Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward
Ryan Grim, Matt Sledge & Matt Ferner - HuffPo
Posted: 10/10/2014 7:30 am EDT Updated: 46 minutes ago

<snip>

LOS ANGELES -- With the public in the U.S. and Latin America becoming increasingly skeptical of the war on drugs, key figures in a scandal that once rocked the Central Intelligence Agency are coming forward to tell their stories in a new documentary and in a series of interviews with The Huffington Post.

More than 18 years have passed since Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb stunned the world with his “Dark Alliance” newspaper series investigating the connections between the CIA, a crack cocaine explosion in the predominantly African-American neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, and the Nicaraguan Contra fighters -- scandalous implications that outraged LA’s black community, severely damaged the intelligence agency's reputation and launched a number of federal investigations.

It did not end well for Webb, however. Major media, led by The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, worked to discredit his story. Under intense pressure, Webb's top editor abandoned him. Webb was drummed out of journalism. One LA Times reporter recently apologized for his leading role in the assault on Webb, but it came too late. Webb died in 2004 from an apparent suicide. Obituaries referred to his investigation as "discredited."

Now, Webb’s bombshell expose is being explored anew in a documentary, “Freeway: Crack in the System,” directed by Marc Levin, which tells the story of “Freeway” Rick Ross, who created a crack empire in LA during the 1980s and is a key figure in Webb’s “Dark Alliance” narrative. The documentary is being released after the major motion picture “Kill The Messenger,” which features Jeremy Renner in the role of Webb and hits theaters on Friday.

Webb's investigation was published in the summer of 1996 in the San Jose Mercury News. In it, he reported that a drug ring that sold millions of dollars worth of cocaine in Los Angeles was funneling its profits to the CIA’s army in Nicaragua, known as the Contras.

Webb’s original anonymous source for his series was...

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/gary-webb-dark-alliance_n_5961748.html

[PeoViejo]

1. Webb was really determined to kill himself

He even put two bullets in his head to make sure.

[SamKnause]

2. But they found

a suicide note, so I guess he shot his self twice.

[WillyT]

3. Suicide By CIA Is Never Pretty...

[cstanleytech]

6. While I can believe the CIA did contribute to his decision to end his own life

I havent read anything other than alot of over the CIA actually doing the deed and besides they had already done pretty well getting his own colleagues in the press to destroy his reputation so the motive to do anything more is kinda lacking.

[deutsey]

8. It was despicable what the NYT et al., did to Webb n/t

[cstanleytech]

29. Agree but tinfoil hat speculation over his suicide doesnt do anything to remedy that. nt

[deutsey]

30. No, it doesn't

I hope you're not implying I'm asserting it does, because that wasn't my intention.

[cstanleytech]

31. No but others here seem to have been and thats the kind of stuff I would expect more to come

from people who believe fox news is fair and balanced and not members of the DU.

[Octafish]

43. Yes, like the time Nixon OK'd assigning a murderous Secret Service agent to protect Ted Kennedy.

Except, that is what is never on Fox News: the Truth.

It's also is a good example of why I never denigrate people with labels, like "CT." It is a loaded term, designed to poison the person as a source of information and news. Here's the treasonous, murderous reality of the "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" of Watergate fame:

Nixon approved hiring a Secret Service man who said he'd 'kill on command' to guard Ted Kennedy. You can hear Nixon and Haldeman discuss it, about 40 minutes into the HBO documentary "Nixon by Nixon." While I had read the part of the transcript available years ago, and wrote about it on DU, almost no one I know has heard anything about it.

Ted Kennedy survived Richard Nixon's Plots

By Don Fulsom

In September 1972, Nixon’s continued political fear, personal loathing, and jealously of Kennedy led him to plant a spy in Kennedy’s Secret Service detail.

The mole Nixon selected for the Kennedy camp was already being groomed. He was a former agent from his Nixon’s vice presidential detail, Robert Newbrand—a man so loyal he once pledged he would do anything—even kill—for Nixon.

