Cliff Varnell

Paul, on what basis should we conclude that John F. Kennedy was one of the "active players"? I'm suggesting, of course, that JFK's footprint on the Diem overthrow was light, indeed.

The Kennedy brothers attempted to overthrow the "shadow government" created by the National Security Act of 1947 & the formation of "Capitalism's Invisible Army."

Charles, I greatly appreciate our agreement on the front end. Our disagreements on the back end (my "Cuba construction") I attribute to the elusive nature of the aforementioned covert-op Jungle Of Mirrors. To which, it was Clint Murchison's Cuba construction that needs investigation.

Occam's razor, put forth precisely as intended, is a very useful maxim for streamlining thought. Dictionary definition: "The maxim that assumptions introduced to explain a thing must not be multiplied beyond necessity." The key wording obviously is "beyond necessity," making a detailed knowledge of the subject matter mandatory before the principle can be properly applied. Using "Occam" to avoid confronting the real-life complexity of covert operations is not only a misuse, but often a confession of intellectual sloth or cowardice. IMO. I find Occam's Razor readily applicable to the JFK assassination on the front end, if you will, and then again on the back end. In between lies the jungle of mirrors known as "covert ops." The front end: JFK's proven T3 back wound has rendered moot, "The Question of Conspiracy." The back end: transportation tycoons and criminal syndicate chiefs found a smuggler's paradise in Cuba, and wanted it back. That's my 69 cents.* ** (*accounting for inflation) (**a nod to KRS-One and his great rap song, Illegal Business (Controls America).)

None of the above. The answer is: Robert Kennedy Talbot's Brothers, pg 81 Tim, is there anyway I can convert these kudos to cash?

My comments will appear in this lovely shade of burgundy.

Denis, it's not really that complicated. A political decision was reached in Washington DC the afternoon/evening of 11/22/63: Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of JFK. The autopsy report was subsequently fixed to conform to this decision. As a result, there is a lot of contradictory evidence, including the purported autopsy photos. But it isn't that hard to figure out. This alleged autopsy photo shows brain matter extruding from the back of JFK's head: This alleged autopsy photo does not: The autopsy report lists two separate locations for the back wound: 1) "just above the upper border of the scapula" 2) "14cm below the right tip of the mastoid process" This photo of JFK shows his protruding shoulder-blades: The "14cm-below-mastoid" measurement puts the wound at the base of JFK's neck; but the "upper border of the scapula" is several inches below the base of his neck. Consensus witness testimony is stronger evidence than anything produced by the US gov't cover-up, contrary to the argument of Pat Speer, who seems to think that everyone who witnessed JFK's wounds suffered from the same mass hallucination.

It is clear he has put hundreds and hundreds of hours into studying these complicated issues. Exactly who was it that stated that there was anything "complicated" about this? About the only thing which is "complicated" is all of the nice little "slight/sleight-of-hand" tricks which Specter & Company pulled, which surrounds THE SHOT THAT MISSED! (which by the way never actually missed). Personally, I could never follow the logic of persons who though that the shooter (LHO) could hit JFK twice, yet could not even hit the car with THE SHOT THAT MISSED! Certainly glad that me & Jethro are so "simple-minded" that we just could not understand all of this other complicated stuff, and thus had to stick with the facts. Thanks for the help guys, especially the link too Pats sight, load's good info there. And Thomas I'm glad you find everything so easy, I certainly dont, but now you got me intrigued, are you saying Tague never got wounded in the cheek by a missed shot? Denis, I suggest you read Gerald McKnight's Breach Of Trust. Pat Speer indulges in a significant amount of mis-information regarding the nature of JFK's wounds, and shows no grounded understanding of the nature of the assassination cover-up.

