Description:This week we meet the man who knew the secrets of the CIA’s Dark Alliance. From the jungles of Nicaragua to the mean streets of south-central LA, Gary Webb’s groundbreaking journalism uncovered a scandal so huge that the story could not be allowed to continue. Help us honour the memory of this intrepid reporter by exploring the suspicious death and passing on the life’s work of Gary Webb.
Documentation
Documentation – Zero Point Radio
Time Reference:
01:37
Description:
Explore quality programming from around the world, streaming live across the net.
If you have limited bandwidth or are on dialup, use the Cascadia Public Radio archive to download small, low bitrate versions of The Corbett Report and many other quality podcasts and radio shows.
If you ever have trouble accessing The Corbett Report server, you can find back episodes hosted on this server. Currently, all of the Episodes from Episode 070 on are up on their servers.
NarcoNews has resurrected the original (and groundbreaking) website for the Dark Alliance series that was originally set up by the San Jose Mercury News to promote the story. At one point, the site was receiving over 1,000,000 visitors a day and was
Documentation – Statement of CIA Inspector General to The House Committee On Intelligence – March 16, 1998
Time Reference:
25:33
Description:
The first of two explosive CIA internal investigations detailing how the Reagan-Bush administration did know about and condone contra drug running and actively protected the dealers.
Documentation – Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered
Time Reference:
40:29
Description:
Credible sources who were close to Gary Webb have stated that he was receiving death threats, being regularly followed, and that he was concerned about strange individuals who were seen on multiple occasions breaking into and leaving his house before
Great report as always- this ties into the recent and very interesting documentary on Netlix called 13th- about the 13th Amendment’s loophole that perpetuated slavery by enhancing the prison system.
You can thank LBJ for blowing the head off JFK, just in time for him to make changes to the Civil Rights Act was signed probably, followed by Nixon’s “War on Drugs”, followed by Bush’s privatization of the prison system in America, followed by the C.I.A’s targeting black communities for the crack/AIDS epidemic.
Seems like the freedoms of blacks in America has been continuously stymied since May 9, 1865.
James, Thank you for this video version of Gary Webb. It is timely with all the talk about “Fake News”.
The “suicide” reminded me of Terry Yeakey’s suicide..
QUOTE
“…According to the report, Terry slashed himself eleven times on both forearms before cutting his own throat twice near the jugular vein. Then, apparently seeking even a more private place to die, he crawled another mile of rough terrain away from his car and climbed a fence, before shooting himself in the head with a small caliber revolver. What appeared to be rope burns on his neck, handcuff bruises to his wrists, and muddy grass imbedded in his slash wounds strongly indicated that he had some help in traversing this final distance.”
“The bullet’s entrance wound was in the right temple, above the eye. It went through the policeman’s head and exited in the area of the left cheek, near the bottom of the ear lobe line. The trajectory was from a 40-45 degree angle above his head. There were no powder burns. No weapon was ever reported as found at the scene, but independent investigators speculated that had Yeakey shot himself with standard police issue – a Glock 9mm or a .357 Magnum – his head would have been far more destroyed than it apparently was….”
I have to say the “Dateline: CIA and the Crack Epidemic documentary” was a great piece of news journalism for mainstream America. I don’t think we’ll see docs like that on TV anytime soon.
The Black-Ops division of the C.I.A has always smuggled drugs and weapons…One only needs to Google and research – Air America (airline) –
If you want to read about the subversion of democracy and the CIA’s control of the USA and their illegal drug running ops, I suggest you read Doug Valentine’s “THE CIA AS ORGANIZED CRIME How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World.”
It’s a well-documented book and even if you think you know about the CIA, you really don’t, not until you read this book.
Valentine even shows how the CIA has taken control of the DEA, so they can run drugs into the USA and eliminate competition.
Webb was murdered by the same thugs who don’t like light shined on their sinister works. He was shot twice, once in the jaw, which is the old Mafia signal to others to keep their mouth shut.
I’ll second the recommendation for the book, but it’s appropriate here to note that in the couple instances where Valentine mentions Webb’s death in passing, he shows no incredulity about the reported cause of death; e.g. he says simply that “Webb committed suicide in 2004.”
Audio recordings of Valentine’s interviews with several CIA officers, including William Colby, are available at Cryptocomb.
Thanks a lot for posting this graceful requiem for G. Webb.
I’ve seen the movie “Kill the Messenger” one year ago – and I liked it. Because when I was young – in the eighties – I did not know, that he has been the journalist who investigated on this.
