The CIA, the MSM and the politics of drugs, guns, money and the news

In a sense Webb's revelations were not ground-breaking, yet it was as much about timing as anything that his exposures attracted so much attention. Similar previous revelations by journalists Robert Parry and Brian Barger in the mid-1980s during then-President Ronald Reagan's reign were nipped in the bud or generally failed to gain any traction. The execrable Contras, of course, were Reagan's favourite "freedom fighters," yet it was his wife Nancy who was the most high-profile anti-drug campaigner of the era. "Just say no [to drugs]" anyone? It simply would not have been a good look to have such CIA-Contra-cocaine connections revealed to the wider public.

The Original Cocaine Cowboys

Now for those vaguely familiar with the intrigues of America's premier black-ops and "dirty tricks" brand, none of this is likely to come as any great surprise. What is less well known is the MSM's complicity in covering up (or at least turning a blind eye to) this operational facet of this most enterprising of U.S. government organizations. These include – but are hardly exclusive to – such venerable bastions of responsible, fair and accurate reportage such as the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the New York Times. And that's just the print media!

In short, the MSM was not interested in Parry and Barger's earlier revelations or initially in those of Webb's. Again, not unusual, as anyone familiar with the corporate media's longstanding, incestuous ties to the intelligence and national security communities. Operation Mockingbird anyone?

In a biography of the Washington Post's long-time publisher, Katharine Graham, entitled Katharine the Great, author Deborah Davis quotes a CIA operative discussing with Graham's husband, Phil Graham, the ease of getting journalists to write CIA propaganda and cover stories: "You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month."

That media monoliths have indeed gone out of their way to disparage and bully smaller, less influential media outlets and even destroy the careers and lives of those people who dared to reveal these activities to the broader public is something that is well documented if not widely known. And what they did to Gary Webb was possibly the best if not the most extreme example of it.

Yet by the time Webb began raising the issue again around the mid-1990s, the cocaine epidemic was not only in full swing (as was the so-called War on Drugs), it was dawning on folk just how destructive an impact it was having especially on the poorer inner city communities across America. The chickens had come home to roost, and the story sent shockwaves of rage and indignation across America's urban minority communities in particular.

Although Reagan was long out of office by this time, the Gipper's already tarnished legacy over the related arms-for-hostages Iran-Contra scandal would have taken another major hit had Webb's allegations gained traction in mainstream media circles and then the wider public, which at one point it looked like they would. After all, it all went down on Reagan's watch.

Moreover, Webb's revelations occurred just as the Internet was assuming a more prominent, influential role in the dissemination of major news stories. This development signaled a game changer in the means by which the broader public could access news outside the purview of the MSM. It's fair to say the MSM was threatened by this.

Of even greater concern to the CIA, was not so much Reagan's legacy but the Agency's own reputation. Webb's revelations were a warning to the CIA that serious blowback was a-brewing, and its PR team had to do something drastic about. No problem there – the CIA understood "blowback," especially where it might affect the Agency's credibility.

It was one thing having a rep for removing duly elected leaders from office by whatever means necessary including assassination; fomenting revolution in Third World countries by engaging in destabilizing black operations and propaganda; and conspiring to initiate regime change by funding right-wing death squads. But to be seen having a direct hand in – or even an indirect connection to – the drug epidemic that was sweeping America was another thing altogether. This was a little too close to home, and could well have been a game changer for the Agency. And not in a good way for the folks at Langley!

As indicated, the CIA's previous connection to the drug trade had already been documented at least two decades earlier, none more so than in Alfred McCoy'sThe Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, published in 1971. This seminal book demonstrated what its title promised, but it covered the Vietnam War era and the CIA's involvement in the heroin drug trade in Southeast Asia. At the time of Webb's series, it was all about cocaine - and crack cocaine - the source of which was South and Central America during the time of the Nicaraguan conflict. So in a sense, same cowboy, different horse!