I am always amazed by the obvious contradictions employed by some individuals when attempting to prove conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination. In many instances arguments are based on questionable facts, false analogy, and pareidolia.

Much if not all of the information we receive about various perpetrators and assorted witnesses either real or imagined comes from researchers or authors who have written books, given lectures, or participated in seminars such as the JFK Lancer annual program. In some cases the “expert” has become so captivated with his or her own theory they refuse to accept questioning or criticism about their premise or about the validity of their qualifications. And as with claims surrounding Bigfoot observation, alien abductions, or Loch Ness monster sightings there is no structure for critical review of their allegations.

This means someone with a passing interest in the assassination is at the mercy of the presenters own bias or self interests. There are even examples where the “experts” have argued amongst themselves in their own area of perceived expertise. They do so not in an attempt to resolve an issue but in an effort to prove their claims more righteous than the others at the podium.

Here is an example of my theory in action. If you see flaws in my reasoning please let me know.

For the purpose of this discussion let us agree that the James Files tale is accurate. Additionally I want to strip away all the extraneous evidence in the case and get down to the fundamentals.

In the 1996 MPI video Confession of an Assassin Files indicates he was sent to Dallas with fellow mobsters John Roselli and Charles Nicoletti by the Chicago mob. Files was there for the purpose of killing Kennedy.

Files was stationed behind the picket fence on the “grassy knoll.” After he shot Kennedy he walked in an easterly direction past the Texas School Book Depository to the vicinity of DalTex building. Nearby was a parking lot where he met Roselli and Nicoletti. The trio then drove away from the scene.

It’s a very simple story on the face of it. Files was sent by the Chicago mob, he was the grassy knoll shooter, he killed Kennedy, and he left the scene in an easterly direction.

If the story is accurate then logically:

Madeleine Brown’s claim, as told by Harrison Livingston in the book Texas in the Morning, of Lyndon Johnson having Kennedy killed is fabricated. Barr McClellan is off base with his discussion of Ed Clark's involvement in a conspiracy with Johnson to kill Kennedy in his book Blood, Money & Power. If you believe Files you have to agree Johnson or Clark had nothing to do with the assassination. Files was working at the behest of the Chicago mob.

Jim Garrison’s assertion about David Ferrie, Clay Shaw and others being involved in the assassination, as articulated by Joan Mellen in A Farewell to Justice, is also wide of the mark. If Garrison knew about Files and the Chicago mobs involvement why didn't he mention this in his book On the Trail of the Assassins? If Files is to be believed Garrison prosecuted and persecuted a group of innocent people.

The pronouncements by Gus Russo that Fidel Castro was the culprit in Live by the Sword is wrong. Not once does Russo mention Files as the assassin.

In their book Oswald Talked, Ray and Mary LaFontaine indicate Oswald talked in the presence of John Elrod. For this to be true Oswald knew nothing about the real assassin and supplied bogus information to Elrod.

The Roscoe White story has no merit and the fact that Oswald and White traveled to Japan on the same ship with hundreds of other servicemen is reduced to unremarkable coincidence. Additionally, Roscoe White’s son and the now defunct JFK Assassination Information Center claimed White was the “grassy knoll” assassin employed by the government to kill Kennedy. Files indicated he was the grassy knoll assassin and he was working for the Chicago  mob. Certainly two assassins relatively close to each other and shooting simultaneously would be observed by someone!

And the Alan Weberman and Michael Canfield dramatic three tramp overlays in their Coup D'Etat in America are reduced to misleading pareidolia. Files' involvement and actions obviate the tramps participation in the assassination.

It would also mean Casey J. Quinlan and Brian K. Edwards' newly released book Beyond the Fence Line concerning Ed Hoffman seeing different conspirators near the railroad tracks needs revision. Hoffman may have seen some individuals but, according to Files version of events, they too would have nothing to do with the assassination. Files, Roselli and Nicoletti were never in the vicinity of Hoffman’s purported location.

In this example I have asked you to accept the Files story as true. I could have selected Madeleine Brown's claims to show Files wrong or Mellen’s to argue Brown and Hoffman wrong or Russo to show they are all misguided. We could go on and on using other books, theories, and claims. No matter, in my view, much of this material is more akin to cryptohistory than real events and it has more in common with professional wrestling than research.

Addendum: In this article, for the sake of the discussion, I ask you to agree with the Wim Dankbaar assertion that James Files was the “Grassy Knoll” assassin. Files indicates he killed Kennedy with a single shot from a Remington XP-100 prototype. However, it would appear after viewing the Discovery Channel’s JFK: Inside the Target Car experiments from the knoll shooter position, Mr. Files' story is flawed. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Dankbaar refutes the physical evidence provided by sharpshooter Michael Yardley. Two shots produced 1] a violent explosion and 2] a small entry wound on the right side and a massive exit wound on the left. As the Discovery Channel did it might behoove Mr. Dankbaar to provide his scientific video analysis to counter the Discovery Channel conclusion.

Dave Perry

November 15, 2008

Copyright © 2008 by David B. Perry All rights reserved

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