The JFK Files: Rhetoric vs. Truth

[Jon Banks]

Directly from the Kindle version of his book (p. 58):

Perhaps now, observant people can understand how JFK’s enemies pulled off the “greatest magic trick under the sun,” how they made Oswald a patsy for their crime. They did it with covert psychological warfare schemes, like the AMSPELL program, whose workings are still protected by state secrecy.

Which book? I have Morley's book on James Angleton open to page 58 and it's a chapter about Frank Olson.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Which book? I have Morley's book on James Angleton open to page 58 and it's a chapter about Frank Olson.

Morley v. CIA: My Unfinished JFK Investigation.

[Jon Banks]

Morley v. CIA: My Unfinished JFK Investigation.

I haven't read that book yet so I'll have to take your word for it.

The reason I pushed back is because Morley typically focuses on the Intelligence Community's knowledge of Oswald prior to the assassination. Rarely does he weigh in on "who did it" or Oswald's role in the assassination.

I'll go back to what I said earlier: speculating about historic events doesn't make one a "conspiracy theorist". Proposing a theory of "what happened" does.

Morley, whether you agree or disagree with his opinions, is a good journalist and JFK assassination researcher.

[Jon Banks]

The Angleton reaction, to me, undercuts Morley's claim of his involvement in the assassination. It doesn't disprove it; but it doesn't make much sense that he would go through all of that if he knew Oswald wasn't the assassin but his own people were.

This gets back to my earlier point about "different interpretations of factual information".

My interpretation is that someone with a guilty-conscious might want to direct scrutiny and suspicions towards a different target. Some CIA officers are experts at deception and that kind of deception would fit Angleton's skillset.

But I'm also aware that our own personal biases affect our interpretation of facts like that. All I'm trying to get across is that there are other ways to interpret his behavior. There's no wrong answer on this point.

It should also be noted that even today, many former CIA officials like James Woolsey for example, have publicly stated their suspicion that Castro or the Soviets were involved. The Nosenko incident didn't end speculation within the CIA.

Former CIA agent, Robert Baer has gone as far as speculating that Cuban spies posing as anti-Castro Cuban exiles conspired with Oswald. Which is possible I guess but may also be intended to take the heat off of the Cuban exiles that were working for the CIA (whom RFK initially suspected played a role in his brother's murder).

Lastly, concluding that there was a conspiracy doesn't exonerate Oswald. Not sure why you seem to imply that "conspiracy = Oswald's innocence". I've followed Morley's blog for a few years and never got the impression that he believes Oswald was innocent.

As to Trump and the collusion story: One interesting aspect to me was Trump's reluctance to condemn Putin or Russian intelligence for spreading the stories. The original claim was that Russian agents or ex-agents gave Steele that information. Trump was angry at the media but didn't condemn Putin or Russia. Very odd.

Trump seems to have some sort of admiration or affinity for authoritarian leaders. It's not just Putin but also the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the President of Turkey that Trump had good relations with. In fact, there's more evidence of Trump benefiting financially from his relationships with Middle Eastern leaders than with Putin. So while there could be something there, it may ultimately be about Trump being a fanboy of authoritarian "strongmen".

It now appears that all of Steele's allegations were based on rumors that, in part, were disseminated by Democratic operatives. That's pretty stunning to think that the country was put through all of this and it was, perhaps - perhaps- some sort of sting by Democratic party people. The media - those outlets that pushed it - have some explaining to do.

I agree. Like I said, I initially bought into the collusion narrative but as we got more evidence and context, it seems far less probable now.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Here's a snapshot of page 58 in Morley's book (it's only 90 pages including footnotes and the Appeals Court ruling denying him compensation for his expenses accrued for his FOIA requests)  where he claims Oswald was a patsy.

But he doesn't say, as I mistakenly did, that AMSPELL was the "scheme" that did it. He says the "scheme" used to make Oswald a patsy for "their crime" was "like" AMSPELL. But he doesn't say what that was.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Good article by Robert Reynolds on the upcoming document releases. He writes:

"... it is also understandable that people might think there are still important documents left unreleased. A closer look at NARA’s latest data on the ARC, however, reveals just how unlikely this is."

Reynolds also discusses Morley.

https://www.washingtondecoded.com/site/2021/12/reynolds.html

[Jerry Freeman]

I caution against deferring to other articles notably David Von Pein articles who in turn defers to Dale Myers articles. And they all merely defer in general to the official story...
It was Oswalds rifle...Marina said she took the backyard pictures..yadda yadda---
This concerns the pistol order...
http://jfk-archives.blogspot.com/2010/08/dvp-vs-dieugenio-part-42.html

I suppose it's possible that I'm wrong about how these types of "COD" transactions worked when companies shipped merchandise to P.O. Boxes, but if the PHYSICAL ITEM itself was actually shipped to P.O. Box 2915 (and Heinz Michaelis said it was in his WC testimony), then it means that the post office employees would be initially handling the money from Oswald (since, quite obviously, Oswald didn't set up camp and live right there inside his post office box as he waited for the delivery truck to show up with his pistol).

But, then too, only conspiracy theorists actually believe that all of this chaff about the REA paperwork is the slightest bit important. Reasonable people, however, can easily determine that Lee Harvey Oswald received revolver #V510210 from Seaport Traders in March 1963 and he killed Officer J.D. Tippit with that gun on 11/22/63 (regardless of any paperwork and red tape that might be missing from the official records of the Railway Express Agency).

Aside from all the usual un-necessary verbose droll.... DVP defers the history of the revolver sale to Dale Myers---

Quoting Mr. Myers:

"Upon arrival at the REA Express office in Dallas, notice was given to the consignee, Hidell. REA Express VP Robert Hendon testified that in a similar case, "a card was sent to the name and address" on the package.

"Presumably, a card was sent to Oswald's P.O. Box, notifying him that a package was to be picked up at the REA Express Office, located at 515 South Houston Street -- at the north end of the Houston Street viaduct.

"**Oswald's P.O. Box was at the Main Post Office in the Federal Building, 1114 Commerce** Street  , on the south side, seven blocks east of Houston at Murphy. Both locations were along bus routes easily accessible from Oswald's Neely Street address.

"Once Oswald received the notification card at his P.O. Box, he simply took a bus back to the REA Express office -- presented the notification card, the balance due, and some form of identification -- and accepted delivery of the revolver.

"After REA Express had delivered the package to Oswald, the C.O.D. remittance document and the amount collected from Oswald, was forwarded to Seaport Traders. Once received, the C.O.D. remittance document was attached to the red copy of the invoice, indicating that the money had been collected and the package delivered. These documents were placed in the Seaport Trader files, where they were discovered by FBI agents on November 30, 1963.

There was still no proof that Oswald received the .38 and paid $19.95 regardless of the location.
There was just that paper that said Hidell ordered it.
Box 2915 was not located at 1114 Commerce St. It never was.
It was located at 400 N Ervay. It always was.
 

Both locations were along bus routes easily accessible from Oswald's Neely Street address.

If he ever had one.