On July 25, 2017 The Washington Post published an opinion piece, President Trump, give us the full story on the JFK assassination, by Larry Sabato and Phil Shenon. The following three responses to that article are contributed by AARC Board members Dr. Don Thomas, Malcolm Blunt, and Dr. Gary Aguilar.
Dr. Donald B. Thomas: In an otherwise persuasively reasoned op-ed in the Washington Post arguing for unfettered release of JFK assassination documents (as required by law), Philip Shenon and Larry Sabato indulged in uninformed and unsupported overstatement by claiming that “… 21st-century forensic science demonstrates that Oswald was almost certainly the lone gunman in Dallas…” A novice reading that statement would likely conclude that there have been recent (since 2000) scientific studies that incriminate Lee Harvey Oswald in the JFK murder case. But there are none. Not one. There is not even one that claims to be. There have been excellent (and otherwise) forensic studies on the JFK evidence in recent years, but none of them inculpate anyone. In short it is a Trumpism – made up – fake news. Shenon and Sabato’s bald claim about the forensics is an alternative fact, the very sort of invention the Washington Post should be striving hard to avoid.
Malcolm Blunt: 21st Century bullshit is no different than 20th century bullshit. Forensic evidence is so debased now; Posner and Failure Analysis were the first nail in the coffin; the belief that computers can be so programmed that the solution to the problem is 100% solved, hence: “Case Closed.”
God, spare me from this.
Better we should look at the documents being released and work on what I’m sure to most is irrelevant minutiae. Although most of these releases are going to be absolutely meaningless to Post and Times reporters, really we are being given missing pages from an incomplete dictionary. Agency cryptonyms, pseudonyms, internal systems and management… Very valuable.
Dr. Gary Aguilar: Sabato and Shennon write, inter alia, “… 21st-century forensic science demonstrates that Oswald was almost certainly the lone gunman in Dallas … .”
Sweeping statements such as this are easy to make, not so easy to back up. But perhaps the authors are referring to the forensic science presented in the 2013 Koch-funded, PBS Nova show, “Cold Case: JFK.” If so, it’s notable that Nova expert, anti-conspiracist Mr. Lucien Haag, published his findings in several articles published in ’15 and ’16 in the “peer-reviewed” AFTE Journal.
Cyril Wecht, MD, JD and I published two rebuttals in that very journal that are worth examining by anyone who believes that “21st-century forensic science” supports Oswald’s guilt.
Check this: https://statick2k-5f2f.kxcdn.com/images/pdf/Aguila…
And this: https://statick2k-5f2f.kxcdn.com/images/pdf/Aguila…
An overview of the whole shoddy affair can be found here: https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews…
VIDEO PRESENTATIONS
Dr. Donald B. Thomas: JFK Acoustical Evidence: Challenge and Corroboration HERE
Malcolm Blunt: JFK Records and NARA HERE
Dr. Gary Aguilar: Junk Science and the Death of JFK HERE