Some Relevant Facts About the JFK Assassination

Newsmax ^ | 11/19/2003 | Phil Brennan

[Swordmaker]

There's an explosive new book that lays out a very detailed – and persuasive – case for the probability that the late President Lyndon Baines Johnson was responsible for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

I say persuasive because the author, Barr McClellan, was one of LBJ's top lawyers, and he provides a lot of information hitherto unknown to the general public – much more of which he says is buried in secret documents long withheld from the American people.

"The American public has waited forty years to hear the truth about the JFK assassination," McClellan says. "For government agencies to withhold critical evidence and not cooperate with the [1998 investigation conducted by the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB)] is a form of obstruction of justice. Under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, the public should be granted access to these documents."

According to McClellan and Doug Horne, a former ARRB investigator, hundreds of relevant documents were withheld from the 1998 investigation into the JFK assassination. They believe that these materials are now in the possession of the National Archives, relocated from sealed files previously controlled by the CIA and FBI.

McClellan also asked for a formal review of the evidence in his book, "Blood, Money & Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K.," which establishes a direct connection between LBJ and an individual involved with the assassination and cover-up.

"At this time we need to see what else is missing and what else would be helpful to presenting the entire truth," McClellan continued. "The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Department of Justice could make the request of the National Archives and should do so."

Now, in normal circumstance I would tend to view this latest explanation of who was behind the killing of JFK as exactly that – just another theory among dozens. But the circumstances are not normal. Poll after poll establishes that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that the official verdict of the Warren Commission is simply not borne out by what little is known publicly about the case.

McClellan's new book adds to those facts and names a second suspect he says was a longtime assassin for Lyndon Johnson, whom he portrays as ... well, as being homicidal whenever he or his many concealed interests were threatened.

Add to that the incredible inconsistencies in the FBI and Secret Service investigations, which reek with the stench of cover-up, and one can't escape the conclusion that if LBJ did nothing else in dealing with the aftermath of the assassination, he sure as hell clamped a lid on any evidence that contradicted the official finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman acting solely on his own initiative.

I report all of this as a prelude to revealing what I know about the matter but have never before written about – in the beginning, because I had a wife and seven children to protect, and since, because I had no reason to revisit the matter.

[Ronin]

Not that I would ever contemplate doing anything of the sort, but if I were going to pop someone with a rifle it would be "one pass, haul ass".

Why take more than one shot if he obviously hit the target the first time. Take the shot, drop the rifle, run like Hell. With a high value target like the President, you know your chances of getting away are slim to none, but you would obviously know that the faster you start moving, the better those slim chances are...

[AmusedBystander]

In four decades, no sharp-shooter has ever duplicated Oswald's supposedly dead-on feat of three shots in seven seconds. It's impossible

It's been duplicated many times in lots of studies, some using very inexperienced shooters. What a lot of the analysis early on failed to acknowledge was that the timeline starts after the first shot is fired, as the first round would have already been chambered and ready to go.

[Hatteras]

I'll have to work on that. They showed a photo taken from across the street with a number of figures up the hill under the trees. They identified an outline of the serviceman on the History Channel show last night and when they colored the photo it became quite clear (keep in mind, the Zapruder film was also colored to enhance the final shot and show the "spray" more clearly) They also interviewed the serviceman for the show at the spot he was standing in 1963. He was shooting with a home movie camera and when the dust was clearing, a man with a badge confiscated his film. I'll check around and get back to you on the pic.

[Hatteras]

"Why take more than one shot if he obviously hit the target the first time. Take the shot, drop the rifle, run like Hell. With a high value target like the President, you know your chances of getting away are slim to none, but you would obviously know that the faster you start moving, the better those slim chances are..."

It's interesting that you say that because I read another interview recently with some convicted mob guy out of Chicago. I think the interview was a few years old. He says that he was the shooter on the hill. He was one of two back-ups just in case the first shooter missed. He says that he saw JFK grab his throat and realized that the first shot missed the head target. He and a third shooter on the ground behind the limo further up the hill both hit the President's head at about the same time.

