Robert Parry: We All Failed Gary Webb

[laststeamtrain]

We All Failed Gary Webb

By Robert Parry
December 10, 2008 (A Special Report)

Since Gary Webb’s suicide four years ago, I have written annual retrospectives about the late journalist’s important contribution to the historical record -- he forced devastating admissions from the CIA about drug trafficking by the Nicaraguan contra rebels under the protection of the Reagan administration in the 1980s.

And each time I’ve written one of those stories, I have received e-mails attacking my acceptance of the fact that Webb committed suicide on the night of Dec. 9, 2004. Some people want to believe that he was really assassinated by the CIA or some other government agency.

But the evidence of his carefully planned suicide – as he suffered deep pain as a pariah in his profession who could no longer earn a living – actually points to something possibly even more tragic: Webb ended his life because people who should have supported his work simply couldn’t be bothered.

Though Gary Webb was horribly betrayed by his colleagues in the news business – and especially his editors at the San Jose Mercury News – he also was taken advantage of by people in the progressive movement, who sometimes exploited his celebrity by having him speak at their events for little or no money.

There is a deeply troubling attitude within the American progressive movement that it bears next to no responsibility for people who speak truth to power and suffer horrible consequences, as Webb did. While sometimes progressives cheer the heroism, they rarely back it up with anything sustainable.

More often than not, after the celebrity fades, the person is left to fend for him or herself as an outcast from a profession that pays a salary and lets a person support a family. Indeed, what happened to Gary Webb – and to other mainstream journalists who took chances in the name of truth – is a powerful object lesson to those left behind, to play it safe.

<more>

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/120908.html

[defendandprotect]

1. I doubt Gary Webb killed himself ...

Gary Webb was betrayed by corporate-media --

and politicians who turned away from him tho they knew the truth of

what he was saying. Why? Because no one has the power to bring truth

forward any longer. Only lies are carried forth.

[file83]

4. I find it hard to believe someone would shoot themselves TWICE in the head.

Of course, I don't know any of the details of the case, like the caliber gun, where his first shot was, the angle of the first shot, etc... But it just sounds very unusual.

[babylonsister]

2. Wow. nt

[grasswire]

3. the same thing happened to Robert Parry himself

He was blacklisted, and has had to beg for donations to keep his work afloat. I'm afraid he is right. There are others who've been largely abandoned, too.

[acmavm]

9. Isn't Chris Floyd having a hard time? I know he was

[grasswire]

13. I'm thinking about two others

Gene Lyons, and Dan Moldea. Both of them lost work because of their investigative reporting.

[acmavm]

21. I believe that's what hurt Floyd as well.

[truedelphi]

5. Journalists who write for progressive organizations and about progressive causes are

Expected to do it on their own dime.

When my fortunes went sour due to husband's illness, it was not those organizations I had helped, and all the high ideals they espoused that helped me, but RW neighbors whose Christian beliefs told them to be charitable. That charity kept us alive. A hard lesson to learn that "liberals" are liberal as long as it is the "gubmint" offering help to people. And as long as it is not out of their pocket...

[Demit]

10. Are you saying you had liberal neighbors who didn't help you?

Wouldn't that be the direct comparison to make? Otherwise, you are comparing neighbors (People who presumably had direct knowledge of your plight) with organizations. That's not a logical comparison.

[truedelphi]

19. People who headed organizations where I worked.

The other thing was, over the time I was an indie reporter, the free newspaper I worked for (The Coastal Post) faced this paradox - people on very little salaries would come through with donations - $ 6 here, $ 10 there, or even a $ 26 a year subscription.

Meanwhile the people I knew who lived in big homes and took yearly trips and put beaucoup cash into retirement would meet me on the street and complain that they had not gotten to read the newspaper because it took so much trouble to find the kiosk where it was offered up for free.

I'd always be amazed that the very people the newspaper relied on to survive had a million and one excuses as to why they couldn't subscribe, and a million and one dollars to go along with those excuses, but the guy living in his anchor out boat in Richardson Bay could scrape together the subscription money.

The people who are generous tend to be those who are disabled and/or impoverished themselves, the RW Christians etc. The RW supports its journalistic sources - they will have campaigns for people to runout and buy Ann COulter's books etc. (Not that Coutler needs the money.)

[w4rma]

6. This is true. Progressives tend not to help other progressives who put their necks on the line.

And *that* costs progressives more than *anything*. If you are a right-winger and you put your neck on the line, in a big way, they - at the very least - give you a place in a right-wing think tank where they'll pay you. But, I don't see wealthy progressives standing up to help whistle blowers or other progressives.