1. Blood soluble rounds suspected by the autopsists. From autopsy-attendee FBI SA Francis O'Neill's sworn affidavit: (quote on) Some discussion did occur concerning the disintegration of the bullet. A general feeling existed that a soft-nosed bullet struck JFK. There was discussion concerning the back wound that the bullet could have been a "plastic" type or an "Ice" [sic] bullet, one which dissolves after contact. (quote off) From autopsy-attendee FBI SA James Sibert's sworn affidavit: (quote on) The doctors also discussed a possible deflection of the bullet in the body caused by striking bone. Consideration was also given to a type of bullet which fragments completely....Following discussion among the doctors relating to the back injury, I left the autopsy room to call the FBI Laboratory and spoke with Agent Chuch [sic] Killion. I asked if he could furnish any information regarding a type of bullet that would almost completely fragmentize (sic). (quote off) Was Sibert hot on the trail of the actual perps when he made that call to the Lab? Killion reported the existence of the "magic bullet" CE399, and the possibility of blood soluble rounds was thereafter ignored. Everything said or written by the autopsists thereafter was tainted by a political decision made in Washington DC to press the case for a lone-shooter/3-shots. However, blood soluble rounds definitely did exist in 1963, as per the Senate's 1975 Church Committee testimony of the man who developed just such a weapons system. http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/r..._6_Senseney.pdf Charles Senseney before the Church Committee, Sept. 18, 1975: (quote on, emphasis added) Senseney: I worked in the Biological Warfare Section of Fort Detrick from 1953. . . . I was the project engineer of the M-1 dart launcher and following on microorganism projectiles and so forth. [Church staffer] Smothers: Is this a device that looks roughly like a .45 caliber pistol with a sight mount at the top? Senseney: This was a follow-on. It was to replace the M-1 projectile to go into the Army stockpile. It did look like a .45. Smothers: Did the CIA have, Mr. Senseney, the wherewithal to utilize this dart launcher against humans? Senseney: No, they asked for a modification to use against a dog. Now, these were actually given to them, and they were actually expended, because we got all of the hardware back. For a dog, the projectile had to be made many times bigger. It was almost the size of a .22 cartridge, but it carried a chemical compound known as 46-40. Senator Howard Baker: Your principle job with the DOD, I take it, was to develop new or exotic devices and weapons: is that correct? Senseney: I was a project engineer for the E-1, which was type classified and became the M-1. They were done for the Army. (quote off) Director of Central Intelligence William Colby, Church Committee, September 16, 1975: (quote on, emphasis added) Colby: The specific subject today concerns the CIA's involvement in the development of bacteriological warfare materials with the Army's Biological Laboratory at Fort Detrick, CIA's retention of an amount of shellfish toxin, and CIA's use and investigation of various chemicals and drugs. . . . A large amount of Agency attention was given to the problem of incapacitating guard dogs. Though most of the dart launchers were developed for the Army, the Agency did request the development of a small, hand-held dart launcher for its peculiar needs for this purpose. Work was also done on temporary human incapacitation techniques. These related to adesire to incapacitate captives before they could render themselves incapable of talking, or terrorists before they could take retaliatory action.... Church: Is it not true, too, that the effort not only involved designing a gun that could strike at a human target without knowledge of the person who had been struck, but also the toxin itself would not appear in the autopsy? Colby: Well there was an attempt-- Church: Or the dart? Colby: Yes; so there was no way of perceiving that the target was hit. (quote off) The preliminary "general feeling" among the autopsists that JFK was struck with blood soluble rounds was obviously well-grounded in the realm of possibility. There are, I submit, two pieces of photographic evidence in support of the initial suspicions that JFK was struck with blood soluble rounds designed to paralyze him within seconds. The cervical x-ray, which, according to the HSCA analysis, revealed the following damage: (quote on, emphasis added) Evaluation of the pre-autopsy film shows that there is some subcutaneous or interstitial air overlying the right C7 and T1 transverse processes. There is disruption of the integrity of the transverse process of T1, which, in comparison with its mate on the opposite side and also with the previously taken film, mentioned above, indicates that there has been a fracture in that area. There is some soft tissue density overlying the apex of the right lung which may be hematoma in that region or other soft tissue swelling. Evaluation of the post-autopsy film shows that there is subcutaneous or interstitial air overlying C7 and T1. The same disruption of T1 right transverse process is still present. (quote off) What kind of round leaves an air pocket but no bullet? The Gil Jesus video: Was JFK trying to cough up a bullet? http://youtube.com/watch?v=u3uH7FHjCeQ By Z237, JFK froze in a manner that suggests paralysis. 2. Gen. Victor Krulak's positive identification of Gen. Edward Lansdale in Dealey Plaza. http://www.ratical.org///ratville/JFK/USO/appD.html 3. US military memo verifies existence of a "Maurice Bishop" type US intelligence agent. http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/the_critics/g..._CIA_Agent.html I would add to this Antonio Veciana's composite sketch of alleged Oswald-handler "Maurice Bishop," which was identified as David Atlee Phillips by his own family. 4. J. Edgar Hoover and David Atlee Phillips pimping the "Castro-did-it" scenario the afternoon of the assassination versus W. Averell Harriman and McGeorge Bundy enforcing the "Oswald-alone" scenario the afternoon/evening of the assassination. From David Talbot's Brothers, pg 10: (quote on) ...(I)t's important to note that [bobby] Kennedy apparently never jumped to the conclusion that afternoon that Fidel Castro -- the target of so much U.S. intrigue -- was behind his brother's killing. It was the anti-Castro camp where Bobby's suspicions immediately flew, not pro-Castro agents. ...Bobby came to this conclusion despite the energetic efforts of the CIA and the FBI, which almost immediately after the assassination began trying to pin the blame on Castro's government. Hoover himself phoned Kennedy again around four that afternoon to inform him that Oswald had shuttled in and out of Cuba, which was untrue...[T]he FBI chief failed to convince Bobby that the alleged assassin was a Castro agent. (quote off) But Averell Harriman convinced Lyndon Baines Johnson that the Soviets were definitely not involved, the unanimous conclusion of the US government's speedy investigators, un-named "Top Kremlinologists"... From The Assassination Tapes, Max Holland, pg. 57: (quote on) At 6:55 p.m. [11/22/63] Johnson has a ten minute meeting with Senator J. William Fulbright and diplomat W. Averell Harriman to discuss possible foreign involvement in the assassination, especially in light of the two-and-a-half-year sojourn of Lee Harvey Oswald [in Russia]...Harriman, a U.S. ambassador to Moscow during WWII, is an experienced interpreter of Soviet machinations and offers the president the unanimous view of the U.S. government's top Kremlinologists. None of them believe the Soviets have a hand in the assassination, despite the Oswald association. (quote off) In short, this unbelievably swift rush to judgement by all parties suggests a post-assassination struggle to control the assassination cover-up, a struggle Harriman won hands down.

