John Geraghty

i understand that hitler tried to apply pressure upon mussolini to open concentration camps but mussolini was not keen on the idea, he did open the camps but there were few murdered in them, they were more housing for communists and opposition leaders. john

Indeed Stalin's terror did not stop in Russia as we saw with the murder of Trotsky in Mexico, this was a further consolidation of power as Trotsky was writing more memoirs and publications.

when looking at the economics policies of the two i believe stalin was more hardline, yet also more realistic. Lenin created the system of huge farms worked by many labourers instead of simply returning land to the people. When planning economicaly in a communist state people tend to think more of what will be good for the economy as a whole and not with regard to standard of life therefore a lot of people were unhappy with lenins agricultural policy which was somewhat realistic, it may improve food output yet this does not necessarily mean that people support it. This just goes to show the purely theoretical basis of economics which does not allow for variables in the market. Stalin was very industrial minded as were most nations in the 30's and 40s. He was largely successful with helping russia catch up with the rest of the world as russia did not have an industrial revolution, they had fallen behind france in coal production and were also trailing in steel. stalin changed this and i dont think that lenins theories were the basis for this turnaround, lenin was more about agriculture and social economics. john

John raises the point of india believing that perhaps supporting Germany would perhaps get them independence, this was also the case for Ireland in the First World War, in fact the famous Easter Rising of 1916 was carried out with German rifles and there was also a boat on its way from Germany with more equipment. Britain's empire was more economically based rather than ideologicaly and so it is easier to rationalise their actions, for the most part the British Empire was not tyrannous unless provoked.

With regard to Blakey mark lane covers the whole investigation very well in 'Plausible Denial', he explians who was taken out and why, he bases this upon conversations with those were involved in the investigation and those who were interested.

Is this a mosque or Guantanamo Bay?

I posted this on jfklancer but received no replies. I was recently watching the Men Who Killed Kennedy which I often do to give a more human side than just gorging on books when I noticed a very short clip of film showing another secret serviceman being told to stop running alongside the limo, the footage is in colour and I think it was taken on main street, if it is not main street it is whatever street that was heavily covered in flags and was very colourful. Was this known of before? There is already footage of an SS man at the airport. It was in the episode 'The Cover-up' I'm afriad I have no way of transferring it onto my PC.

Wim, Are ther any articles written by Jim Marrs with regard to that subject online? John

I thought I would start a thread on lyrics relating to the assassination, I notice in a rolling stones song which I think is jumping jack flash mick jagger says "who killed the kennedys", there is also a song called "the ballad of billy sol estes" , has anybody else got examples. I have heard that elvis was very interested in the assassination and looked into it personaly, can anyone confirm this? john

john, looks like an excellent line up if they all agree, i wasnt aware that billy sol was still alive. john

thanks john, harry I just got to thinking about this while seeing footage of george bush in fahrenheit 911, he just looks so ill at ease and like a pretender to the throne. he seems uncomfortable and that this wasnt his rightful place john

I was just thinking over some things with the current situation in mind. in my opinion the assassination of JFK was very monitarily motivated among the people higher up in society and was more personal and political among other sections (Cubans, Howard Hunt), those people who gained from the assassintion made a lot of money and in my opinion are now in power but my question is, does the power now lie with the Neo-Cons in the white house with the CIA as was the case in the 60s, have the big cats now bypassed the CIA as they have gotten what they want, power?

surprised i didnt think of that one, it does fit in well with files's story actually john

has anybody got any other ideas apart from triumphalism? john

I emailed Posner recently, he appears to be very busy with the book so hopefuly he may join soon. its always good to have a good debate on the topic. Perhaps John Simkin could include an online debate during the online seminar where there are two teams each with 5 members?

Shanet, i saw that part of tmwkk on the history channel here in ireland, do you by any chance have a copy of it? i've been searching for a quite a while now thanks john

Over the last while I have heard various opinions on Abraham Zapruder being hired to film the assassination and that he had certain ties among conspirators, can somebody elaborate on this, also why would they want footage of the assassination?

Although I a relative newcomer I would like to write a piece on my correspondance with Charles Voyd Harrelson. Good idea for the conference online, a lot cheaper than a trip to Dallas.

Ron, €250,000 was a huge amount of money and still is, I too do not believe the theory that he bunked her off but it is extremely strange to get insurance for this sum of money, perhaps if jerry dealey is a member of this forum he can advise us on the insurance business in which he is involved. john

indeed, its very puzzling, i cant seem to work that one out, in the same chapter he continually complains about not getting financial support from the govt for legal fees with regard to watergate , he received an envelope with $40,000 in it a while earlier. What purpose would it serve for her to buy the insurance. Unless someone else bought the insurance in her name john

Wim, Here are the exact details. The book he wrote was called 'Undercover- memoirs of an american secret agent' It was copyrighted in 1974 and the british print was made in 1975, The publishers were W.H.Allen of London. Here are the lines in the book that the footnote refers to. 'We kissed, and a skycap took her bags. From the curb she turned and waved at me and I waved back. I saw hewr enter the doors of the airlines ticket office'* footnote * 'Where, I later learned ,she purchased $250,000 in flight insurance payable to me' Very interesting indeed, I havent heard this mentioned before, I would be interested to know if this was republished and if that footnote was included, also was it in the american version of the book. John

Wim, its on the very last page of the chapter about the death of his wife, I will head to the library in a few minutes after my lecture and get the exact page reference. I also found a few photos with hunt in WW2 and him skiing with a buddy and a few other pictures, including him meeting with eisenhower in south america john

wim, yes and he also dodges the reference to his case with mark lane (indirectly). I was reading hunts biography in which he describes the events leading up to the death of his wife, in a footnote he remarks that his wife took out $250,000 worth of travel insurance payable to him right before she got on the flight. has anyone else heard anything of this? john

Here is an a very recent interview with e howard hunt of watergate fame, also a possible conspirator in dallas, he is probed about dave philips, che guevara and guatemala. http://www.slate.com/id/2107718/#ContinueArticle john

my favourite films (some of them more contemporary) are jean de florette and its sequel manon de sources, simply magnificent movies, I am not sure wjether the book was translated into english but i would love to read it. Beautiful movies. i am a big oliver stone fan and whatever may be said about jfk the movie he made a huge contribution, it has been claimed that his aims were more about money making but you simply have to look at his other movies to get his overall message. Vietnam is the single biggest factor in his films, platoon is a masterpiece, you really have to watch platoon and born on the forth of july to really know whether you support wars (iraq in particular). one flew over the cookoos nest is fabulous also. last of the mohecans has a great score written by john edelman, daniel day lewis is a tremendous actor, hes one of those people who does not jump at any old script, he waits for good ones to come along and works only when he needs to. Denzel washington is similar but does more work. also there is the classic that is weekend at bernies starring andrew mccarthy john