Beyond the smoking gun: The new JFK files fill in 2 holes in the assassination story

jfkfacts.org ^ | 2017 | Jeff Morley

[Beautiful_Gracious_Skies]

I’ve been hearing from news reporters for major news organizations, who ask, “What’s in the new JFK files? Is there a smoking gun?”

The answer is no. There is no one piece of evidence in the 113,00 pages of JFK records scheduled to be released by October 26, 2017, that will change people’s minds...

But the new JFK files, if released in their entirety, will fill in the two key gaps in the JFK assassination story that have long been obscured by government misconduct, official secrecy, and lazy journalism.

Think of the JFK assassination story as an incomplete mosaic. The new files help complete the picture in two ways.

The new files shed light on the CIA’s use of Lee Oswald for intelligence purposes before November 22, 1963. They also illuminate the illegal actions of government officials to conceal the CIA’s manipulation of Oswald and its plot to kill Fidel Castro in late 1963....

The CIA’s Use of Oswald:

The new files strengthen the claim–long denied by the CIA and mainstream news organizations–that the agency used accused assassin Lee Oswald for intelligence purposes.

Part of the story was brought to light the JFK review board in the 1990s when they released, a complete version of one of the agency’s many pre-assassination cables on Oswald. It was prepared by Jame Angleton’s Counterintelligence Staff on October 10, 1963.

More of the story is coming in the testimony of Orest Pena, a New Orleans bar owner who said he saw Oswald in the company of a senior FBI agents in the summer of 1963. The Pena testimony was not included in the first batch of National Archives releases last week.

The newly-declassified financial records of the CIA front group, the Cuban Revolutionary Council, are also relevant, as Larry explains at The New JFK Show Blog. In his turn as a public supporter of Castro in the summer of 1963, Oswald had repeated contacts with people associated with the CRC. I will be writing more about these records in comings weeks.

Meanwhile, intelligence historian John Newman has already begun to use the new files to develop the granular knowledge of CIA covert operations and cryptonyms necessary to tell this story.

The Criminal Cover-up:

The JFK release last week includes a great deal of material about Russian defector Yuri Nosenko, who claimed to have seen Oswald’s KGB file. The veracity of Nosenko’s claims in the face of CIA interrogation is a key issue that requires deeper analysis, as Newsweek has already reported.

Key documents to come include the still-unreleased testimony of Angleton to the Church Committee on September 12, 1975.

Also important are the operational files of CIA officers hostile to JFK who were involved in assassination operations including Bill Harvey, David Phillips, and Howard Hunt.

None of these files were included in the first Archives release.

[myerson]

It has been often asked why Oswald did not fire on Kennedy as the car moved toward him in the book depository when it would give him a clear target and more time to shoot, rather than waiting to shoot after the car made a left-hand turn and was proceeding away from his location. I was at the shooting site and drove the route the Kennedy limo took, and the only explanation I could imagine is that Oswald waited for the left turn because it placed Kennedy in a kill box for more than one shooter. ‘Classic ambush technique.

[WildHighlander57]

Thanks for the info!

What is the name of the book by Crenshaw ?

[Toespi]

Haha. Now I know....loogey.

[Beautiful_Gracious_Skies]

Here’s some bits that are difficult to reconcile for a ‘lonewolf’ with no CIA or FBI handlers:

Ruth Paine and Michael Paine have long been viewed as likely participants in a wider plot to frame Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruth, in particular, is viewed as complicit in a vast and ongoing cover-up. For decades, JFK assassination researchers have suspected the Paines, especially Ruth, of some role ‘handler’ in a conspiracy.

The Paines were friends of Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife Marina. At the time of the assassination, Marina Oswald was living with Ruth Paine and the Oswald’s belongings, including the alleged murder weapon were stored in her garage.

After testifying against Oswald and providing some of the most crucial evidence against him, Ruth and Michael Paine have continued to be outspoken supporters of the official story. Many believe that Ruth helped to set up Oswald, but that she likely didn’t know about the assassination plot beforehand.

There are many curious facts about the Paines, that depending on your perspective may either be damning evidence, or simply coincidence. When some people watch interviews with Ruth Paine, they see a lying CIA agent, others an innocent elderly woman.

The Paines have confirmed connections to the CIA through their immediate family. Ruth’s sister and brother-in-law were CIA employees and her father had frequent contacts with the agency. Michael Paine’s parents were friendly with CIA director Allen Dulles & his mistress Mary Bancroft. Michael’s mother even invited Dulles to stay at the Forbes private island near Cape Cod where Ruth and Michael spent their summers. They came from very well-connected families. Michael Paine is a member of the Forbes family and he received a trust fund from the family fortune. While Michael was an avowed pacifist, he had top security clearance working for defense contractor: Bell Helicopter.