The President was most interested in learning about the Sen. Kennedy’s sex life. He wanted, more than anything, stated Haldeman in The Ends of Power, to “catch (Kennedy) in the sack with one of his babes.”

In a recently transcribed tape of a September 8, 1972 talk among the President and aides Bob Haldeman and Alexander Butterfield, Nixon asks whether Secret Service chief James Rowley would appoint Newbrand to head Kennedy’s detail:

Haldeman: He's to assign Newbrand.

President Nixon: Does he understand that he's to do that?

Butterfield: He's effectively already done it. And we have a full force assigned, 40 men.

Haldeman: I told them to put a big detail on him (unclear).

President Nixon: A big detail is correct. One that can cover him around the clock, every place he goes. (Laughter obscures mixed voices.)

President Nixon: Right. No, that's really true. He has got to have the same coverage that we give the others, because we're concerned about security and we will not assume the responsibility unless we're with him all the time.

Haldeman: And Amanda Burden (one of Kennedy’s alleged girlfriends) can't be trusted. (Unclear.) You never know what she might do. (Unclear.)

Haldeman then assures the President that Newbrand “will do anything that I tell him to … He really will. And he has come to me twice and absolutely, sincerely said, "With what you've done for me and what the President's done for me, I just want you to know, if you want someone killed, if you want anything else done, any way, any direction …"

President Nixon: The thing that I (unclear) is this: We just might get lucky and catch this son-of-a-bitch and ruin him for '76.

Haldeman: That's right.

President Nixon: He doesn't know what he's really getting into. We're going to cover him, and we are not going to take "no" for an answer. He can't say "no." The Kennedys are arrogant as hell with these Secret Service. He says, "Fine," and (Newbrand) should pick the detail, too.

Toward the end of this conversation, Nixon exclaims that Newbrand’s spying “(is) going to be fun,” and Haldeman responds: “Newbrand will just love it.”

Nixon also had a surveillance tip for Haldeman for his spy-to-be: “I want you to tell Newbrand if you will that (unclear) because he's a Catholic, sort of play it, he was for Jack Kennedy all the time. Play up to Kennedy, that "I'm a great admirer of Jack Kennedy." He's a member of the Holy Name Society. He wears a St. Christopher (unclear).” Haldeman laughs heartily at the President’s curious advice.

Despite the enthusiasm of Nixon and Haldeman, Newbrand apparently never produced anything of great value. When this particular round of Nixon’s spying on Kennedy was uncovered in 1997, The Washington Post quoted Butterfield as saying periodic reports on Kennedy's activities were delivered to Haldeman, but that Butterfield did not think any potentially damaging information was ever dug up.

SOURCE:

http://surftofind.com/tedkennedy

Why does that matter? The Warren Commission, and the nation's mass media, never heard about the CIA-Mafia plots to kill Castro until the Church Committee in 1975. You'd think that would be a matter of concern to all Americans, especially considering how then-vice president Nixon was head of the "White House Action Team" that contacted the Mafia for murder.

This is the sort of information citizens of a democracy shouldn't have to search the Internet to learn. It should be taught in school, or at the least, discussed in the nation's mass media. I certainly think it's unfair for people -- especially those who consider themselves Democrats or democrats -- to label those interested in such subjects "Conspiracy Theorists."

[cstanleytech]

45. Then you should ask the mods to change the DUs terms of service

"Don't go overboard with the crazy talk.

Democratic Underground is not intended to be a platform for kooks and crackpots peddling paranoid fantasies with little or no basis in fact. To accommodate our more imaginative members we tolerate some limited discussion of so-called "conspiracy theories" under the following circumstances: First, those discussions are not permitted in our heavily-trafficked Main forums; and second, those discussions cannot stray too far into Crazyland (eg: chemtrails, black helicopters, 9/11 death rays or holograms, the "New World Order," the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, alien abduction, Bigfoot, and the like). In addition, please be aware that many conspiracy theories have roots in racism and anti-semitism, and Democratic Underground has zero tolerance for bigoted hate speech. In short, you take your chances."

