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In reply to the discussion: NSA Releases Email Snowden Sent Before Leaks [View all]struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)87. Oh? Really?
Gary Webb Is Dead
David Corn on December 13, 2004 - 6:33 PM ET
... Webb's tale is a sad one. He was on to something but botched part of how he handled it. He then was blasted and ostracized. He was wrong on some important details but he was, in a way, closer to the truth than many of his establishment media critics who neglected the story of the real CIA-contra-cocaine connection. In 1998, a CIA inspector general's report acknowledged that the CIA had indeed worked with suspected drugrunners while supporting the contras. A Senator named John Kerry had investigated these links years earlier, and the media had mostly ignored his findings. After Webb published his articles, the media spent more time crushing Webb than pursuing the full story. It is only because of Webb's work--as flawed as it was--that the CIA IG inquiry happened. So, then, it is only because of Webb that US citizens have confirmation from the CIA that it partnered up with suspected drug traffickers in the just-say-no years and that the Reagan Administration, consumed with a desire to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, allied itself with drug thugs.
As the news of Webb's death circulated across the Internet, some of his fans took the opportunity to demand that I issue a posthumous apology to him. Why? Because I had been critical of his series and book. But my criticism was different from that of the mainstream press. I maintained he had overstated the case and had not proven his more cinematic allegations. But I also credited him for forcing the issue and prodding the CIA to come clean ...
David Corn on December 13, 2004 - 6:33 PM ET
... Webb's tale is a sad one. He was on to something but botched part of how he handled it. He then was blasted and ostracized. He was wrong on some important details but he was, in a way, closer to the truth than many of his establishment media critics who neglected the story of the real CIA-contra-cocaine connection. In 1998, a CIA inspector general's report acknowledged that the CIA had indeed worked with suspected drugrunners while supporting the contras. A Senator named John Kerry had investigated these links years earlier, and the media had mostly ignored his findings. After Webb published his articles, the media spent more time crushing Webb than pursuing the full story. It is only because of Webb's work--as flawed as it was--that the CIA IG inquiry happened. So, then, it is only because of Webb that US citizens have confirmation from the CIA that it partnered up with suspected drug traffickers in the just-say-no years and that the Reagan Administration, consumed with a desire to overthrow the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, allied itself with drug thugs.
As the news of Webb's death circulated across the Internet, some of his fans took the opportunity to demand that I issue a posthumous apology to him. Why? Because I had been critical of his series and book. But my criticism was different from that of the mainstream press. I maintained he had overstated the case and had not proven his more cinematic allegations. But I also credited him for forcing the issue and prodding the CIA to come clean ...
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But you were the 1st to get here. Oh, did you get this month's issue yet? I know you're a HUGE fan.
Tarheel_Dem
May 2014
#9
There is sure t'be a pot o'gold at the far end, if we just follow along as the wee man told us t'do!
struggle4progress
May 2014
#11
The email exchange doesn't "help" Snowden. It makes him look like a bit of a liar.
MADem
May 2014
#24
If there are no emails from Snowden to his bosses about these overreaches, the question HAS to be
MADem
May 2014
#54
Data collection is the issue for me, NSA is a large part of the issue of data collection
Leme
May 2014
#36
Snowden has MADE the story about Snowden, by his actions, by his insistence that he
MADem
May 2014
#39
You're convoluting federal agencies. NSA doesn't have an army, they collect signals.
MADem
May 2014
#68
He's not "complaining" or "whistleblowing." He's asking specific questions about the contents of a
MADem
May 2014
#31
He's insisting there are more emails. He needs to produce them. The onus is on him.
MADem
May 2014
#59
Well since the NSA has spent months saying they didn't have ANY emails, and now it turns ou they do
riderinthestorm
May 2014
#10
Wouldn't a super secret double naught spy keep copies? I mean he stole a million documents. Really?
Tarheel_Dem
May 2014
#14
Worst Spy Ever, indeed! Ends up in Russia because ooops.. and tries to blame it on the US..
Cha
May 2014
#49
The Insider is reporting that the interview was held only feet away from Putin's office.
Tarheel_Dem
May 2014
#52
Really?! and, he "has no relations with Russia"?! Did you see that he said he couldn't
Cha
May 2014
#53
I'm catching up today. I didn't watch those smarmy bastards. Can't stand to look...
Tarheel_Dem
May 2014
#56
How did he manage to get a front-and-center video appearance on the "Ask the Pootster" show?
MADem
May 2014
#88
After the beat-down he gave Ted Shackley back in the nineties, I can't see the CIA cozying up to
MADem
May 2014
#84
Yesterday, many people were insisting it proved Snowden had raised concerns
struggle4progress
May 2014
#16
That view, of course, is reinforced by the fact that Snowden has said he sought his last BAH job
struggle4progress
May 2014
#19