Years ago either the Columbia Journalism Review or the Washinton Journalism Review (now called American Journalism Review) did a very lengthy article on Gary Webb and his Contra/CIA/Gangs/Cocaine article. I cannot recall what the complaint with his reporting was, but I remember the storm over it. (If I recall correctly, it might have been that he didn't have enough "legitimate" links between the CIA and US Gangs - in other words, no American-styled smoking gun. And this is related to a common complaint of mine when it comes to law enforcement - it's how everyone is shocked and stunned when information or testimony is obtained from the dregs of society. Sort of like how people expect criminals to socialize with nuns, priests and accountants and when they find out that they don't, they are suprised at who cops get their information from. Sort of like one trying to find fleas on a fish and then being suprised when none are found.)

Which brings me to one of the best books I've ever read on the drug market - The Underground Empire by James Mills. This book came out around 86 or 87 and is about how governments and drug cartels are intertwined and how a top secret US group of drug enforcers were constantly stopped each time they were successful in their investigations because of how "national security" soon became intertwined with governmental officals and drug lords.

My point is that while Webb's "smoking guns" might have been missing or unclear, what he was reporting was probably pretty accurate but unprovable.

And for those who think that Mills' The Underground Empire is a book of conspiracy theorists, they even made a well reviewed and received mini-series out of the book.