Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

I very much like this article by OIC member Dr. Thomas Halle. He makes an eye-catching point about the Warren Commission lacking the "scientific disinterest" it should have had, which is an interesting way of saying that that they should have begun the investigation without any bias. But, what a joke! Bias? They began the investigation with their minds made up that Oswald did it, and did it alone. They were hell-bent on proving it, with the new President telling them there would be World War 3 if they didn't. In reality, the Warren Commission was just a Stalinist show trial in the USSA, the United Soviet States of America. RC

Warren Report: Fact or Fiction

by Dr. Thomas Halle

The single redeeming characteristic of the Warren Report (WR) is that a careful examination of the text (and particularly of the material in the “Hearings” and “Exhibits”) reveals many contradictions and inconsistencies, inconsistencies that demonstrate that the formulaic conclusion of “lone, crazed gunman” is a fabrication, and bears as much relationship to reality and honest and comprehensive investigation as the notion of an orb of “green cheese” does to the actual moon appearing above our heads. There is great poignancy to this, of course. The Report abounds with problems, but to think that the damned thing even refutes itself can be a great source of fun. One can only reflect that this resembles the case of a petty thief who inadvertently drops his wallet at the “scene of the crime,” thus incriminating himself…without even the necessity of a bumbling Inspector Clouseau.

 

The most glaring problem with the Report is that it violates the principle of scientific disinterest (and of legitimate investigative principles and practices, such as the insistence on Intact chains of evidence and a refusal to resort to the “cherry-picking of evidence” to support one’s hypothesis). This is no idle claim, as the Commission over and over again shifts “pieces of the puzzle” (frequently already manipulated items of witness testimony and physical evidence) to fit its target formula, in a distinctly Procrustean way. But, wait!! Do we receive even the semblance of legitimacy…as the Commission members, lawyers and aides…listed a number of suspects, then gradually whittled this down to suspect Lee Oswald? Nope, no way. Even Jim Braden, a known mafia hit-man, apprehended in the Dal-Tex building with a rifle in his possession, was summarily released (and was never mentioned in the Report). This speaks to the enormity of the crime, and of the slip-shod and dishonest character of the investigation of this crime.

 

Of course, from a legal standpoint, the Commission also seems to have conveniently forgotten the central American criminal justice principle of “presumption of innocence” (which demands that the “government” bears the burden of proof, rather than the defendant). The Warren Commission never meets its burden, and a casual examination of the “Table of Contents” shows that it had no intention of doing so. Anyone of any intelligence and education will see that these problems render the Report a nullity, in reality a farce. And, as if to underline this fact, we have the reality that three members of the Commission—Russell, Cooper and Boggs—dissented from the Report’s conclusions, and only agreed to sign it with the promise that their dissent would be noted. It was not, meaning that these gentlemen were betrayed, even as the American people were betrayed (and as the memory of President Kennedy was betrayed).

 

Rather than mount an honest, objective and comprehensive investigation, the Commission decided upon two goals—the assuaging of our fears (particularly of a possible international connection, and even of a nuclear war), and of protecting American institutions. A very early memo from acting Attorney General Nicholaus deB. Katzenbach to Bill Moyers stressed the importance of convincing the American public of Oswald’s exclusive culpability…with no international implications. The fix was in!!

 

The Commission soon assumed the role of “Star Chamber” tribunal, sitting in judgment of one particular suspect, Oswald. And this poor schnook (probably a patsy, just as he’d claimed!) never received ANYTHING in the way of a legal defense. In fact, he never received ANYTHING in the way of “due process.” The Warren Commission (and the risible document it produced) was so bad, that it serves as its own indictment.

 

The Warren Report was an immense scandal, and bears a strong resemblance to the famous Dreyfus affair in the late nineteenth century. Like novelist Emile Zola, we shout “J’accuse!!”

 

One might forgive a few young and uneducated souls who have fecklessly accepted the conclusions of the Report, along with some mental defectives, but I would find it exceedingly difficult to extend this courtesy to anyone else. Many in public service and the media would rightly be placed in the general category of what Sylvia Meagher called “Accessories after the Fact.” And, what these repulsive individuals—like Gerald Posner and Vincent Bugliosi--deserve is a couple of weeks in the pillory and a public shunning. In fact, it would bother me not at all...should the profits from their books and talks be confiscated, and they be banished from the country for a decade.