Anyway, what really called my attention in James’ Podcast was to see Garry Webb himself telling his story. And for that I am especially thankful.
I then realised that there is a meaningfull coincidence of the family name ‘Webb’ (= Weaver) and the impact that his story had because of the WWWEB (at 16:50: https://youtu.be/FS-oNTe9kwE?t=16m50s).
Let’s honor him by keeping his name and his courage alive!
I’d heard this episode a number of years ago, and agreed that somebody who wasn’t in favour with the CIA who shot them self twice in the head strained all credulity, but hadn’t read about this myself at all.
I’d like to recommend the book “Kill the messenger” by Nick Schou. This book is considerably different than the (superficial) movie by the same name and covers:
– the author’s admission to suppressing evidence of CIA involvement in drug trade in his own writing so that he didn’t end up as another Gary Webb.
– Webb’s history in journalism
– the research and publication of the original newspaper series
– the spin that editing put on the story, and the constraints that the newspaper format imposed (in particular, the omission of details that provided entry points for attack by the mainstream sources)
– the mainstream responses to the article and their attacks on Webb
– the people involved in these attacks, including the names and backgrounds of those reporters that had connections with the CIA. Not all the names had CIA connections, but it was interesting to find names like James Risen in the mix.
– the personal issues and depression that Webb had after loosing his job and marriage. In particular, it makes a very good case for Webb’s suicide not being assisted, including a specific first person interview with one of Webb’s friends who stated to her on the phone a few days before his death that he was preparing for suicide (esp. selling his house to resolve financial issues) and had a gun in his hand while they talked.
It was my recollection that you had stated that Webb “shot himself twice in the back of the head”, but listening to podcast 117 again, you did not state this. I do not know where I got that impression. Schou asserts that Webb managed to shoot himself
once in the cheek, then a second time in another part of the head, missing vitals, and eventually died by bleeding out. He also talked to a number of those people that were close to Webb at the time of his death, and reports that all of these people did not believe that his death was assisted.
This book is very thorough, and informative. After reading it, I am comfortable with the mainstream assertion that Webb did in fact kill himself. That death was definitely assisted by the mainstream attacks on his work, which resulted in his his loss of reputation, job, job prospects, and eventually marriage and family, and finally before just his death, effective bankruptcy.
Please explain how “a number of those people that were close to Webb at the time of his death” not believing his death was assisted is a relevant piece of information that would somehow explain/convince you his 2-gunshots to the head death was unassisted.
Senate Hearings on Allegations of a CIA Connection to the Crack-Cocaine Epidemic
https://archive.org/details/SenateHearingOnAllegationsOfACIAConnectionToTheCrackCocaineEpidemic
Great report as always- this ties into the recent and very interesting documentary on Netlix called 13th- about the 13th Amendment’s loophole that perpetuated slavery by enhancing the prison system.
You can thank LBJ for blowing the head off JFK, just in time for him to make changes to the Civil Rights Act was signed probably, followed by Nixon’s “War on Drugs”, followed by Bush’s privatization of the prison system in America, followed by the C.I.A’s targeting black communities for the crack/AIDS epidemic.
Seems like the freedoms of blacks in America has been continuously stymied since May 9, 1865.
James, Thank you for this video version of Gary Webb. It is timely with all the talk about “Fake News”.
The “suicide” reminded me of Terry Yeakey’s suicide..
QUOTE
“…According to the report, Terry slashed himself eleven times on both forearms before cutting his own throat twice near the jugular vein. Then, apparently seeking even a more private place to die, he crawled another mile of rough terrain away from his car and climbed a fence, before shooting himself in the head with a small caliber revolver. What appeared to be rope burns on his neck, handcuff bruises to his wrists, and muddy grass imbedded in his slash wounds strongly indicated that he had some help in traversing this final distance.”
“The bullet’s entrance wound was in the right temple, above the eye. It went through the policeman’s head and exited in the area of the left cheek, near the bottom of the ear lobe line. The trajectory was from a 40-45 degree angle above his head. There were no powder burns. No weapon was ever reported as found at the scene, but independent investigators speculated that had Yeakey shot himself with standard police issue – a Glock 9mm or a .357 Magnum – his head would have been far more destroyed than it apparently was….”
