Steve Thomas

Jim, Yep. I'm sure of it. He gave all his money to Marina remember? Steve Thomas

Jim, Jim, Jim, You're just like everyone else. You get so caught up in the minutiae, that you miss the real point. The real point is that Postal saw Oswald sneak into the box office, and didn't do anything about it. The box office... isn't that where they keep the money? Mr. BALL. When you say worked in the box office, is that take tickets? Mrs. POSTAL. Sell tickets. Mr. BALL. What was the price of admission? Mrs. POSTAL. We had three. Adults 90 cents, teenager with a card is 50 cents, and a child is 35, and you have a pass ticket. Mr. BALL. And after you saw the police car go west with its siren on, why at the time the police car went west with its siren on, did you see the man that ducked? This man that you were---- Mrs. POSTAL. This man, yes; he ducked into the box office... I know. I know. I'm being facetious. *smile* Steve Thomas

Paul, 1. "The French Deception"... I'm not familiar with that article. 2. As far as SAC being the source of any information, I think I'd take that with a grain of salt. They were kind of like a militia group in service to DeGaulle. They weren't part of the French government per se. The Service d'Action Civique and the OAS hated each other. 3. Souetre recruiting... I know he was recruiting mercenaries in Belgium in the late 1960's in support of Moishe Tshombe under the pseudonym Eugene Constant. Tschombe had made him a major. You might want to dig into Aginter Presse. A lot of what you find will be in Italian or French, but there's some stuff out there in English. Here's a good starting point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aginter_Press#CITEREFGanser2005 Steve Thomas

Paul, PS: The headline of that article I provided basically says that Souetre was the driver of the getaway vehicle at Petit-Clamart. That's what people at the time thought his role was. Steve Thomas

Paul, You're right. The French considered Souetre to be dangerous... to DeGaulle. For weeks after the attack at Petit-Clamart, the French press speculated that Souetre had a hand in it. I read somewhere that, at one point, Jean-Rene Souetre was one of the two most wanted men in France. I try not to speculate too much about why JFK was murdered. Once you start speculating about the why something happened, people immediately start questioning your agenda and your motives. The best I can do is point out anomalies and patterns, and let others decide for themselves. Steve Thomas

Jim, I don't know if he was the first or not. He told the WC that he was there as Tippit was being shot. Whether somebody else was also there while Tippit was being shot (Scoggins maybe?), I don't know. As far as being "so frightened that he left the scene", I don't think so. He told the WC: Mr. BELIN - Then what did you do? Mr. BENAVIDES - At the time I walked out, I guess I was scared, so I started across the street--alley between the two houses to my mother's house, and I got in the yard and I said I'd better go back, or Just caught myself until I got over there, I guess, so I went back around there. Mr. BELIN - When you went back, what did you do? First of all, was there anything up to that time that you saw there or that you did that you haven't related here that you can think of right now? Mr. BENAVIDES - Well, I started--I seen him throw the shells and I started to stop and pick them up, and I thought I'd better not so when I came back, after I had gotten back, I picked up the shells. Steve Thomas

Paul, You asked me, " Do you believe him when he says he wasn’t in the US? Or are you just adding his denial to the mix?" Larry Hancock once asked me if I thought Souetre was an assassin, and I told him no. I told Larry that I think Jean-Rene was a patriot, as he understood patriotism to be; but an assassin, no. At this stage, I believe him when he says he wasn't here in the U.S. As far as Document 632-796, we don't know who wrote it, or when. This is only one paragraph of a larger document that the CIA did not see fit to provide. Why? Steve Thomas

Paul, Read this document carefully. The French said that he had been expelled from either Fort Worth or Dallas within 48 hours of the assassination. They also said that they didn't know if he had been expelled to either Canada or Mexico. Sandwiched in the middle of those two unclear statements is this definitive line, "He was in Fort Worth on the morning of 22 November and in Dallas in the afternoon." This last sentence does not say that this information came from the French. How could the French be so hazy or unclear about the information in the first two sentences, but so declarative about the last? I think that last sentence was cleverly inserted by the CIA into the information the French had provided to the FBI. Steve Thomas

