The Clackamas print., February 05, 1992, Page 3, Image 3

EDITORIAL
February 5,1992
THE CLACKAMAS PRINT
Page 3
Movie inspires a closer look at JFK killing
Looking at evidence that demands different verdict
By Greg Tully
Staff Writer
Oliver Stone’s latest motion
picture, the controversial “JFK”, is
a masterpiece and is, in my opinion
at least, clearly the best picture of
1991.
It is memorable for its tremen­
dous, innovative use of footage
combined with use of several dif­
ferent types of film to simulate that
footage. It is memorable for the
outstanding performances by Kevin
Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee
Jones and particularly Joe Pesci. It
is memorable for the cameo ap­
pearances by Donald Sutherland,
Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Ed
Asner, Brian Doyle Murray, Kevin
Bacon, John Candy and Jim Garri­
son. But mostly, it is memorable
for the subject matter it tackles and
the firestorm of passionate reac­
tion that has ensued.
“JFK” is the story of New
Orleans District Attorney Jim Gar­
rison’s investigation into the assas­
sination of President John F. Ken­
nedy and the subsequent trial of
Clay Shaw, a high-profile New
Orleans businessman, whom Gar­
rison prosecuted as part of a con­
spiracy in the assassination. Garri­
son ’s work resulted in the only trial
in history of the assassination.
Stone uses Garrison as a ve­
hicle for his own conspiracy theo­
ries, as well as those of Garrison
and fellow conspiracy researchers
Jim Marrs and Mark Lane.
Stone’s vision is, at times,
mesmerizing. Pieces of evidence,
witnesses, conjecture, names, dates
and places roll through the movie
as if off an assembly line. The
theory involves the Pentagon, the
CIA, the FBI, the anti-Castro Cu­
bans, the Dallas Homicide Unit
and even Lyndon Johnson in the al­
leged conspiracy.
(government and media).
So, let’s examine the facts.
George Bernard Shaw once said
“Assassination is the extreme form
of censorship.” And so it was with
John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lee
Harvey Oswald.
John Kennedy in 1963 was at
war with the FBI and, more pre­
cisely, J. Edgar Hoover. Kennedy
had promised to “splinter the CIA
into a thousand pieces and scatter it
to the wind,” and was, reportedly,
about to end the cold war and with­
draw from Vietnam. With Ken­
nedy’s death, the CIA and the FBI
prospered, the cold war with the
Soviet Union and the hot war with
North Vietnam both raged on.
Certainly, too, Oswald was a
man with many secrets. He was a
supposed communist arrested in a
disturbance in which he was dis­
tributing pro-communist Cuban
literature. Yet, some of the leaflets
were stamped with Oswald’s name
and the address of an office which
was a front for Cuban invasion
activity. Oswald was, at best, a
medium shot who had supposedly
killed the President of the U.S. in a
display of marksmanship that would
have made Robin Hood proud.
And what of the Warren
Commission? Napoleon once said,
“In politics, absurdity is not a handi­
cap.” This is the best explanation
possible for the Warren Commis­
sion.
defection to the Soviet Union in
the early ‘60’s.
However, that one witness was
not closely associated with Oswald
in the Marines, and, in fact, lived
on the opposite side of the base
from Oswald. The Warren Com­
mission ignored contrary testimony
from all of Oswald’s closest friends
to believe this one witness.
The CIA, who have Russian
Embassies under constant camera
surveillance, could not produce a
photograph of Oswald entering the
embassy.
The defection was one of the
focal points of “JFK”. Oswald,
according to the government,
walked into the U.S. Embassy in
Moscow and announced his inten­
tion to defect and sell military
secrets to the Soviets. Instead of
being charged with treason on the
spot, he was allowed to go. Months
later, Oswald, having fulfilled his
quest, returned to the embassy and
asked to be reinstated as a U.S.
citizen. He was granted his pass­
port within 48 hours and was even
lent the money to return home. He
was not even debriefed, standard
procedure at that time for even
casual tourists to the USSR.
Stone and Garrison insist that
this would be impossible if Oswald
was not, in fact, a CI A operative.