[defendandprotect]

18. I don't think that's true ... the right has had the power ....

the left does not have the power to bring truth forward ...

PLUS, Gary Webb was into one of the most dangerous subjects --

government involvement in drug selling --

[Truth2Tell]

7. K&R

I strongly recommend following the link and reading this whole article.

[laststeamtrain]

8. Wouldn't it be great if Olbermann had Parry on his show today?

That would be something.

[pberq]

11. CIA IG confirmed Webb's story

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/120908.html

. . .Though a number of factors contributed to Webb’s suicide, it was his inability to find meaningful work in his profession that pushed him into a deep depression. Eight years earlier, he had been forced out of his job at the San Jose Mercury News as a result of the ugly controversy that followed publication of his story about contra-cocaine trafficking.

That story prompted a fierce counterattack from major U.S. newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times which had all downplayed or dismissed the contra-cocaine scandal when it first arose in the mid-1980s. Unwilling to admit their earlier error, the big papers simply trashed Gary Webb.

With Webb and his story under fierce attack, the executives at the San Jose Mercury News found betraying their reporter a better course for their own careers. Webb was reassigned to a humiliating job and resigned in disgrace.

Even when the CIA inspector general issued his 1998 report, which confirmed much of what Webb had alleged and more, the Establishment newspapers refused to significantly revisit the issue. That would have been far too embarrassing for them, and they faced no powerful interests demanding that they correct their earlier flawed reporting.

[defendandprotect]

20. It is what I was trying to point out above ...

Even when the CIA inspector general issued his 1998 report, which confirmed much of what Webb had alleged and more, the Establishment newspapers refused to significantly revisit the issue. That would have been far too embarrassing for them, and they faced no powerful interests demanding that they correct their earlier flawed reporting.

and I've emphasized that point in quote above --

Same, too, with JFK coup -- no one has power to bring the evidence forward --

but thanks to many private investigators and insider info, plus Tunnheim Panel,

the evidence is there.

Coming back to what Gary Webb revealed of this very dangerous subject ...

this government involvement seems to have always been of high interest --

from Golden Triangle/VN with no end as yet.

And certainly Drug War was/is used to entrap African Americans -- and to fill up

prisons. A threat to us all---

[bertman]

12. This is a sad statement about our "liberal values". But I think it reflects a systemic ignorance

about the plight of the journalists we are discussing: Gary Webb, Robert Parry, and now on this thread I'm hearing about truedelphi.

How are us average progressives going to know who these folks are and that they need help?

Sounds like we need some kind of clearinghouse that can serve as a central qualifying mechanism to determine who is in need and how to help them. I for one am always skeptical of appeals for charity because there are so many charlatans who abuse our tendency to be compassionate. So, having a group that validated the need would be a very positive development.

I am more than willing to "tithe" to help these courageous individuals to keep us informed of the "shadow government" and how it is affecting us and the world. Since I'm not inclined toward that vocation, nor trained for it, I'll just do my part by helping finance those who are inclined and qualified.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I'd love to hear feedback from DU'ers about how this might work. And if they would support it.

Truedelphi, I'm not alibiing here (at least I hope not) when I say that many of us in the Progressive base do not even know these folks, much less live near them, so we are not aware that they need help. I am so glad that your neighbors truly do unto others as they would have them do unto them.
Are you and your hubby still in dire straits?

[Doctor_J]

14. Another of the many lives ruined/ended by the BFEE just for telling the truth

RIP

[frylock]

15. dark alliance..

if you haven't read it, you should.

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Alliance-Contras-Cocaine-Explosion/dp/1888363932/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228933429&sr=8-1

[robertpaulsen]

16. K & R. Gary Webb was a real American hero.

:kick:

[digidigido]

17. Horribly True Post

A friend of mine once defined Power as the ability to provide work. He's a pretty powerful guy himself, and I think he's correct.
By that definition, speaking truth to power practically guarantees living in poverty. I did a job as a favor for a very progressive
organization, and I remember asking them to do something courageous that would have cost them nothing. They were too
scared to do it. They would make films that would challenge the government, but wouldn't help their own. It leaves a sour taste.
Right wingers for all their crazy politics do get one thing, they are in it together. It would be great if progressives could
remember that, but it is harder for us in some ways, we don't have the resources and entrenched money of conservatives.
That should however only make us have a stronger commitment to each other