David, Why doesn't Walker say anything about in this in his after-action report? DPD Archives. Box 2. Folder# 7, Item# 47, page 2. http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm And why doesn't C.T. Lyon, who also was in the car say anything about this in his after-action report? All Lyon wrote was that Oswald, "refused to answer any questions" and kept asking, "Why am I being arrested?" "I know I was carrying a gun, but why am I being arrested? DPD Archives. Box 2, Folder# 7, Item# 31 http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm Steve Thomas

Paul, His name was Jean-Rene Souetre. That's how he signed his own name. (or Jean-Rene Marie Souetre if you want to take it all the way out.) Steve Thomas

Paul, Roughly translated, the paragraph reads: "It does not appear to have been the O.A.S, but a seemingly different, Catholic, traditionalist and military. It is a mysterious "Old Guard", where found military and also ecclesiastical relatively close to General Zeller, one of the four putschists of Algiers. The research also makes it possible that he was planning an attack aimed at Gaulle for longer than we have believed it, since 1960 at least ... " Steve Thomas

Paul, Jean-Rene said he was never in the U.S. He said that in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's. Steve Thomas

Jim, I was trying to find out if the shells at the Tippit scene had any fingerprints on them. As near as I can tell, there weren't. Along the way, I learned a couple of things. Neither Hill, nor Poe knew the name of the person who gave them the shells (which is astounding in its own right). When Poe gave the shells to Pete Barnes from the Crime Lab, who was standing right there with a fingerprint dusting kit and actually using that kit to dust the car for prints, Barnes didn't dust the shells for prints. Hill, Benevides and Callaway all describe a suspect who was in the 5'10" range weighing about 160-165 lbs. Here's my notes, if you're interested. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/benavide.htm Mr. BELIN - Then what happened? Did the officers ever get in touch with you? Mr. BENAVIDES - Later on that evening, about 4 o'clock, there was two officers came by and asked for me, Mr. Callaway asked me---I had told them that I had seen the officer, and the reporters were there and I was trying to hide from the reporters because they will just bother you all the time. I was just trying to hide from the reporters and everything, and these two officers came around and asked me if I'd seen him, and I told him yes, and told them what I had seen,... Mr. BELIN - Did he ever take you to the police station and ask you if you could identify him? Mr. BENAVIDES - No; they didn't. Another FBI file from SA Joseph J. Loeffler to SAC (89-43) dated December 4, 1963. https://books.google.com/books?id=IdnhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT757&lpg=PT757&dq=%22Domingo+Benavides%22+CBS&source=bl&ots=eODtmXcfZ5&sig=FqLkfGuuiw6qUA5NRAnj1nJeifk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0trfvxfPYAhVD7IMKHX2PCoA4ChDoAQgpMAE#v=onepage&q=%22Domingo%20Benavides%22%20CBS&f=false “4 empty hulls – 2 found by unidentified witness at the scene of the shooting of Tippit – 400 E. 10th St. and given to Officer, J.M. Poe. He has no recollection of who gave them to him.” The memo goes on to talk about the shells found by the Davis sisters. Poe's after-action report dated 11/22/63 DPD Archives, Box 1, Folder# 4, Item# 5 http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box1.htm Poe wrote, "Unidentified witness handed Officer Poe two empty hulls in an empty cigarette package and stated, "These were the bullets that killed the officer.". The bottom of the Report is marked “Pending”. The only mention of Benavides in the DPD Archives Index is Report by James Leavelle. DPD Archives Box 16, Folder# 12, Item# 6. http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box1617.htm It's dated the 22nd, and it had to have been written up after 6:30PM, because he mentions the 6:30 lineup. Leavelle wrote, "Another witness who saw the officer laying in the street, but did not see the suspect was a Domingo Benavides..." Leavelle wrote that Benavides found two shells and turned them over to Poe, who in turn, turned them over to Pete Barnes, who "dusted the car for prints". Leavelle says that Benevides did not see the suspect. At the time Poe wrote his Report, Benavides was still unidentified. By 6:30, he is identified by name in Leavelle's Report. Benavides said that 2 officers came by (at Dootch Motors, I believe), at 4:00 and he told them what he had seen. Why does the FBI Report filed by James Loeffler on December 4, 1963 says that it was an “unidentified witness” who gave Poe the shells, and that Poe “has no recollection of who gave them to him”? Who were the two officers who came by to see Benevides? Where is their report? Why did the police and the WC give so much more attention to Helen Markham than they did to Domingo Benavides? He