This may have been the beginning
of the set-up to frame Lee Harvey
Oswald.
voted articles in almost all of their
many publications to the same
purpose. And why should we listen
to anything Time/Life has to say
about the JFK assassination any­
way? They refused to let the public
see the Zapruder film for over six
years, until Garrison had it subpoe­
naed for the Clay Shaw trial.
Or Dan Rather, who decided it
was so important to slam “JFK”
that he magically transformed
himself from impartial reporter into
Mr. Editorial (twice).
"Hence, the "magic
bullet” theory. They
asserted that one bul­
let, fired by Oswald,
caused seven wounds
in the two men, pre­
sumably zig-zagging
around and, at one
point, possibly paus­
ing in mid-air for 1.6
seconds.”
The Establishment has told us
that this movie is dangerous solely
because it makes a hero out of
Garrison and a villain out of Clay
Shaw.
The Establishment has accepted
as fact the allegations that Garrison
drugged witnesses and accepted
bribes from gambling operations.
In fact, the drug was Sodium
"It is memorable for its tremendous, innova­
tive use of footage combined With use o/Pentothal, or truth serum, used under
supervision of the Louisiana
several different types of film to simulate that the
* Surgeon
General. It was used to
footage... But mostly, it is memorable for the
subject matter it tackles... ”
The commission ignored the
testimony of 51 witnesses who heard
shots from the grassy knoll to the
side of Kennedy and not, as the
"The FBI's best commission believed, the Texas
marksmen couldn't School Book Depository where
Oswald was located. .
duplicate this per­
Using Abraham Zapruder’s
formance. Not to home movie of the shooting, it was
that the shooting took
mention Oswald's established
only 5.6 seconds, an amount of
history as a poor time possible for only three shots
from Oswald. Since one of the shots
shot.”
hit a civilian a hundred yards from
The movie has drawn an in­ Kennedy’s limo, the commission
credible backlash from the most had to come up with a plausible
unified marriage of government and explanation for all the wounds to
media in memory.
Kennedy andTexas Governor John
Why? Because it attacks “the Connolly. Hence, the “magic bul­
truth”. Their truth. That Lee Har­ let” theory. They asserted that one
vey Oswald, demented and acting bullet, fired by Oswald, caused seven
alone, killed President Kennedy. wounds in the two men, presuma­
That “truth”, it seems, must never bly zig-zagging around and, at one
be threatened.
point, possibly pausing in mid-air
But what is the real truth? What for 1.6 seconds. If the magic bullet
truly happened on Nov. 22,1963 in theory is not believed, then the
Dallas, Texas, and the months an<L. jwhole foundation of the Warren
years leading up to and following Commission findings come tum­
it?
bling down.
Well, to believe the Warren
The Warren Commission, act­
Commission, the official govern­ ing almost solely on evidence pro­
ment report on the assassination, vided by the FBI (who, amazingly,
Oswald was a rabid communist and closed their case against Oswald
his killer, Jack Ruby, was a patriot within two weeks), found that
who wanted to spare Kennedy’s Oswald was undoubtedly a com­
widow, Jackie Kennedy, the pain munist. This was found, largely, on
of a trial, so Ruby eliminated three facts: One witness’ claim that
Oswald. There is no evidence of Oswald was a marxist in his Ma­
any other possible explanation, rine Corps days; a CIA claim that
according to the commission. The Oswald had been seen entering the
Warren Commission has become Russian Embassy in Mexico City;'
the bible of The Establishment and, most importantly, Oswald’s
determine that witnesses were tell­
ing the truth when they had earlier
come to Garrison. The charges of
Other evidence is disturbing as accepting money from gambling
well. Such as the gunshots them­ organizations was a total fabrica­
selves. How did Oswald do that tion, with one doctored audio tape
shooting job? Two shots with a and one witness who admitted to
mediocre rifle, apparently through being blackmailed by the govern­
the branches of a tree. The FBI’s ment into testifying against Garri­
best marksmen couldn’t duplicate son.
