Customer Reviews

Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion

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How did this happen to Gary webb? A prize winning reporter,a middle of the road news reporter from a conservative stable backround suddenly becomes the pariah of the press? I read this book with great trepidition,seeing the JFK conspiracy folks running around ...well, i was surprised, shocked,horrified.Perhaps i shouldnt have been...Mr Webb ahs laid out, simply, forcibly a case so damning that most simply wont look.The case he sets forth is so damning infact, that if true, and I think it is, then we need to overhaul our entire system. The absurd "war on drugs'[which doesnt really exist,except in political newspeak]is shattered by Mr Webb in the first 100 pages. 3 administrations,and countless pols either ignored or knew what was happening. Oliver North comes off none too well, though he is an easy target, and not even close to one of the important folks here. This is a searing piece of journalism,and one wonders why My Webb has been consigned to the far left by the celebrated organs of media, THe NY TIMES, THE WASHINGTO POST and The LA TIMES?. When these 3 folks stand up to criticise at once, well, i smell soemthing...where is the uproar from the 'mainstream press' ?After all, I thought the war on drugs was a family values issue. One of the most disturbing books I have ever read.

The CIA sells cocaine to finance its covert operations around the world. This is nothing new. In fact when the Contra affair was exposed, 14 people where charged with offences but several where pardoned by President Regan. In the ensuing government investigation, reports surfaced that the CIA had been involved in drug running. There was no question about that, however trying to say that the CIA knew about the drug running was another matter entirely. Obviously the CIA sponsored guerrilla outfits in Nicaragua where indeed trafficking drugs but did the CIA condone it?, Promote it?, Turn a blind eye? We are supposed to believe that they did not know about it. Are there any Skeptics in the room? Oh well if they did not know about it then call the CIA what it is - "Stupid", "Foolish" and "Incapable of being a good Intelligence service."

The problem here is that if the CIA did not know that the Contras where drug trafficking into America than what good is the CIA! If the CIA did know about it then they where indeed involved in a very illegal activity and a black operation.

Webb simply makes the connection using a US based crack cocaine entrepreneur; two cocaine suppliers with connections to the Contras and the CIA's own involvement with the Contras. The problem here is directly connecting the US based crack cocaine entrepreneur with the CIA except by default of the Contras and the two cocaine suppliers. In short, the CIA is in a very difficult position here. For those who think that this is totally fantasy then just take a look at Afghanistan and the opium production that goes on without any interference from the US government because.. guess what?.. this time they are the good guys.

Webb never really does say - "Here, look - the smoking gun!" but he comes damn near close at times. You should read this book. It does give the full low-down on this sensational story that was sadly, and grossly, underestimated by the mainstream media. It is a crackerjack of a connection to make and Webb should be commended for brining it to our attention. Draw your own conclusions. Are the CIA stupid enough to allow a crack operation to run under their own noses or did they know about it?

The Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations seems to think so. So does Webb. Sadly CNN, The Washing Post and The New York Times could not care less. I wonder why?

Gary Webb received a Pulitzer Prize for writing about the thriving Silicon Valley computer industry as a reporter for the local San Jose Mercury-News. He received a call from a woman informing him of something that sounded so incredible that he was inclined to laugh her off as a crank.

The indignation of the young woman on the other end of the line after realizing what Webb was thinking about her prompted him to accept her offer to prove her startling claim. Her comment related to drug traficking by the Central Intelligence Agency. If he wanted to learn more, she told him, just be in court the following morning.

Webb met a beautiful young woman who filled him in on some details of what was happening, after which they stepped inside the courtroom, where her boyfriend, who was serving time for drug trafficking, was part of a hearing. As the pieces of the story began to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, Webb jumped on the back of the tiger and proceeded full speed ahead.

The book's foreword was written by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a top member of the Black Caucus and representative of a South Los Angeles district. She cites her shock when she learns about the extent of gang violence and resulting death occurring in her district. Due to Gary Webb's courageous efforts she is able to learn more. Members of Nicaragua's Contras, referred to by President Reagan as "morally equivalent to our Founding Fathers," flocked into Los Angeles as well as San Francisco and launched a successful drug trade, sending proceeds back to Nicaragua for revolutionary purposes.

Webb peers into the network of the Contras and CIA, along with detailing the activities of White House revolutionary Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver North. Webb's startling charges formed the working basis of much of Senator John Kerry's subsequent investigation and senatorial hearings.

