Dear cj, Interesting case of "now you see it, now you don't" from CNN and Time, wasn't it? What's the truth? Perhaps these letters from the producer herself, passed on by Hank Roth of PNEWS, will shed some light. My own gut sense is that the style of the coverup is a telltale sign that the original stories were probably true. There's a kind `signature' that goes with these coverups, as we saw with the TW800 shoot-down. rkm btw> Sorry for being slow to report on the Nova Scotia workshop and the activist meetings in Boston, those reports will be coming shortly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 03 Jul 1998 From: Hank Roth <•••@••.•••> MIME-Version: 1.0 To: •••@••.••• Subject: CNN SELL OUT! via PNEWS http://www.atlantic.net/~odin/pnewsforu.html ******************************************** RETRACTION or SELL OUT? "DEEP" WITNESSES RELUCTANT TO TAKE THE HEAT CNN CAPITULATES TO PRESSURE CNN has retracted their June 7th S.O.G. report. This just another replay of the "DARK ALLIANCE" reporting of C.I.A. trafficking in drugs and the pressure on the Mercury and the author, Gary Webb? Has CNN caved in no less so than the Mercury did with that report? Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting wrote: Former San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb has expanded upon his "Dark Alliance" series in a new book entitled "Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion," published by Seven Stories Press. Media activists might remember the "Melt the Media Snow Job" campaign that FAIR organized at three major print outlets-- The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post-- to draw media attention to Webb's findings, and to the media's apparent unwillingness to seriously investigate Webb's charges. The producer of that CNN segment said to me they have several "deep" off the record sources. What happened to them? They were apparently reluctant to go public. So, CNN caved in. The producer of that report has been the target of a concerted effort to discredit her and CNN, no less so than Gary Webb was when he broke the story of C.I.A. involvement in drugs, and this now appears to be damage control for CNN and their way of handling it. [Nice try April] The Golem ______________________________________________________________ Here are some of the letters which were written to me by April Oliver in June. ______________________________________________________________ [June/98] From: "Oliver, April" •••@••.••• Dear Golem, My name is April Oliver and I produced the various SOG pieces on CNN. A friend passed on your e-mail postings and I have read them with great interest. Currently, a fairly well orchestrated counterattack on our reporting is underway -- and I am afraid they have decided to make me the target. We tried very hard to get the facts right. And I spent many long months developing sources deep, deep inside to make this accurate. I am grateful for your supportive statements out there. You seem to have an accurate fix on the story...and I wonder if we might start a dialogue... We have several DEEP OFF THE RECORD SOURCES [EMPHASIS MINE] who in fact confirmed that sleeping gas was CBU-15. A canard exists out there -- that sarin kills thru the skin. It does not, especially not at the temperatures in Laos. Many people are trying to attack the credibility of our reporting on that ground. But even the Pentagon's own expert, General Busbee, has told us that is incorrect. An M-17 gas mask is sufficient protection. One of the SOG commandos was advised to take extra atropine before they launched. And an Army manual I have uncovered shows that you can be as close as 300 meters to a sarin drop, without a mask at all, and not feel any effects -- if the wind is blowing the other direction. How did you come by your info that the victims in Tailwind lost conciousness immediately? I have been told that...but of course the "deniability" voices are very loud right now, and they are getting a lot of attention. Many of my fellow journalists over at the Pentagon are portraying me as a gullible female believing fattened up war stories from old men. A turf thing, I think. I can take it...but what I want most is to shore up the truth. Would the ex-SOG member you know be interested in coming forward to tell his story? Would you -- if we were able to protect your identity somehow? The Pentagon is dumping some documents this week to try and prove it was just a mix of CS and CN out there on that rice paddy. We always expected the paper trail would lead us back to tear gas. I have read enough after action reports and medal narratives to understand just how sterilized the paper trail is. Thanks for your interest and time. April ______________________________________________________________ [Wed, 24 Jun 1998] From: "Oliver, April" •••@••.