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CIA, crack, Contras CT?

jimtron

Illuminator
jimtron
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Messages
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The LA Times has an article about the CT involving the CIA, Contra Rebels, and crack cocaine in the U.S.:

The three-part series by reporter Gary Webb linked the CIA and Nicaragua's Contras to the crack cocaine epidemic that ripped through South Los Angeles in the 1980s.

Most of the nation's elite newspapers at first ignored the story. A public uproar, especially among urban African Americans, forced them to respond. What followed was one of the most bizarre, unseemly and ultimately tragic scandals in the annals of American journalism, one in which top news organizations closed ranks to debunk claims Webb never made, ridicule assertions that turned out to be true and ignore corroborating evidence when it came to light. The whole shameful cycle was repeated when Webb committed suicide in December 2004.
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pipelineaudio said:
This one is near and dear to slag fairy hearts...dont expect to see too much debunking
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Why not tell people what "slag fairy" means, instead of making them search for the meaning?

Here's what you and andyandy say it means: "Secular Liberal Anti-American Group Find America and Isreal Really Yucky"

Is that your characterization of everyone here except you and andyandy?

If this issue interests you, and you have some debunking to do, why not dispense with insults and present your case?
 
Ain't no slag fairy (well, maybe the "L") , and don't know much about the details of Webb's story. But the following quote gives me pause (bolding mine):

...What followed was one of the most bizarre, unseemly and ultimately tragic scandals in the annals of American journalism, one in which top news organizations closed ranks to debunk claims Webb never made, ridicule assertions that turned out to be true and ignore corroborating evidence when it came to light...
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From what I've seen, news organizations never close ranks -- they're at each other's throats in fierce competition. If a story has even the whiff of authenticity, and has the potential to draw eyeballs to the news provider, someone will run with it, the sooner the better. As soon as I see a theory that requires mass collusion on the part of the news industry, I immediately become extremely suspicious.
 
Gravy said:
Why not tell people what "slag fairy" means, instead of making them search for the meaning?

Here's what you and andyandy say it means: "Secular Liberal Anti-American Group Find America and Isreal Really Yucky"

Is that your characterization of everyone here except you and andyandy?

If this issue interests you, and you have some debunking to do, why not dispense with insults and present your case?
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As reported sighting of the mythical SLAG FAIRY have begun to increase again, I think it's time to ink to this.
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58937
 
And a 1998 article from Mother Jones has a summary of story (and the various stages of its reporting) at http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/total_coverage/coke.html .

Don't forget that the charges that the contras had drug-smuggling ties got to the level of a Senate committee investigation (Kerry, 1987). Webb took things a bit farther, suggesting that this drug-smuggling was what brought crack to L.A. That may be an overstatement, but I am not familiar enough with the story to say.

But also watch out for some folks on the edge of the contra-cocaine story. In the 1990's, you will get a Michael Ruppert and a Cynthia McKinney interested in this. And Peter Dale Scott has a bit of a conspiracy theory habit, as well.
 
Who is she?

(And why do I picture that weird girl-queen from Neverending Story???)
 
I don;t think there's any doubt that the CIA associated with some pretty disreputable people in the 1980's in the name of fighting "communism" in Latin America. And when your friends are disreputable, they're bound to do disreputable things. I have no trouble believing that the CIA knew they were in bed with some pretty disgusting people. Beyond that, I'd need to see a little more proof of actual government involvement in the drug trade.
 
Loss Leader said:
I don;t think there's any doubt that the CIA associated with some pretty disreputable people in the 1980's in the name of fighting "communism" in Latin America. And when your friends are disreputable, they're bound to do disreputable things. I have no trouble believing that the CIA knew they were in bed with some pretty disgusting people. Beyond that, I'd need to see a little more proof of actual government involvement in the drug trade.
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I completely agree with this analysis. To take it the major step further and say that the CIA had an active hand in bringing crack to LA is another matter. Also part of the allegations by the Times was that they specifically targeted black people, which adds another level of conspiracy-ness that would require strong evidence.
 
CurtC said:
I completely agree with this analysis. To take it the major step further and say that the CIA had an active hand in bringing crack to LA is another matter. Also part of the allegations by the Times was that they specifically targeted black people, which adds another level of conspiracy-ness that would require strong evidence.
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Not to mention, this one doesn't even have a motive. Even the 9/11 conspiracy garbage claims a motive to why the Evil Government did it. It's the same stretch to say "well they were just a bunch of racists" as it is to say the government blew up the levees in New Orleans "because they hate black people."