Allow me to cross post from Myra's "Can we really understand the murder of President Kennedy, without understanding international drug trafficking? It's the hidden history of our age. Henrik Kruger, The Great Heroin Coup, ppg 191-2: (quote on) In my opinion the central manipulator in the whole narcotics scheme was the CIA, or rather a faction within it. It is erroneous to treat the agency as a monolith. Various lobbying groups have their own agents in the company, generating internal power struggles that reflect political polarizations external to the CIA. (quote off) Among those "various lobbying groups" I'd include any number of transportation tycoons. Webster Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin, The Unauthorized Biography of George Bush, Chapter 8b. http://www.tarpley.net/bush8b.htm (quote on, emphasis added) During the years after the failure of the Bay of Pigs, [JM/WAVE] had as many as 3,000 Cuban agents and subagents, with a small army of case officers to direct and look after each one. According to one account, there were at least 55 dummy corporations to provide employment, cover, and commercial disguise for all these operatives. There were detective bureaus, gun stores, real estate brokerages, boat repair shops, and party boats for fishing and other entertainments. There was the clandestine Radio Swan, later renamed Radio Americas. There were fleets of specially modified boats based at Homestead Marina, and at other marinas throughout the Florida Keys. Agents were assigned to the University of Miami and other educational institutions. The raison d'être of the massive capability commanded by Theodore Shackley was now Operation Mongoose, a program for sabotage raids and assassinations to be conducted on Cuban territory, with a special effort to eliminate Fidel Castro personally. In order to run these operations from US territory, flagrant and extensive violation of federal and state laws was the order of the day. Documents regarding the incorporation of businesses were falsified. Income tax returns were faked. FAA regulations were violated by planes taking off for Cuba or for forward bases in the Bahamas and elsewhere. Explosives moved across highways that were full of civilian traffic. The Munitions Act, the Neutrality Act, the customs and immigrations laws were routinely flaunted. Above all, the drug laws were massively violated as the gallant anti-communist fighters filled their planes and boats with illegal narcotics to be smuggled back into the US when they returned from their missions. By 1963, the drug-running activities of the covert operatives were beginning to attract attention. JM/WAVE, in sum, accelerated the slide of south Florida towards the status of drug and murder capital of the United States it achieved during the 1980's, when it became as notorious as Chicago during Prohibition. (quote off) I think it's correct to consider the importance of the Golden Triangle opium trade as a factor in JFK's death, as this thread has addressed, but I also think its a mistake to overlook the prime importance Cuba once played in the world narcotics trade. It wasn't so much the casinos and prostitution rackets the US Mob wanted back from Castro, it was the Havana-to-Florida drug smuggling funnel that was coveted more than anything.

