It gets worse:
Just today, a New York Times reporter emailed me to ask about the IRS back payments. And the reporter from the Daily News sent another email asking about a student loan judgment which was in default over a decade ago and is now covered by a payment plan agreement.You get the picture.
Y'know what this situation reminds me of? The Gary Webb story.
Webb was the journalist for the San-Jose Mercury-News who dared to write about CIA involvement in the drug trade. The Los Angeles Times (generally considered a liberal-ish paper) came down on him like the proverbial ton of bricks. Pressure was brought to bear on the SJMN, and Webb found himself re-assigned to a crappy beat, which he covered until the writer was "axed" to resign. He eventually committed suicide. Later, both the CIA's own Inspector General and the L.A. Times itself admitted that Webb got it right.
These words from Webb may give us a foretaste of what Greenwald can expect:
"The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post," he said. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. If you work through friendly reporters on major newspapers, it comes off as the New York Times saying it and not a mouthpiece of the CIA."One of the great virtues of Jim DiEugenio's Destiny Betrayed, the work advertised in the upper right-hand corner of this blog, is the book's detailed investigation of the press crusade mounted against New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison. While a mere "conspiracy theorist" might posit those attacks to be the work of the FBI or CIA, DiEugenio offers iron-clad, courtroom-quality proof that many of those "journalists" were, in fact, working for the government.
As Garrison himself once said, "You just don't dance with the CIA."
So expect to hear more about every stain in every pair of soiled underwear that ever rested in Glenn Greenwald's top dresser drawer. These attacks will prove useful to spook-watchers: They will allow us to compile a list of those reporters who work for The Man.
More insidious -- and harder for outsiders to prove -- will be the pressure brought to bear on Greenwald's employers. That, I predict, will come next.
17 comments:
We should be told the name of the Times reporter and the reporter should be asked who told him. Let's begin to nail down the CIA sponsored journolistas who carry water for those who shred the Constitution.
I nominate David Gregory, for his shameful dress-down of Greenwald on "Meet The Press".
Amen, Anon.
Phillip Agee's book, "Inside the Company: CIA Diary", would be a good place to look for Media companies with a history of CIA influence.
"...it included a 23-page appendix with the names of hundreds of undercover Agency operatives and organizations..."
William Blum via Consortiumnews.
David Gregory showed his roots as Joseph puts it on Sunday.
Hmmm. earlier comment seems dusted.
anyhoo, you might want to look at this.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/wikileaks-mole/all/
Ben
Was there an accident with the comments, Ben? If so, I'm sorry.
Could be I'm just dazed and confused, Joe.
I was sure I made a comment but I've lost track of my thematic journey.
Not related.
Well, I must not have been the only one that did not like the new format at Huffpost because it is back to the old format.
BTW, I have no idea how people registered their dislike because I could not find comments (not that I comment on Huffpost ) or even a search button.
Did Webb commit suicide? He shot himself twice apparently.
When spooky ol' Daniel Ellsberg came out and said that the NSA snooping leak was "more important" than the Pentagon Papers, this whole Snowden-storm really began to smell fishy -- no matter how much any of us WANTS to BELIEVE it's genuine.
High praise from Danny Boy (who played such a key role in shifting blame for the Vietnam debacle from Langley to the Pentagon) builds zero credibility in my book, Joseph.
Anon, the family accepts the suicide verdict in the Webb case. It's not that uncommon for suicide victims to shoot themselves more than once. People expect a shot in the head to be fatal immediately, but it often isn't. I once knew a woman who was on the phone with her troubled husband when he shot himself in the head. Not a pleasant story. Suffice it to say, although he shot once, death was hardly instant.
Andy, I never bought that into nonsense about Ellsberg. The break-in to Dr. Fielding's office scotches that theory. I believe it comes from Prouty. I liked Prouty, but he got some things very wrong, and at his worst he would present personal surmise as fact.
Dr. Ellsberg, like Dr. (Bill) Ayres, today lives in comfortable semi-retirment.
By contrast, such genuine enemies of the intel cabal as Gary Webbb, Danny Casolero, and (after a crisis-of-conscience turn) William Colby -- were "retired" long before their time.
That Fielding break-in business was theatrically "bungled" just like the Ayres prosecution, Joseph. Don't fall so easily for the Company's distracting-drama scenarios and go for the long view instead.
And please enumerate Col. Prouty's "reign of errors" via your own documentation, if you can.
I'll give you three "problems with Prouty." I could list more, but I don't want to harp on things he got wrong, because in general I liked him and thought he made very important contributions. (Yes, he and I did talk, though not for long on any occasion.)
1. He really was taken in by the "Report From Iron Mountain" hoax. Fortunately, he had the grace to admit that he was wrong when Lewin made matters clear.
2. He was convinced that one of the tramp photos depicts his old boss, Lansdale. I think he's wrong. Aside from Prouty's dubious photo ID (from behind), nothing connects Lansdale with the events in Dealey Plaza. (Lansdale was not exactly my favorite person, but at this point, I don't think he was involved in the assassination.)
3. Toward the end -- and I heard this from Prouty personally -- he became totally paranoid about John Newman, for really stupid and petty reasons. This was small, petty and uncalled-for. Newman's "Oswald and the CIA" (expanded edition) has impacted my thinking about the case more than any other book, with the possible exception of DiEugenio's work.
Today, the JFK buffs won't discuss Prouty's stupid tiff with Newman, even though most of them know about it (if they're old enough). Prouty has passed and it's best to focus on the man's finer accomplishments, such as his book "The Secret Team."
Still a great book. But the man was human, and to be human is to be fallible.
4. Prouty was taken in by the neo-fascist Liberty Lobby.
It almost killed Oliver Stone's depiction of Mr. X (Donald Southerland) in JFK when Stone found out.
Still, Prouty knew where some bones were buried...
dojo;
What was Mr. X's motive for the off the record disclosure? Disinfo?
Ben
Col. Prouty was most certainly NOT "taken in" by the neofascist Liberty Lobby.
He knew exactly who they were, but back in the day, they were one of the very few media outlets interested in giving his message an uncensored public airing. And it seemed to Prouty to be a distinct "step up" from his previous gig, writing serious JFK-related research articles for a softcore porn magazine.
Prouty remained very good friends (and a frequent guest) with Liberty Lobby's longtime radio host, Tom Valentine, all through the ADL's wickedly brilliant legal takedown of the Carto empire and its partial resurrection as The American Free Press (which was so financially weak that it could no longer keep Valentine on his nightly shortwave broadcasts.)
After Valentine departed on his his own with different radio sponsors (and it was during this period that Tom was euduring constant vicious attacks from rival shortwaver Bill Cooper) Prouty continued to be a regular guest -- until shortly before he died.
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