[Octafish]

53. Why? DU works fine for me.

And if I post something that is not true, DUers kindly correct me.

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/10025644375#post48

[cstanleytech]

54. There is a difference.

Ones is simply an error that can be corrected with new information but when it comes to the conspiracy theory believers you just cannot reason with them much like you cant reason with a extremely conservative republican who believe Obama is a secret Muslim.

[Octafish]

55. So, rather than working to convince someone with facts we just kill their insane ramblings?

That sounds un-democratic, like defunding the Department of Education. Nixon and his BFEE crew have been at the controls of the "Secret Government" since the CIA was new. The assassination of President Kennedy is the original "Conspiracy Theory" and they've used all their power, overt and covert, to cover their tracks. So, when someone calls me a "CTer" or says what I write belongs in "Creatice Speculative," I take offense because the problem with equating insanity with conspiracy theoriest is censorship.

CIA Memo: Concerning Criticism of the Warren Report

[cstanleytech]

58. "I take offense because the problem with equating insanity with conspiracy theoriest is censorship."

Ya but this isnt a government run forum its a private one.

[Octafish]

59. Yeah. Are you an owner?

So, if you aren't, and if I've posted nothing outside TOS, let alone untrue, why do you object to what I post?

[cstanleytech]

60. No, skinner is and he made that rule.

Frankly I think the rule in general makes sense but *shrug* thats just my opinion.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

56. Was Webb shot twice in the head or not? nt

[cstanleytech]

57. That would depend on the type of gun used and the amount of strength to pull the trigger

but if the CIA had done it even though there was a lack of motive at that point I doubt they would be so sloppy about it so I am going to go with the more likely cause of it being due to an involuntary spasming of his hand as he died to the first shot.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Shouldn't there have been 2 suicide notes?

[SamKnause]

19. Good one !!!

[blm]

4. The real reason that DC power elites needed to keep Kerry out of the WH

and away from access to some classified documents that Poppy Bush had kept from the investigations into IranContra, BCCI and CIA drug running.

Webb, more than anyone else, personally needed for a President Kerry to re-open those books that everyone else wanted to stay closed.

[jwirr]

7. Yes, behind the cover of the Iran/Contra investigation was a drug investigation handled by John

Kerry. There was very little mention of any of it in the media and it was a closed door session. Many of us knew what was going on - the investigation of the US drug cartel run by Poppy bush - but Kerry was not allowed to complete it.

When we link bush to the murder of JFK this must not be forgotten. This shows just the type of people who were in the CIA at the time.

[blm]

14. Kerry continued with BCCI after Senate Dems refused him a place on IranContra committee

to appease GHWBush. Kerry negotiated his forced exit from IranContra investigation by insisting on free rein to investigate into BCCI and reaching further into CIA drug running. GHWBush WANTED to lose in 1992 because Kerry's BCCI Report was set to be released in Dec 1992 which would have meant public senate hearings and certain impeachment. Not to worry - Jackson Stephens (BCCI figure and longtime pal of Bush) had his boy in Arkansas lined up and bankrolled and ready to protect them both by deepsixing the BCCI report and IranContra and CIA drug running in exchange for the WH.

[jwirr]

17. Hmm you may be right about our boy in Arkansas as there was a major link in the system in Mena,

Arkansas. I think. Been a long time.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. Funny how all those pieces fit together all these years later.

I used to actually buy into the notion that the Mena story was just an anti-Clinton CT.

[jwirr]

21. And we all remember a little part of the puzzle. But we still cannnot do anything about it. They are

still too powerful.

[blm]

27. That's how Webb must have seen it when media helped put then keep Bush in the WH.

I've said this since it happened - he counted on a President Kerry to re-open the books to investigators and historians to vindicate them BOTH.