I'm still guessing but I'm positive that Lee Harvey didn't fire all three (or four according to some) shots.

[Willie Green]

I, like most everyone else I have ever talked to, believe there was a lot more buried by the Warren Commission report than was revealed. I, like most other people I know, do not believe Oswald acted alone.

I lean toward the Mafia/Castro theories, simply because of Jack Ruby.

[Shooter 2.5]

Thank you but I won't hold my breath. The last time I heard of the guy, he wasn't where he claimed to be.

Other than the couple from Mesquite where I live, I don't remember anyone else laying on the ground.

Also, the only way anyone could have shot from the picket fence and hit the second shot was to shoot through the people standing on the sidewalk directly over the concrete wall.

[Ronin]

Weird. We are talking about a book depository, aren't we? Books are heavy. Very heavy. I can't imagine how much weight is already on that floor, but it is obviously strong enough to hold up all the books.

Despite that, they describe dust falling with each shot and hearing the brass hit the floor.

Seems weird to me.

[WhiteGuy]

I'll add my two cents..............................

Regardless of what the real story is, I believe that the federal government, which is made up of people who are paid by our tax dollars, has lied to US.

Lies and cover-ups are unacceptable.

In 40 years, this trend has only gotten worse.

[aristeides]

So they post to threads like this, growing ever more fanatical in their denials. As fanatical as some of the far out conspiracy kooks.

Got to wonder why they're so fanatically wedded to the Commission's line. The people are obviously not buying it, and those who defend it are only discrediting themselves. Why can't they let it go and consign a 40-year-old event to history?

[Shooter 2.5]

Uh, gee, you think that's weird?

What about accusing a Vice President of murder?
A sniper up a tree?
A sniper in a bush?
A sniper two yards from people on a sidewalk and no one notices him/her.
A sniper shooting someone in a car from a sewer?
A gun hidden in an umbrella?
A bullet passing through a cracked windshield?
Two bullets that supposedly hit a man in the back and neck and they disappear?
A limo driver accused of murder?
A Secret Serviceman stands up in a car, kills the President and no one notices and his image isn't in any photograph.

How about sworn testimony isn't believed but a cousin's neighbor's hairdresser opinion is treated like Gospel?

[Swordmaker]

Billy Lovelady said he was on the steps and his co-workers said Lovelady was on the steps.

Yes, Billy was on the steps and his co-worker was right... but in pictures taken only minutes later, Billy was wearing completely different clothing (a red and white shirt with vertical stripes) than the man in the photographs and he looks nothing like Oswald.

[Shooter 2.5]

On the Fifth Floor
Three Depository employees shown in the picture taken by Dillard were on the fifth floor of the building when the shots were fired: James Jarman, Jr., age 34, a wrapper in the shipping department; Bonnie Ray Williams, age 20, a warehouseman temporarily assigned to laying a plywood floor on the sixth floor; and Harold Norman, age 26, an "order filler." Norman and Jarman decided to watch the parade during the lunch hour from the fifth-floor windows. From the ground floor they took the west elevator, which operates with push-button controls, to the fifth floor. Meanwhile, Williams had gone up to the sixth floor where he had been.working and ate his lunch on the south side of that floor. Since he saw no one around when he finished his lunch, he started down on the east elevator, looking for company. He left behind his paper lunch sack, chicken bones and an empty pop bottle. Williams went down to the fifth floor, where he joined Norman and Jarman at approximately 12:20 p.m.

Harold Norman was in the fifth-floor window in the southeast corner, directly under the window where witnesses saw the rifle. (See Commission Exhibit No. 485, p. 69.) He could see light through the ceiling cracks between the fifth and sixth floors. As the motorcade went by, Norman thought that the President was saluting with his right arm,

...and I can't remember what the exact time was but I know I heard a shot, and then after I heard the shot, well, it seems as though the President, you know, slumped or something, and then another shot and I believe Jarman or someone told me, he said, "I believe someone is shooting at the President," and I think I made a.statement "It is someone shooting at the President, and I believe it came from up above us." Well, I couldn't see at all during the time but I know I heard a third shot fired, and I could also hear something sounded like the shell hulls hitting the floor and the ejecting of the rifle...

