Don Wyclliff is the public editor for the Chicago Tribune. Much of his column is usually devoted to defending his paper's editorial board's right-wing slant, which he usually does with a fair amount of grace and modesty.
But his
1/6/05 column drops what I consider to be something of a bombshell.
Gary Webb was the San Jose Mercury News reporter who uncovered the CIA/Contra/Cocaine story in a series of articles in 1996.
Webb was hung out to dry by his own industry and-surprisingly-the CIA cleared itself of the charges. Webb died recently, apparently a suicide.
Wycliffe says Webb was right.
I think he got the treatment that always comes to those who dare question aloud the bona fides of the establishment: First he got misrepresented--his suggestion that the CIA tolerated the contras' cocaine trading became an allegation that the agency itself was involved in the drug trade. Then he was ridiculed as a conspiracy-monger--joked one commentator, Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, "Oliver Stone, check your voice mail." In the end, Webb was rendered untouchable.
The CIA was tasked with helping the contras, a group President Ronald Reagan had declared the moral equivalent of America's founding fathers. So intent was the Reagan-Bush administration on assuring the survival and success of the contras that it attempted an illegal bargain with the hated mullahs of Iran in order to benefit the Nicaraguans.
Now, you're a CIA agent who must decide whether to blow the whistle on some of your charges for supplementing their budget by trading in cocaine on the side--or just turn your head and not "see" anything. Between the contras, beloved of the president, and some black gangsters in L.A. (we won't talk about the zoned-out, zonked-out end users), who is the more expendable?
Read the entire piece, and if you are so inclined, e-mail Wycliffe with your appreciation.