That's the only reason I can think of for "the CIA" (to speak of it as if it were the Borg like the CTs do). Getting blacks in Los Angeles hooked on some new cheap drug doesn't seem like it would help defeat Soviet communism, after all.
 
jimtron said:
I don't believe that Webb or anyone made such a claim--if I'm mistaken, please advise.
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The conspiracty theory is that the CIA deliberately introduced crack to blacks in South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s, but never gives a reason why. Since the CIA's main goal was operating against the Soviets, I can't think of a motive for them to do this.
 
http://planetquo.com/How-The-CIA-Created-The-Crack-Epidemic

Here's a site I found about it.

As I understood it they were using the profits from selling the crack to help finance the Cold War. They'd buy the crack cheap and sell it in ghettos. Why this worked was because it was cheap and powerfully addictive, and nobody of import really cared what went on there anyway.

I've also heard just to hold down the black man, but that's mostly on TV fiction and such.

According to that site, it was to combat Sandista in Nicaragua in order to keep the Soviets from getting a foothold there, and in order to finance that operation the CIA protected the drug dealers and the Contras and supplied them with cheap cocaine for a slice of the profits. Or something along those lines, it's there.

What doesn't make sense is to introduce a highly addictive drug and then start the "War on Drugs" which is expensive to maintain, and the high legal penalties for these drugs cost the government a lot in costs for imprisonment and the like. So the financing wars theory kind of falls apart when the government is spending significantly more on the War on Drugs than it could bring in selling crack.
 
The conspiracty theory is that the CIA deliberately introduced crack to blacks in South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s, but never gives a reason why. Since the CIA's main goal was operating against the Soviets, I can't think of a motive for them to do this.
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There may be an urban legend along those lines, but I'm not sure if Webb made quite that claim. As dirtywick pointed out, the motive was financing CIA operations. Not unlike selling arms to Iran to support the Contras.
 
dirtywick said:
http://planetquo.com/How-The-CIA-Created-The-Crack-Epidemic

Here's a site I found about it.

As I understood it they were using the profits from selling the crack to help finance the Cold War. They'd buy the crack cheap and sell it in ghettos. Why this worked was because it was cheap and powerfully addictive, and nobody of import really cared what went on there anyway.

I've also heard just to hold down the black man, but that's mostly on TV fiction and such.

According to that site, it was to combat Sandista in Nicaragua in order to keep the Soviets from getting a foothold there, and in order to finance that operation the CIA protected the drug dealers and the Contras and supplied them with cheap cocaine for a slice of the profits. Or something along those lines, it's there.

What doesn't make sense is to introduce a highly addictive drug and then start the "War on Drugs" which is expensive to maintain, and the high legal penalties for these drugs cost the government a lot in costs for imprisonment and the like. So the financing wars theory kind of falls apart when the government is spending significantly more on the War on Drugs than it could bring in selling crack.
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I'd love to see how that kickback system would have worked. How would the money get from the dealers to Langley? How would the CIA keep that network from talking?
 
Source: http://themoderatevoice.com/16490/clinton-new-hampshire-campaign-bigwig-raises-obama-drug-issue/
There are a bunch of other super books where you can read about the bipartisan Bush/Clinton drug scandals of the 1980's:

1) Powerburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug War by former DEA agent Celerino Castillo, III
2) Dark Alliance by Gary Webb
3) Barry and the Boys: the CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History by Daniel Hopsicker
Edited by Locknar: 
Edited, breach of rule 4.

13) Called to Serve by James “Bo” Gritz

Also, google the "The Crimes of Mena" by Sally Denton and Roger Morris which they had to publish in Penthouse in July, 1995 because the establishment Washington Post spiked this extremely embarrassing story to folks like Clinton and Bush #41. Another book to get is The Secret Life of Bill Clinton by Ambrose Evans Pritchard. Read that book and you will get a taste on how corrupt the Clintons are. L.D. Brown, Bill's favorite state trooper wrote a book called Crossfire: Witness in the Clinton Investigation in 1999. L.D. tells us wild Bill was fully aware of his very good friend Dan Lasater's drug involvement in Mena. In reality, Dan Lasater was in charge of laundering the drug money along with the help of ADFA where Bob Nash worked.
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