Time to lay Kennedy conspiracy theories to rest

CNN reporter Kelly Wallace stands in Dallas' Dealey Plaza and points to the Texas School Book Depository window where, she says, Lee Harvey Oswald is "thought'' to have shot President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 -- 40 years ago Saturday. Then she and the anchor chat about the various conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination and conclude that the truth will probably never be known.

That's nonsense. And worse, it's popular nonsense. The truth is known. Oswald, acting alone, murdered JFK. We know this with as much certainty as we know anything in history. And just as we don't speak of the "alleged Civil War'' or the "supposed sinking of the Titanic,'' so to give credence to the lingering and numerous wild theories about the assassination of JFK is an unwise pandering to folklore and uncritical thinking.

Rather than continue to ask if there is any validity to these imaginings, we should wonder why they are so popular in the first place.

Several answers come to mind. People equate skepticism with independence. If the government says the sky is blue, a certain slice of the population would begin to doubt it. People also seek meaning in their lives. The idea of random tragedy, of a lone lunatic being able to destroy a man such as John F. Kennedy, is difficult to accept. They would rather cling to enticing accidents of history -- did you know that Richard M. Nixon was in Dallas the day before the assassination? -- than face a world where bad things happen for no reason at all.

Credulous media coverage by shallow reporters makes the situation worse. Balancing unequal arguments seems like fairness to them. Thus the Warren Report is weighed against Oliver Stone's fevered fantasies, just as science is pitted against UFO fanatics or, occasionally, the historical record of World War II is forced to justify itself to Holocaust deniers.

There is a human need to see order in chaos. We see it in every corner of human experience. It's what causes us to see animal figures in the stars. But the beauty of Western Civilization is that we have a commitment to empirical reality, and dry fact tells us that, despite the desires of our hearts, Elvis is not alive. The Jews don't run the world. And Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.

The Italians have a word, "dietrologia,'' which translates as the tendency to find shadowy motives behind the obvious. That is what is going on here. Oswald was a skilled marksman. He shot Kennedy at what amounted, for him, at close range. The endless skepticism and analysis are a waste of time, and, worse, they distract attention that might otherwise be devoted to the actual trials and triumphs of Kennedy's short-lived, long-ago administration. Forty years is long enough for wild speculation to be indulged. It's time to stop humoring the conspiracy buffs.

I'll tell you why I am skeptical about the conclusion of the WCR.

The crime scene in the TSBD was not sealed off to allow for proper treatment and collection of evidence and unauthorized people were allowed in (think OJ trial lawyers' attack on contaminating the crime scene).

The fence area around the GK was not tested for evidence, ie. gunpowder, footprints or other evidence after eyewitnesses said they heard a shot from that direction. One said she saw smoke behind the GK at the time of hearing the shot.

The soldier wearing the overseas hat standing high up on the GK heard a bullet zing by him and he hit the dirt while filming. The deaf mute said he saw a person behind the GK hand a rifle to another person who took it and placed it in a case. There were numerous other witnesses whose testimony was ignored.

The autopsy was a charade according to Cyril Wecht whose testimony on forensic science has been relied upon in numerous court cases throughout the country.

The diagnosis of frontal wound on JFK by the reputable Parkland Memorial Hospital doctors.

The limo in which JFK was shot in was not preserved. One report said it was stripped and repaired within a day or two after the assassination.

LBJ pressured the WC for a quick conclusion to calm the public and put it behind so they could move on. It was neither based on contested analysis of scientific data nor cross examined witnesses with conflicting testimony as found in our judicial court system. It was a sham.

We'll never know the full extent of it because all of the evidence wasn't examined and the testimony of witnesses who came forward wasn't heard.

Three shots.

Three shells were found on the 6th floor TSBD.
Several folks claim 4 shots and more.

First goes through neck. Second glances off skull and blows brains in process. Third is lower and wild. All from Oswald.

The WC says the first was wild and caused the chips that hit James Tague under the underpass on Commerce. If it came from the TSBD, then it would have been high and to the right.
Tague himself said the shot came "from the left" meaning the grassy knoll in the general area where Mr. Zapruder was filming. But since Tague was injured on the right cheek that would have to include anything between the Elm/Houston intersection to the railway/viaduct. He also testified that the first retort was rather flat-sounding then the following two shots where sharp rifle cracks.
Deputy Buddy Walthers examined the curb mark and testified it could have come from either the TSBD or the Dal-Tex building.

IMO, The wounding of Tague tipped the whole mess over. There were three pieces of brass found up on the 6th floor, but four sets of injuries on the ground (Tague-Connally-Kennedy/throat-Kennedy/head) that the WC had to explain. Thus the Single-Bullet-Theory.

"Only three shots" because it's "only Oswald" because "Single-Bullet" because "Only three shots" because "only Oswald" because ...