[mylye2222]

46. Was that Steohens guy a close to the

Clintons in Arkansas? That might be a fitting peace, if so to explain that both hypothesis

1) Bcci drug runners were forbidden by Président Clinton

1) The Clintons people helped along the Reps to undermine Kerrys presiddntial bid.

[blm]

24. He probably had no choice, but, to look the other way when Bush ran his ops.

Last edited Fri Oct 10, 2014, 06:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Remember, he claimed when he took office that he wanted the country to move on past the investigations he called 'zealous'.

[Jackpine Radical]

25. My wife, who is approximately as paranoid as I am,

thinks the Clintons have been CIA since the Vietnam days.

[mylye2222]

41. Not sure they are CIA.

They are just limiteless when it comes to their prestige and succes. Incluting " sleeping with the ennemy".

[mylye2222]

48. Wow.

That also shines out a possible link between The Clintons and the Bushes "alliance"

[karynnj]

23. As the article notes, he did write a report that contained many of the charges

I think it was his BCCI investigation that was stopped when he wanted it to continue. There as well he (and his staff) wrote a long damning report and, in that case, took the information to NYC DA Morgenthau who initiated action to close them down.

There is a huge difference between the roles Webb and Kerry played. As a reporter, Webb could and did write about things that were alleged - not needing things that could be proven in court. Kerry had subpoena power and position as a US Senator, but his reports had to include just what the former prosecutor could prove in court. Like Webb, Kerry did risk his reputation to pursue the investigations that he oversaw.

Reading again of North's involvement, think of how weird it has to be for people like North and Elliot Abrahs to often sit in judgment in the media over Senator and then Secretary Kerry.

[Duppers]

32. just did a google and found this

http://www.amazon.com/The-BCCI-Affair-Subcommittee-International/dp/0160372569

[mylye2222]

34. And Webb ended "taking his own life" in 2004.

Or to be politicaly uncorrect: suicided by Drug Mafia agents.

Webb and Kerry had been both lone heroes sticking to uncovering corruption.

[Octafish]

5. Gary Webb

Thank you! And thank you, WillyT, for remembering!

Outstanding bit of democracy going on -- a journalist destroyed by HIS PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUES FOR TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CIA-MAFIA-IRAN-CONTRA-TREASON DRUG CONNECTION.

[WillyT]

12. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

[Octafish]

49. Gary Webb dead of self inflicted gunshot woundS!

DU, Dec. 12, 2004:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1065543

[mylye2222]

50. Hahahahaha! Plain IMPOSSIBLE!

[Octafish]

52. Agree, but DUers found enough evidence to convince me that two shots were possible.

The weapon was his father's pistol. The notes were in his handwriting. Either way, the "authorities" whoever they are in the secret government, drove Webb out of his job, ruined his family, followed him threateningly, and did all they could to kill him and his reporting.

Webb was working on the US Army recruiting story and how video games were helping condition youth for the warmaking needs of the future.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=313x568

[Rex]

47. Yeah of course this will be ignored

by the usual suspects. They always laugh while Rome burns.

[Octafish]

51. They seem to flock to an interesting story.

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5272048

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. But,...but,...but,....REAGAN WAS GOD!!!!

How many here (besides me) yelled at their TV during that time?

[Catherine Vincent]

11. Maxine Waters

On other forums conservatives love bashing her and the so called nonsense she said about CIA involvement in the crack cocaine epidemic in LA (here too).

[Le Taz Hot]

44. I remember that!

And no one took her seriously. I'm a HUGE Maxine Waters fan, btw.

[FairWinds]

13. This tells you all you need to know about . .

the trustworthiness of major American newspapers.
When it matters, they are complete tools of the oligarchy.

[Fix The Stupid]

15. Hmmm.. Why this sounds like a "conspiracy".

Where are the ROFL smilies and chants to take it to the 'dungeon' and "DU is better than this"?

Silly conspiracy theorists!