was actually closer to the shooter than Markham was, wasn't he? Is it because Benavides describes a shooter who looked different than Oswald? http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/benavide.htm Mr. BELIN - I am between 5' 10" and 5' 11". Closer to 5' 11", I believe. Mr. BENAVIDES - I would say he was about your size, Mr. BELIN - Was he average weight, slender, or heavy? Mr. BENAVIDES - I would say he was average weight. Mr. BELIN - What color hair did he have? Mr. BENAVIDES - Oh, dark. I mean not dark. Mr. BELIN - Black hair? Mr. BENAVIDES - No. Not black or brown, just kind of a---- Mr. BELIN - You say he is my size, my weight, and my color hair? Mr. BENAVIDES - He kind of looks like---well, his hair was a little bit curlier. Mr. BELIN - Anything else about him that looked like me. Mr. BENAVIDES - No. that is all. Mr. BELIN - What about his skin? Was he fair complexioned or dark complexioned? Mr. BENAVIDES - He wasn't dark. Mr. BELIN - Average complexion? Mr. BENAVIDES - No; a little bit darker than average. Of course he looked, his skin looked a little bit ruddier than mine. Mr. BENAVIDES - I remember the back of his head seemed like his hairline was sort of--looked like his hairline sort of went square instead of tapered off. and he looked like he needed a haircut for about 2 weeks, but his hair didn't taper off, it kind of went down and squared off and made his head look fiat in back. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/hill_gl.htm Gerald Hill: The first man that came up to me, he said, "The man that shot him was a white male about 5'10", weighing 160 to 170 pounds, and brown bushy hair." Mr. BELIN. Now, let me interrupt you here, sergeant. Do you remember the name of the person that gave you the description? Mr. HILL. No. I turned him over to Poe, and I didn't even get his name. Mr. BELIN - When you put these two shells that you found in this cigarette package, what did you do with them? Mr. BENAVIDES - I gave them to an officer. Mr. BELIN - That came out to the scene shortly after? Mr. BENAVIDES - Yes, sir. Mr. BELIN - Do you remember the name of the officer? Mr. BENAVIDES - No, sir; I didn't even ask him. I just told him that this was the shells that he had fired, and I handed them to him. Seemed like he was a young guy, maybe 24. Poe's after-action report dated 11/22/63 DPD Archives, Box 1, Folder# 4, Item# 5 http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box1.htm Poe wrote, "Unidentified witness handed Officer Poe two empty hulls in an empty cigarette package and stated, "These were the bullets that killed the officer.". http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/callaway1.htm Mr. BALL. What kind--when you talked to the police officers before you saw this man, did you give them a description of the clothing he had on? Mr. CALLAWAY. Yes, sir. Mr. BALL. What did you tell them you saw? Mr. CALLAWAY. I told them he had some dark trousers and a light tannish gray windbreaker jacket, and I told him that he was fair complexion, dark hair. Mr. BALL. Tell them the size? Mr. CALLAWAY. Yes; I told them--I think I told them about 5'10"-- Mr. BALL. Was he fat or thin? Mr. CALLAWAY. He was just-- Mr. BALL. I mean the man you saw across the street? Mr. CALLAWAY. Just a nice athletic type size boy, I mean. Neither fat nor thin. Mr. BALL. What did you estimate his weight when you talked to the officer before the lineup? Mr. CALLAWAY. I told him it looked to me like around 160 pounds. Mr. BELIN - Taking you back to November 22, 1963, anything unusual happen that day? Mr. BENAVIDES - On the 22d? Mr. BELIN - 22d of November 1963? Mr. BENAVIDES - This would be embarrassing. Was that the day of the Assassination of the President? Mr. BELIN - Yes. Mr. BENAVIDES - I was thinking it was the 24th. Well, nothing except it seemed like a pretty nice day. Mr. BELIN - Do you remember what day of the week it was? Mr. BENAVIDES - I don't remember. Mr. BELIN - Do you remember the day that the President was assassinated? Mr. BENAVIDES - No. Mr. BELIN - Do you remember that he was assassinated in Dallas? Mr. BENAVIDES - Oh, yes; I remember this. Mr. BELIN - When the officers came out there, did you tell them what you had seen? Mr. BENAVIDES - No, sir. Mr. BELIN - What did you do? Mr. BENAVIDES - I left right after. I give the shells to the officer. I turned around and went back and we returned to work. Who is we? Mr. BENAVIDES - Later on that evening, about 4 o'clock, there was two officers came by and asked for me, Mr. Callaway asked me---I had told them that I had seen the officer, and the reporters were there and I was trying to hide from the reporters because they will just bother you all the time. I was just trying to hide from the reporters and everything, and these two officers came around and asked me if I'd seen him, and I told him yes, and told them what I had seen... Who were these two officers, and where is their Report? Callaway makes no mention of this 4:00 PM visit. Steve Thomas

