The CIA made its propaganda agenda clear in April of 1967 in a document entitled, "Countering Critics of the Warren Report." Therein, the agency sought to, "employ propaganda assets to answer and refute the attacks of the critics" (Nurnad). That meant "book reviews" and "feature articles" as well as "friendly elite contacts (especially politicians and editors)." Countering critics of the Warren Report with propaganda was a clear breach of the CIA's charter, and operating domestically was and remains illegal ( FAS ). That propaganda effort, similar to the more formal "Operation Mockingbird" ( Louise ), would constitute additional official conspiracies peripherally related to the killing of President John F. Kennedy. In other words, official cover-ups tend to veer into technically criminal activities.
Jefferson Morley, who already disparaged the idea of a JFK conspiracy earlier in the AP article, presented another curious revelation: "The idea that Lee Harvey Oswald was some unknown quantity to CIA officers was false... There was this incredible high-level attention to Oswald on the eve of the assassination."
On the eve of the assassination, says Morley, as in prior to the killing in Dallas by the alleged lone nut assassin who just decided out of the blue to murder a president passing by below his place of employment. There was not only attention to Oswald, it was "high-level attention," which was "incredible." Morley's evidence is hard to locate, as his sourcing was not included in that AP story.
Anti-Castro Cuban exiles, working with CIA, were monitoring Lee Harvey Oswald three months prior to the JFK assassination. A lawsuit was filed to release records connected with George Joannides, who was the, "chief of the CIA's anti-Castro 'psychological warfare' operations in Miami" (Morley). What makes Joannides even more relevant to the cover-up is that he served as the Central Intelligence Agency's "liason" to the HSCA in 1978-9, but he never revealed to the investigation his own involvement in 1963. George Joannides was, of course, an expert in psychological warfare, the art of disinformation -- which is plentiful in this particular murder case. Joannides was later accused of obstructing justice by deceiving the congressional committee ( Morley ).
The fact that there has been a cover-up of the JFK assassination is undeniable. The conflicting conclusions of the two main investigations, Warren vs. HSCA, establish that a cover-up has taken place. Ongoing suppression of evidence by CIA further establishes this cover-up. Defenders of the official story would attribute such illegal behavior to institutions avoiding embarrassment or hiding negligence. Establishment journalist Jefferson Morley is an example of this view, as his own conspiracy theory suggests that: "release would show the CIA trying to keep secret its own flawed performance before the assassination" (Porter).
The majority of the American people don't see it that way, however. They believe a far more sinister explanation is more likely, and for good reasons. The CIA has a history of criminal activity including overthrowing democracies, torture and politically-motivated murders. The Kennedy killing would not have been an aberration in tactics, only in the choice of target.
Joe Giambrone publishes Political Film Blog.#
Works Cited
Assassination Records Review Board, Assassination of John F. Kennedy, "Deposition of Jerrol Francis Custer," Miller Reporting Company Inc., Washington DC, 28 Oct.1997, hosted at http://www.aarclibrary.org, The Assassination Archives and Research Center, Web, 10 Nov. 2013.
Associated Press (AP), "Belief In JFK Assassination Conspiracy Slipping, Poll Finds" The Associated Press, 3 Nov. 2013, hosted at huffingtonpost.com, The Huffington Post, Web, 10 Nov. 2013.
Blanton, Dana, "Poll: Most Believe 'Cover-Up' of JFK Assassination Facts," Fox News, foxnews.com, 18 June 2004, Web, 10 Nov. 2013.
Boehlert, Eric, "The president ought to be ashamed," Salon, Salon Media Group Inc., 21 Nov. 2003, Web. 10 Nov. 2013.
Federation of American Scientists (FAS), "The Evolution of the U.S. Intelligence Community-An Historical Overview," Page INT022, 23 Feb. 1996, Web, 10 Nov. 2013.
Hedegaard, Erik, "The Last Confessions of E. Howard Hunt," Rolling Stone, 5 April 2007, Web, Hosted at The Wayback Machine, archive.org, 11 Nov. 2013.
JFK . Dir. Oliver Stone. Warner Brothers, 1991. DVD.
Johnson, Lyndon B., "TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND SENATOR RUSSELL," phone conversation, transcript, November 29, 1963, 8:55pm, p. 2, hosted at maryferrell.org, Mary Ferrell Foundation, Web, 10 Nov. 2013
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