COPA will broadcast the speech to be made by Jim Douglass at the Adolphus hotel tonight, November 20th from 7pm EST.
Jim Douglass is the author of ‘JFK and the unspeakable’ . A review by COPA member Bill Kelly can be found here, http://politicalassassinations.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/jfk-and-the-unspeakable-review/
To view the stream, visit http://www.politicalassassinations.com
Doug Horne was Chief Analyst for Military Records with the Assassination Records Review Board. His new book ‘Inside the Assassination Records Review Board’ will be 5 volumes in size and be concerned principally with the medical coverup in the assassination.
The Mary Ferrell Foundation has more information, including a short word from the author himself.
http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Featured_Inside_The_ARRB_Coming_Soon
The Coalition on Political Assassinations presents:
OPEN SECRETS: THE ASSASSINATIONS OF THE ‘60s
15th Annual Regional Conference, November 20-22, Dallas, TX
Latest evidence and research, authors, medical and ballistic experts, academics and researchers into modern political assassinations, including Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. Resource room with books, DVDs and digital collections. Films and presentations. Join us.
Speakers:
Dr. Cyril Wecht, M.D., J.D., former president American Academy of Forensic Sciences
Jim Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable
Walt Brown, author of Master Analytic Chronology: The Death of President Kennedy
Russ Baker, author of Family of Secrets
Ronnie Dugger, former editor of The Texas Observer
John Armstrong, author of Harvey & Lee will be available to sign his book
Randy Benson, award-winning filmmaker, showing excerpts from The Searchers
T Carter, author an upcoming book Jerry Ray: A Memoir of Injustice
Ben Rogers, curator of the Penn Jones collection at Baylor University’s Poague Library
Jim DiEugenio, author of Destiny Betrayed and editor of Probe
Lisa Pease, co-author of The Assassinations and editor of Probe
Robert Groden, author of The Search for Lee Harvey Oswald and Absolute Proof
Doug Valentine, author of The Phoenix Program and The Strength of the Pack
Ed Haslam, author of Dr. Mary’s Monkey and Mary, Ferrie and the Money Virus
Pat Speer, producer of “The Mysterious Death of Number 35”
Chris Pike, researcher into Operation Northwoods and critic Penn Jones, Jr.
Schedule:
Friday, November 20
Early Bird Lunch, 12:00 pm Founder’s Grill, lobby, Hotel Lawrence (214) 761-9090
Dinner, 5:30 pm, Rodeo Grill, Adolphus Hotel, 1321 Commerce Street, (214) 651-3588
COPA keynote speaker, 7:00 pm, Mezzanine level, Adolphus Hotel
Movies, 10:00 pm, Second floor Rear, Hotel Lawrence, Houston & Jackson Sts.
Resource room open on 2nd floor rear Friday to Sunday, books and DVDs, authors
Saturday, November 21
Speakers 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Second floor Rear, Hotel Lawrence
Movies 10:00 pm, Second floor Rear
Hotel Lawrence, Houston & Jackson Sts.
Sunday, November 22 46th anniversary
Speakers and discussions 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, Second floor Rear
Hotel Lawrence, Houston & Jackson Sts.
12:30 pm Moment of Silence
Commemorating the Assassination of President Kennedy
Grassy Knoll, Dealey Plaza, speakers following
Union Station and West End stations on DART rail. All events open to public.
Registration at door – $60 for all events, $25 Saturday, $20 Friday and Sunday
Coalition on Political Assassinations, PO Box 772, Washington, DC 20044
copa@starpower.net www.politicalassassinations.com
Article follows after commentary
During interrogation by the Dallas police, Oswald was shown the photo, which allegedly had been found in the Payne’s garage where Marina was staying, and he said, “That’s my head on someone else’s body.” None of the evidence “discovered” there has proper chain of custody, since Marina Oswald and Ruth Payne left the house when the police arrived to search and Ruth Payne signed for what was found much later in the day at the police office. Marina suggested that the Oswald’s hid weapons from Payne since she was a Quaker. Michael Payne reportedly came home during the police search and was upset to find them going through his personal belongings, and he led them to the garage to see Oswald’s materials instead. The blanket that the gun was supposedly wrapped in showed no oil or stretch marks from the rifle and the rifle had no hairs from the blanket.
Marinia Oswald at a research conference in Cambridge, MA said that Oswald had asked her to take pictures of him holding a rifle and a pistol behind the house in Irving, TX where they shared a room, but she said she stood in the alleyway and Oswald stood in the back yard, the opposite orientation from the released pictures.
