This is by far the most satisfying of the assassination theories! Well thought out and well annotated. I have to admit, in forty years it never occurred to me. But now, I see the light. Nice work, Chuck! 
Are you suggesting that President Kennedy constantly f**ked up? :eek:
People seem to lose sight of the fact that when talking about a possible conspiracy, this does not exclusively refer to a massive government cabal. It could mean as little as one other guy.
Seen in that light, a “conspiracy” doesn’t sound quite as outrageous as some would have you believe it does.
So, who would that “one other guy” have been? We know every minute of Oswald’s life; we know the names of every person who is seen in Dealy Plaza that day; howcum no other “shooter” has ever even been named, let alone accused?
Maybe because he didn’t exist?
My point is, folks seem to take an all or nothing mentality to the whole scenario. If it wasn’t Oswald by himself, then it must’ve been the entire CIA! Or the FBI! Or… or both!
No. It could’ve been as little as Oswald and some anonymous anti-Castro Cuban pal spotting him on the ground. The possibilities are endless.
It does have to be all or nothing. The assassination of JFK was one of the most thoroughly investigated crimes in history. There is no way that there could have been a second gunman, fourth shot, secret meetings, or any other form of conspiracy without it being discovered. So the only two possibilities are that the investigation was legit and Oswald acted alone or the investigation was fixed and a large portion of the federal government was in on it.
Those are my thoughts, exactly, Moody.
Someone knows where Jimmy Hoffa is - but no one’s talking and that’s been nearly 30 years ago. While not of the same magnitude as the Kennedy murder, it goes to show that people can keep their mouth shut.
A massive government conspiracy? No, I don’t buy it. Something involving organized crime? Yes, I believe it. What exactly? I haven’t any more of a clue than any other Doper.
No offense, but this strikes me as naive. “There is no way there could have been a secret meeting without it being discovered”?! Why? Because Woodward and Bernstein got lucky?
Neither camp will ever prove their case conclusively. The sooner we all come to grips with that, the less pointless debating there’ll be on bullet trajectory and who knew who and when.
These were not the Secret Service procedures for the time. Seems naive in retrospect, especially given the security done for a slow-speed presidential visit, but at the time they really didn’t think of an assassin doing this. JFK;s death is fairly rare style of assasination, most such assasinations on public figures were (and are) done at close range with pistols. Lincoln, Duke of Austria, Garfield, as well as the attempted assasinations: Reagan, Ford, both Rosevelts, etc.
Of course, why didn’t I see this? It’s so obvious when you look at it- JFK had JFK killed! The backbrace wearin’, intern humpin’, scheming prick…
:dubious: That’s Lattimer’s proof of the Jet Effect? It looks more like proof that a rifle bullet can blast a skull to bits, and that among all the pieces that fly everywhere one large-ish piece might fall behind the skull. And note that the ladder is knocked forward, while Kennedy’s body was knocked backwards. I’m not impressed.
Moody is right that a conspiracy does not have to be all or nothing. For example, if the CIA was involved, then it was probably just one or two rouge agents who had an axe to grind and knew where to find an assassin. It certainly wasn’t the entire agency. And even if one of the Secret Service guys or one one of the FBI agents was corrupt and was helping to alter evidence or intimidate witnesses or whatever, it was just that – a couple of guys – and not the entire FBI or the entire Secret Sevice.
The skull is fairly intact, what you are seeing is the paint-and meat filling they put in the skull.
There is also absolutely no physical evidence of another shooter, and there’s no decent evidence that any Intelligence agency used Oswald for anything, or even gave a rats ass about him. Add another shooter (that hits JFK) and you have to account for the lack of bullet fragments that don’t match the Carcano.
When you look at the level of alleged witness intimidation and tampering with evidence you have a pair of rogue agents who manage to:
- Fake photos of Oswald with the rifle. (3 photos, no less)
- Fake his handwriting on one of them.
- Intimidate Marina Oswald to say she took the photos , to this day.
- Plant a bullet at the hospital that matches the fragments found in Connely and the Limo
- Arrange for jack Ruby to Kill Oswald.
- Intimidate Ruby into denying any involvement with them until he dies.
- Convince the vast majority of earwitnesses that there were only 3 shots fired.
- Confiscate some film from certain witnesses but not others.
- Travel the country for dozens of years intimidating and killing people invovled in the assasination, except those who would mean anything.
- Pray that the autopsy is bungled.
- Arrange the motorcade route to go past their assasin.
- Set up inordinate amounts of evidence against Oswald. Including his entire flakey past.
On so-on and so forth, this means these ‘one-or two guys’ pretty much ahve a full time job covering their actions, its not like agents in the CIA have free reign you know. Doesn’t add up.
The assassination of JFK was in no way comparible to the murder of Jimmy Hoffa or the Watergate cover-up. Those were both crimes committed in secret by a relative handful of people. JFK was killed on film in front of a thousand witnesses - virtually all of who were extensively interrogated by the police.
Consider some of the “mystery people” that conspiracy theorists talk about. The three tramps were all identified and questioned. The umbrella man was questioned. The baboushka lady was questioned. Tha man in black was questioned. In every case, they had a reasonable explanation for what they had been doing.
But the conspiracy theorists will not accept these explanations. They insist that these explanations were manufactured after the fact. The conspiracy theorists have to insist upon this; otherwise there’s no room left for a conspiracy.
Not to be offensive, MB, but one side has proven its case conclusively. And the other side isn’t willing to look at the evidence.
C’mon, Nemo, you can do better than that. You seem to be saying that for there to have been a conspiracy, all the members of the conspiracy had to have been at Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination. Sorry, no, only Lee Harvey Oswald needed to have been there.
for a Mob assassination, all you need are these two, which are eminently plausible.
Another History Channel special that night concluded Oswald was the Lone Gunman. They showed the (Lattimer?) film of the jet effect, which was interesting. They also had a computer animation that gave a plausible explanation for the Magic Bullet’s path - yes, I know you can “prove” anything with CGI, so I take that with a grain of lead. However, the point they raised about the Grassy Knoll - the fatal head shot occurred when JFK was nearly abreast of the Knoll, thus a bullet from there should have either exited the other side of JFK’s head or remained in his skull - neither of which happened. Also, as someone (on the first page) pointed out, the bullet fragments in the brain match the Stretcher Bullet.
Although, everyone knows the Cigarette Smoking Man did it from a sewer grate, then just walked away[sup]1[/sup].
[sup]1[/sup]The X-Files
The problem is most conspiracy theorists don’t actually have a theory, they just dispute the facts others present. So, being as they don’t put any ideas forth, it’s hard to disprove anything.
But consider some things that have been claimed. For example, one item of evidence cited to prove there was no conspiracy involving Oswald was a review of his phone records. Question the authenticity of these and you’ve included the phone company. Other people feel the record that Oswald bought the murder weapon by mail order must be faked; so the gun company and post office must be part of it. Kennedy’s body was transported by the Air Force and his autopsy was performed by Navy doctors; the people who say the forensic evidence was altered must believe the Air Force and navy were in on it. Some people claim Kennedy’s route was planned for his assassination; the White House and Secret Service must be part of it. Some people claim that police officers were deliberately sent away from areas where the “real” shooters were; so the Dallas PD must have known everything.
Eventually, you’re left with two possibilities. Either there was no prior planning to set up Kennedy’s murder and no cover-up of the evidence after the fact. Or there was a plan for a set up and cover up that would have had to involve hundreds of people to have done everything such a conspiracy accomplished. There’s no middle ground.