WashPost served the CIA by slamming Gary Webb

Which is to say that the WashPost helped destroy him.

They owe his family, and this nation, a profound apology, and more.

(Be sure also to read the excerpt, below, from Ryan Grim’s new book.)

MCM

WaPo Covered For CIA In Iran-Contra Crack Scandal
Jason Linkins

Over at The Root, you can read an excerpt of my colleague, Ryan Grim’s book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History Of Getting High In America. A particularly juicy one, at that: the incredible true story of two newspapers, sparring over the story of Nicaraguan Contras, inner-city drug dealers, and the way the whole thing eventually evolved into a tidy little tale of a “victimized” black community, under the thrall of paranoia.

Most people experienced the journalism this way: The San Jose Mercury News broke open “the story of the connection between L.A. crack dealers and the U.S.-funded Nicaraguan Contras.” A month later, the Washington Post tore the Mercury News up. Grim says, “The Washington Post, while it launched its assault on the Mercury News, had facts at its disposal demonstrating that the story was accurate.” And he goes on to document a fascinating internal struggle at the Post, between reporter Douglas Farah, on the ground in Nicaragua, and the DC-based National Security Reporter Walter Pincus:

Pincus says he didn’t actually disagree with Webb’s thesis–that the Contras were running drugs–but rather objected to the idea that the CIA was running drugs. Webb had reported, rather, that the Contras were a CIA-backed army but didn’t pin the trafficking on them directly. “To me, it was no great shock that some of the people the agency was dealing with were also drug dealers. But the idea that the agency was then running the drug program was totally different.”

Read more.

Originally posted:
WashPost served the CIA by slamming Gary Webb

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