The Washington Post is a major national newspaper based in [[Washington, D.C.]] In October 1996, it published the first major media attack on the [[Dark Alliance]] series, written by [[Walter Pincus]] and Roberto Suro.[^1] ### Attack on Dark Alliance The Post's story, headlined "The CIA and Crack: Evidence is Lacking of Alleged Plot," falsely claimed the series alleged a CIA conspiracy to target black communities. Despite [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]]'s testimony about selling 200 to 300 kilos of [[cocaine]] for the Contras, the Post quoted unnamed officials minimizing the volume to "$30,000 to $60,000 worth of cocaine in two transactions." The story buried the admission that "the CIA knew about some of these activities and did little or nothing to stop them."[[^1] ### Pincus's CIA Background Pincus had been a CIA operative in the late 1950s and early 1960s, traveling to international conferences to spy on both foreign and American students. He was later selected by the [[New York Times]] to review ex-CIA officer Philip Agee's expose, without disclosure of his prior CIA ties. Columnist Molly Ivins observed: "Like good little boys and girls, the Times, the Washington Post et al., toddled off to the CIA and asked the agency if it had ever done such a thing. When the CIA said 'no' the papers solemnly printed it."[^1] ### Suppression of Ceppos Letter [[Jerry Ceppos]] fired off a blistering letter to the Post pointing out factual errors. The Post held the letter for weeks, ordered Ceppos to rewrite it, and then refused to print it.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 27: "A very difficult decision"