Inside the plot to kill JFK: The secret story of the CIA and what really happened in Dallas
http://www.salon.com/2015/11/22/inside_the_plot_to_kill_jfk_the_secret_story_of_the_cia_and_what_really_happened_in_dallas/Excerpted from "The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government"
Those resolute voices in American public life that continue to deny the existence of a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy argue that someone would have talked. This line of reasoning is often used by journalists who have made no effort themselves to closely inspect the growing body of evidence and have not undertaken any of their own investigative reporting. The argument betrays a touchingly naïve media biasa belief that the American press establishment itself, that great slumbering watchdog, could be counted on to solve such a monumental crime, one that sprung from the very system of governance of which corporate media is an essential part. The official version of the Kennedy assassinationdespite its myriad improbabilities, which have only grown more inconceivable with timeremains firmly embedded in the media consciousness, as unquestioned as the law of gravity.
In fact, many people have talked during the past half of a centuryincluding some directly connected to the plot against Kennedy. But the media simply refused to listen. One of the most intriguing examples of someone talking occurred in 2003, when an old and ailing Howard Hunt began unburdening himself to his eldest son, Saint John.
(snip)
Laura Hunt ultimately cut short her husbands extraordinary journey of truth telling with his son. But before Hunt died in 2007, he left behind video interviews, audiotapes, and notes in his own handas well as a somewhat revealing memoir called American Spy. Hunts confessional trove amounts to a tortured effort to reveal what he knew, while still guarding his familys sensitivities, old professional loyalties, and whatever was left of his good name. After his father died, Saint John would make a valiant effort to get Hunts confessionswhich should have been headline newsinto the hands of the major media gatekeepers. A 60 Minutes producer spent days poring over Saint Johns rich material, but he was finally forced to apologize that the story had been spiked from above. In the end, only Rolling Stonealong with a scattering of alternative media outletscovered the story of Howard Hunts astonishing final statements about the crime of the century. Saint Johns own memoir of his fathers escapades and his familys ordeal, Bond of Secrecy, was released by a small Oregon publisher and received little promotion or attention.
This was the story that Howard Hunt left behind. Sometime in 1963, Hunt said, he was invited to a meeting at one of the CIA safe houses in Miami by Frank Sturgis, a soldier of fortune who had worked under Hunt in the anti-Castro undergrounda man with whom Hunt would be forever linked when they were later arrested for the Watergate break-in. Also in attendance at the Miami meeting was David Morales, another CIA veteran of the anti-Castro campaign who was well known to Hunt. Moralesa big, intimidating man who had grown up in a poor Mexican American family in Phoenixdid not fit the polished CIA profile. But the agency found a use for El Indioas Morales, with his strong indigenous features, was known by his colleagues.
(end snip)
David Talbot, the founder of Salon, is the author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years. He is now working on a book about the legendary CIA director Allen W. Dulles and the rise of the national security state.
So much more at the link.
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)eom
TexasProgresive
(12,157 posts)Career intelligence and those in the diplomatic services do not leak. The "journalist" are thinking of their usual political sources which can't keep either their lips zipped or their trousers. These types use info as poker chips.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)though it's to be expected, I suppose.
But it's a pretty compelling case that Dulles orchestrated the assassination of JFK.
Great interview with Talbot on this here:
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/10/14/the_rise_of_america_s_secret
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Botany
(70,516 posts)Tons and tons of "stuff" about how the election was stolen and
not peep one from 98% of our "liberal media."
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)It was also extremely disappointing how most of the liberal bloggers also refused to talk about it.
A lot of people are terribly frightened of anything that has even a hint of "conspiracy theory".
Thanks deminks, I've read "The Devil's Chessboard" and consider it one of the best books on JFK since November 22, 1963, but having said that, with all of the government interference, it has taken this long to sift through the disinformation... Thanks.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)The CIA, FBI and the executive branch of the government helped hide it and cover it up.
See, it's always the cover up that gets them.
It's really what happened. The evidence all points to it in Legacy of Secrecy, a book by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann. It spells out piece by piece the evidence availble for anyone to read.
The assassin was bought and paid for by organized crime that didn't like the AG going after them. Then the same organized crime syndicate went and hired an assassin to murder MLK, but the KKK paid the syndicate for that murder. And of course the FBI did not try to stop it. And for good measure, organized crime killed Bobby too.
The evidence, letters, recordings, memoirs and articles all clearly point to organized crime. If you really want to know about those assisinations, you have got to read Legacy of Secrecy.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)There's a lot of wrong and misleading info in this field, not to mention a huge amount of disinfo, but the simplest explanation has always been that the CIA orchestrated it.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)They were afraid that whatbthey were doing in Cuba would get out but organized crime actually did it. Looking at the CIA is a very good start but the evidence is clear - organized crime actually hired the assassin.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)Dulles was one creepy character. And he had means, motive, opportunity...
