions!

I appreciate any links bringing a deeper context to this discussion. Both you and Octafish have an excellent track record in that regard.

[Berlum]

23. "Sneer." - Occultist Black-Op RepuliBaggers (R)

[Octafish]

36. One of my Jesuit teachers reminded me that it's been 25 years...

Catching Up With The Past: Justice For The Jesuit Murders In El Salvador

[mstinamotorcity2]

26. Did anyone really think

the addicts were bringing it in.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

27. When do the docs from the Reagan admin. become declassified?

[Ikonoklast]

48. The day after the Stanley Cup finals are played in Hell.

[niyad]

29. I wonder if we will ever know the true scope and magnitude of all the lies, deceptions, games,

deals, crimes and general bs that has passed for governance these last 40 years or so.

[wildbilln864]

37. sadly, probably not in my life time. n/t

[Jesus Malverde]

39. bump... nt

[wildbilln864]

40. Daniel Hopsicker writes about this kind of thing for years now....

I wonder how much cred he has with DU members.
www.madcowprod.com

[robertpaulsen]

47. He's got a lot of cred with me!

I've found his posts on narcotics ties and 9/11 extremely valuable. He's been kicking ass this year on Boston and his last two JFK posts. Excellent work!

[Coyotl]

41. K&R .... and thanks for posting this.

[grasswire]

42. now would be a good day to donate to Robert Parry.

He's been so faithful to the truth for so long now.

[Egalitarian Thug]

43. K&R "Looking forward" is an old practice.

This is just too sad for words. We mustn't let them forget.

[Bonobo]

44. Eugene Hasenfus

I still remember, it was when I first realized how things really were.

[Electric Monk]

54. Yeah, but it must be "tinfoil", because Conspiracy Theories™.

[KansDem]

55. CIA = "Cocaine Into America"

[Hotler]

58. K&R...N/T

[Coyotl]

61. K&R

[777man]

65. Here is info about the movie and new info in the Camarena Murder Case

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022291453

Operation Leyenda was the investigation into the murder of DEA agent Camarena.. Hector Berrellez was the lead investigator, his supervisor was Mike Holm. They had made public statements in October and November 2013

[robertpaulsen]

66. Thank you for this 777man!

I'm still a bit wary of Landeman, but hopefully the truth of the source material will stand out and Renner will kick ass.

[777man]

67. Someone altered my original post on DU to remove links

I was waiting to see how they block the movie or alter in it in some way. Even if they successfully do that, renewed attention will be focused on Webb and his story.



Strange things are starting to happen
These were removed by admin without explanation from the KILL THE MESSENGER post..








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