This is a question for Paz Marverde, or anybody else for that matter. What do you know of Bastien Thiry's, Vieil État-Major, and is there a connection to Jean-Rene Souetre and the Intergrelistes? See page 15 of this article (page 3 of the pdf file). http://www.inatheque.fr/medias/inatheque_fr/outils_analyse/exemples_mediascope/ils_voulaient_tuer_de_gaulle/TF1_hebdo_magazine_4_au_10_juin_2005.pdf Steve Thomas

Evan, Did you study the attack on Charles de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart in August of 1962? and what is your assessment of that attempt? How would you compare that to Dallas in November of 1963? Area 51 is still is use? I thought they had moved on. Steve Thomas

Bill,Yes, it's interesting. If you read his WC testimony, on the one hand Brian tells Revill that he knows Revill is not lying about what Hosty told Revill about Oswald because he (Brian) was standing right there. On the other hand, in his Report of April 20, 1964, he says he didn't hear everything, because Revill and Hosty walked off a ways, and there was "a lot of excitement and commotion there." https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1134#relPageId=522&tab=page You can't have it both ways. BTW, what happened to CE 710? The list of CE Exhibits jump from 709 to 711. There doesn't seem to be a 710. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1134 Steve Thomas

Evan, Thank you for responding. Does that mean you taught individual crew members, or couriers how to protect/defend themselves? And what do you mean by "tactics"? And when you define JANET as "Just Another...", does that mean that there were a lot of them? Steve Thomas

" GeoCities was an important outlet for personal expression on the Web for almost 15 years, but was discontinued on October 26, 2009." http://www.geocities.ws/archive/ Steve Thomas

Paul, If you read about the Christopher Pyle revelations about the U.S. Army spying scandals in the 1960's, and the FBI's COINTEL programs, you can see the whole security apparatus of the U.S. Government shifting to quelling civil unrest. Lately, I've been reading about the Cloverleaf, or Command Post Exercises that were held in the 1950's and 60's. To put it simply, these were annual war games held at the command level, rather than field level exercises. They were planning how to deal with a nuclear war. Part of that planning involved how to deal with civil unrest. (As in race riots and anti-war protests). On page 121 of that Our Man in Acapulco book, the authors wrote: p. 121. “While at the Presidio, Brandy had prepared a draft of a Domestic Emergency Plan, which he revised and submitted in 1954 as part of the Cloverleaf I exercise, to G-2 of the Fourth Army Command in Dallas, Colonel M.H. Truly.” p. 120. Brandy wrote to Colonel J.P. Kaylor of the Fourth Army's G-2 section and “...suggested monthly or semi-monthly briefings in a private area “where classified material could be read and secured,” meetings with Civilian Defense Authorities for liaison in case of emergencies, and correspondence courses.” From “Our Man in Acapulco”, pp. 127+ “after leaving Jamaica in early 1957, Brandy served as assistant troop commander and provost marshal of the Fourth U.S. Army Area Intelligence School for two weeks in August, 1957. “These intelligence school sessions reviewed procedures and studies in a wide variety of areas for reserve intelligence officers including a review of a Central Index of Investigative and Domestic Subversive files.” Steve Thomas

