There have been plenty of U.S.-supported death squad hits. Just do a Google search for "dirty war" to see the long documented sordid history. But Gary Webb killed himself. See the proof from Mike Ruppert below. Ruppert, like Gary Webb, has also exposed CIA involvement with drugs.
Gary’s suicide was accomplished with two gunshot wounds to the head. In death Gary proved to be as determined and single-minded as he had been in life.
Because of the rampant and ill-informed speculation that has been traversing the Internet it is a sad necessity to put this issue to rest right up front. What follows should be a warning and a lesson to all activists and progressives; to all those who dare label themselves as "journalists" without ever once following standard journalism protocols designed to ensure fairness and minimize unnecessary harm to the innocent and those already in pain.
After arriving in this quiet suburb of Sacramento California I drove to and photographed the outside of the house in which Gary died. The new owners were still moving in and they were extremely gracious. Then I drove to a nearby Doubletree Hotel and met Gary’s family. I note that not one of the so-called journalists eager to cry murder — especially radio demagogue and sensationalist fear monger Alex Jones (See Below) — bothered to pick up the phone, send an email or make any attempt to contact the family or any agency for their observations, wishes or facts. Not the slightest concern was shown by any of them for an already devastated family. The wounded were kicked and exploited when they were already down. For this there can be no forgiveness and no pardon.
In other words, one of the most fundamental tenets of journalism - one that Gary himself would have honored and demanded - was completely ignored by people who demonstrated that they have no class, zero judgment and not the slightest thought for anything but their own self-serving needs.
Here are the facts:
Gary Webb fired two shots from a .38 caliber revolver into his own head. The entrance wounds for both shots were at or near the right ear. However, for the first shot Webb had the gun angled downward which produced a through-and-through wound blowing out his lower left jaw. This was obviously not a fatal wound. His second shot, angled upward, successfully reached the brain, killing him instantly.
As a former LAPD police officer and detective I have seen several suicides where multiple gunshots, especially from a relatively weak handgun like a .38, using inappropriate target ammunition, required multiple shots. In most cases the second and sometimes third shots were required because the victim made "hesitation" movements as they pulled the trigger, moving the gun barrel away from a fatal trajectory. There are many places on the human head to which a gunshot wound is not fatal (e.g. the lower and upper jaws, the cheeks, the roof of the mouth, the nose, etc.). Only a shot to the brain usually produces death but even that is not always guaranteed. I have seen attempted suicide and homicide victims survive after a .38 "ball" round had passed completely through and exited the opposite side of the skull.
Based upon an initial statement I received from an unidentified Coroner’s spokesperson on the day of Gary’s death, I and others had suspected a shotgun had been used because of indications of multiple wounds and the fact that one statement indicated that there was substantial disfigurement. At the time, my notes indicated that the Coroner’s staff member had said there was only one gunshot. That led me to suspect a shotgun. (12 Gauge shotguns using 00 buckshot release between nine and twelve pellets, each causing a separate wound.). However, in an initial email to certain activists, authors and leaders who knew Gary, I was careful to use the qualifying word "suspect" because we didn’t know for sure what kind of a weapon had been used and I said so. Given what Gary’s brother and ex wife were to tell me later it’s just possible that the Coroner’s staffer made a mistake. Her phones were ringing off the hook. That happens sometimes and that’s why reporters double check things. The fact that Gary had used a .38 was not disclosed until a December 14th Coroner’s statement and a follow-up story from the Sacramento Bee were necessitated by the hysterical rumor mongering an unbridled publishing coming from the activist-progressive community.
Both Gary’s ex-wife Susan and his brother Kurt viewed the body and they confirmed the location of the wounds to me when I met them.
In addition, Gary left multiple suicide notes to family members which were confirmed to be in his own hand by them. He laid his driver’s license out on the bed next to where he shot himself so that paramedics would be able to identify him. He had carefully placed his baby shoes in his mother’s (her name is Anita and she is a real human being) storage bin. He had recently changed his bank account to make his ex-wife Susan the beneficiary. He had made statements to her in the days before his death that if this way the way he had to live he didn’t want to continue.
