I think that the deficiencies in the investigation could be attributed to: 1) bumbling and incompetence, and 2) a desire by the government to have a "clean" and "tidy" case. The appearance of the "magic bullet" could be part of 2). Even today, the police and prosecutors often feel enormous pressure to find a suspect in response to a publicized crime, to bring the suspect to justice, and to close the case. Imagine what was at stake in 63-64. World War III had almost started a year earlier during the Cuban Missile Crisis; we were in the hottest period of the cold war. The government certainly would not have wanted a public uprising over an unsolved crime of the century. Or demanding we go to war with Cuba, which would have led to WWIII. Or at a minimum, throwing out the administration in the next election because they could not solve the crime or bring unknown criminal(s) to justice. But just because the agencies closed ranks after the crime, to put a "case closed" stamp on the file, does not mean there was a preexisting conspiracy on the part of the government to assassinate the president. I personally believe that Oswald shot at the president, either by himself or with another extremist, and that this is the extent of the conspiracy.
Imadrummer and hold'em, my post wasn't too clear. You are right, the witnesses did not agree as to where the shots came from. However, each witness believed all 3 shots came from the same place. For example, witness A thought all 3 shots came from place A, and witness B thought all 3 shots came from place B.
Yeah, that's from 1963--totally outdated information (due to poor technology for examining such things). Conspiracy theorists like to stick to the 40-year-old data, because today's technology (digital enhancing, etc) has shown the positions of the president and governor were such that the wounds were in accordance with a single bullet. Anyone who argues the Single Bullet Theory is either unfamiliar with what is now known, or is pathetically clinging to conspiracy delusions.
Eyewitenesses are very unreliable--nearly useless in most cases. Rifles don't emit smoke when fired (unless Kennedy was shot with a musket). There was apparently some sort of hot pipe behind the fence which may account for the smoke. Kennedy's wound was not in the back--it appeared so on his jacket because he had a back brace which bunched it up. He was shot through the neck. The physics of the assassination and the autopsy photos show without a doubt that Kennedy was shot from behind and up. The kill shot is undoubtedly the result of a sniper's rifle from behind.
for me this was the MOST perplexing issue. while all the other factors---# of bullets / gunman---are subject to discussion, this convinced me that there was a cover up on the investigation.
This is such a huge lie it's sickening. The "witnesses" were often people with tenuous connections to people like Jack Ruby--like some stripper he knew. In thirty years, 100 out of 10,000 similarly related people died. It would be cause for alarm if 100 didn't die.
<b>rudager</b>: I saw Cyril Wecht (famed pathologist from PA) on MSNBC just a few days ago. He claims that the autopsy protocols did not meet the standards of the day. The brain is missing. The official renderings of the injuries depicted in the Warren Report were taken from 4-month old memory and not the autopsy photographs. A lot of casual stuff went on... seems only logical that it went that way for a reason.
every point made by Poster has ben refuted by Harold Weisberg's book, Case Open. Posner was a jounalist; Weisberg was an OSS and Senate investigator. My reservation w Posner is that he fully accepted the conclusion published by the Warren Commission. The Commssion reached its conclusion without ever seeing any picture / XRay of JFK's body. it relied on drawings provided by the FBI; based on that it developed the 3-bullet conclusion. The actual XRAy photo provided by the original admitting physician shows one more bullet wound (to JFK's body) than the FBI drawing. Posner conveniently omitted this fact in his book. so much for his "self-proclaimed" thorough investigation.