WC testimony of Nancy Perrin Rich: We were going to bring Cuban refugees out---but we were going to run military supplies and Enfield rifles in.” Texas State Guard: ?The guards drilled in schoolyards and on vacant lots with makeshift weapons. In 1943 the shotguns were replaced with a full issue of Enfield Rifles” With the federalization of the Texas National Guard during the Berlin Crisis in 1961, 71 Texas National Guard Armories were left vacant and a great amount of state property unprotected. Education Forum posting by James Richards 12/11/2004: “I was hoping to get some forum members' opinions regarding Miller and Whitter. John Elrod claimed that Oswald identified Miller in the jail; Miller having been arrested 2 days earlier with Ruby's mechanic Whitter. These guys were in possession of US Army weapons stolen from the National Guard Armory in Terrell, Texas.” DPD Archives Box 2, Folder# 6, Item# 9 http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box2.htm Robert (should be Richard) Borchgardt talks to Detective K.L. Anderton. Tells him that Jack Ruby is running guns to Mexico. Borchgardt tells Anderton that he got his information from Lawrence Miller, among others. Is there a pipeline here involving a state contract for Enfield rifles by any chance? Steve Thomas

Evan, Wow. That's a lot of responsibility. Steve Thomas

David, Not necessarily the wrong guy. The original 12 Districts were organized into 51 Battalions.I know who the Battalion Commanders were in the 1941-1947 time frame, but not who the District Commanders were, or even if the District Commanders were from the same area as the Battalion Commanders. The Dallas area was comprised of the 19th, 29th, 35th and 51st Battalions from Dallas Co. and the 40th from Collin Co. I haven't written about it yet, but in 1948 the 51 Battalions were re-organized and re-constituted into 6 Defense Groups with 30 Battalions, called the Texas State Guard Reserve Corps. This Texas State Guard Reserve Corps lasted from 1948 - 1965. In 1965, the Reserve Corps was abolished, and they went back to being the Texas State Guard. Dallas was in the 1st Defense Group, and was comprised of the 102nd Battalion. The Records say that about half of those 30 Battalions were "Internal Security Battalions". I do not know if the 102nd was one of those "Internal Security Battalions" Steve Thomas

This quote is taken from the November 18, 1994 ARRB testimony of Bob Vernon here: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/arrb/index67.htm Steve Thomas

Evan, Can you talk a little about this? What's a "nuclear courier"?; and, What did you do as a "trainer"? Steve Thomas

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/23/The-former-commander-of-a-defunct-Texas-State-Guard/2757467352000/ The former commander of a defunct Texas State Guard... Oct. 23, 1984 FORT WORTH, Texas -- The former commander of a defunct Texas State Guard battalion says he will form a private armed militia in Tarrant County, a Dallas newspaper reported today. Robert Holloway, former leader of the Texas State Guard's 105th Battalion, told the Dallas Morning News he would reorganize his 60-man unit into a private armed group called the National State Defense Force Association. 'We're not a pack of weirdoes or crazies. It's just a method of keeping the guys together,' Holloway said. But he described the role of the association as 'to promote a well-trained militia capable of assuming any role, to include combat in defense of state or country.' The all-volunteer Texas State Guard, an adjunct to the federally-supported Texas National Guard, was established to reinforce the National Guard in state emergencies. State Guard officials ordered Holloway's unit disbanded recently because it had become too independent of the state organization under the leadership of the former Green Beret. Holloway, 36, drew criticism from the state brass for making the unit too 'gung-ho' and was removed from the unit last spring. He allegedly led his group outside the perimeters of State Guard regulations by swapping standard green uniforms for camouflage fatigues. David Cottom, spokesman for the Texas State Guard, said Holloway's new undertaking is no longer within the purview of the guard. 'This is totally a civilian venture,' Cottom said. 'Once he was dislodged, they're on their own.' Steve Thomas