••• we will probably do something this weekend. we have had some new voices come forward...this seems to be more widespread than we realize. but we are facing a huge disinformation campaign, full of ugly vicious personal attacks on me. ...i have never experienced anything quite like it. Nothing like going up against professionals at plausible deniability, and shooting down the messenger. Again the one drop on the skin stuff is bogus. GB kills by breathing it, not by touching it. Mustard is a blister agent....thanks for your help. you are a bright spot in a tough internet world. APril ______________________________________________________________ Gary Webb said he stood by his report and was fired. April Oliver, who was previously with "McNeil-Lehrer" for four years stood by her report and was fired for it. If the report is unfavorable to the capitalists they kill the messenger. * ``I'm trying to handle this with dignity, but it's not pretty to watch yourself pummeled in the press,'' she said. ``I don't think anyone thinks I'm an Attila the Hun-type producer. That's a deliberate attempt to mischaracterize me and kill the messenger.''[AP] * The story proved a major embarrassment to CNN/USA President Richard Kaplan, who joined CNN last August from ABC. Launching a series of newsmagazines called ``NewsStand'' was his top programming initiative, and he used the nerve gas story to attract attention to the series' premiere.[AP] * The two main producers of the report were fired following a CNN-requested investigation by a prominent media attorney. In addition, a senior producer resigned.[David Bauder/AP] * ``That doesn't necessarily mean that the story isn't true,'' Abrams [CNN's lawyer] said in an interview on CNN. ``But what it does mean then is that at this moment we simply do not have enough evidence, in my view, for any conclusion to be reached - that the presidents have been lying to us for all these years and that what we've been told was just a pack of lies.'' [AP] * April Oliver and Jack Smith, the story's top producers, told The Associated Press they were fired. Pam Hill, senior producer for ``NewsStand,'' resigned. [AP] * Ms. Oliver and Smith said they still believed the story was accurate, and they were disheartened by the lack of support from CNN. [David Bauder/AP] * ``These shadow warriors don't like us looking into their business and their dark spaces,'' Ms. Oliver said of the military special forces. ``They're doing their best to make sure that no one else does. I'm not a single-minded, one point-of-view producer. Check with anyone, and you'll find that's inaccurate. It's part of killing the messenger.'' [David Bauder/AP] * Said Smith: ``We presented the facts that we gathered. Let the people judge. This was a report on America's secret army. There is no documentation.'' [David Bauder/AP] ______________________________________________________________ ©Golem Designs For other articles and more on Operation Tailwind, go to: http://www.atlantic.net/~odin/articles.html ************************************************************* Left Wing Forums and articles: PNEWS-L PAIN-L JWV PNEWS has been around practically as long as the internet and before that on ham radio. Find out why others don't want you to know about this forum for LEFT wing views and news and others. Read articles at: http://www.atlantic.net/~odin/articles.html See who we are and join us. These conferences provide an alternative for those who are interested in "progressive" issues. The object of the conferences are to provide a cross-fertilization of ALTERNATIVE "progressive" and "radical" views [as opposed to reformist, mainstream and especially Right-Wing opinions] ---to propose and discuss new world visions, to present ideas that challenge prevailing maintstream dominant views; and to advance the RESOLUTION of matters that greatly concern us. NOT for big "L" anarcho-capitalist Libertarians or traditional Capitalists. These forums are for anyway the LEFT wind blows. - and, there should be NO confusion that the forums are NOT for anyway the _stale_ Right wind blows. There is plenty of that on the InterNet. The Golem ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------- a political discussion forum - •••@••.••• To subscribe, send any message to •••@••.••• A public service of Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance (mailto:•••@••.••• http://cyberjournal.org) ---------------------------------------------------------- Non-commercial reposting is hereby approved, but please include the sig up through this paragraph and retain any internal credits and copyright notices. .--------------------------------------------------------- To see the index of the cj archives, send any message to: •••@••.••• To subscribe to our activists list, send any message to: •••@••.••• ---------------------------------------------- crafted in Ireland by rkm ----------------------------------- A community will evolve only when the people control their means of communication. -- Frantz Fanon
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