grist for the mill

R.I.P. Gary Webb -- Unembedded Reporter: "Webb reported that U.S. law enforcement agents complained that the CIA had squelched drug probes of Blandon and his partner Norwin Meneses in the name of 'national security.' Blandon's drugs flowed into L.A. and elsewhere thanks to the legendary 'Freeway' Ricky Donnell Ross, a supplier of crack to the Crips and Bloods gangs.
While Webb's series could be faulted for some overstatement in presenting its powerful new evidence (a controversial graphic on the Mercury News website superimposed a person smoking crack over the CIA seal), the fresh documentation mightily moved forward the CIA-Contra-cocaine story that national media had been trying to bury for years. Any exaggeration in the Mercury News presentation was dwarfed by a mendacious, triple-barreled attack on Webb that came from the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
The Post and others criticized Webb for referring to the Contras of the so-called Nicaraguan Democratic Force as 'the CIA's army' -- an absurd objection since by all accounts, including those of Contra leaders, the CIA set up the group, selected its leaders and paid their salaries, and directed its day-to-day battlefield strategies. "