 |
|
 |
My investigation into the Kennedy
assassination
Monday - September 18, 2006
I'm always on the
lookout for interesting things to read. Sometimes my choices
are very predictable such as: The Third Chimpanzee, or The
World is Flat. Sometimes they're less than predictable, such as
what I'm reading right now: the Warren Commission Report.
That's right, I'm reading the hottest thing printed in 1964. I
didn't expect to get far into it before being bored out of my
mind, but here I am 200 pages into it and I can't but the thing
down. It's damn fascinating.
I should start by saying that I've
always believed that Oswald acted alone and that the conspiracy
theories were all a bit far-fetched. After watching the movie
J.F.K. - which is an amazing and entertaining film - after
reading scores of articles over the past ten years or so; and
now after reading 200 pages of the Warren Commission Report,
I'm convinced that my long held belief is correct: Oswald, a
crazy man, acted alone.
If I hadn't read anything, there would
still be two things that I'd not be able to get over, which
would be death knells to any JFK conspiracy
theory.
1. If your goal is to assassinate a
president using three or more gunman, it would be very
difficult to expect to be able to pull it off in such a way
that a single gunman could be framed for it. I mean, it would
be awfully difficult to pin it all on Oswald if gunman two or
three missed one of their shots and it hit a couple of
bystanders, if extra bullets were found, or if blood were to
spatter bystanders from an odd angle.
2. Secrets are very hard to keep,
especially in this day in age where a book deal exposing the
truth could make a multimillionaire out of anyone involved if
still alive. If it was a conspiracy, one of this magnitude
would insure that there would be possibly as many as one
hundred people or more involved.
Conspiracy theories are entertaining, I
admit that. It's much more interesting to believe that a great
man was brought down by factions bent on controlling the world
rather than a lone nut. It's more interesting to believe that
the Bush administration orchestrated the events of 911 (as a
recent survey shows as many as 15% of Americans do) in order to
justify an attack on the middle east for its oil rather than
accept it as an attack of religious fanatics. It is more
interesting to believe that the news media is out to destroy
the republican party, Christian beliefs, and aid terrorists in
their war against us rather than accepting the depressing facts
and ugly images they present to us every day. It may be more
interesting to believe that the United States faked the moon
landing in the Nevada Desert to win the space race against the
Russians rather than... Well, my jury is still out on that one
(kidding of course).
What it all comes down to is
information, or the lack thereof. Conspiracy theorists tend to
throw around all sorts of facts and anomalies to support their
case at the expense of ignoring the mountains of evidence to
the contrary. As I've been reading the Warren Commission
Report, I've been amazed at how thorough it is. The number of
corroborating witnesses and pieces of evidence is astounding.
For example, bullet casings found at the sixth floor window of
the school book depository not only matched the gun (we've all
heard that) but had apparently been loaded and unloaded into
that gun several times previously, as if one had been
practicing rapidly loading and unloading, which was necessary
in order to fire the three shots in seven and a half
seconds.
How about the autopsy? Conspiracy
theorists like to point out how Kennedy's body was rushed from
Dallas without an autopsy required by Texas law. They like to
point out how the body was manipulated during a military
autopsy to remove the evidence of multiple shooters. What they
don't point out is that such an arrangement would require two
teams of military doctors at two separate bases in on the
conspiracy - National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and the
Army's Walter Reed Hospital in Washington. Why two? Because
those overseeing the conspiracy could not have foreseen which
hospital would be conducting the autopsy. The choice was up to
Mrs. Kennedy, who chose the National Naval Medical Center
because of her husband's service in the Navy. And why did the
body leave Dallas without an autopsy? Because Lyndon Johnson
refused to leave Dallas without Mrs. Kennedy, and she refused
to leave without the body of her husband - another
unforeseeable development.
As I said, it's all about information.
The first 200 pages of this report have an astounding amount of
it with very little room for holes. I'm amazed by how
thoroughly conclusions are reached and even how the report
documents dead ends in parts of the investigation and witnesses
whose memories aren't reliable enough to include as part of
their conclusions.
I still have another 500 pages to go.
Alas, I fear that my opinion is not likely to change. I know
how this book ends. While not the happiest of endings, while
not the most exciting of stories, I find it to be a gripping
tale none-the-less; one that is closer to the truth. The real
question is: can we all handle the truth or is it easier to
live in a world we create for ourselves in order to feed our
imagination and soothe our fears?
Posted at 05:15 PM < Just Another Brick in the Blog
 Email this story
Email this story to someone
|
|
|
|