It's the hidden history of our age. Henrik Kruger, The Great Heroin Coup, ppg 191-2: (quote on) In my opinion the central manipulator in the whole narcotics scheme was the CIA, or rather a faction within it. It is erroneous to treat the agency as a monolith. Various lobbying groups have their own agents in the company, generating internal power struggles that reflect political polarizations external to the CIA. (quote off) Among those "various lobbying groups" I'd include any number of transportation tycoons. Webster Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin, The Unauthorized Biography of George Bush, Chapter 8b. http://www.tarpley.net/bush8b.htm (quote on, emphasis added) During the years after the failure of the Bay of Pigs, [JM/WAVE] had as many as 3,000 Cuban agents and subagents, with a small army of case officers to direct and look after each one. According to one account, there were at least 55 dummy corporations to provide employment, cover, and commercial disguise for all these operatives. There were detective bureaus, gun stores, real estate brokerages, boat repair shops, and party boats for fishing and other entertainments. There was the clandestine Radio Swan, later renamed Radio Americas. There were fleets of specially modified boats based at Homestead Marina, and at other marinas throughout the Florida Keys. Agents were assigned to the University of Miami and other educational institutions. The raison d'être of the massive capability commanded by Theodore Shackley was now Operation Mongoose, a program for sabotage raids and assassinations to be conducted on Cuban territory, with a special effort to eliminate Fidel Castro personally. In order to run these operations from US territory, flagrant and extensive violation of federal and state laws was the order of the day. Documents regarding the incorporation of businesses were falsified. Income tax returns were faked. FAA regulations were violated by planes taking off for Cuba or for forward bases in the Bahamas and elsewhere. Explosives moved across highways that were full of civilian traffic. The Munitions Act, the Neutrality Act, the customs and immigrations laws were routinely flaunted. Above all, the drug laws were massively violated as the gallant anti-communist fighters filled their planes and boats with illegal narcotics to be smuggled back into the US when they returned from their missions. By 1963, the drug-running activities of the covert operatives were beginning to attract attention. JM/WAVE, in sum, accelerated the slide of south Florida towards the status of drug and murder capital of the United States it achieved during the 1980's, when it became as notorious as Chicago during Prohibition. (quote off) I think it's correct to consider the importance of the Golden Triangle opium trade as a factor in JFK's death, as this thread has addressed, but I also think its a mistake to overlook the prime importance Cuba once played in the world narcotics trade. It wasn't so much the casinos and prostitution rackets the US Mob wanted back from Castro, it was the Havana-to-Florida drug smuggling funnel that was coveted more than anything.

It's all easy at this point, where we seek not hard conclusions from the evidence but consistencies. No zero sum game afoot, eh? A very possible explanation. I'm not inclined to dismiss any plausible explanation at this point. I'm looking for consistencies in the evidence, not conclusions. The only thing I can prove as a fact is that JFK was shot in the back around the level of his 3rd thoracic vertebra.

And, in fact, in another thread on the forum many people gave their opinions on whether or not they believe the abort story. Not one said they believe it. Ok. This detracts not a whit from my point, however. After all: Somebody was behind the very-accurate rumors Underwood heard. Somebody was behind the FBI teletype of 11/17/63 warning of an assassination plot afoot in Dallas. What do we make of the fact that the guy who heard all these definitive rumors was a Democratic Party operative... Tycoon A a Democrat, mayhaps?...