There had been no reported deaths threats against Webb and no physical violence directed against him in the days preceding his death. There had been no reported burglaries of his residence and Gary had mentioned no recent difficulties or threats of any kind to his family. Several members of his family had seen Gary in the last days preceding the suicide and nothing out of the ordinary had happened except for the fact that his motorcycle had been stolen. Many friends and colleagues were aware of what writing assignments Gary had been working on for a small local magazine and none of them had to do with the CIA or drug running or major government corruption even approaching the magnitude of the Dark Alliance stories. He had no pending book contract, no publisher and - in fact - couldn’t even get a full time job as a reporter. He was not writing another book.
Thanks to the LA Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times and all major print publications in the country Gary Webb had become virtually unemployable in the world of big newspapers or book publishing. Still he was never able to let go of his desire to be recognized in that milieu and those of us who knew him were fully aware of that. Because of the trashing of his reputation and the absolutely unforgivable abandonment he has received from his Mercury News editor Jerry Ceppos, any new Gary Webb exposé in a major publication would have been discredited, discounted and ignored as soon as the major media saw his byline.
Veteran journalist and American expatriate Al Giordano described Gary’s dwindling hopes and despair in detail in a brilliant essay titled "Do What Gary Webb Did". It is a painful read but well worth the effort for those who have doubts.
A note warning movers arriving at Gary’s house on Saturday morning, asking them to not enter the house but call paramedics had been taped on the front door. Gary was well-familiar with police procedures from his years as an investigative street reporter. He protected the crime scene for them. He knew that a homicide (suicide) crime scene could not be initiated until after an official pronouncement of death. Police officers cannot pronounce death. Only paramedics or doctors can do that. That was the first step and he knew it. He was careful to leave his license next to where his body was found to expedite the identification process. He was thinking of the paramedics and the cops and making their job easier. He had been scheduled to vacate his house that day because - due to his chronic inability to get a job with a large newspaper - he was unable to keep up the payments. It had been sold and he was moving out.
Ironically his stolen motorcycle was recovered by the police just a few days after his death.
These are facts that cannot be faked unless one was to assume that Gary Webb was a willing conspirator in his own murder. The fact of Gary Webb’s suicide is open and shut.
There have been plenty of U.S.-supported death squad hits. Just do a Google search for "dirty war" to see the long documented sordid history. But Gary Webb killed himself. See the proof from Mike Ruppert below. Ruppert, like Gary Webb, has also exposed CIA involvement with drugs.
Mike Ruppert wrote this:
http://www.copvcia.com/free/ww3/122004_goodbye_giant.shtml
SUICIDE CONFIRMED
Gary’s suicide was accomplished with two gunshot wounds to the head. In death Gary proved to be as determined and single-minded as he had been in life.
Because of the rampant and ill-informed speculation that has been traversing the Internet it is a sad necessity to put this issue to rest right up front. What follows should be a warning and a lesson to all activists and progressives; to all those who dare label themselves as "journalists" without ever once following standard journalism protocols designed to ensure fairness and minimize unnecessary harm to the innocent and those already in pain.
After arriving in this quiet suburb of Sacramento California I drove to and photographed the outside of the house in which Gary died. The new owners were still moving in and they were extremely gracious. Then I drove to a nearby Doubletree Hotel and met Gary’s family. I note that not one of the so-called journalists eager to cry murder — especially radio demagogue and sensationalist fear monger Alex Jones (See Below) — bothered to pick up the phone, send an email or make any attempt to contact the family or any agency for their observations, wishes or facts. Not the slightest concern was shown by any of them for an already devastated family. The wounded were kicked and exploited when they were already down. For this there can be no forgiveness and no pardon.
In other words, one of the most fundamental tenets of journalism - one that Gary himself would have honored and demanded - was completely ignored by people who demonstrated that they have no class, zero judgment and not the slightest thought for anything but their own self-serving needs.
Here are the facts:
Gary Webb fired two shots from a .38 caliber revolver into his own head. The entrance wounds for both shots were at or near the right ear. However, for the first shot Webb had the gun angled downward which produced a through-and-through wound blowing out his lower left jaw. This was obviously not a fatal wound. His second shot, angled upward, successfully reached the brain, killing him instantly.
