Posted on 04/27/2005 10:24:04 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Did Oswald train at Camp Peary?
By Paul Aron The Virginia Gazette
A purported CIA memo circulating on the Internet says flatly that Lee Harvey Oswald was trained at Camp Peary in 1958, five years before he assassinated President Kennedy. The document is probably fake.
“This is one of those cases where if it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” said assassination expert Jim Marrs in an e-mail to the Gazette. Marrs is the author of the 1990 book, “Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy.”
The document, dated March 3, 1964, purports to be written by CIA director John McCone to Secret Service Chief James Rowley.
“I have no way at this point in time of determining if this document is authentic or not,” Marrs said. “As always, there is considerable controversy even among the experts.”
He added, “The significance of this document, if proven authentic, cannot be underestimated. The implication, namely that Lee Harvey Oswald was being used operationally by the CIA prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, is staggering. This means the assassination was not only a conspiracy, but a coup d'etat in this nation in 1963.”
According to the document, “Oswald subject was trained by this agency, under cover of the Office of Naval Intelligence, for Soviet assignments.” In 1957, Oswald allegedly was “active in aerial reconnaissance of mainland China and maintained a security clearance up to the ‘confidential' level.”
The document goes on to say: “Subject received additional indoctrination at our own Camp Peary site from September 8 to October 17, 1958.”
The mention of Camp Peary prompted a reader to e-mail a copy of the document to the Gazette. While it looks official and has the keystrokes of a 1960s-era typewriter, the image is impossible to authenticate without the original.
Most historians have placed Oswald en route to Taiwan with his Marine unit in September 1958, in which case he couldn't have been here then.
A CIA spokesman at Langley headquarters outside Washington would not comment on the document, other than to suggest a reporter “steer away from it.”
The CIA has always maintained it had no relationship with Oswald. Testifying before the Warren Commission in 1964, McCone stated, “Oswald was not an agent, employee or informant of the Central Intelligence Agency. The agency never contacted him, interviewed him, talked with him, or solicited any reports or information from him, or communicated with him indirectly or in any other manner.”
The Warren Commission's report, released 10 months after Kennedy's death, offered a clear and simple answer to the question of who killed the president: Oswald did it, alone.
Though the document is probably a fake, a number of researchers have previously suggested links between Oswald and the CIA.
Among the early critics of the Warren Report was Jim Garrison, the New Orleans district attorney. He undertook his own investigation in 1966. Garrison was convinced that Oswald was connected with two New Orleans figures, David Ferrie and Clay Shaw. According to Garrison, all three worked for the CIA, which was behind the plot to kill Kennedy.
Garrison's theory proved unfounded, despite generating new attention in Oliver Stone's 1991 movie, “JFK.”
John Newman's 1995 book, “Oswald and the CIA,” concluded he was not an agent, but that the “agency appears to have had a serious operational interest in Oswald and there probably was a relationship, though not that of an ‘agent' or ‘informant.'”
Newman argued that, “while Oswald wasn't James Bond, it is increasingly apparent that the agency's operational interest may have led to his use or manipulation.”
One claim that Oswald was indeed an agent came from James Wilcott, a CIA finance officer. In 1978, Wilcott told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that “Oswald was a CIA agent who had received financial disbursements under an assigned cryptonym.”
Wilcott cited informal conversations with co-workers. The House Committee concluded that his “allegation was not worthy of belief.”
Marrs' e-mail cites numerous ties between the CIA and Oswald. “Even if the document proves unauthentic,” Marrs wrote, “it is nevertheless true.”
Many historians have embraced Gerald Posner's 1993 book, “Case Closed.” Posner refuted much of the evidence conspiracy theorists had gathered over the previous 30 years.
More than any technical evidence, what has undermined many conspiracy theories are flaws in the logic.
The case against the CIA has generally been that the agency had proven itself willing to assassinate, having tried to kill Castro during the early 1960s. The motive for killing Kennedy might have been a fear that the president, embarrassed by the CIA's bungling of the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, might try to interfere with the other CIA operations and curtail the agency's independence.
Oswald was in a position to act as a spy, since he spent two years in Russia, after having been twice court-martialed by the Marines. A number of historians have proposed he may have been recruited by the CIA while he was a Marine stationed in Japan.