I will give weight to your assessment going forward, Charles.

Not a "conflict," per se, but a divergence of interests based on events on the ground. One party found a way to fulfill this admittedly singular purpose in such a way as to leave the other party out in the cold, mayhaps... Tycoon A agrees with Tycoon C that their similar-but-not-identical "deep" business is suffering, and the best chance they have of re-invigorating it is killing JFK in such a manner as they can blame Castro, thus establishing a pre-text for the military re-acquisition of Cuba, as well as establishing more favorable US policies in the Far East. Tycoon A and Tycoon C collaborate on the plot, pulling all necessary strings to put it into motion. 3 weeks before the assassination, JFK accedes to Tycoon A's agenda across the board in regards to Cuba and Vietnam. Tycoon A sits atop the world, while Tycoon C has been left out in the cold. But Tycoon A can't stop Tycoon C from seeing the plot through, and although both would have profited from a successful assassination (Castro-did-it), their divergent interests played a definitive role in the nature of the "official" cover-up. Tycoon C continued to press the Castro-did-it angle even after Oswald's capture, while Tycoon A had more than enough pull to call that part of the plot off. After all: Somebody was behind the very-accurate rumors Underwood heard. Somebody was behind the FBI teletype of 11/17/63 warning of an assassination plot afoot in Dallas. If reports of abort-teams being sent to Dallas are true, somebody with a great deal of inside knowledge seems to have desired a different outcome. All of one mind at the top, indeed. Unless and until one at the top sees an opportunity to "corner the market" sans the others...as per my sig line...

John, My problem is with the near-universal referencing of "the conspirators" and/or "the original conspirators." The terms are all-encompassing, vague, and simplistic, and their endless applications are, in my opinion, ultimately detrimental to our shared efforts to discover truth and effect justice. I don't have the temerity to suggest that the three-tiered conspiracy structure that I postulate has been demonstrated to be an accurate depiction of reality. But I maintain that, as we move the focus of our investigative efforts (on this forum, at least) from the established "how" (conspiracy) to the questions of "who" and "why," we must come to some concensus regarding the design of the plot. At further risk of being labled a nitpicker (or a nit-something else, I fear), I offer this: In my informed (I can but hope) opinion, the same people conceived of and sponored the organization, or grand design, of the assassination and the broad contours of one of their vile, brilliant creation's most important components -- the cover-up. We are in lockstep agreement that "LBJ and Co" directed the cover-up. We part company here: In my grand design hypothesis, however, they did not possess, singularly or in the agregate, either the power or the authority or the chutzpah to defy the conspiracy's prime movers -- for whom they labored, to whom they reported, and, like JFK, at whose pleasure they served. Hence I most respectfully and utterly disagree with your statement, "If the same people organized the assassination and the cover-up, the US would have invaded Cuba." Instead: Since the same people conceived of the assassination in all of its elements, including the cover-up, ordered its facilitation, and possessed the power -- indelibly demonstrated in Dealey Plaza -- to eliminate opposition to their plans, the US invasion of Cuba could not and indeed did not take place, according to plan. Either that, or "LBJ and Co" thumbed their collective nose at the forces that destroyed JFK, and as a result suffered not the slightest negative consequence. Charles Drago Charles, may I suggest another possibility? Perhaps the assassination had two major sponsors with over-lapping but not identical agendas. One sponsor was driven by both a rabid right-wing ideology and deep, vested business interests in both Cuba and the Far East. ("Deep" in the PD Scott sense, that which is not meant to be uncovered.) The other sponsor had deep, vested business interests all over the world, especially in Cuba and the Far East. In the months leading up to the assassination, the non-ideological sponsor enjoys a series of favorable foreign policy outcomes that satisfy his deep, vested interests, to the point that JFK's assassination was no longer necessary. At that point -- say a mere 3 weeks before the assassination -- this non-ideological sponsor does everything he can to warn JFK away from Dallas. Hancock, Someone Would Have Talked, pg 239: (quote on, emphasis in the original) The truth according to [Democratic National Committee advance man] Marty Underwood is that in the days immediately before Dallas, "We were getting all sorts of rumors that the President was going to be assassinated in Dallas; there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it." (quote off) For the non-ideological sponsor, the JFK plot was merely a contingency plan, useful only if JFK had not proven compliant with this sponsor's goals. While this man had a great deal of power, he could not call the plot off himself, as it had progressed beyond his ability to directly abort it; nor did he dare reveal it directly to Kennedy, for fear of disclosing his own involvement. Upon Oswald's capture this man had the power to pull the plug on the Castro-did-it scenario and virtually ordered LBJ to cover it up. Had Oswald been gunned down on 11/22 or had disappeared, this sponsor would have gone along with the Castro-did-it scenario -- but it didn't happen. Given his extensive business dealings with the Communist world, this man decided to cut his losses and initiate the official "lone nut" cover-up within minutes of Oswald's capture. He wouldn't get Cuba back in business (6-letter-word-starting-with-H), but he'd get his way in Vietnam, which was going to happen if Kennedy had lived or not. In the end, it was cooler feet, more than cooler heads, who prevailed.