Williams said that he "really did not pay any attention" to the first shot

...because I did not know what was happening. The second shot, it sounded like it was right in the building, the second and third shot. And it soundedit even shook the building, the side we were on. Cement fell on my head.
Q.: You say cement fell on your head?
A.: Cement, gravel, dirt, or something, from the old building, because it shook the windows and everything. Harold was sitting next to me, and he said it came right from over our head.

Williams testified Norman said "I can even hear the shell being ejected from the gun hitting the floor." When Jarman heard the first sound, he thought that it was either a backfire

...or an officer giving a salute to the President. And then at that time I didn't, you know, think too much about it...
Well, after the third shot was fired, I think I got up and I run over to Harold Norman and Bonnie Ray Williams, and told them, I said, I told them that it wasn't a backfire or anything, that somebody was shooting at the President.

Jarman testified that Norman said "that he thought the shots had come from above us, and I noticed that Bonnie Ray had a few debris in his head. It was sort of white stuff, or something." Jarman stated that Norman said "that he was sure that the shot came from inside the building because he had been used to guns and all that, and he said it didn't sound like it was too far off anyway." The three men ran to the west side of the building, where they could look toward the Triple Underpass to see what had happened to the motorcade.

After the men had gone to the window on the west side of the building, Jarman "got to thinking about all the debris on Bonnie Ray's head" and said, "That shot probably did come from upstairs, up over us." He testified that Norman said, "I know it did, because I could hear the action of the bolt, and I could hear the cartridges drop on the floor." After pausing for a few minutes, the three men ran downstairs. Norman and Jarman ran out of the front entrance of the building, where they saw Brennan, the construction worker who had seen the man in the window firing the gun, talking to a police officer, and they then reported their own experience.

On March 20, 1964, preceding their appearance before the Commission, these witnesses were interviewed in Dallas. At that time members of the Commission's legal staff conducted an experiment. Norman, Williams, and Jarman placed themselves at the windows of the fifth floor as they had been on November 22. A Secret Service agent operated the bolt of a rifle directly above them at the southeast corner window of the sixth floor. At the same time, three cartridge shells were dropped to the floor at intervals of about 3 seconds. According to Norman, the noise outside was less on the day of the assassination than on the day of the test. He testified, "Well, I heard the same sound, the sound similar. I heard three something that he dropped on the floor and then I could hear the rifle or whatever he had up there." The experiment with the shells and rifle was repeated for members of the Commission on May 9, 1964, on June 7, 1964, and again on September 6, 1964. All seven of the Commissioners clearly heard the shells drop to the floor.

[Shooter 2.5]

Prove it. Link it. Show the picture of Lovelady and the picture of the steps.

Why in the hell do you think they asked Lovelady if he was on the steps?!????

[tpaine]

So they post to threads like this, growing ever more fanatical in their denials. As fanatical as some of the far out conspiracy kooks.

Got to wonder why they're so fanatically wedded to the Commission's line. The people are obviously not buying it, and those who defend it are only discrediting themselves. Why can't they let it go and consign a 40-year-old event to history?

Could it be they think its our patriotic duty to support the Report?

Weird people

[Shooter 2.5]

Mr. BALL - Were you there when the President's motorcade went by
Mr. LOVELADY - Right.

Where was Oswald when the motorcade went by?

Oh, yeah, he was busy killing the President.

[Wolfstar]

The memories or claims that the large exit wound was in the rear of the president's head are flat wrong. The truth is there for all to see on the Zapruder film, one frame of which is shown in Post #56 on this thread. The Zapruder film clearly shows that upper right front of the president's head literally explodes upward and outward with tremendous force. There is a massive spray of blood, bone, and brain matter. One huge flap of scalp and bone falls down in front of his right ear and cheek, but remains attached to the skull. It's very ugly, very violent, and very final.