Ruth Paine answered over 5000 questions from the Warren Commission, more than any other witness. Her testimony was critical in establishing Oswald as the likely assassin. She produced one of the most important pieces of evidence against Oswald; the “Walker Note,” (Warren Commission Exhibit 1) which the government used to show that he had a propensity toward violence. The authenticity of this note is still debated today.

Ruth Paine first met the Oswalds at a party in Dallas in February 1963. After that time period her husband moved out and she wrote several notes to Marina to encourage her to live in their home. Ruth drove Marina Oswald and the Oswalds’ belongings back to Dallas from New Orleans in September 1963. Oswald and her children lived in Ruth Paine’s house from September 1963 - November 22, 1963.

Weeks before the assassination, Ruth found Oswald his job at the Texas School Book Depository, the building from which he allegedly shot President Kennedy.

The Paines’ are suspected of collusion with the FBI in the destruction of evidence. Dallas PD found and inventoried a tiny hi-tech Minox camera amongst Oswald’s personal effects during the search of Paine’s home. This camera was later omitted from an inventory list once the FBI took over the investigation. What is not generally known is the Paines’ role in the collusion of evidence tampering.

In relation to photographic evidence: “The items ranged from #1 - #455 and required 5 rolls of film. the FBI Lab would develop these 5 rolls of film and furnish a set to Police Chief Curry. This intact set of photos from the original 5 rolls have disappeared from the National Archives - assuming that the FBI even turned them over to the Warren Commission or the Archives in the first place.”

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-paine-s-participation-in-the-minox-camera-charade

[SoCal Pubbie]

I’ve been to Dealey Plaza a few times, most recently last May. Went into the museum once. You can’t look out the window of the actual sniper’s nest because that section is enclosed within glass partitions. However, just looking out the adjacent window you really can see how close the car was when Oswald fired the shots.

[Hostage]

There are people today that talk about that Muslim SOB known as Obama. And he is indeed a Muslim SOB.

If there is some dingaling Oswald type sitting at a bar listening to some spooks blab on about that Muslim SOB, that dingbat might just try to bag an Obama trophy to show off to those he wants to pal around with.

Yeah, sh*t like that happens.

And what else happens is that two dingbats get the idea to work together and pull it off.

Oswald was murdered shortly after the JFK assassination. There could be others who were hit that we don’t know about.

For many years there was a standing hit contract by the CIA for $250k to take out Castro. It is entirely plausible that a similar contract was put out on JFK.

The point is no one knows and no one will know because those that know are dead either by a hit or by natural causes.

What the current news is revealing is that the CIA has some dumbass pricks inside it that either work as rogues or by command. Which is it? That’s the relevant question for today. Many of us know the answer already but the public does not yet know for sure.

[FreedomStar3028]

They are highly trained. I’m not, and I would never put my finger on the trigger unless I was planning to fire. In fact I have no training at all.

[FreedomStar3028]

Dude. You do understand that there are tons of documents and witnesses that contradict you. Stuff that conspiracy theorists didn’t just “make up.”

[editor-surveyor]

.
Are opiates legal in your locale?

.

[Beautiful_Gracious_Skies]

“Some of the best witnesses to the mystery have since died of old age and confessed on their deathbeds. That to me weighs heavier than most other known confirmed evidence.”

I agree, there was a deathbed confession from one of the old Cubans a few years back; he was not living in the US.

Of the 3-4 Cuban ex-pats who were ‘people of interest’, they all reportedly took off for foreign lands.

[Big Red Badger]

If You visited “snippers Nest”
On the Sixth Floor you would know
A single shooter would have No
Other shot but the one just as the Limo
Turned to the actual Kill Zone.

[editor-surveyor]

.
I’m sure you believe that there was just one shooter in Vegas too!
.

[Big Red Badger]

Crenshaw....
Trauma Room One

IIRC

[ExGeeEye]

I was at the shooting site and drove the route the Kennedy limo took...

How did you do that? In the 1990's (when I was there) Houston St. was a pretty busy one-way-t'other-way street.

[ExGeeEye]

(Too quick on the post button)

Has that (one-wayness) changed?

[BeadCounter]

“Others see it as a rorschach test. Conspiracy nuts look at a simple crime and see what they wish to see.”