Don, What do the following have in common? * Cuba in the 50's * Vietnam mid-60's to mid-70's * Afghanistan post-9/11/01 6 letter word, starts with H...

Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, ppg 299-300: (quote on, emphasis added) There are those who object that no conspiracy, of the scale contemplated in this book, could have remained a secret for so long in a society as open as America's. Admittedly, the open surface of our society is no mere facade. However, as I suggested at the beginning of this book, beneath the open surface lie connections and relationships of long-standing, immune to disclosure, and capable of great crimes including serial murder. The postwar international alliance between intelligence and drug traffickers is perhaps the best-documented instance of such a connection, one where denial persists despite limited revelations about the 1960-63 plots to murder Fidel Castro. It is not the only such connection, and indeed merges with others, notably unassailable networks responsible for gambling and prostitution in the United States. There are two other special reasons for suspecting the intelligence-sanctioned drug networks in particular. One is their role in connecting so many disparately centered different networks, from FBN to FBI to foreign casinos to local corruption in Dallas and elsewhere. The other is their key role in transnational connections to the deep politics of Mexico and Nicaragua, two countries clearly involved in the assassination story. (quote off)

For the final time: No difference whatsoever. In either case the patsy cannot contradict the "irrevocable proof" he was an instrument of Fidel. It was the Joint Chiefs who set the bar for the "irrevocable proof" requirement for an invasion, as laid out in the Feb '62 memo on Operation Dirty Tricks (see Bamford's Body of Secrets pg 84). A captured suspect doesn't establish "irrevocable proof" of his guilt when he's loudly proclaiming his innocence, does he? Someone flying to Havana via Redbird and Mexico City is hardly "irrevocable proof," is it? Hoover's claim to have evidence that Oswald "went to Cuba on several occasions," and the Kostikov-connection in Mexico City, would have provided the bulk of the "irrevocable" evidence, I suspect.

The difference would be that he actually got to Havana from Dallas. Just as Oswald disappears, a plane takes off from Redbird, and later one person, had to be Oswald, is seen catching an exclusive flight from Mexico City to Havana. This would be the icing on the cake in the portrayal of Oswald as a Castro agent. In public perception, that would be far more convincing than the fact that Oswald handed out leaflets in New Orleans and went to Mexico City about a visa. The "irrefutable proof" that Oswald fled to Castro (including, so I read, some luggage left in Mexico City) went down the tubes with Oswald's arrest. With Oswald sitting in jail, calling himself a patsy and asking for a New York lawyer, the plotters simply didn't have enough to make a case against Castro. So they didn't. They decided that a lone-nut assassin was in jail, until they could get rid of him. Okay, so it's not the final time... Ron, I think it was the plotter's betters who made that decision, on the spot, upon Oswald's capture. They didn't need to hear him plead his innocence, they knew it was coming. Plan A went awry, and damage control ensued. As Larry Hancock has noted, the plotters' attempts to press the Castro-sponsored-Oswald scenario, even after Oswald's death, were overwhelmed by Lyndon Johnson (acting under orders from his betters, imo. )

For the final time: No difference whatsoever. In either case the patsy cannot contradict the "irrevocable proof" he was an instrument of Fidel. It was the Joint Chiefs who set the bar for the "irrevocable proof" requirement for an invasion, as laid out in the Feb '62 memo on Operation Dirty Tricks (see Bamford's Body of Secrets pg 84). A captured suspect doesn't establish "irrevocable proof" of his guilt when he's loudly proclaiming his innocence, does he?

