More on Webb

Dave from Center for an Informed America...I mean an anonymous reader, sent me this link to Mike Ruppert's site and his opinions about Gary Webb's recent death/murder/suicide. He derides "journalists" for leaping to conclusions that just because it was two shots to the head and Webb spent his career exposing the CIA that it was a hit job. I guess Ruppert's was a friend of Webb's, so he has some insider knowledge. And, evidently, Webb was depressed. With friend's like Ruppert who proclaim that the only way to avoid massive human die-off from "peak oil" is to go ahead and begin pre-emptively committing systematic genocide...err..."population reduction", one might be a tad blue.

Now first off, though I do, in fact, have journalistic training, this blog is certainly not journalism. It doesn't even rise to the level of Gonzo journalism. Maybe Bonzo journalism...I can accept that. I'm capable of good investigative reporting, but I've had an awful lot on my plate as regular readers know, so I've confined myself to commenting on what others have written or giving quick takes on events as they happen and maybe noticing a few oddities here and there.

So Ruppert isn't talking about me. But here's what I think. The story is that Webb was dismayed that he was no longer getting mainstream media jobs after his expose on the CIA was trashed by the mainstream media (despite the fact that much of what he said was vindicated in later reports and even CIA documents and internal investigations.) Let's accept that this was the case and let us learn from it. If you are thinking of becoming a top rate investigative journalist, you should know a few things.

First off, the CIA, in significant ways, controls much of the mainstream media. With hundreds of journalists on their payroll, a few phone calls can usually get a story placed. Another tactic is to get a story placed in a small foreign paper and then have it picked up into the "giant Wurlitzer" as I think Ralph McGehee called it.

Secondly, most all of the media is owned by large corporations, who really don't like establishment threatening stories. To dis the rogue CIA agent is fine, but let's not say that CIA nastiness is a matter of standing government policy.

Third, is that even some organs of the "left" are compromised for reasons that are pretty complicated. An easy one to grasp is that some of the foundations that provide funding to "left" causes are actually pretty establishment and work to keep those ole lefties from going too far. You can also spend a great deal of time reading about the KPFK battles and the battles of the Pacifica network with what, to all intents and purposes, look like corporate raiders trying to gut the place of any relevant content. And some of them like to pretend they work for the CIA, like David Corn of the Nation.

Also, you should know, before you make this move into truly revolutionary journalism, that the CIA, does, in fact, assassinate people. They even have manuals on how to do it.

You can also look at the death of David Kelly in England. While he was no doubt killed by local intelligence, it will give you an idea of how these things work. The suicide cover story there, however, is starting to fall apart as even the paramedics say that suicide could not have been the cause of death.

So, if you are going to do investigative journalism....REAL investigative journalism, please do not expect to work for large, mainstream newspapers ever again. I'm sorry, but that's the way it will work until the revolution comes. Then, depending on who wins the revolution, you'll have the right to publish freely or will be summarily executed.

Now, it seems to me that Webb would have realized this too. I'm sorry if he persisted with the delusion that his story was going to be his entree into bigtime journalism. Perhaps he didn't uncover the CIA/media connections when he was investigating the CIA/drug connections. But I doubt this. I'm sure he understood the way the real world works.

Webb would surely also have realized how his death would be interpreted by his many admirers and followers. Probably some of the very people who were in his circle of contacts have been suicided in ways closely resembling the way he allegedly decided to take his own life. He surely saw through the David Kelly story. He understood about Danny Casolaro and his "suicide" for exposing similar sorts of dealings.

So it is a little surprising to me that Webb would take his life in such a way. It's possible he thought the suicide notes would eliminate such suspicions, but those would never be public. Or perhaps he wanted people to think he was assassinated to add a certain heroic romance to his legacy. However, the details of the death scene suggested he was making it easy for the cops to make a finding of suicide.

Anyway, if you get into this business, you must pledge not to commit suicide as it REALLY, REALLY frightens other reporters who might want to do similar stories. If we can't be sure that you weren't assassinated, it tends to have a CHILLING EFFECT on future such reporting. Like when the mob knocks off one witness before a trial. The others tend to go into hiding.

Strange that Gary wouldn't have thought of that aspect of things. But you must be aware of it and you must never commit suicide in a way that looks like a CIA hit. Since they can kill you in so many ways, you'll have to forego suicide altogether.

I, myself, hereby firmly pledge NEVER to kill myself except, perhaps, in the event of well documented terminal illness. So if I end up on the losing end of a bullet race, please know it weren't me what done it.

Now, as for Ruppert, as always, he can go to hell. It is quite natural that one would make certain assumptions when an anti-CIA journalist allegedly kills himself with two shots to the head. Especially given the number of politically helpful deaths in recent years (yeah...Wellstone's plane went down in an accident. Whatever.). Not that Ruppert would mind, of course, as his agenda for the reduction of the human population is far more ambitious.

Hey, you know what just occurred to me? If we really do run out of oil, there are lots of people on this planet who'll be just fine. There are billions of people on this planet who already survive at a near subsistence level with no use of oil whatsoever! They're gonna make it. It's the people in the gas guzzling countries that will have problems. I guess Ruppert wants to make sure the RIGHT people experience the die off.

But as I was saying, such mysterious deaths are racking up these days. Microbiologists are dropping like flies, for example. I don't know why. (Start here to get started. One of them was whacked...err, committed suicide while attending a conference right here in Tennessee. Drove his car the wrong way over a bridge and then just hopped into the Mississippi. )

So we are a bit on edge. Then we hear from Alex Jones that Rick Ross was a source for information that Webb was being harrassed by gov't types who were even burgling his home. However, Rick Ross is a known drug dealer AND a known Negro, so his testimony is obviously irrelevant. However, in case you think that a drug dealer directly involved in the CIA drug running uncovered by Webb might actually have some useful information, you can check out Jones' website. This link is to his rebuttal of Ruppert.

Anyway, I couldn't go investigate the scene of the crime myself, but it sure looked like a message was being sent. And the vitriol of Ruppert's attacks make me suspect that perhaps I was right.