Ya know, I can accept that a sniper can do a shoot-bolt-reaquire-shoot-bolt-reaquire-shoot in about 8 seconds. That's not beyond belief.
I maybe can go for the single-bullet thingy, maybe.
And it is barely possible that 7 medical professionals at Parkland Hospital couldn't tell the difference between T2/T3 and C4; or they confused the occipital vice parietal-temporal bone structure.

Where I have serious problems with is why the CIA would withhold, obstruct, and obscure it's data from the Warren Commission, the HSCA, and later the ARRB.

If LHO was a some-times employed loser misfit, he seems to me a very well-connected, well-traveled loser misfit.

The CIA (and the FBI) lied; and have yet to come clean to Congress or it's employer, i.e. me and you.

Ok. Then let me ask you this.

His movements. - I'm guessing you mean going to the USSR. Do CIA agents normally slit their wrists in an effort to stay?

His Russian. - I've seen documents describing LHO's Russian as poor. Can you point to something (with source would be nice) that says something else?

His contacts. - Like who? Again sources would help.

The fact that he worked in the Depository. - So everyone who worked at the Depository were CIA or just a few? Here's how LHO 'offically' got hired, who else are CIA agents?
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/leejob2.txt

For extra credit: Here is how the route was chosen. Who else was in on the plot? http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/route.htm

Since there was obviously more than one shooter (as the Assassinations Committee found, even) - More than one shooter means it had to be CIA? The HSCA stated that LHO fired three times and hit Kennedy twice (including the head shot). The evidence of more than one shooter came primarily from acoustics and that view has been shredded by other experts http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/acoustic.htm It also says that other evidence makes it possible that there was a 2nd shooter, but if LHO hit Kennedy twice what did the 2nd shooter hit?

Mac Wallace was involved, then he had to be an operative.
- I never heard of him him until recently. I've seen him described as LBJ's hitman who's fingerprint has been identified in the Depository. So how is he supposed to fit into the plot?

Or, if you want, why not just give your view of what happened? Number of shooters, shots fired etc. as detailed as you wish.

"The Kennedy assassination records have never been closed to official government investigators. They are only sealed from the public at large."

Sealed means just that. Government investigators have no more access to them than you or I. Let me ask you, was the affair between BJC and Monica a private sexual affair between two adults, or was it philandering by a sexual predator conducted while both were on our dime? One side claims that it was a private matter, another side claims that it is a public matter.

"The stated reason is to protect the privacy of the Kennedy family."

In case you haven't figured it out, the government lies. And, during the 60s, we found out just how much the government lies. To believe that they would seal the Warren Commission records for 75 years from public scrutiny to "protect the family" is naive. In light of the controversy that has continued for over 40 years and the discrepancies in the official government story that are so big you could drive a fleet of trucks through it and all of the US aircraft carrier fleet without touching the sides. If the Warren Commission report was so factually correct, the government COULD have allowed designated, trusted investigators to review the records (according to your theory) and determine if the records support the report.

Look at the evidence that exists of government dirty doing:
1. All of the medical records from Parkland were seized and the staff ordered not to speak about what they knew. If there was no cover-up, why was this step taken?
2. Kennedy's body was placed aboard AF1 in Dallas in one casket and removed in Washington in another. The fate of the original casket has never been revealed. What happened to it and why?
3. The autopsy records from Bethesda are known to be markedly different from preliminary records made at Parkland. Exit/entry wound locations recorded at Parkland are known to have been altered in the "official" autopsy conducted by Bethesda. Parkland is not a podunk hospital, it is a well-known, well-credited teaching hospital in the region and residents and interns would not have been assigned to the President's care.
4. If we believe the Warren Commission and the single bullet theory, how do they account for the bullet (which I believe is the one called CE 399) that was found on the floor of the presidential limousine while it was at Parkland? According to the Warren Commission, one bullet missed, the magic bullet struck both JFK and Gov. Connally, and the last bullet removed the back of his head. Where did CE 399 come from?
5. If there was no cover-up, why were all cameras (except Zapruder's due to an error on the Secret Service's part) at Dealy Plaza confiscated and neither the film nor the developed photos were ever returned to any of the people from whom they were taken. If the investigation into the assassination were on the up-and-up and the photos were needed as evidence, why weren't the photos or duplcates returned to the owners? What did they show that the government didn't want us to see?
6. There was another film of the assassination taken from one of the office buildings across from Dealy Plaza that has rarely been seen and records the assassination from an entirely different angle. What's on it that the government doesn't want us to see?

If there was no cover-up, all of these questions would have been laid to rest along with JFK decades ago.

"Well, duh. That's the whole point that that is a time period for the immediate family members to no longer be with us. Do you seriously think that the present generation would overthrow the government if they found out LBJ was involved, but your children would not -- that they would simply flip over to watch "Terminator 12" on the other channel after hearing that LBJ was involved way back when on the news? Get real."