One problem with the theory that the CIA killed Kennedy is that Oswald appeared to be a committed Marxist. Another has to do with the agency's motive.
It was Kennedy who approved the CIA's plan to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. He also brought the world to the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis, and it was he who escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
So, JFK was hardly a president likely to close down the Cold War or the CIA.
Even if the CIA didn't conspire with Oswald, there remains the possibility of a conspiracy between Oswald and unknown disaffected amateurs, some of whom may have had connections with the CIA, anti-Castro Cubans, or the mafia.
Against the illogic of most conspiracy theories is the logic, albeit twisted, of Oswald's own mind. Norman Mailer's 1995 book, “Oswald's Tale,” portrayed a man clearly capable of shooting the president by himself.
I used to be a believe that the mob had JFK killed, but after reading Posner I think Oswald acted alone too. The document is a fake through and through.
Every Marine is a "marksman" or they don't get out of boot. And Oswald wasn't much of a marksman --or a Marine either.
The Warren Commission went at the evidence backwards, given: Oswald, Kennedy, Connelly, Tague, and three bullets.
"How can we explain how the dead perp (Oswald) fired three rounds and killed the President with two wounds, injured a Governor with three wounds and also injuring a by-stander (well outside the line of fire) with only three bullets?"
Then add in the obvious (and admitted) stonewalling by the CIA and FBI, the whole mess reeks.
JMO.
I'm always amazed at the amount of information these internal 'documents' contain.
Each one seems to give a brief biographical sketch of who, what, when, why and where even though that information may not have been requested.
No one can keep a secret, especially in such a far ranging and complex conspiracy as this purports to be. Someone would have talked by now - if they had anything to say that could be verified.
But, here's something for the conspiratorialists to chew on: Absolutley everyone connected with the Lincoln Assassination conspiracy (the only proven conspiracy)is dead. Pretty strange huh?
"Thank you, Dallas! Goodnight!"
That's all I need to hear. I'm outta here!
And America bought that lie.
You ought to know, that rifle (bolt action) could not be fired that rapidly. Oswald was not that great a marksman.
I believe that there were three shooters; A professional
hit. Oswald was, as he said, a patsy.
After the CBS fiasco, even the dimmest forger will go out and find an era-correct typewriter.
While what you said does not piss me off
(Thank you for putting your argument out logically and not with an emotional "all conspiracy theorists are nuts")
I do have to respectfully disagree with you on Lee's training as a marksman.
Lee was at best, at best, a mediocre shot. He didn't have the skill to do the kind of shooting that would have been required that day. Lucky shot I could agree with, but what was done here was not doable by someone with his skill level.
I was a PMI (Primary Marksmanship Instructor) in the Marine Corps, and speaking from a professional point of view, it is my professional opinion that he did not have the necessary skills to pull this off.
Frankly, I don't think he ever pulled a trigger that day, but that's just an opinion not a professional one :)
Semper Fi
While I don't know about the legitimacy of the "memo" the discussion of the CIA's lack of motive is absurd.
1- JFK had the BoP operation dropped in his lap. He hardly was involved in any planning of it.
2- He or someone in the administration dropped the crucial element of air cover thereby dooming the invasion.
3- After its defeat Castro turned to the USSR even more and allowed it to put the missiles in which FORCED JFK to respond. In other words that crisis was of his own making.
4- After the operation failed Kennedy had the top leadership, including the only Director in its history, canned and threatened to destroy the Agency.
5- JFK had escalated the Vietnam war only slightly and had indicated to his chief aides his intention to withdraw after the 64 election.
6- IMMEDIATELY after his death his policies in Vietnam were diametrically reversed.
Hardly a convincing argument that the CIA and JFK were on the same page.
BTW contrary to the opinion of some on this thread Posner's book is not authoritative and has many errors which have been pointed out by others. I found it deceptive and rhetorical in far too many instances.
Thanks for the ping!
It looks like the guy in the white suit could be wearing a bullet proof vest under there.
Well put.
Like such a document would have anything less than a TS or SRD level stamped on it anyway..........no doubt it sold a few papers. This is just a NOC NOC joke IMO.........:o)
Yawn.
In that bottom picture, the upper right picture is actually of Dana Carvey. LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
