Another chance for release of JFK files

[watcharacters]

With very few exceptions I believe in full transparency.

 

I think it's time all the information available about this   world changing event become available for public inspection.

 

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-28/will-trump-allow-release-of-secret-jfk-assassination-papers/8994862

 

 

Trump's America

 

JFK: Will Donald Trump allow release of secret John F Kennedy assassination papers?

Updated about 5 hours ago

Photo: Former president John F Kennedy with wife Jackie Kennedy in 1962. (Supplied: JFK Presidential Library, file)

Related Story: JFK assassination continues to haunt America, 50 years on

Related Story: Fact file: 10 unusual facts about JFK's assassination

Map: United States

The anticipated release of thousands of never-seen government documents related to United States president John F Kennedy's assassination has scholars and armchair detectives buzzing.

Key points:

• The trove may provide insight into assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to the Soviet and Cuban embassies in just weeks before the killing
• Files unlikely to provide big revelations, but may give new perspectives, experts say
• Congress in 1992 decided the files should be released within 25 years, subject to the president's veto

 

Now, they are waiting to see whether President Donald Trump will block the release of files that could shed light on a tragedy that has stirred conspiracy theories for decades.

US Congress mandated in 1992 that all assassination documents be released within 25 years, unless the president asserted doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations.

The still-secret documents include more than 3,000 that have never been seen by the public and more than 30,000 that have been released previously, but with redactions.

What do you think? Will Mr Trump allow the release of secret papers relating to the assassination of John F Kennedy? Join the discussion.

 

The National Archives now has until October 26 to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy's 1963 assassination — that is, unless Mr Trump intervenes.

It is time for the documents to finally be revealed, says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Centre for Politics and author of a book about Kennedy.

"The American public deserves to know the facts, or at least they deserve to know what the government has kept hidden from them for all these years," he said.

"It's long past the time to be forthcoming with this information."

Mr Sabato and other JFK scholars believe the trove of files may provide insight into assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's trip to Mexico City weeks before the killing, during which he visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies.

 

Oswald's stated reason for going was to get visas that would allow him to enter Cuba and the Soviet Union, according to the Warren Commission, the investigative body established by president Lyndon B Johnson, but much about the trip remains unknown.

Among the protected information up for release is details about the arrangements the US entered into with the Mexican Government that allowed it to have close surveillance of those and other embassies, Federal Judge John Tunheim said.

Kennedy experts also hope to see the full report on Oswald's trip to Mexico City from staffers of the House committee that investigated the assassination, Rex Bradford, president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation which publishes assassination records, said.

Judge Tunheim said it was unlikely the documents contained any big revelations about Kennedy's killing, but there may be nuggets of information in the files that people did not realise was important two decades ago.

"There could be some jewels in there because in our level of knowledge in the 1990s is maybe different from today," he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment, and the CIA and FBI, whose records make up the bulk of the batch, will not say whether they have appealed to the President to keep them under wraps.

AP

[Pib]

This is going to be a tough one for Donald to decided on. 

 

If he doesn't block release that means people will be much more interested for several weeks in the JFK docs versus Donald's tweets...less readers of his tweets. 

 

But if Donald blocks the releases of the JFK docs this means people will continue to read his tweets. 

 

Donald will probably go with the latter to ensure the attention remains focused on him....then again if he blocks the release that will gain him a lot of attention.  Yeap, going to be a tough decision for Donald.

[CaptHaddock]

On 10/11/2017 at 3:23 PM, Pib said:

This is going to be a tough one for Donald to decided on. 

 

If he doesn't block release that means people will be much more interested for several weeks in the JFK docs versus Donald's tweets...less readers of his tweets. 

 

But if Donald blocks the releases of the JFK docs this means people will continue to read his tweets. 

 

Donald will probably go with the latter to ensure the attention remains focused on him....then again if he blocks the release that will gain him a lot of attention.  Yeap, going to be a tough decision for Donald.

I expect the documents to be released, but it is unlikely that they will cause any stir.  A batch of documents was released on July 25.  So far, no one has found anything very interesting.  For instance, it was revealed that Earl Cabell, the mayor of Dallas in 1963, had been a CIA asset in the 1950's, but it was always assumed that he had some kind of ties to CIA since his brother Charles had been a deputy director of the CIA under Dulles.  That's the kind of tidbit these last files contain.  Smoking guns are unlikely, although some additional CIA files on Oswald should be in the group, so it's possible.

[ubonjoe]

A post bringing politics into the discussion has been removed.

[bendejo]

Believe it or not, Bill O'Reilly had an active interest in the JFK assassination.  This was in the 1980s, back when Fox News was a mere dream in Roger Ailes brain.  Billo approached his editor at the time but was discouraged from pursuing it.  Do not be surprised if he re-appears and attempts to revive his career on this piece of news.