As a former LAPD police officer and detective I have seen several suicides where multiple gunshots, especially from a relatively weak handgun like a .38, using inappropriate target ammunition, required multiple shots. In most cases the second and sometimes third shots were required because the victim made "hesitation" movements as they pulled the trigger, moving the gun barrel away from a fatal trajectory. There are many places on the human head to which a gunshot wound is not fatal (e.g. the lower and upper jaws, the cheeks, the roof of the mouth, the nose, etc.). Only a shot to the brain usually produces death but even that is not always guaranteed. I have seen attempted suicide and homicide victims survive after a .38 "ball" round had passed completely through and exited the opposite side of the skull.
Based upon an initial statement I received from an unidentified Coroner’s spokesperson on the day of Gary’s death, I and others had suspected a shotgun had been used because of indications of multiple wounds and the fact that one statement indicated that there was substantial disfigurement. At the time, my notes indicated that the Coroner’s staff member had said there was only one gunshot. That led me to suspect a shotgun. (12 Gauge shotguns using 00 buckshot release between nine and twelve pellets, each causing a separate wound.). However, in an initial email to certain activists, authors and leaders who knew Gary, I was careful to use the qualifying word "suspect" because we didn’t know for sure what kind of a weapon had been used and I said so. Given what Gary’s brother and ex wife were to tell me later it’s just possible that the Coroner’s staffer made a mistake. Her phones were ringing off the hook. That happens sometimes and that’s why reporters double check things. The fact that Gary had used a .38 was not disclosed until a December 14th Coroner’s statement and a follow-up story from the Sacramento Bee were necessitated by the hysterical rumor mongering an unbridled publishing coming from the activist-progressive community.
Both Gary’s ex-wife Susan and his brother Kurt viewed the body and they confirmed the location of the wounds to me when I met them.
In addition, Gary left multiple suicide notes to family members which were confirmed to be in his own hand by them. He laid his driver’s license out on the bed next to where he shot himself so that paramedics would be able to identify him. He had carefully placed his baby shoes in his mother’s (her name is Anita and she is a real human being) storage bin. He had recently changed his bank account to make his ex-wife Susan the beneficiary. He had made statements to her in the days before his death that if this way the way he had to live he didn’t want to continue.
There had been no reported deaths threats against Webb and no physical violence directed against him in the days preceding his death. There had been no reported burglaries of his residence and Gary had mentioned no recent difficulties or threats of any kind to his family. Several members of his family had seen Gary in the last days preceding the suicide and nothing out of the ordinary had happened except for the fact that his motorcycle had been stolen. Many friends and colleagues were aware of what writing assignments Gary had been working on for a small local magazine and none of them had to do with the CIA or drug running or major government corruption even approaching the magnitude of the Dark Alliance stories. He had no pending book contract, no publisher and - in fact - couldn’t even get a full time job as a reporter. He was not writing another book.
Thanks to the LA Times, the Washington Post, the New York Times and all major print publications in the country Gary Webb had become virtually unemployable in the world of big newspapers or book publishing. Still he was never able to let go of his desire to be recognized in that milieu and those of us who knew him were fully aware of that. Because of the trashing of his reputation and the absolutely unforgivable abandonment he has received from his Mercury News editor Jerry Ceppos, any new Gary Webb exposé in a major publication would have been discredited, discounted and ignored as soon as the major media saw his byline.
Veteran journalist and American expatriate Al Giordano described Gary’s dwindling hopes and despair in detail in a brilliant essay titled "Do What Gary Webb Did". It is a painful read but well worth the effort for those who have doubts.
A note warning movers arriving at Gary’s house on Saturday morning, asking them to not enter the house but call paramedics had been taped on the front door. Gary was well-familiar with police procedures from his years as an investigative street reporter. He protected the crime scene for them. He knew that a homicide (suicide) crime scene could not be initiated until after an official pronouncement of death. Police officers cannot pronounce death. Only paramedics or doctors can do that. That was the first step and he knew it. He was careful to leave his license next to where his body was found to expedite the identification process. He was thinking of the paramedics and the cops and making their job easier. He had been scheduled to vacate his house that day because - due to his chronic inability to get a job with a large newspaper - he was unable to keep up the payments. It had been sold and he was moving out.
Ironically his stolen motorcycle was recovered by the police just a few days after his death.
These are facts that cannot be faked unless one was to assume that Gary Webb was a willing conspirator in his own murder. The fact of Gary Webb’s suicide is open and shut.
end of Mike Ruppert article excerpt----