New Movie on Life of Gary Webb being filmed soon - titled: Killing The Messenger

[Jan Klimkowski]

In one bizarre case, a Honduran general tried to import $40 million worth of coke to the U.S. Incredibly, the money was to finance the assassination of the Honduran president. The general was caught but because he was a chief CIA liaison within the contra network, he was given a reduced sentence at "Club Fed" in Florida. In another remarkable example, the Agency put a known drug operative with the CIA pseudonym "Ivan Gomez" in charge of a contra commander. It was a family affair, with "Mr. Gomez's" two brothers bringing in large amounts of coke. According to some sources, the Gomez family supplier might have aided the mighty Medellin coke cartel in its nascent days.

Sticking by the apocryphal story of duplicitous deniability, the former CIA chief in charge of the contras said in reference to Ollie North that it was a "moral outrage" to imply a Reagan Administration official "would have countenanced" drug trafficking. Then again, given such "Groupthink', perhaps this cast of characters was in actual psychological denial.

A former CIA Central American Station Chief told the Agency IG they knew early on that some contras were "scoundrels" dealing drugs but at the direction of Director Casey they were "going to play with these guys."

While insisting he doesn't believe the CIA targeted any specific community, then Senator John Kerry told PBS, "There's no question in my mind that people affiliated with or on the payroll of the CIA were involved in drug trafficking while in support of the contras."

There's now practically a cargo plane full of records replete with connections between the CIA and drug trafficking. Was the CIA complicit in the contra drug trade? Check. Did the CIA and the U.S. pay the same contra contractors who were also shipping drugs to the U.S.? Check. Did CIA Director William Casey obtain a special dispensation from the Attorney General to allow his contra team to "look the other way" regarding the drug dealing? Check. Did the CIA deliberately deny to other agencies knowledge of contra-connected dealers? Check.

Of course Gary Webb had to be demonized, ridiculed and suicided.

Kerry eventually provided the most limited of hangouts and was rewarded by being ratified as US Secretary of State by a vote of 94-3.

Nothing has changed.