Photo experts have pointed not only to the shadow discrepancies between his body and nose but also to cut lines across his chin and a differently shaped lower face and jaw than in other photos of Oswald. FBI photographer Lynne Chaney staged a picture to support the authenticity of the photo and recreate the shadows, and it appears in the Warren Commission volumes. However, the FBI man holding a rifle and a pistol at a somewhat similar angle to Oswald and with a body shadow at a similar angle from the sun, inexplicably also has a paper bag over his head, totally obscuring facial shadows.
Different prints and negatives of the “backyard photo” were found over the years, all of which have discrepancies that led researchers to question their authenticity. The angle at which the body is leaning over seems unusual as well, almost to the point of being off balance.
There is an additional issue, which is that the person in the picture is holding at the same time a copy of the Communist Party Daily Worker and the Socialist Worker’s Party newspaper, a Trotskyist journal, with conflicting views about communism, socialism and history. Few leftists would have been subscribing to both publications, based on their ideological views.
The rifle and pistol depicted seem to match the Mannlicher-Carcano allegedly the JFK murder weapon found at the Texas School Book Depository building after the shooting, and the pistol that Oswald allegedly used to shoot Dallas police officer Tippit. Both these guns were ordered from a post office box in Dallas that could not be linked to Oswald, in fact a letter addressed to Oswald’s name at that box ended up in the dead letter as a bad address for him. The signatures on the order forms for both guns do not match Oswald’s handwriting. Thus it is unlikely that Oswald would have had his picture taken with these guns that clearly were not owned or ordered by him, but which were used to incriminate him in the murder of JFK.
Even if the photo were legitimate, it proves nothing about whether Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy, though it might in fact have proven that he was being railroaded and framed instead as the “patsy” he referred to himself as. Oswald was clearly not a shooter at either the Dealey Plaza assassination of JFK nor at the Irving, TX shooting of Officer Tippit.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gZUZI3bvhZ6iPwjcKIKp_zPaUzFgD9BPJO681
Dartmouth scientist says Oswald rifle photo real
By HOLLY RAMER (AP) – 1 day ago
CONCORD, N.H. — The infamous photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald holding a rifle in his backyard would have been nearly impossible to fake, according to a new analysis by a Dartmouth College professor.
Oswald, who was shot to death days after being charged with the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, claimed the photo of him holding a rifle in one hand and Marxist newspapers in the other had been doctored. Over the years, many others have pointed out what appear to be inconsistent lighting and shadows.
But Hany Farid, director of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth, said the shadows are exactly where they should be.
“You can never really prove an image is real, but the evidence that people have pointed to that the photo is fake is incorrect,” Farid said Thursday. “As an academic and a scientist, I don’t like to say it’s absolutely authentic … but it’s extremely unlikely to have been a fake.”
Farid, whose work using digital forensic tools to analyze images often has been used by law enforcement, said he has been getting requests from conspiracy theorists to analyze the photo for years. He said he held off until he had the appropriate software to create three-dimensional models of Oswald’s head and surroundings.
With the modeling software, he was able to show that a single light source could create both a shadow falling behind Oswald and to his right and one directly under his nose. Farid admits even he was skeptical before starting his research.
“When I looked at the photo, I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand the shadows, and I do this for a living,” he said.
But Farid’s latest finding, which will be published in the journal Perception, is in keeping with his earlier research that showed the human visual system does a poor job at judging whether cast shadows are correct, he said.
“It turns out we’re really bad at it. Even though our visual system is very, very good … we are really bad at judging shadows,” he said. “I’m bad at it and this is what I do for a living.”
He spent about two months off and on analyzing the Oswald photo.
“I felt because it’s the Kennedy assassination and because there’s so much history about this, you really want to answer this correctly,” he said. “You don’t want to make a mistake on something of this magnitude.”
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Full details found here, http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK+Library+and+Museum/News+and+Press/White+House+Recordings+of+President+Kennedy+Debating+Vietnam+Coup+Released+by+JFK+Presidential+Libra.htm
BOSTON–The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum announced today that it has declassified and made available for research presidential recordings of four meetings between President Kennedy and his highest level Vietnam advisors during the days after the highly controversial “Cable 243” was sent. The cable, which was dispatched on August 24, 1963 when President Kennedy and three of his top officials were away from Washington, set a course for the eventual coup in Vietnam on November 1, 1963, leading to the overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem and his assassination the following day on November 2, 1963 – 46 years ago this week.
The tapes offer unprecedented insight into President Kennedy’s thoughts on the unfolding conflict in Vietnam and reveal his reservations about U.S. support for a military coup in South Vietnam. During a meeting on August 28, President Kennedy states:
“I don’t think we’re in that deep. I am not sure the [Vietnamese] Generals are – they’ve been probably bellyaching for months. So I don’t know whether they’re – how many of them are really up to here. I don’t see any reason to go ahead unless we think we have a good chance of success.”
