Those Wild C.I.A./Drug Charges
The C.I.A./contra/drug connection investigated by the San Jose Mercury News on August 18, 19 and 20 continues to elicit elaborate counterattacks. On October 4 The Washington Post's Robert Suro and Walter Pincus huffed and puffed for many thousands of words, to the effect that the Mercury News had gotten it all wrong. On October 21 Tim Golden took up an entire page of The New York Times, to the general effect that blacks are a paranoid bunch, ever credulous when ingesting charges that the C.I.A. promoted the crack plague via shipments of cocaine handled by contra leaders. On October 20-22 the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post syndicate put out yet another story brooding sadly on the C.I.A./drug accusations and Internet rumors, even attacking the Mercury News Web site.
Evidence for C.I.A. conniving at drug smuggling is thick on the ground. But no establishment paper is ever going to ratify such claims. Back in 1987 Keith Schneider wrote three articles in The New York Times similarly dismissing charges of contra drug running. He later explained his performance to In These Times (for August 5, 1987) by saying, "This story can shatter a republic. I think it is so damaging, the implications are so extraordinary, that for us to run the story, it had better be based on the most solid evidence we can amass."
It's the same with attempts to assassinate foreign leaders. The United States has tried to kill Chou En-lai, Fidel Castro, Patrice Lumumba, Muammar Qaddafi and Saddam Hussein. There are probably others. In some cases the evidence is overpowering and irrefutable. But time after time you see in the press those familiar phrases bowing and scraping, to the effect that "conclusive proof is lacking" or "little more than suspicions have ever surfaced."
Linkage:
From the San Jose Mercury News:
Dark Alliance: The Story Behind the Crack Explosion by Gary Webb, San Jose Mercury News staff writer.
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