“I was you once. Gary, I started down this road. Though nowhere near as far as you are. When they saw I wasn’t gonna stop, they ‘controversialized’ me. Do you have any idea what I’m talking about? They make *you* the story. And you have a history of schizophrenia, you’re a liar, you’re a homo, you beat your dog, you’re a pedophile, it doesn’t matter if none of it’s true. The point is no one remembers what you found. They remember you and you’re nuts. You cease to exist.”
Fred Weil
Kill the Messenger
December 10 2023 — On December 10 2004, investigative journalist Gary Webb, the Pulitzer prize-winning reporter who broke the story of the CIA’s involvement in the importation of cocaine into the U.S., died of two .38 caliber gunshot wounds to the head. Quite logically, the coroner ruled the death a suicide. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
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“Gary Webb was MURDERED.”
FBI senior special agent
Ted Gunderson
UPDATE (December 10 2023) — Once again, I asked ChatGPT what is the story of Gary Webb. Here is the answer.
Intel Today — Tell me about investigative journalist Gary Webb.
ChatGPT — Gary Webb was an investigative journalist who gained prominence for his reporting on the CIA’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking. In a three-part series titled “Dark Alliance,” published in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996, Webb detailed how the CIA, during the 1980s, had supported Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who were accused of smuggling cocaine into the United States.
Webb’s reporting suggested that the proceeds from drug sales were used to fund the Contras, who were fighting the leftist government in Nicaragua. The series implicated the CIA in facilitating the drug trade, contributing to the crack cocaine epidemic in the United States.
However, Webb’s reporting faced intense criticism and pushback from other major news outlets, and he was accused of overreaching in his conclusions. The controversy surrounding his work led to a reevaluation of the story, and Webb’s career suffered as a result.
In 2004, Gary Webb died from two gunshot wounds to the head in what was officially ruled a suicide. His death fueled conspiracy theories, with some suggesting foul play due to his controversial reporting. While Webb’s reporting was criticized for certain inaccuracies and conclusions, his work also sparked important discussions about the ethics of intelligence agencies and their involvement in covert operations.
The broader issue of the Contra-Cocaine connection and its impact on American communities is a complex and controversial chapter in recent history, touching on geopolitics, drug policy, and journalistic integrity. Webb’s story remains a subject of interest and debate among journalists, historians, and those interested in the intersections of government, journalism, and the drug trade.
Intel Today — Did he commit suicide?
ChatGPT — Yes, Gary Webb died on December 10, 2004, from two gunshot wounds to the head. His death was officially ruled a suicide by the coroner’s office.
You probably noticed that ChatGPT does not mention the Pulitzer prize and does not find anything suspicious about two gunshot wounds… What do you think?
END of UPDATE
“Authentic journalism is telling people something that the government doesn’t want them to know.”
Gary Webb
(August 31, 1955
– – –
December 10, 2004)
“Gary Webb was MURDERED,” concluded FBI senior special agent Ted Gunderson in 2005.
“Webb resisted the first shot [to the head that exited via jaw] so he was shot again with the second shot going into the brain.”
FBI Gunderson regards the theory that Webb could have managed to shoot himself twice as “impossible!”
Gary Webb & the “Dark Alliance” series
“I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests.
And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been.
The reason I’d enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn’t been, as I’d assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job.
The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn’t written anything important enough to suppress.”
The CIA & The Media
In September 2014, the CIA released a trove of documents spanning three decades of secret government operations.
Culled from the agency’s in-house journal, Studies in Intelligence, the materials include a previously unreleased six-page article titled “Managing a Nightmare: CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story.”
Looking back on the weeks immediately following the publication of “Dark Alliance,” the document offers a unique window into the CIA’s internal reaction to what it called “a genuine public relations crisis” while revealing just how little the agency ultimately had to do to swiftly extinguish the public outcry. [The Intercept]
Controversial Legacy… According to Wikipedia!
Most serious people believe that Wikipedia is useless when it comes to such stories. I disagree. This magnificent disinformation website tells you which way you must not look…
The “Dark Alliance” series remains controversial. Critics view the series’ claims as inaccurate or overstated, while supporters point to the results of a later CIA investigation as vindicating the series.
Criticism has also been directed at the follow-up reporting in the Los Angeles Times and other papers for focusing on problems in the series rather than re-examining the earlier CIA-Contra claims. [WIKIPEDIA]
Seriously?
How Crack Funded a CIA War: Gary Webb Interview on the Contras and Ronald Reagan (1996)
“Investigative reporter Gary Webb was widely smeared by the MSM shortly after this interview. He was eventually vindicated, but not before his career was destroyed. He was found dead of an apparent suicide in 2004. The price of being a whistleblower?” [Strategic Culture]
MOVIE: “Kill the Messenger”
“Kill the Messenger” is a 2014 American crime thriller film directed by Michael Cuesta and written by Peter Landesman.
It is based on the book of the same name by Nick Schou and the book Dark Alliance by Gary Webb which focuses on CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking.
The film stars Jeremy Renner in his first film as a producer. The film was released on October 10, 2014. [WIKIPEDIA]
TRAILER
REFERENCES
Managing a Nightmare — How the CIA watched over the destruction of Gary Webb — The Intercept
Charlene Fassa, “Gary Webb: More Pieces in the Suicided Puzzle,” Rense.com, December 11, 2005.
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On This Day — Remembering Gary Webb “DARK ALLIANCE” (August 31 1955 – December 10 2004)
Intel Today 