“These recordings provide a fascinating snapshot of a key event in the history of Vietnam,” said Kennedy Library Archivist Maura Porter. “The August meetings highlight the uncertainty that existed in the White House over what steps to take toward the government of South Vietnam. Of particular interest are the numerous conflicting views presented from the President’s top Vietnam advisors.”
These meetings are the first ones to take place after the sending of Cable 243, which has been described by historian John W. Newman as the “single most controversial cable of the Vietnam War.” The telegram was drafted on Saturday August 24, 1963 when President Kennedy, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, and CIA Director John McCone were all out of town. Without direct approval from President Kennedy’s senior advisors and despite mixed feelings in the administration over the effectiveness of Diem’s regime, the cable called for Diem to remove his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu from a position of power and threatened U.S. support of a military coup in South Vietnam if he refused.
After the cable was sent and during the course of four days of meetings, President Kennedy met with his advisors to discuss the evolving situation in Vietnam and what steps should be taken in the wake of the cable’s policy-changing message. There was considerable disagreement between the State Department advisors who had drafted Cable 243 and the President’s military and intelligence advisors on whether the coup was advisable and what support it would have in Vietnam with the Vietnamese military. In his book Robert Kennedy and His Times, White House Historian Arthur Schlesinger quoted Robert Kennedy’s recollections of the cable: “[President Kennedy] always said that it was a major mistake on his part. The result is we started down a road that we never really recovered from.”
The President asked several times for straight assessments from his two top advisors in Vietnam, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge and General Paul Harkins. At the August 27, 1963 meeting the President inquired about whether General Harkins agreed with the present plan:
President Kennedy: What about – in the wire that went Saturday, what’s the degree of — My impression was that based on the wire that went out Saturday, asked General Harkins and Ambassador Lodge recommending a course of action unless they disagreed. (General Taylor then states that Harkins concurred). That’s right, so I think we ought to find out whether Harkins doesn’t agree with this – then I think we ought to get off this pretty quick.
During the on-going discussions, State Department officials claimed that they felt it was too late to step back from the coup support, an opinion not accepted by the President. The President comments:
President Kennedy: I don’t think we ought to take the view here that this has gone beyond our control ‘cause I think that would be the worst reason to do it. …
…
Well I don’t think we ought to just do it because we feel we have to now do it. I think we want to make it our best (sitting) judgment (is to date) because I don’t think we do have to do it. At least I’d be prepared to take up the argument with lawyers, well let’s not do it. So I think we ought to try to make it without feeling that it’s forced on us.The President goes on to state:
President Kennedy: I don’t think we ought to let the coup…maybe they know about it, maybe the Generals are going to have to run out of the country, maybe we’re going to have to help them get out. But still it’s not a good enough reason to go ahead if we don’t think the prospects are good enough. I don’t think we’re in that deep. I am not sure the Generals are – they’ve been probably bellyaching for months. So I don’t know whether they’re – how many of them are really up to here. I don’t see any reason to go ahead unless we think we have a good chance of success.
Ambassador Nolting, who had been recently relieved of his duties in Saigon and replaced by Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, was asked by the President to be present at these meetings. Nolting’s advice and opinions were pointed, candid and very often at odds with State Department officials in the room, especially Roger Hilsman and Averell Harriman. At the August 28th meeting, Ambassador Nolting and the President began a discussion on a post-coup Vietnam:
President Kennedy: What about Diem – Diem and Nhu would be ( unclear )? Exile them, is that it? That’s what we would favor of course, but.
Roger Hilsman: We know, we know no information.
President Kennedy: But I think it would be important that nothing happen to them if we, if we have any voice in it. Is that your view Ambassador?
Frederick Nolting: With all the humility again, Mr. President, my view is that there is no one that I know of who can – who has a reasonably good prospect of holding this fragmented, divided country together except Diem.
Further information provided in link
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 2) – An attorney for the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy said Monday his client was transferred from a prison that houses high-risk offenders to a new facility where his life could be in danger.
Attorney William F. Pepper said Sirhan Sirhan opposed the move from the state prison in Corcoran, which houses high-risk prisoners such as Charles Manson, to Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.
“Our main concern is for his safety,” said Laurie Dusek, an associate of Pepper. “We are not sure that Pleasant Valley has the ability to protect him. He is a target.”
Pepper said he has new evidence and wants to reopen Sirhan’s case.
Oscar Hidalgo, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Sirhan had requested the transfer and wants to stay in Pleasant Valley.
“After discussing his hesitation with prison officials at Pleasant Valley, Sirhan Sirhan indicated he wanted to stay at the new facility after all,” Hidalgo said. “He can indicate if he feels unsafe at any point and the department will respond appropriately.”
Sirhan is serving a life sentence for the 1968 killing of Kennedy. He had been housed for years in the protective unit at Corcoran, one of the most isolated units in the state prison system.