This IS what journalism is about. The author,whilst faced with insurmountable odds,was thankfully able to get this story exposed to the masses.Often the actions of our government are at odds with what it states publicly. Dubious at best, inept at its worst.America's war on drugs is only aimed towards the unconnected. Incarcerating Americans for drugs is a billion dollar cottage industry. However,elements of our government agencies allow and profit from drug importation. Read this book.

This only confirms what I already knew. The war on drugs is a political game of Smoke and Mirrors. Corruption does exist in our government, and in our police agencies with regards to the narcotics industry. This book and "U.S. CUSTOMS, Badge of Dishonor", have convinced me that security on our nations borders have been severly compromised for the sake of narcotics smuggling.

This is a remarkable book. My first inclination was to disregard it as another conspiracy theory. After reading it and checking some of the sources, however, I have concluded that it is accurate. Gary Webb traces the introduction of crack cocaine into Los Angeles in the early 1980's and followed its rise to a full blown epidemic by the mid to late 80's. Undoubtedly, agents of the CIA and DEA, and most certainly Oliver North and his Contra operation were aware of the source of the cocaine. Indeed, it is apparent that the White House knew and acted to protect the drug pipeline in order to keep the money flowing to the Contra organization. Ronald Reagan was clearly more interested in fighting the war on communism than the war on drugs. The hypocrisy of the Reagan administration is apparent when we realize that Reagan declared illicit drugs a national security issue and championed the most draconian drug laws written to that date. Would crack cocaine have become an epidemic without CIA support? Probably, Webb points out that the development of a similar drug in Latin America by the 1970's had been studied and scientists warned that a similar epidemic in the U.S. was imminent. Would it have happened as fast or been as bad without government protection? No one knows the answer to that question. Ultimately, there were two big losers. Inner city dwellers were hit hardest. Not only were they exposed to this incredibly addicting drug, but they bore the brunt of the government crack-down on illicit drugs. The other loser was Ronald Reagan, whose legacy of integrity and honor is destroyed in his ends justifies the means approach to government. Anyone who reads this book will never look at Ronald Reagan or Oliver North in quite the same way.

Based on a series of explosive articles written for the San Jose Mercury News, this book uncovers the roots of the crack cocaine epidemic in America, revealing connections between a Bay Area drug ring, an L.A. street gang, and CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras.

Run and tell your momma!

Facts, dates, court documents and Gary Webb names names -- enough to convince the most conservative of do-gooders. However, the problem with investigative books such as this is that it rarely changes those who believe that their "freedoms" must be safeguarded by spooks who keep "evil doers" in check at any and all costs.

The most incredible of all Mr. Webb's findings is the sinister degree in which drugs and guns are linked and how complicit we and many governments are in the maintenance of this relationship. Mr. Webb also illustrates with painful detail how it is impossible to isolate this destruction to only certain sectors of our society. We are all aware that Columbine, Oklahmoa City and South Central are miles, classes and racially apart but suffered the same fate from guns, drugs and sociological dysfunction.

Read it and weep.

America is great because Americans are good. Gary Webb is a heroic journalist. His determination to tell this story is admirable. The research is meticulous...the conclusions undeniable.

I followed the "Dark Alliance" story from the time it was published in the San Jose Mercury News to the time it was ridiculed by the country's largest newspapers and Gary Webb was hung out to dry by his own paper. I picked up the book with an open mind but no expectation of being convinced.

I was not only convinced, I was stunned by the story from start to finish. Webb has assembled not shadowy sources leaking dark innuendos but a thorough reporting of facts taken from congressional testimony, court testimony, declassified documents and personal interviews. It's clear, at a minimum, that the US government was connected to the people responsible for a large piece of the cocaine trade. The only thing that remains uncertain is whether US officials actually participated in the drug trade directly with these people or simply forged a marriage of convenience and looked the other way. It's worth noting that a large amount of information comes from documents that are only partially declassified -- meaning that plenty of incriminating information remains to be disclosed. Years from now we'll finally see what is still being concealed, and I suspect we'll learn that the story goes beyond the basic verifiable information that Webb reports here.

For those who believed the NY Times' cursory dismissal of this story, please note the Times' record in the case of El Mozote as told in the book "The Massacre at El Mozote" by Mark Danner. The Times pulled its own Latin American correspondent off the story of a massacre by US-supported Salvadoran troops when the government went on the attack. Ten years later, the hundreds of bodies were found and the whole story was confirmed. The Times was left looking as if it had participated in the official coverup, and maybe it did. It would be no surprise to find out a similar story in this case.