And a bracing disagreement it is, Charles! Most enjoyable... Let me turn it over to one of my main guys, Larry Hancock, who puts it better than I can. Someone Would Have Talked, pg 311-2: (quote on) Among the difficulties in understanding the Kennedy conspiracy, perhaps the most challenging is reconciling the many elements that appear to be contradictory. This has been made even more difficult for those who have viewed the "cover-up" as an extension of the conspiracy. That difficulty disappears if we first view the conspiracy to frame Oswald as a Castro (or both Cuban and Soviet associated) conspirator, a plan that became totally unraveled when Oswald was taken into custody. And second, we see that the so-called "cover-up" was an independent, largely unplanned and highly reactive effort to ensure that a Lee Harvey Oswald would [take] the fall all by himself -- as a lone nut. * The plot was to show the US President being killed by a Castro sponsored conspiracy. * The plotters were unable to execute their full plan due to Oswald's capture. * Due to Oswald's role as an intelligence dangle and his contact with Kostikov, the initial appearance was still that Oswald might have been acting as a Communist dupe. * Both the FBI and the CIA were aware of the Kostikov implications; when, how, and if they shared this information with the new President is unclear. * Lyndon Johnson personally led the official cover-up to eliminate any public suggestion of conspiracy while leveraging confidential information and the threat of war to make the cover-up work. * The "lone nut" was a creation of the official cover-up, not of the Kennedy plot. * The plotters follow-on efforts to maintain conspiracy were overwhelmed by Johnson. (quote off) See above. Your analysis has a great deal to recommend it. But I still don't think it hits the very core of the case. For me, in my view/opinion, the key word here is "floating." W. Averell Harriman, Clint Murchison, Jr., and Ari Onassis were in the business of "floating" a lot more than the usual crap. Havana was the world capital for heroin in the 50's and the "masters" wanted it back. Chiba, y'all, was behind it all.

Upon what pre-text would an invasion of Cuba been predicated, post-Kennedy? Aren't you assuming that the plotters of the murder were also the architects of the "Lone Nut" cover-up? And, to the best of my understanding, Cuba never stopped being a political issue. Again, under what pre-text? Again, you're assuming the same guys who plotted the murder engaged in the "lone nut" cover-up. The plot failed. Period. One of the key players, Harriman, was a big loser, imo. They may have achieved everything if Oswald had been gunned down 11/22. Of course they did. They wanted their Havana-to-Florida smuggling funnel back. Having the international capital of smack 90 miles off-shore was a major reason for the heroin scourge of the 50's. We all know about "The French Connection" and the US Mob. The Corsican Mafia produced the heroin and the Sicilian-American Outfit distributed it Stateside. But these organized crime families didn't own the ships that brought the heroin in from Europe and SE Asia. I'd speculate that it was transportation tycoons like the Harrimans and Murchisons and Ari Onassis who played key roles in the international distribution of narcotics. The importance of Cuba to these people should not be under-estimated. Follow the money. Especially black market money.

It simply wasn't possible to effectively frame the patsy while he was "emphatically" proclaiming his innocence. For instance, Hoover had some ginned up "evidence" that Oswald had been in Cuba. That couldn't be brought out once it could be rebutted. The foundation of the plot was the frame job, the sheep-dipping of Oswald as an agent of Fidel, which required the silence of the patsy. When a strip club owner gunned him down on live TV, the Mob became immediately suspect, not Castro. According to the Operation Northwoods documents, in order to establish a successful pre-text for an invasion of Cuba there had to be "irrevocable proof" of Communist complicity. Oswald in custody was highly "revocable" as an agent of Castro.