Dark Alliance and Gary Webb

[Dancing David]

I read on FAIR on a regular basis. They have recently had a lot of stories about how Gary/Richard Webb was torpedoed by the mainstream press for saying that the CIA was involved in the importation of cocaine to fund the Contras.

I so I went to the website for the publisher
Seven Stories Press

and looked at their blurb on the book which echos the same sentiment

It is important to note that the objections to the "Dark Alliance" series were obscure and unsubstantiated, and that when the book Dark Alliance was published it was highly praised not only in the alternative press but also in the mainstream media-including several of the same publications, such as the Washington Post, that had earlier attacked Webb for sloppy journalism. That Gary was vilified on Page One of the New York Times and the Washington Post is something many people still remember. That both papers ultimately treated Webb's book with due respect is forgotten. That Webb's own newspaper distanced itself from the "Dark Alliance" story is remembered. That the Justice Department's formal internal investigation largely confirmed Webb's own conclusions is hardly mentioned. That Webb won a Pulitzer Prize as part of a team reporting on the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake is another salient fact that hasn't been mentioned in many stories.

Questions:
1. Have you read Dark Alliance?

2. How can we trust what the CIAays about itself?

3. Is this just another conspiracy story?