Pepper said neither he nor Sirhan had requested the move and neither had received notice until Sirhan was actually moved last Thursday.
Hidalgo countered in a written statement that the move followed numerous requests by Sirhan to be transferred from Corcoran.
“His movements there have been extremely controlled and his exposure to others extremely limited,” Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo said Sirhan’s lawyers were notified of the move, but both Pepper and Dusek said in telephone interviews they were not told of the transfer.
Dusek said she had contacted prison officials, checking on a report from Sirhan’s brother that he might be moved. Authorities denied any knowledge of such a change, she said.
Munir Sirhan confirmed in a phone interview that he had notified the lawyer about the transfer.
Pepper said he wrote to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger protesting the move. The governor’s office said it had not received any communication on the matter.
Candace Talmage in the North Star National gives an excellent summary and account of Jim Douglass’ work, ‘JFK and the unspeakable’
http://www.northstarnational.com/2009/11/02/challenging-empire-part-1-book-explores-cia-conspiracy-kill-jfk/
Challenging Empire, Part 1: Book Explores CIA Conspiracy to Kill JFK
November 2nd, 2009
Candace Talmadge
Candace Talmadge
There is no scorn like that heaped upon those who dare suggest that the official explanation for the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is worthless.
For decades now, the mainstream media have derided as a tinfoil-hat nut anyone who questions the 1964 Warren Report’s “lone gunman” thesis, despite the fact that the U.S. House of Representatives 15 years later determined that Kennedy most likely was the victim of a deadly conspiracy.JFK_Unspeakable
Congress reached this disturbing conclusion three decades ago, yet pursued it no further, a reticence echoed in the Barack Obama administration’s utter lack of enthusiasm for investigating, let alone prosecuting, the previous administration’s wholesale trampling of the U.S. Constitution.
There’s a good reason for this hesitation, according to James W. Douglass, who penned JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died & Why It Matters (Orbis Books, 2008). Backed by extensive research, Douglass argues eloquently that Kennedy was slain as a warning to future presidents and members of Congress not to challenge what President Dwight Eisenhower labeled the “military-industrial complex.”
Think of it as a murderous melding of vested mutual interests between those on the warrior right who favor might-makes-right foreign policies and their business underwriters who profit handsomely from providing the hardware and outsourced support services to implement and sustain these policies.
Kennedy’s so-called crimes in the eyes of this longstanding cabal, Douglass contends, were thwarting top military officers who urged a first nuclear strike on the Soviet Union and opposing the CIA’s expansion of conflict in Vietnam. There were also the president’s transgressions of not backing up the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, of withdrawing defense contracts in 1962 from U.S. steel companies that reneged on their promises not to raise prices, and of the 1963 treaty with the Soviet Union to ban atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.
Kennedy’s worst sin? Secretly reaching out to Russian leader Nikita Kruschev to explore ways to make peace between the post World War II superpowers. Douglass shows how a series of letters between the men humanized the “enemy” for each side, a highly subversive act for those who peddle and exploit hate and fear, both in this country and abroad. The cold warriors who ordered (and still run) the U.S. intelligence community and their corporate allies would not stand for a president actually using the power of his office to reign in their war-making activities and curb their profits. Peace? Absolutely out of the question!
“Those who designed the plot to kill Kennedy were familiar the inner sanctum of our national security state,” Douglass writes. “Their attempt to scapegoat the Soviets for the president’s murder reflected one side of a secret struggle between JFK and his military leaders over a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union. The assassins’ purpose seems to have encompassed not only killing a president determined to make peace with the enemy but also using his murder as the impetus for a possible nuclear first strike against that same enemy.”
There’s a familiar ring to exploiting a national tragedy to propel pre-emptive strikes against an enemy that had nothing to with the calamity. Its contemporary counterpart was the Bush administration’s post Sept. 11, 2001 modus operandi. The bloody debacle in Iraq is one of the reasons that Douglass’s take on the Kennedy murder is essential reading. This book helps us recognize and understand the darker side of our nation’s past, present, and likely future course. The pointless loss of life, enormous tax-payer burden, and pitting of American against American are all the poisonous effects of the endless-war profit cycle.
Douglass calls this “the unspeakable,” and argues compellingly that it corrodes this nation’s very soul. He does not hesitate to pose difficult questions that our national dialogue since the end of World War II has avoided even asking, let alone answering. One of the toughest: Can the United States be a military and financial empire and still be a representative democracy?
COPA has a revised list of speakers for the conference in Dallas this year.
Medical researcher Pat Speer, http://www.patspeer.com
Edward Haslam, http://doctormarysmonkey.com/
Doug Valentine, http://www.douglasvalentine.com/
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