gary webb and the dark alliance

gary webb's story is really sad, imo. i only read parts of the original series, but my impression is that his work was distorted and exaggerated all the way around -- first by people trying to make claims that webb himself didn't make, and then by people responding to those claims. webb never said or intended to say that the cia "caused" the crack epidemic, but that's how some activists took it. and then the outrage in response was largely directed at those inflated charges. there was also the whole issue of the beltway media reflexively dismissing any work that didn't originate in the beltway (who the hell was gary webb? where, for that matter, was san jose?). anyway, the story he actually told was much narrower than all that, but important for how it showed some of the consequences -- intended and otherwise -- of the whole sorry cia-contra episode.

the guy was obviously a talented reporter.

Its astonishing to me how little noise was made around the time of his death.