One of the most valid points made by those who claim there was no conspiracy at work is that conspiracy theorists and their supporters are driven by a desire to rationalise an apparently random act. How could a man as important and inspiring as Kennedy be killed by a man as inconsequential as Lee Harvey Oswald. People want to believe that there were bigger forces at work, that organised crime, the CIA or other parties defending the control of the military-industrial complex must surely have been responsible for such a momentous event. It comforts people to know that the fate of the world does not hang in the balance of seemingly random acts by individuals.
This may well be a feature in why the assassination has received so much interest. However, there still remains a whole slew of evidence supporting the idea of multiple shooters: by definition proof of a conspiracy. Indeed, defending the 'lone gunman' theory of the Warren Commission seems a thankless task.
The Warren Commission argued that Lee Harvey Oswald fired 3 shots, that one of these missed, and the third shot was the headshot that killed Kennedy. This leads to the hilariously complex possible path for the other bullet (from wiki):
According to the Warren Commission[12] and the House Select Committee on Assassinations,[13] as President Kennedy waved to the crowds on his right with his right arm upraised on the side of the limo, a shot entered his upper back, penetrated his neck, slightly damaged a spinal vertebra and the top of his right lung, exited his throat nearly centerline just beneath his larynx, then nicked the left side of his suit tie knot. Governor Connally also reacted after the same bullet penetrated his back just below his right armpit, creating an oval entry wound, impacted and destroyed four inches of his right, fifth rib bone, exited his chest just below his right nipple creating a two-and-a-half inch oval sucking-air chest wound, then entered just above his right wrist, impacted and cleanly shattered his right radius bone, exited just below the wrist at the inner side of his right palm, and entered his left inner thigh.
What is more, the bullet was then found, allegedly, on the stretcher at the hospital after the governor and President had been removed to surgery. It was in almost pristine condition, despite the fact that it had allegedly passed through a great deal of flesh, bone matter etc, and despite the fact that surgeons had left fragments of the bullet in the Governor's thigh.
The more plausible theory is that all those injuries were the result of more than one shot, so there was more than one shooter (a necessity if there was more than 3 shots, as Oswald would have struggled to get off 3 in the time it is claimed he did, let alone 4).
In addition to thesis, there is evidence to suggest that the fatal shot to the President's head (the supposed 'third shot') came from the grassy knoll, or perhaps even was almost simultaneous combination of two shots from behind and to the side/ in front. Hence why the President's head jerks back when he is shot, as can be seen in the Zapruder film of the assassination. (The forward jerk that precedes it is the result of the car slowing down, and can be seen in all the other passengers), and why a number of people thought they heard a shot coming from the grassy knoll.
The video below is an apparent confession by small-time mobster James Files that he was the shooter on the grassy knoll. There have been many refutations of his story. The parts I find convincing are the fact that he never volunteered the information, but a private investigator followed a tip-off from an FBI informant to reach him, and that he claimed to have bitten the bullet casing he fired then left it on the ground. A casing found dug in the ground on the knoll also had toothmarks in it, a fact that it would be highly unlilkely for Files to have known.
Clearly there is far more to write, and that has been written on this topic, and I include a few interesting links below for further reading. I leave you though with what remains by favourite titbit of circumstantial evidence for a conspiracy. What is the typical meeting point for a mobster or agent to go to meet his handler after a 'job' has been carried out? It's always somewhere untraceable like a cinema. So what was Oswald expecting to do in the cinema where he got arrested a short time after the shooting? Watch a movie...?
Please comment below to add your thoughts!
Website written by much maligned JFK investigator Wim Dankbaar, most prominent supporter of James Files' story.
High Quality remastered footage of the Zapruder film.
Information gathered by another JFK conspiracy theorist.
Some at times fairly far absurd and dramatic yet entertaining stuff from former professional wrestler, Minessota Governor and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Jesse Ventura. Approach with caution...
A Good defence of the single-bullet theory
the grassy knoll, gervase, tramps on the grass knoll
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i0LSQNDqz4
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