I just checked. As I begin writing, fauxreal's
diary "Investigative Reporter Gary Webb is dead" has scrolled down to #96 in the list of recent dKos diaries, and I'm still deeply saddened by the tragic loss of the courageous Mr. Webb.
This morning Democracy Now! reported on Webb's untimely death and replayed a May 20, 1998 interview with the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.
Was a sytematic campaign to discredit Webb (and his work) unleashed because of the explosive nature of the facts that he uncovered and reported?
In July 1998 the same New York Times that participated in the insideous attacks on Webb "reported the CIA's own investigation of its activities revealed that agency officials knew that the Nicaraguan contras they were working with were running drugs." Webb was vindicated by the Inspector General of the C.I.A. but apologies to Webb were not forthcoming.
Webb's vindication was not noted in the obituaries that I read. On the contrary, Reuter's continues the campaign to diminish the journalist's work by leading with these words:
"A journalist who won national attention with a series of
later-discredited articles linking the CIA with the spread of crack cocaine in Los Angeles has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound..."
[emphsis added]
Please note that in the comments posted to fauxreal's diary there is discussion of Webb dying from from gunshots [plural] to the head. I suspect that the "s" following gunshot was probably someone's typo. I also suspect that foulplay may have occured. Mr. Webb upset many ruthless individuals.
UPDATE: 11:30 am
Don Paul wrote:
"Gary Webb joins Mark Lombardi, J.H. Hatfield, and Danny Casalaro as the fourth 'suicide'by a researcher who had a detailed understanding of the structure and function of the Bush crime family."
Here is a past Brasscheck report on this:
July 9, 2002
Beyond Harken Energy
An exquisitely drawn diagram called "George Bush,
Harken Energy, and Jackson Stephens . c 1979-90"
created in 1999 by artist Mark Lombardi shows that
through, his father and James R. Bath, George W. Bush Jr.
had direct connections to or did business some of
the following:
* Sheik Salim bin Laden, relative and mentor to Osama bin Laden
* Sheik Abdullah Taha Bakhsh, whose financial projects included
BCCI, S.A. and Harken Energy
* Jackson Stephens of Arkansas, patron of Bill Clinton and
other criminal enterprises
Lombardi created a number of pieces which graphically revealed
well documented but little known connections between the crooks
of the world. On the verge of a major career breakthrough (his
works had just been acquired by and shown by the Whitney), Lombardi
reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself.
Like Bush biographer J.H. Hatfield ("Favored Son) and
investigative journalist Danny Casalaro who had nearly
completed a book on Bush, BCCI and other topics, Lombardi
was reportedly a 'troubled' individual who become
unbalanced by the prospect of succeeding at his life's
ambition.
Hatfield's suicide: http://www.salon.com/politics/red/2001/07/20/blue/
Casalaro's suicide:
http://www.constitution.org/col/octocaso.htm
The manuscript of the book Casalaro was working
on has never been found.
Articles about Lombardi from the art world, including scans
of his works, here:
http://www.albany.edu/museum/wwwmuseum/work/lombardi/
http://www.pierogi2000.com/flatfile/lombardi.html
http://www.wburg.com/0202/arts/lombardi.html