This is so but not totally. A number of persons have become Lone Nut/Single Bullet/Warren Commission defenders because they were formerly conspiracy until they really studied the facts.

I’m sure it works vice-versa too; I think Oswald did it alone but still enjoy the movie “JFK”. There is a website “100 errors in JFK”, something like that that addresses that movie.

Research, research, let that be one’s guide, I can’t believe the folks who believe conspiracy theories often based on the most shallow of theory or evidence; yet, they are the first ones to call the Warren Report a fraud.

[Beautiful_Gracious_Skies]

Why would transparency bother an editor? Perhaps you need to pop a Xanax or some Dilaudid before you read along...

JFK FACTS:

Liberals and conservatives call on Trump to reject JFK secrecy

A bipartisan group of Congressman are urging President Trump to insist on “full public release” the government’s JFK assassination records by October 26 and to “reject any claims for the continued postponement of …. those records.”

In two “sense of Congress” resolutions introduced Wednesday on Capitol Hill, the legislators call for the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies to release all of their records related to the November 1963 murder of President John F. Kennedy.

JFK’s assassination ... generated six official investigations and widespread belief that the liberal president was the victim of a conspiracy and not a lone gunman.....

Most of the JFK files have been made public but some 35,000 documents remained fully or partially redacted and have never been seen by the public, researchers or the media. By law, federal agencies must obtain the written permission of the president to keep these documents secret after this month.

“The president can be a real hero to the American people if he says the truth does matter,” Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), leader of the effort, told AlterNet in a phone interview.

“Transparency in government is critical not only to ensuring accountability; it’s also essential to understanding our nation’s history,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, (R-Iowa) in a written statement. “…Americans deserve a full picture of what happened that fateful day in November 1963. Shining a light on never-before-seen government records is essential to filling in these blank spaces in our history.”

The CIA and FBI have not yet revealed whether they will appeal to Trump for continuing secrecy.

According to the National Archives online database, the unreleased records include CIA files on two senior officers involved in assassinations and four Watergate burglars, as well as the closed-door testimony of numerous JFK witnesses, such CIA spymaster James Angleton.

Diverse Supporters:

The resolutions have attracted diverse support. The House measure, introduced by Jones, is co-sponsored by several members who served in Congress in 1992, and voted for the original JFK Records Act.

They include liberals Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), currently the longest serving member of Congress, Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the longest serving woman in the House, Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)

The House Republican co-sponsors include conservative Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and first termer Matt Gaetz (R-Florida).

The Senate resolution (S. Res 281) was introduced by Grassley (R-Ia), the conservative chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and co-sponsored by liberal Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vermont), the ranking member of the committee.

“Chairman Grassley and I both believe that a government of, by, and for the people simply cannot be one that needlessly hides information from them,” Leahy said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to make our democracy ever more transparent to the American people.”....

http://jfkfacts.org/liberals-conservatives-call-trump-reject-jfk-secrecy/

[CodeToad]

Sad. In 2005 we could stand right there.

[Covenantor]

About that Minox camera:

Minox is a former Latvian, now German, manufacturer of miniature cameras. They are most famous for their range of subminiature espionage cameras such as the Minox-B that became extremely popular during the Cold War when it was used on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The CIA used Minox cameras from WWII to 1974 and the Soviets even used them until the late 1990s.

During WWII, it was so popular that it was difficult for the various intelligence agencies to obtain enough Minox cameras for their tasks. Ironically, they were first built in Latvia under Russian control, then under German occupation and then under Russian control again. After WWII, production was moved to Germany, where the first Minox-B cameras were built.

It really is a very tiny camera and has been featured in several post WWII spy movies. With regard to Oswald possessing one...at that time they weren't easy to come by as well as being very expensive. The tiny 8mm film cassettes, in addition to being very uncommon, usually had to be sent off for special processing. For the true enthusiast a tiny enlarger, film developing tanks, special chemistry kits and othe accessories were necessary to make home prints. All in all a very surprising and remarkable camera to be found in the possession of a man unable to support his family and essentially homeless. Not one to make snaps juniors first steps. Because of their rarity, a check of the serial number would have easily traced its path back to its source. A good reason for it to have "disappeared". Wonder if the SN was recorded.

I have 3 models from my dads collection along with the enlarger and full accessory kit. An interesting feature was the slender carry chain which had beads with which to measure the proper focusing placement of the camera for document photography. Genuine spy stuff. ;>)

[jmacusa]

Yes. Prove there wasn't. So tell me Poindexter, I suppose you believe the Apollo moon landings were faked, right?