A Neglected Argument for Reopening the Inquiry

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Gary Aguilar has announced a conference this Fall on Reopening the JFK inquiry. The conference is sponsored by AARC.

Among the many reasons why the inquiry should be reopened I would emphasise a crucial error committed by the Warren Commission, perpetuated by the House Select Committee on Assassinations and neglected by the research community for the past four decades. This error (like many others) would probably not have happened if the Texas Court of Inquiry had gone ahead or if the WC or the HSCA had permitted defense counsel to appear.

Warren Commission Exhibit 900 appears on page 113 of the Warren Report. It can be viewed here: http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/...eport_0069a.htm

It shows the Altgens photo directly above a photo of the WC reenactment. The Altgens photo shows the presidential limo and the Secret Service follow-up car. Four Secret Service men can be seen standing on the running boards of the follow-up car and a motorcycle policeman is to the right of JFK. PROBLEM: The "reenactment" photo shows no followup car and no motorcycle cops.

If we turn to WR p114 we find CE 901 which seems to show that a rifleman in the "sniper's nest" had an unobstructed view of JFK at Zapruder frame 255, and by implication still had an unobstructed view at Z 312-Z 313. PROBLEM: no Secret Service men, no motorcycle cops.

Reenactments have featured in courtroom trials since time immemorial and the law on reenactments was already well-established in 1964. To be admissable in evidence, a reenactment must include all material features of the event, not just an arbitrary selection. The WC reenactments, adopted by the HSCA, would be ruled inadmissable if offered in evidence in any court in the US or any country whose legal system is based on logical reasoning.

We should now admit that, without a new inquiry, we have no way of knowing whether a "sniper's nest" gunman could even see JFK at the time of the fatal head shot at Z 313.

We should also admit that the Moorman and other photos show that a gunman at the fence in the spot pinpointed by Josiah Thompson ("Six Seconds in Dallas" p. 126) DID have an unobstructed view of JFK at Z313.

THE "REENACTMENT" IN RELATION TO OTHER EVIDENCE

This "reenactment" problem must be viewed in conjunction with the medical, acoustics and neutron activation evidence.

NAA/BULLET LEAD

In a March 10 post http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.as...8a5684e65ea56a1 I noted that the courts are rejecting bullet lead evidence that uses a "methodology" developed by Dr. Vincent Guinn and relied on by the HSCA. Robert Blakey presented Guinn's testimony in an attempt to prove that 399 and the fragments found in Washington were NOT PLANTED, as Josiah Thompson and other critics had suggested.

Now that Guinn is being discredited by the courts, the planted bullet question is squarely back on the table.

Planted bullets = planted shell casings = planted rifle.

ACOUSTICS

Blakey also relied on acoustics experts to prove that 3 shots came from the "sniper's nest," something critics had disputed. Blakey was a WC defender at that time. At the very last moment the experts found a shot from the knoll, and Blakey re-wrote the HSCA Report.

When the National Academy debunked the acoustics, WC supporters (and many critics) failed to notice that we were back to square one: If the acoustics are no good, how do we know there were any shots from the "sniper's nest"?

MEDICAL

At the Wecht conference I overheard Gary Aguilar and a group of researchers discuss the irreconcilable conflict between the autopsy and HSCA doctors regarding the location of what is believed to be a back of the head entry wound. Is it not entirely possible, I asked Dr. Aguilar, given this conflict, that there is no rear entry wound at all? His answer was an emphatic "yes."

SUMMARY

The Warren Commission and the HSCA were arbitrary and inadequate and a new inquiry is essential. Otherwise Americans must accept that we live under a rule of men-in-power-for-the-time-being and not a rule of Reason or a rule of Law.

NOTES ON "REENACTMENTS"

ABC v. JFK Reloaded

In the ABC program broadcast on the 40th anniversary, Peter Jennings placed great reliance on a computer graphic reenactment created by Dale Myers. Like the WC, Myers' "reenactment" did not include motorcyclists or secret servicemen, and therefore has zero value as evidence.

The creators of the video game JFK Reloaded have been widely criticized, but their "reenactment" is much more intelligent than those of Myers or the WC. No one would suggest that a video game is evidence, but at least the creators tried to allow for the follow-up car and the motorcycle cops:

JFK Reloaded http://www.jfkreloaded.com/instructions/

Click on "how it works" then click on "zooming and firing"

THE GERMAN "REENACTMENT"

In a recent interview, JFK researcher Mark Sobel describes a German reenactment:

"The only animation that I know of that actually brought to light something unexpected, was a German study in the late 1990s that included the Secret Service follow-up car as part of the computer re-creation. The simulation raised a question as to just how clean any shot from the 6th floor SE window would have been through the sea of heads of the Secret Service Agents who were standing on the running boards."

The full interview with Mark Sobel is here: http://www.thecommissiononline.com/sam_site.htm

I recently sent an email to Mr. Sobel at the website of his movie "The Commission" seeking further details of this German reenactment, so far without response.

I had intended to delay this post until seeing the German reenactment, but I see that Dan Roberdeau has opened up the reenactment question in his March 19 post on Alt.Conspiracy

It may be that this is a question whose time has come

Ray

"Do not block the way of inquiry"

C.S. Peirce

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.co...bb8ba24df83e130

[Tim Gratz]

Excellent post, sir! I'm sure you are an outstanding barrister!

Edited March 21, 2005 by Tim Gratz