KILL THE MESSENGER

KILL THE MESSENGER

Directed by Michael Cuesta

Starring Jeremy Renner

Some stories are just too true to tell.

Kill The Messenger made my blood boil – for all the right reasons. Since 911, the government gave itself cart blanche to eavesdrop on ordinary citizens in the name of national security. The truth is, they’ve been spying on us for centuries in one way or another. Recently, the Australian government passed a mega data retention bill in the senate with one caveat – they need to obtain a warrant to explain why they want journalists to reveal their sources. 

The major flaw in this deal is they don’t have to tell the journalists when, why or who they are investigating until it goes to court. In other words, giving journalists no chance to defend their right to journalistic privilege and/or protecting the whistle-blowers or their sources. It’s all so damn clever. This bulshit law makes investigative journalism unbelievably difficult, especially if they can’t guarantee the anonymity of their sources. People wont speak up if their identity is not protected. Which means corruption continues unabated, damning stories get buried, and we are none the wiser.

In 1996, small time journalist Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner) of the San Jose Mercury News writes a story - The Forfeiture Racket - on how the police and government can seize the proceeds of drug dealers on the spot. Everything from houses, cars, boats and the like, leaving them penniless and often homeless, and this is before the case has even gone to court. They might have brought the house years before they became drug dealers, but that’s beside the point. And even if they are acquitted they don’t get their money or houses back. 

It’s a scam that’s been going on for decades, escalated after 911 and continued until it was recently challenged. In some American states, it is now illegal for police to seize anything on the spot, or raiding peoples wallets and purses stealing whatever they like, rendering people powerless. It’s outright theft, no other name for it. But the cops got cocky and stole money from wealthy people who had the funds to take them to court and won, effectively putting a stop to the practice, but only in some states. The practice still goes on in a large majority of states in America.

No government or cop has the right to confiscate anything unless and until it is proven in a court of law that their lifestyle and property has been funded by ill-gotten gains. 

Webb’s little story got the attention of the girlfriend of a drug dealer who was currently going through the courts. She handed him a classified document, a court transcript of the trial of a well-known drug dealer who was also a government informant, which exposes the guns for cocaine scandal. In short, the proceeds of crack cocaine funded Contra rebels during the Nicaraguan war. 

Laundering narcotics money for guns was the brainchild of Oliver North, who was ceremoniously thrown under the bus for this idea. What looked like a little story, exploded into the biggest story the Mercury News has ever done and sent the powers that be into a meltdown.

In South Central Los Angeles in the 1980s, the crack cocaine epidemic was crippling and destroying families. Webb’s story exposed the flood of crack cocaine into lower-socio economic suburbs, with the plan to sell it cheaply, get them hooked, and keep them hooked, all to fund the war in Nicaragua, with no concern of the ripple effect or the decimation of whole communities. 

Meanwhile, Ronald Reagan declares a War on Drugs and launches the Just say No campaign. I'm unsure if Reagan was aware of the goings on at the CIA but the hypocrisy was outrageous.

Initially, Webb’s paper was uneasy about what he had discovered and more than a little frightened to go down the rabbit hole but they decide (after much hand wringing) to support him in his quest to get to the bottom of the story, and back him to come up with the goods. And he does. Webb grabs the opportunity with a vengeance, eager to get away from writing human interest pieces, and throws himself in with gusto.

When his story Dark Alliance – The Story Behind the Crack Explosion is printed - the shit hits the fan, and not surprisingly his life is placed in mortal danger. Everyone panics. The government goes into damage control. Major news papers are pissed they didn’t get the story first. The black communities come out fighting and demand an explanation.

Webb wins the Bay area journalist of the year award. The Mercury News is very proud of its most important achievement thus far, especially as it’s considered just a hick paper of no national concern. However, they are terrified of the ramifications and hold off on any more revelations until the dust settles. But the dust never settles.

When it’s revealed that it’s the work of the CIA - who will do anything to protect their covert operations and maintain the veil of secrecy, they come after Webb, and threaten the safety of family. He’s forced to leave and move into a hotel to continue his work to research the story behind the story. He tries to get the CIA to go on the record but they remain silent.

And so the character assassination of Gary Webb begins. They dig into his background and find a few skeletons. And by they I mean the major newspapers like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, all pissed they didn’t get to the story first. Why didn’t they jump on the bandwagon and continue to expose the CIA for its dirty deeds?  Especially, The Washington Post who exposed Watergate, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d “take it from here son” attitude, and continue on with Webb’s work or work with him to turn it into a bigger event. It’s astounding the cowardice of everyone around him.

His sources go missing, kidnapped or killed. Aspects of his story are discredited and major national papers come out swinging, debunking all his research as inaccurate and unreliable. He is thrown under the bus. The Mercury News retreat to lick its wounds, and Webb is hung out to dry. He’s put into a small local community paper covering horse constipation stories. One night, he gets a late night visit from a CIA operative who did all the contra deals and informs him he’s on the right track, but refuses to go on the record, because he knows he’ll be bumped off. 

Webb tries in vain to convince the Mercury News to keep going, but they’ve been threatened with liable and get cold feet. Little wonder, since all his sources are dead or missing. But they made a mistake by printing a letter of apology, bowing to pressure from mainstream media. A cowardly, gutless act. They threw him under the bus and abandoned him. All they had to do was publish the evidence he had accumulated, trial transcripts and documentation, to prove he was telling the truth and his sources were credible. Forgive me if I still think that's what newspapers are for, to bring us the news, to expose the good, the bad and the ugly truth etc. No wonder they are failing.

Kill The Messenger has the best cast: Ray Liotta, Rosemarie DeWitt, Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Oliver Platt, with a stellar performance from Jeremy Renner. It’s a great film and as I watch it again, my blood is boiling. Thank god for film, it maybe the last vehicle for truth telling. Lets hope filmmakers continue to expose the truth and find a way to get it out there. Somebody has to keep the bastards honest!

The government continue to find more inventive ways to spy on us, cover up truth and corruption, spread fear and misinformation and numb us into submission. And they call this a democratic process. We are just as controlled and monitored as any communist country or despotic regime. The government mantra - if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear - is bulshit. We all have a right to privacy, no matter who you are or where you live.

In 1998, the CIA released a 400-page report that acknowledged the Agency associated with members of the Contra movement who engaged in drug trafficking. But coincidently it was released when America was consumed with the President Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal and the national media largely ignored the report. I wouldn’t be surprised if the CIA created the scandal to deflect attention off of the report. It worked.

In 1997, Gary Stephen Webb resigned from the San Jose Mercury News and never was able to earn a living as a journalist again. In 2004, he was found dead in his apartment with two gun shot wounds to his head. His death was ruled a suicide. 

Gary Webb

REALITY IS CLASSIFIED.