[ieoeja]

16. I would sure like to know who the CIA Inspector General edited out of this:

211.CIA Records. An October 22, 1982 cable from a DO/Domestic Collection Division (DCD) Station reported that a U.S. law enforcement entity had reported that:

. . . there are indications of links between {a U.S. religious organization} and two Nicaraguan counter-revolutionary groups . . . . These links involve an exchange in [the United States] of narcotics for arms.

Source: https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/report/findings.html

[blm]

18. Read Parry's lengthy reports on Rev Moon and his longtime alliance with Poppy Bush.

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/sunmyongmoon1part28jul97.shtml

[Jackpine Radical]

26. I think you nailed it.

[deurbano]

22. Thank you for posting this. So disgusting. So infuriating.

"Our" government... "our" media... the massive damage... the tragic repercussions...

[WillyT]

28. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

[mattclearing]

33. K&R

[Enthusiast]

35. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations!

I think we could reliably put this entire operation and subsequent illegal operations at the feet of G H W Bush.

He is the one you never hear named. He was the head of the CIA. The American hostages in Iran were not released until after the 1980 election because of interference by Bush. Then we have the obviously stolen 2000 election and Bush II. It couldn't be any more obvious.

If this nation is ever going to crawl out of this morass we must prosecute these traitors.

[Oilwellian]

36. Oh, I doubt that will happen anytime soon

[mylye2222]

37. Maybe OT, but did you knew that

Carlos Goshn, a formers French Renault CEO was also involved in Iran Contra? This guy went later a close friend to former prez Sa rkozy. And right know ( I have tried to find sources in English but didn't succeded) the same Sarkozy is now involved in an Irangate-like scandal. The Air-Cocaine affair . He is indicted with possible charges of drug running between France and drug Dominican tycoon Pablo Escobar, and supposed to have dealt with him and travelled along between the two countries with Escobar, on his private jet, at least tree times.

[rhett o rick]

38. k&R Thanks for posting. nm

[KansDem]

39. Well? What do you think "CIA" means?

"Cocaine Into America"

[mylye2222]

40. Well said!

Or Corruption International Association!

[Le Taz Hot]

42. Man, do I remember this story!

The usual suspects, the MSM via. N.Y. Times & especially the L.A. Times just tore him up. And his stupid, chicken-shit editor at the San Jose Mercury News didn't have the ganas to stand by the reporter and his sources.

I'm amazed to see there's a movie out about it. I mean, honestly, you couldn't write more bazar shit than what actually happened. Real cloak-and-dagger stuff. I'm going to try and catch that movie.

[777man]

61. Support Gary Webb and Re-Release Kill the Messenger in Theaters

Support Gary Webb and Re-Release Kill the Messenger in Theaters

https://www.change.org/p/universal-pictures-support-gary-webb-and-re-release-kill-the-messenger-in-theaters


Reasons for signing


Rachel Rodriguez FOLSOM, CA
2 days ago
Liked 3

supporting my friend, and Gary's daughter, Christine Webb!
Susan Emson AUSTRALIA
2 days ago
Liked 2

The core themes of courage and journalistic integrity (and lack thereof) are as relevant today as ever.
lisa Burns RANCHO CORDOVA, CA
2 days ago
Liked 2

This is a personal movie to my husband and me. Gary's story is important to tell. Unfortunately, these days without proper distribution and publicity, it can be overlooked. Thank you, Lisa
S Valuch OAK FOREST, IL
2 days ago
Liked 2

People need to hear and see what has happened by their government, how it affected our society and the price paid by the journalist who broke the story.
Ian Webb FOLSOM, CA
1 day ago
Liked 1

As Gary Webb's eldest son and a true believer in the importance of this film, I find Focus Features' minimal attempt to distribute this movie appalling. A film such as this, which does not involve a cape donning superhero, needed as much distribution and advertising possible to catch the attention of the masses. To add insult to injury, Focus has done a wonderful job of advertising for 'The Theory of Everything'...obviously with money withheld from 'Kill the Messenger'.

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