Shaw was made out as a saint,
this performance. Not to mention
Oswald’s history as a poor shot Or wronged by the vindictive, self­
that the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle serving Garrison. In fact, Shaw
that Oswald is supposed to have testified that he had never met anti­
used had a defective scope. Or that Castro rebel David Feme, but, af­
nitrate tests done the night of Nov. ter his death, photos were found of
22 showed that there was no way Shaw and Feme together. In 1979,
Oswald could have fired a rifle that CIA Director Richard Helms ad­
mitted that Shaw had been a covert
day.
This is just a sampling of the CIA agent. Shaw was also a mem­
troubling evidence raised by “JFK”. ber of an organization that tried to
Evidence ignored by the Warren assassinate French President Char­
les DeGaulle. When is the media
Commission.
Now, another question has going to inform the public of these
surfaced. Why is the Establishment facts?
The Establishment also is quick
so intent on burying this evidence,
or any questions one might raise to point out that Shaw was acquit-
because of it?
ted within an hour of jury delibera-
To wit, The Washington Post tions. However, they fail to men-
After obtaining part of Stone’s first tion the death of a key witness or
draft for a script to “JFK”, they the judge throwing out a key piece
weighed in with the first public of evidence. They also fail to
attack on Stone. In an article titled mention that all the jury members
“Dallas in Wonderland”, they said, nre on record saying they believed
among other things, that “Stone is there was a conspiracy, but couldn’t
chasing fiction.” How can any high- tie Shaw to it. Or that the judge said
profile publication begin attacking he thought the verdict was wrong,
a movie that hadn’t yet assembled
In fact, the government’s case
a cast or crew? Or even finalized a against Garrison took even less time
script? In fact, that script would for the jury to realize it was hog­
end up being re-written five times, wash.
Or The New York Times,
Maybe, in 28 years, someone
have devoted more than 20 articles will make a movie about The Es­
to single-minded S tone-bashing. tablishment’s plot to verbally as­
Or Time, Inc., who have de< sassinate Oliver Stone and Jim
Garrison.
Why? Why is The Establish­
ment so afraid of this movie that it
would resort to tactics stinking of
McCarthyism or Stalinism?
The government, obviously, has
something to hide. That is their
reason.
But, what of the media? They
have backed the Warren Commis­
sion for 25 years, trying desper­
ately to discredit any other expla­
nations, even though they make
more sense. Will they admit now
that they have been wrong? That
they believed the greatest lie ever
passed off on the American people?
Of course not. They have changed,
from the objective reporters of fact,
into a self-serving entity concerned
only with their own survival. They
have become, in Stone’s words,
“George Orwell’s worst nightmare.”
They tell us it is ridiculous to
believe Stone’s vision of a conspir­
acy involving the CIA, the FBI and
the Pentagon. But those of us ex­
amining the evidence objectively
accept it as a strong possibility.
Those of us grounded in reality
understand what our government is
capable of. Were Watergate, Viet­
nam, or Iran-Contra also ridicu­
lous? If Stone’s vision is ridicu­
lous, the Warren Commission was
ridiculous times 20.
Now, Stone’s movie may bring
a release of the CIA’s many docu­
ments on Oswald and Ruby, as well
as the evidence that convinced a
House sub-committee in 1979 that
there was "probably a conspiracy."
But, we will never truly know what
happened on Nov. 22,1963 or why
it happened. The Establishment has
assured that.
And that is worse than ridicu­
lous. that is criminal.
Editor-in-chief: Heidi A. Hoffman
News Editor: Jennifer Lessard
Features Editor: Nolan Kidwdl
Sports Editor: Lane Schddeman
Photo Editor: David VanKeuren
Copy Editor: Frank Jordan
Business Manager: Brenda Hodgen
Staff Writers: Hddl Branstator, Melissa
Freds, Maurice Glenn, Daphne Hartt,
Robert A. Hibberd, Tracy Hobbs, Ginger
Land, Scott Morris, Kevin Shields, Greg
w
Photographers:
Vivian Johnson,
Ryie
Moe, Allan Zlemke.
Production Assistant: Tobbl Irdand
Advisor: Linda Vogt
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