LINKS at Episode 140 https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-140-requiem-for-the-suicided-terrance-yeakey/
(start at 12:28)
OKC – A Conspiracy Theory
(5 minutes YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W6KlZd6Qic
https://www.corbettreport.com/okc-a-conspiracy-theory/
I have to say the “Dateline: CIA and the Crack Epidemic documentary” was a great piece of news journalism for mainstream America. I don’t think we’ll see docs like that on TV anytime soon.
The Black-Ops division of the C.I.A has always smuggled drugs and weapons…One only needs to Google and research – Air America (airline) –
I agree. The MainStreamMedia has gotten much, much worse.
Example: -VACCINES-
In 2001, the media was actually reporting about the harmful effects of vaccines. Here is a vaccine news video with a good friend of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlJI5JkklVg&feature=youtu.be&t=10s
Circa 2016, the MainStreamMedia vilifies anyone who talks about the harmful effects of vaccines.
If you want to read about the subversion of democracy and the CIA’s control of the USA and their illegal drug running ops, I suggest you read Doug Valentine’s “THE CIA AS ORGANIZED CRIME How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World.”
http://claritypress.com/Valentine.html
It’s a well-documented book and even if you think you know about the CIA, you really don’t, not until you read this book.
Valentine even shows how the CIA has taken control of the DEA, so they can run drugs into the USA and eliminate competition.
Webb was murdered by the same thugs who don’t like light shined on their sinister works. He was shot twice, once in the jaw, which is the old Mafia signal to others to keep their mouth shut.
I’ll second the recommendation for the book, but it’s appropriate here to note that in the couple instances where Valentine mentions Webb’s death in passing, he shows no incredulity about the reported cause of death; e.g. he says simply that “Webb committed suicide in 2004.”
Audio recordings of Valentine’s interviews with several CIA officers, including William Colby, are available at Cryptocomb.
An older but still valuable resource is Alfred McCoy’s The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia.
Thanks a lot for posting this graceful requiem for G. Webb.
I’ve seen the movie “Kill the Messenger” one year ago – and I liked it. Because when I was young – in the eighties – I did not know, that he has been the journalist who investigated on this.
Anyway, what really called my attention in James’ Podcast was to see Garry Webb himself telling his story. And for that I am especially thankful.
I then realised that there is a meaningfull coincidence of the family name ‘Webb’ (= Weaver) and the impact that his story had because of the WWWEB (at 16:50: https://youtu.be/FS-oNTe9kwE?t=16m50s).
Let’s honor him by keeping his name and his courage alive!
I’d heard this episode a number of years ago, and agreed that somebody who wasn’t in favour with the CIA who shot them self twice in the head strained all credulity, but hadn’t read about this myself at all.
I’d like to recommend the book “Kill the messenger” by Nick Schou. This book is considerably different than the (superficial) movie by the same name and covers:
– the author’s admission to suppressing evidence of CIA involvement in drug trade in his own writing so that he didn’t end up as another Gary Webb.
– Webb’s history in journalism
– the research and publication of the original newspaper series
– the spin that editing put on the story, and the constraints that the newspaper format imposed (in particular, the omission of details that provided entry points for attack by the mainstream sources)
– the mainstream responses to the article and their attacks on Webb
– the people involved in these attacks, including the names and backgrounds of those reporters that had connections with the CIA. Not all the names had CIA connections, but it was interesting to find names like James Risen in the mix.
– the personal issues and depression that Webb had after loosing his job and marriage. In particular, it makes a very good case for Webb’s suicide not being assisted, including a specific first person interview with one of Webb’s friends who stated to her on the phone a few days before his death that he was preparing for suicide (esp. selling his house to resolve financial issues) and had a gun in his hand while they talked.
It was my recollection that you had stated that Webb “shot himself twice in the back of the head”, but listening to podcast 117 again, you did not state this. I do not know where I got that impression. Schou asserts that Webb managed to shoot himself
once in the cheek, then a second time in another part of the head, missing vitals, and eventually died by bleeding out. He also talked to a number of those people that were close to Webb at the time of his death, and reports that all of these people did not believe that his death was assisted.
This book is very thorough, and informative. After reading it, I am comfortable with the mainstream assertion that Webb did in fact kill himself. That death was definitely assisted by the mainstream attacks on his work, which resulted in his his loss of reputation, job, job prospects, and eventually marriage and family, and finally before just his death, effective bankruptcy.
peeter.joot,
Please explain how “a number of those people that were close to Webb at the time of his death” not believing his death was assisted is a relevant piece of information that would somehow explain/convince you his 2-gunshots to the head death was unassisted.