This is what I found on Weisberg: Weisberg, Harold, "Whitewash I-IV": These books specialize in criticizing every bit of evidence that points to Oswald's guilt without ever supplying a counter-theory of the assassination that could justify the effort. Worthless and hard to read. On the brain: 9.8.4 JFK's brain is missing. True. The brain (what remained of it), slides, X-rays, photographs, and other medical materials were in the possession of the Kennedy family after the autopsy. In 1968, congressional legislation mandated that these materials be turned over to the National Archives; but the brain and a few other items were not among the returned materials. It is presumed that Bobby Kennedy disposed of the brain to avoid it becoming an object of public curiosity.
the brain provides telling evidence whether or not the head wound was an entry or exit wound. the Commission did not have this info; It did not have evidence to verfy the bullet (that hit JFK's head) came from the FRONT or the BACK and did not know about the bullet wound to JFK's mid back (shown by the XRay photo). yet, it reached its 3-bullet conclusion. anyone who fully accepts the Warren Commission findings, w/o any mentioning of the XRay photo of JFK's body, before it was cut up, did not bother to do a complete investigation (G Posner)
I'll have to look for that. Posner is an investigative journalist, with quite a few books under his belt. He went into the investigation expecting to find a conspiracy--or at least something fishy--and did not. Where's the picture?
Looking at the autopsy photos, it's obvious where the exit wound is. (It's the really big hole in JFK's head.) I've never heard of the back wound--this means there was also a front wound. I'd like to see the x-ray if you have a link. Posner does not accept the Warren Commission findings, particularly on the ballistic issues, since they were severely limited technologically in their approaches.
===>missing brain, ===>the people who performed the actual autopsy had never performed an autopsy before. trained medical examiners were available, but were not given the assignment ===>a flawed investigation by the Warren Commission all these seeming disconnects for the President of the USA ; and he concluded nothing fishy ! the X Ray photo was provided by the original admitting physican at the Parkland Hospital; he provided the photo to the History Channel.
Did anybody see the Kennedy program on Discover: Exploring the Myths about JFK's Asassination? They tried to meticulously recreate various components of the asassination. They demonstrated that a marksman could indeed make that kill shot. This guy was a very good marksman while Oswald was apparently more of a borderline marksman, but shooting accuracy was attained. Interestingly, they pointed out that the last shot was the easiest to be accurate with because the target was in more of a receeding pattern and so appeared to be more stationary from the shooter's POV. That was the kill shot for JFK. The recreated the shots with both live ammo (using a watermelon as JFK's head) and "laser rifles" using human targets. They demonstrated that Oswald could have made it from the sixth floor window to the second story lunchroom (they did it in only 48 seconds, as opposed to the 90 seconds that it took for the police to get up there). So finding an apparently relaxed Oswald on the second floor doesn't mean he had been there during the shooting. They retraced the steps of Oswald on foot and got him from his boarding house to where he needed to be to kill Tippett at the time of that event (incredibly they say that while people had argued about it for years, no one had formally tried to document that it was or was not doable). We're talking wristwatch technology here! They also tried to pull off shots from some of the other locations that have been suggested over the years (sewers etc) and found them not to be doable. I still don't think Oswald pulled this off by himself, but he could be the man who actually pulled the trigger to kill JFK.
What's this obsession with the brain about? The autopsy photos and Zapruder film clearly show the exit wound. It seems that Robert Kennedy disposed of the brain after it was given to him by Dr. Humes (who did the autopsy) via JFK's physician. That is a lie. Humes and Boswell, Naval commanders, had performed several gunshot-wound autopsies. Posner disagrees with a lot of the Commission's findings. I don't know about this mystery print, but the House Select Committe's examination of 22 x-rays and autopsy photos concluded that Kennedy was hit with two bullets, one through the neck and one through the head.
CourTV's Forensic Files had a really nice reevaluation of the evidence last night using current advances in forensic science. Very well done with some nice digital 3D reconstruction of the single bullet theory as plausible. Reevaluation of the motorcycle cops audio tape loop. Most of the forensic evidence supported the lone gunman. As a long time JFK assassination buff, it was very interesting to see some of this "hard" evidence reviewed without the tangential murkiness of motive and the "who was behind it all" conjecture. Michael Baden and Cyril Wecht both contributed. Worth catching this show when they re-run it Saturday. The JFK Assassination: Investigation Reopened
