Conspiracy III: The Kennedy Assassination

.. I don't think I've debated Leet before, so it's my pleasure to start with such an academic topic. On the case of the multiple shooters, let's examine each of the claims by my opponent: >> "Nellie Connally, wife of Governor John Connally, was sitting right next to her husband when he was shot. She is adamant that her husband was hit by a bullet separate from the two which hit Kennedy. " Here is a clip of the original 16mm clip of Kennedy being shot (. http://www.youtube.com...). Please note that this requires watching several times to catch all the nuances below. I myself watched various parts of it probably 2 dozen times or so. .. The first shot, held to occur around frame 160-180 in the film above missed the motorcade entirely and would have skipped off the pavement. If you watch Connally's head during this time, he turns very quickly in his seat, as though looking for the source of the first shot. In fact, Connally himself said: "We had just made the turn, well, when I heard what I thought was a shot. I heard this noise which I immediately took to be a rifle shot. I instinctively turned to my right because the sound appeared to come from over my right shoulder. .. " [1] Here are JFK and Connally starting at frame 138 in the Zapruder film, both looking around for the source of the missed first shot: JFK - . http://www.jfk-online.com... Connally - . http://www.jfk-online.com... If you watch, Kennedy is waving to the crowd until he disappears from sight around frame 213. He emerges from the other side of the obstacle around frame 225, reaching for his throat. Jackie emerges a little before him, at frame 222, already looking at Kennedy. Between frames 226 and 230, you can see her shift focus to Connally, and then back to Kennedy. At frame 222, when Connally appears from behind the obstacle, notice he is turned towards the camera, and then between 222 and 226, straightens suddenly and begins to raise his arm. By frame 237, Connally is obviously clutching himself in pain and doubling over towards the camera. When the third shot takes place at frame 315, Connally does not react in pain, but rather takes cover, holding his wife - leading to the conclusion that Kennedy and Connally were only hit by one common bullet. [1] Warren Commission Hearings, Vol. IV, pp. 132-33 >> "35 witnesses who were present at the shooting thought that shots were fired from in front of Kennedy (the infamous Grassy Knoll area), 56 witnesses claimed to hear shots from the book depository, while 5 witnesses heard shots from both directions. Is it more likely that they're all wrong, or that they're all right? " Three views of Dealey Plaza from different angles: (. http://bp1.blogger.com...+(Circa+1967).jpg) (. http://www.geocities.com...) (. http://www.dealey.org...) (taken in late 1963) Note the tall, flat buildings on Houston St. in the second picture, and the large, flat, white one in the first and in the foreground of the second. Note also in the third picture the two semi-circular structures that flank the curves in the road (Zapruder filmed from the leftmost one of these two). Unseen, but still clear in the last picture is the underpass at the bottom of the picture, essentially a wide, flat, open echo chamber. These structures would have produced unusual acoustic conditions. First, the flat surfaces of the buildings on Houston St. Second, the flat surface of the white building on Commerce St. Third, the semi-circular structures, and last, the underpass - all would have created unusual acoustic conditions. Shots sounding from the grassy knoll would have been amplified and redirected to some by their proximity to the underpass. To others, it would have been amplified and slightly distorted by the semi-circular structure. For example, the small semi-circular structure at my college seen here (. http://students.millikin.edu...) is known as the "God Spot" for the way it amplifies people's voices when they stand near it. Conclusion? They're all correct about what they heard - or more accurately, what they think they heard. They are simply mistaken in their conclusion about where the sound came from. (And neither conclusion would make them ALL right or ALL wrong - some would be correct either way. .. ) >> "Roy Kellerman, a Secret Service Agent, saw a 5-inch diameter hole in the back right-hand side of Kennedy's head. This was confirmed by Clint Hill, another Secret Service agent, who sheltered Kennedy's body on his way to the hospital. Robert McClelland, a doctor who personally saw to the head wound, used his experience to determine that it was an exit wound and that a second shooter from the front of the car delivered the fatal head shot. " The trajectory of the bullet did indeed leave an interesting exit wound. However, let's look at the scope of the wound: (. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu...) - A photo of Kennedy's head wound. (. http://students.millikin.edu...) - The same photo highlighted by me to show his hairline (red), nose ridge (blue) and right eye (green). As you can see from this photo, the extent of the head wound is fairly great, and not entirely confined to the back right side of his head. Furthermore, the testimony of Dr. Robert McClelland reveals that he did not in fact judge the wound to be certainly an exit wound: Mr. SPECTER - Then, at any time was he positioned in a way where you could have seen the back of his body? Dr. McCLELLAND - No. Mr. SPECTER - Based on the experience that you have described for us with gunshot wounds and your general medical experience, would you characterize the description of the wound that Dr. Perry gave you as being a wound of entrance or a wound of exit, or was the description which you got from Dr. Perry and Dr. Baxter and Dr. Carrico who were there before, equally consistent with whether or not it was a wound of entrance or a wound of exit, or how would you characterize it in your words? Dr. McCLELLAND - I would say it would be EQUALLY CONSISTENT WITH EITHER TYPE OF WOUND, either an entrance or an exit type wound. It would be quite difficult to say--impossible. As you can see - the testimony of Dr. McClelland reveals that he did not inspect the back of Kennedy's head for a wound, and revealed that, given the wound as described to him, he had no basis for asserting it to be an entrance or exit wound. Furthermore, the exit wound from the 1st shot that hit Kennedy (on his neck) had been cut open by the tracheotomy they gave him, so it would have been impossible for McClelland to judge that wound's character either (. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu...). >> "Former U. S. Marine snipers Craig Roberts and Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock: "We reconstructed the whole thing: the angle, the range, the moving target, the time limit, the obstacles, everything. I don't know how many times we tried it, but we couldn't duplicate what the Warren Commission said Oswald did. Now if I can't do it, how in the world could a guy who was a non-qual on the rifle range and later only qualified 'marksman' do it? "" This article (. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu...) states that the FBI did in fact successfully reconstruct the scenario, with shot times averaging around 6 seconds for several different people. Consider also that Oswald had a rest for his rifle (the window) and would have already chambered the first round, greatly lessening the time needed to accurately aim. Furthermore, my opponent has already conceded this point - "4) Oswald couldn't have gotten three shots off in the 6-8 second time frame he had. " I concede point 4 to my opponent. .. " I look forward to a rebuttal.