OldRedneck
(1,397 posts)Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)would be better if you examined the evidence
cpwm17
(3,829 posts)with a zillion different theories on how JFK was assassinated. But the thing is, it's already a proven fact that Oswald killed Kennedy. Life is too short to give the$e con artist$ the time of day.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)Hence all these books. Keerist! Shocking to see people still believe the Oswald story.
SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)I believe he was, and it wouldn't change my mind if someone comes up with stuff like this 50 years from now.
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)Will start reading this week.. thanks for posting.
I remember my mom cursing every time one of the Dulles bothers was mentioned.
SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)SCantiGOP
(13,871 posts)They couldn't keep the identity of Deep Throat a secret, but hundreds of people, including all the media (none of whom wanted to win a Pulitzer Prize and be the most famous person on the globe) all
kept quiet about a murder and coup against the government. Seems reasonable.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)that's the point of this excerpt, if you'd read it.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)In the memoir True Compass, which Ted Kennedy wrote while he was terminally ill, he re-affirmed his belief that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, shot his brother.
Was he:
(a) simply too stupid.
(b) in on the plot.
or
(c) still under some sort of blackmail threat, even though his death was certain?
Or did he just lack the motivation to figure out what happened?
I guess that last one qualifies as "lazy".
So, stupid, liar, coward or lazy. Which word best summarizes Ted Kennedy?
classykaren
(769 posts)He did die from Brain Cancer.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)I gather that you are saying the brain cancer affected his ability to think. Is that what you are saying?
Never mind the fact that he never bought into any of the conspiracy theories for decades before his diagnosis, and never mind the fact that the entire book does not indicate any absence of mental faculties.
So, please, I don't understand what you are trying to say here with the brain cancer or walkout references.
My best guess is you are trying to say that he was too brain damaged when he wrote the book. Is that correct?
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)he was a good man, but was suffering from severe trauma throughout his life.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)He was too traumatized to really deal with the truth. It's pretty clear he had PTSD from the assassinations of his two brothers and the many tragedies of his family, early deaths of other family members.
drokhole
(1,230 posts)Excellent and meticulously researched book on the matter, by James Douglass:
JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)Douglass is a respected Catholic theologian, author and activist. He was a professor of religion at the University of Hawaii.
drokhole
(1,230 posts)...a Trappist monk who was a fascinating figure in his own right.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Douglas has provided an exhaustively researched and sourced volume covering everything from the politics, Dulles and CIA involvement, declassified documents, eyewitness testimony and forensics. Anyone who can read this entire book and remain confident that a single, troubled Oswald performed the assassination and did so on his own initiative is dealing with a bad case of confirmation bias.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Something isn't passing the smell test.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)dragged before the cameras, and then you see THAT guy shot by another guy, then you accept the story--because you yourself saw it all unfold. Kill him in private = more public disbelief and speculation and suspicion.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Carolina
(6,960 posts)and numb... then accept the official line.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,005 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)As he said, when one writes a book on the JFK assassination, ones publisher is probably not too happy to hear that one has concluded that there is no conspiracy and that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone shooter.
However, as Posner's book relates, the story behind JFK's death is all about Oswald, not some contrived complicated conspiracy.
The forensic evidence was unequivocal. There was one shooter from the very place where Oswald worked. And witnesses placed him at that location at that time. He also murdered a Dallas policeman that day.
There may have been a hundred shooters in Dealey Plaza that day, but only Lee Harvey Oswald fired any bullets.
That is what all the evidence states. All the rest is lunacy.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)Hydra
(14,459 posts)So much of that era was tainted by the CIA power players, not unlike today.
They would probably laugh at my comment and say that they are the real Gov't...and who can argue with that?
Carolina
(6,960 posts)and am riveted. I always believed the CIA killed Kennedy or had him killed. And based on the fact the Allen Dulles was fired by JFK after the CIA's disastrous Bay of Pigs (for which JFK took blame), that JFK wanted to break up that spook network (and its dirty deeds), and that JFK's world view -- especially concerning the cold war and he end of colonialism in Africa -- differed mightily from Dulles and Eisenhower, I believe it even more.
In 1963, I was 10 and living in Washington, DC (my home for 40 years). I remember that special time from January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963 very well since my carpool drove by the White House everyday going from my NW Washington home to an experimental school in SW DC. More than a president died 52 years ago today.
It was truly a special era... the real time of hope and change! But the CIA with its then new handmaiden -- the MIC, and of course the ever present right wing killed it. They all benefitted from Kennedy's murder as evident by their wide ranging scope and influence in today's policies and politics.
Anyway, I recommend this book along with JFK and the Unspeakable by James Douglass, and Dallas 1963 by Bill Minutaglio and Steven Davis.
Thanks for posting and remembering what this day in history meant to this nation
red dog 1
(27,817 posts)Two other excellent books on the JFK assassination:
1) - "Deep Politics and the Death of JFK" (1993) by Peter Dale Scott
2) - "The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond: A Guide to Cover-ups and Investigations" (1976)
Edited by Peter Dale Scott, Paul L. Hoch, and Russell Stetler
3catwoman3
(24,007 posts)...things might have been.
Response to deminks (Original post)
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