Photo courtesy of U.S. Embassy New Delhi's Flickr page - President John F. Kennedy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassynewdelhi/5386861182/in/photolist-9d259W-tmwAo-cWtMa-7a4Byr-f2QNxR-6T4jUP-9D8P7N-fNDPna-owAEr7-cMia3q-byZ3sQ-5nUjps-3BNPpE-dejPUc-dejPeY-6BmWcm-6599wx-xvZgh6-3BXC4T-7a7U2J-fsx31D-fswNCz-dejP8o-nKsnKa-9d2AYA-nsYcM8-bLpmLn-e6FRc4-5X3TCf-hTFK4N-5FTTUx-Abf3GV-a1ExFz-621Udq-7UJoDn-6zdUWD-dS84z5-6zhYzo-mszAN8-msyXcP-msyWZe-mszAtk-msyWLZ-msATFA-msyWzg-mszxVV-dEmU38-fstNe2-bLoGDz-8VE5tv
Okay, so let me say this straight away: ordering the release of these documents pertaining to the Kennedy assassination is the first act by Donald Trump that I do not immediately disagree with or find extremely distasteful. Yet, even then, thousands of papers will apparently remain hidden from the public for at least another six months, as the FBI and CIA both desired to maintain their secrecy from public release.
It makes me wonder what they have to hide. If this is to guard against some kind of perceived ineptitude, or somehow reveals that they dropped the ball in not picking up on some clearly warning signs pertaining to Lee Harvey Oswald, then when are they ever going to get over it? After all, this event took place well over half a century ago!
Their insistence on maintaining this secrecy just adds fuel to the fire of the conspiracy theories and those who champion them. After all, employing the same logic that many employ, who hide something if you are innocent? It looks sneaky, dirty somehow. And indeed, whether true or not, it will continue to foster further fuel to the conspiracy theories. Is that possibly what they want?
As Gerald Posner, author of the landmark book "Cold Case," which made arguments that buttressed the Warren Commission reports and seriously challenged any arguments against Lee Harvey Oswald being the man behind the assassination, suggested in one of his tweets yesterday:
#JFKfiles? Disappointing news. 2,800 tonight. New deadline of 4/26 for the rest to be reviewed They have only had 25 years to get ready
Posner also warned conspiracy theory advocate against the belief that there will be some huge revelation that will suddenly shed light on a conspiracy, and reinforce their worst fears. On Michael Smerconish's program on CNN on Saturday, in anticipation of the release yesterday, Posner stated:
"There's going to be no smoking gun in there. Anybody who thinks this is going to turn the case on its head and suddenly show that there were three or four shooters at Dealey Plaza -- it's not the case.
"Oswald did it alone. But what the files are doing and why they're important to come out is they fill in the history of the case and show us how the FBI and CIA repeatedly hid the evidence."
Still, Posner suggested that whatever is released, it will surely not end the conspiracy theories that have continued to swirl now for more than half a century.
Already, one historian, Dr Larry Sabato, author of ‘The Kennedy Half Century’, has suggested that we likely will never know the full truth now. He told the BBC news:
“I think if you are looking long term, we will never find any document that really points us in the direction of anyone but Lee Harvey Oswald.
“That may be because Lee Harvey Oswald was the only assassin. It may also be because key documents were probably destroyed in the 1960's and particularly the 1970's when Congress took up where the warrant commission stopped.
“There were a lot of loose ends. Just to pick up on one of them, Jack Ruby. He was considered a hero at the time.
“Had he not shot Lee Harvey Oswald we would have gotten to the key question which was, ‘what was Oswald’s motive’? It still isn’t clear, it doesn’t make sense to most people who knew Oswald.
“We will never know because he was killed about 48 hours after the original assassination of president Kennedy.”
Indeed, it seems that the release of these papers, and even the next batch of papers slated for release in six months after a review, and which were blocked because of the sensitive information that apparently could impact national security, are also unlikely to change many people's minds on this particular issue.
That means that the Kennedy assassination will continue to be a hotbed of competing conspiracy theories, and truly, we are unlikely to ever fully know all the relevant facts that would prove or disprove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Much of the information used in this blog entry, particularly the quotes, were taken from the below sources:
J.F.K. Files, Though Incomplete, Are a Treasure Trove for Answer Seekers By PETER BAKER and SCOTT SHANEOCT. 26, 2017:
JFK files: 'We will never know!' Expert makes stunning revelation as documents released By DARREN HUNT PUBLISHED: 16:41, Thu, Oct 26, 2017
New JFK assassination files released: where to find them By Luis Gomez, Contact Reporter, October 26, 2017:
Trump releases some, but not all, JFK assassination records, by Jeremy Diamond and Kevin Liptak, October 26, 2017:
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