Fascinating but confusing
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I'm sure like many others, I'm at the same amazed and astonished that 45 years after JFK was ambushed in downtown Dallas, there is still no definitive answer to what really happened that day in 1963.
Jim Garrison remains the only person to bring anyone to trial suspected of being part of a conspiracy to kill the President. Oliver Stone's JFK merely scratched the surface of the amazing life of Jim Garrison and the case that became his life's obsession. But, for many people (like me) it also posed more questions than it answered. Here, Joan Mellen answers many of those questions and should be commended for revealing the true scope of Garrison's investigation, into Shaw, Ferrie, Oswald et al, while at the same time shedding new light onto the eccentric life of the undoubtedly brilliant but flawed Garrison. She also reveals in incredible depth and by providing numerous examples the intricate web of deceipt and power behind the CIA, both in it's involvement in the assassination and the cover up across the US after it. Yet I still find myself asking 'why has the absolute truth still not come out - who pulled the trigger' etc...
For any fan of the film JFK, and for anyone intrigued by how a simple DA had the guts and determination to effectively take on the state with little regard to his own career and safety, this book is a must.
But beware...
This is not light reading. Overcome by the minute detail, Mellen introduces characters to the piece at an astonishing rate almost from the first page, mentioning them briefly on one page and then expecting you to remember who they are two hundred pages later. Having gone through literaly hundreds of other names in the meantime.
Almost from the word go, the myriad of names, aliases and characters merge together, so it becomes very difficult to work out who was working for who, who was a supporter, who was trying to bring Garrison down. But then perhaps that illustrates why all these years on, we don't seem near to a definitive answer - proof beyond all doubt who did it, who gave the order, and who knew about it.
It's tough going at times but it is worth it in the end. This is by far the most comprehensive account of the Garrison investigation I've read - it really is incredible to read about the lengths people went to prevent him from uncovering the truth, the danger he was in, and the contrasting loyalty and contempt his staff treated him with.
But you're going to have to be prepared to read a number of pages over and over again - and then still scratch your head at the end...
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An open secret
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For J. Mellen, it is an open secret that US intelligence services were directly involved in JFK's assassination. For their deadly feud with JFK, the latter himself gave the reasons: he wanted to `curb activities of spook outfits' and `splinter them in thousand pieces and scatter them to the winds.' He put all local intelligence offices under control of the US ambassadors.
Beside intelligence (`the clandestine arm of warfare interests in the US government'), the war machine corporations wanted in no way to attach their fortunes to the Kennedys.
The only legal action against the alleged perpetrators of the assassination came from a courageous district attorney, Jim Garrison. That he was very near (part of ) the truth is proven by the frontal vicious attacks launched against him and his investigation by intelligence itself. All legal and illegal means were good enough to destroy him.
But he was only near a part of the truth: the ground staff, not near those who ordered the murder, the upper level of the plotters.
Joan Mellen shows profusely how Oswald was continuously surrounded by intelligence agents and how the latter shared their beds with the Mafia. J. Garrison knew that he fought against `a secret state of its own' and `a major menace to the democracy we live in'.
The author reveals also that there was an alternative scapegoat in the wings, if the framing of Oswald would not succeed, and, more controversially, that Bob Kennedy was against Garrison's investigation, because he thought he needed `to gain the presidency to deal with the facts of his brother's death.'
This book throws a shrill light on the Pravda-like media (C. Johnson) who are creating a Kafkaesque world which has nothing to do with this world's political and economic realities. Another example in this book: the U2 Powers incident in 1956 was a provocation to kill détente between Eisenhower and Khrushchev.
This book is a must read for all those who are interested in the most important coup d'état of the 20th century and who want to understand the world we live in.
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A Farewell to Justice
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The Jim Garrison investigation of the assassination of Jack Kennedy was described by writer Carl Oglesby as a "contoversy within a controversy." Researchers have long been divided by Garrison's prosecution of Clay Shaw and his theory of a CIA orchestrated plot. Now, at last, this authoratative, scholary work presents the evidence that should bring them together.
Mellen demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt that Shaw was in fact the infamous Clay Bertrand, that he was a CIA asset and that he was involved in the "sheep-dipping" of Lee Harvey Oswald. Those who have claimed that Garrison was a power hungry monster, knowlingly hounding an innocent man, will have to admit that not only did he have a case against Shaw, he had a damn strong one. And that to me is really the point of this book. Whether or not Shaw participated in the planning of the assassination, a seperate legal point, there was more than enough evidence to warrant bringing it to trial to let a jury decide. The jury may have decided that Garrison was wrong about Shaw, but that doen't make him a liar. Prosecutors lose cases all the time without being accused of the type of innapropriate conduct Garrison was accused of. As Mellen shows, witnesses were indeed being bribed and threatened down in New Orleans, but not by the D.A.'s office. It was Walter Sheridan and co. who made a determined effort to stand in the way of justice.
Mellen shows just how the CIA and the FBI used the American media to ruin Garrison's investigation by attacking his character. (a more in depth analysis of this can be found in Bill Davy's brilliant book, "Let Justice Be Done", which proves it's point with the goverment's own documents) She also shows us the most realistic version of Jim Garrison yet, not the saint of Oliver Stone's "JFK" or the monster of Pat Lambert's "False Witness", but a man like any other doing what he thought was right.
Of course, the book has already been attacked by those with an agenda (i.e. Lambert and Mel Ayton) who have chosen to to contest the credibility of Mellen's witnesses rather than attemt to directly challenge the evidence itself. Which of course they cannot. But they've said it all before and frankly the smart amongst us weren't fooled then and we won't be decieved now. But don't belive me, read the book, do your own research and make up your own mind. Jim Garrison once said that "history will show we were right" and Joan Mellen has done just that.
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