Me get real!!?? Take a dose of your own medicine. What would be the point of overthrowing the government after 75 years if it is revealed that LBJ was involved in the assassination? Do we just say "King's X", the last 75 years don't count? When those records are unsealed (perhaps in your lifetime, certainly not in mine) you will discover the truth about the assassination. If we hope for the best scenario (yours) that everything on the Warren Commission was on the up-and-up, then everyone walks away satisfied. If the records reveal something entirely different (as I believe that they will), then what? I don't believe that we are in danger of overthrowing the government over it (place events in perspective - are we likely to overthrow the government as the result of events that occurred in 1928?). People won't be happy and they may require future investigations of this type include civilian monitors or auditors to ensure that everything is aboveboard but, realistically, what can we do?

I believe that the records were sealed for 75 years to protect the JOHNSON family (NOT the Kennedys). THAT'S the family that the 75 years is intended to protect. LBJ could have cared less about the feelings of the Kennedys. If he was so compassionate, why was Jackie forced to stand next to him on AF1 while the oath of office was administered with her murdered husband only feet away in the rear of the aircraft? Doesn't sound too compassionate to me.

"I know! What is so wrong with not agreeing with the WC proponents? Why are they so bent out of shape about this?" OK, last time on this thread- I don't ascribe any sinister motives to folks who believe the WC version. I DO think that they are in error as regarding the "Oswald acted alone" version of events as a scientifically settled fact, not subject to any rational objections - on the order of "The Earth revolves around the Sun- case closed!".

People's motivations and actions are really NOT sas clear and determinate as the laws of physics. There is always some slight possibility that we don't know the whole story, and what's more, it can never be proven beyond doubt that the WC narrative is correct in every detail.

Unfortunately, if you are committed to the truth of that narrative despite any objections (that is called "Faith"), then dissent becomes heresy. And historically, the punishmments for heresy have been swift and very, very severe...

Ok. Then let me ask you this. His movements. - I'm guessing you mean going to the USSR. Do CIA agents normally slit their wrists in an effort to stay?

Oh please. That has Baghdad Bob written all over it. "Americans are slitting their wrists at the gates of Russia!" Why in the world would he slit his wrist and then move back here after getting Soviet citizenship. Soviet propaganda.

His Russian. - I've seen documents describing LHO's Russian as poor. Can you point to something (with source would be nice) that says something else?

Marina said it fooled her on the History Channel.

His contacts. - Like who? Again sources would help.

If he was in the Depository on the sixth floor and Mac Wallace was in the Depository on the sixth floor there's one. The CIA covered up the assassination. If he was there, he was part of it. He was involved in the cancer project according to the History Channel. If you guys refuse to watch anything that goes against the governments story, there's nothing I can do for you.

The fact that he worked in the Depository. - So everyone who worked at the Depository were CIA or just a few? Here's how LHO 'offically' got hired, who else are CIA agents? http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/leejob2.txt

He was on the sixth floor the day of the assassination and connected to those that were assassinating the president. Most or all of the other employees weren't.

For extra credit: Here is how the route was chosen. Who else was in on the plot? http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/route.htm

The route was made in April, I believe. That gave them 7 months to plan it. No need for a conspirator to make the route, unless perhaps they added Elm to it.

Since there was obviously more than one shooter (as the Assassinations Committee found, even) - More than one shooter means it had to be CIA?

The cover-up means they were involved. Oswald being framed so well means they were involved.

The HSCA stated that LHO fired three times and hit Kennedy twice (including the head shot). The evidence of more than one shooter came primarily from acoustics and that view has been shredded by other experts http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/acoustic.htm It also says that other evidence makes it possible that there was a 2nd shooter, but if LHO hit Kennedy twice what did the 2nd shooter hit?

So you buy the government when they make up a bogus SBT, but don't dsmiss that theory when the government admits it's bogus. lol Let's see...entrance wound windshield/neck, there's one, entrance wound back, there's two, Connally back/wrist/thigh, there's three, dented chrome, there's four, Tague, there's five, Kennedy front of the head, there's six. At least six shots. Some listening to the audio say there were up to eight.

Mac Wallace was involved, then he had to be an operative. - I never heard of him him until recently. I've seen him described as LBJ's hitman who's fingerprint has been identified in the Depository. So how is he supposed to fit into the plot?

He's a convicted killer who's fingerprint was in the sniper's nest. What do you think. Was he sightseeing? lol

Or, if you want, why not just give your view of what happened? Number of shooters, shots fired etc. as detailed as you wish

I have no idea the number of shooters. There's evidence of six shots, could've been a couple more according to audio. Mac Wallace was in charge of the Depository and maybe even the Grassy Knoll. I'd say windshield/neck shooter from the triple underpass area was one, Grassy Knoll was two, Depository was three. At least three shooters. Probably several more who didn't shoot and were just back-up.

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