Anyone who sees those frames of the Zapruder film and continues to claim the exit wound was in the back of the skull is a charlatan, pure and simple.

However, one cannot determine the bullet trajectory from the Zapruder film. At the time the president is hit in the head, he appears to be facing straight to the front of the limousine. The Texas Schoolbook Depository is to the right, rear. One would think a shot from the right rear should exit to the left front. But perhaps the fatal bullet was deflected slightly to the right upon hitting the skull. Autopsy photos do show only one entrance wound in the rear of the skull, somewhat to right of center and fairly high up on the head.

What strikes me about that shot as compared to the others is it's genuine explosiveness. It almost seems to have been a different type of round.

Another striking thing is the interviews Nelly Connolly gave just this morning. She and her husband have always believed John Connolly was hit with the second shot, not the shot that went through the president's neck. What she said today is that they heard the first shot. She looked back at the president and saw him clutching his throat. She didn't immediately recognize the sound as gunfire. But John Connolly was a hunter and was familiar with guns. He knew immediately that the sound was gunfire. He turned to his right, then his left to try to see the president. Then as he was turning around to the left again, he was hit with, to quote Mrs. Connolly, "the second shot." At that point she pulled her husband down in her lap. It was after that when she heard another shot and the limousine was sprayed with blood and matter.

The only problem with this testimony — and the reason why the Warren Commission went with their "magic bullet" theory — is that it is known one shot missed. The places where it struck pavement were found very early in the investigation.

The magic bullet theory has the shot that hit Kennedy in the throat passing through and hitting Connolly, then being found on his stretcher (in nearly pristine condition). Even if this is true, I have always wondered why the bullet that hit the president's head exploded, while the "magic" one went through two human bodies and several bones, and was only slightly deformed. I don't know if any fragments of were found of the bullet that missed, but the fact that it hit concrete makes it understandable that it would virtually disintegrate.

[Shooter 2.5]

Because by the time the second bullet had passed almost through two people it had lost it's velocity and hadn't hit bone. The type of velocity that would have destroyed it. The nose on the bullet was damaged and I believe it happened by striking the rib. It left Connelly's chest by keyholing. It was flying sideways.

When it finally hit the wrist, it was sideways and that action squeezed the lead from the base.

The bullets of that era, had lead exposed bases.

I hope this helps you to understand.

[txdoda]

bttt...

[tpaine]

What strikes me about that shot as compared to the others is it's genuine explosiveness. It almost seems to have been a different type of round.


Another striking thing is the interviews Nelly Connolly gave just this morning. She and her husband have always believed John Connolly was hit with the second shot, not the shot that went through the president's neck. ---
--- He turned to his right, then his left to try to see the president. Then as he was turning around to the left again, he was hit with, to quote Mrs. Connolly, "the second shot." --

--- The only problem with this testimony — and the reason why the Warren Commission went with their "magic bullet" theory — is that it is known one shot missed. --
-- The magic bullet theory has the shot that hit Kennedy in the throat passing through and hitting Connolly, then being found on his stretcher (in nearly pristine condition).

Even if this is true, I have always wondered why the bullet that hit the president's head exploded, while the "magic" one went through two human bodies and several bones, and was only slightly deformed.
-Wolf-

---

If we speculate there were two shooters to the rear, with two different guns/loads, one with expansive type bullets, it all becomes very possible.

JFK is shot in the back with an expansive bullet, which fragments, & one major fragment exits his throat, causing what looks like an entrance wound.

Connelly is then hit with Oswalds 'pristine bullet'..

The next expansive bullet fragments in JFK's head.

Oswald misses the limo and hits the curb.

Which leaves an extra case from Oswalds rifle on the floor.. -- Big deal. Who knows, maybe he had an empty in it to begin with.

This scenario also leaves Oswald's helper to stash the wiped down rifle, enabling Lee to get downstairs for his coke.

It's all so simple, --- if you have no single shooter axe to grind..

[maestro]

'JFK' would still be alive if he were a 'Buddhist' or 'Muslim'?

/sarcasm

:-(