Cheeto has nothing to lose if the papers are released, except being center of attention.  But he made need a serious distraction from his doings in the near future.

 

 

[CaptHaddock]

Guess we're SOL, if this news story is accurate:

 

Trump administration and other government officials say privately that President Donald Trump is almost certain to block the release of information from some of the thousands of classified files related to the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy that are scheduled to be made public in less than a week by the National Archives.

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/20/trump-block-release-jfk-kennedy-assassination-files-documents-215732

[tonray]

33 minutes ago, CaptHaddock said:

Guess we're SOL, if this news story is accurate:

 

Trump administration and other government officials say privately that President Donald Trump is almost certain to block the release of information from some of the thousands of classified files related to the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy that are scheduled to be made public in less than a week by the National Archives.

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/20/trump-block-release-jfk-kennedy-assassination-files-documents-215732

 

Turns out that Trump was afraid he would have had to make a condolence call to Marina Oswald and John Kelley advised against it.

[CaptHaddock]

Now, apparently, the documents will indeed be released after all. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/21/us/politics/trump-jfk-assassination-classified.html

[ubonjoe]

Heard it on CNN earlier this morning.

In the news forum here.

 

[watcharacters]

On 10/22/2017 at 8:11 AM, ubonjoe said:

Heard it on CNN earlier this morning.

In the news forum here.

 

I almost feel it's a  carrot and stick situation;   the carrot being the release and the stick being  failure to have full transparency as  POTUS claims to seek.

 

I'll only believe it  once I hear  the release  happens.

 

The entire investigation process and subsequent congressional committee hearings have done nothing but leave unanswered questions.

 

I find it incredibly disturbing that the government of my country continues to hide information  that could dispel suspicions  about the government and various agencies.

 

I rewatched the first two episodes of this documentary today and as always felt there's an obvious effort to hide the truth from American citizens.   Youtube "The Men Who Killed Kennedy".

 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+men+who+killed+Kennedy+episode+1

 

Edit:

 

I forgot to add that I recently came across information confirming my memory of President Johnson decreeing that all unreleased information regarding the assassination would be sealed in the National Archives for 75 years.   They were scheduled to remain hidden (unreleased) until  year 2039 when most people alive at the time of the assassination would be long dead.

[watcharacters]

On 10/21/2017 at 8:44 PM, tonray said:

 

Turns out that Trump was afraid he would have had to make a condolence call to Marina Oswald and John Kelley advised against it.

 

I get that you're being glib, but, in fact,  Marina  was  not at all  the apparently uninformed person as she initially seemed shortly after the assassination.

 

Take a few minutes  to watch this video of Oswald's daughter  and  ponder the entire event.

 

[watcharacters]

 

Oh well,  just as the admonition goes "if it sounds too good to be true it probably..."

 

After 53 years there could be harm to national security by releasing information?

 

Hell, by now anyone in the government with concern about any  particular file would have learned from Richard Milhous Nixon's lesson and long ago destroyed the file.

[CaptHaddock]

Apparently, the documents withheld by the CIA and FBI amount to at least 18,000 items.  From the CIA statement on the docs withheld:

 

Every single one of the approximately 18,000 remaining CIA records in the collection will ultimately be released, with no document withheld in full.  While some of these 18,000 records currently contain targeted redactions, the information redacted represents less than one percent of the total CIA information in the collection.

http://jfkfacts.org/cia-statement-trumps-cover-jfk-records/#more-26128

 

Since the reported number of documents released yesterday was 2800, it looks like the vast majority of the documents were not released, contrary to the impression given in news reports.

[watcharacters]

11 hours ago, CaptHaddock said:

Apparently, the documents withheld by the CIA and FBI amount to at least 18,000 items.  From the CIA statement on the docs withheld:

 

Every single one of the approximately 18,000 remaining CIA records in the collection will ultimately be released, with no document withheld in full.  While some of these 18,000 records currently contain targeted redactions, the information redacted represents less than one percent of the total CIA information in the collection.

http://jfkfacts.org/cia-statement-trumps-cover-jfk-records/#more-26128

 

Since the reported number of documents released yesterday was 2800, it looks like the vast majority of the documents were not released, contrary to the impression given in news reports.

Thanks for providing the link  CaptHaddock for two reason:    you provide support for your post and you've shown me a site that I believe I'll  throughly enjoy investigating

 

While I don't subscribe to the philosophy of  some, that government intrusion into private lives is innocuous if one has nothing to hide,   I do believe the government telling citizens they  has no right to view  documents because of fear is patently insane.

 

At this point in time I suspect it'll absolutely  take until the calendar year  2039 for a serious chance at full disclosure unless whoever is president at the time again gets convinced the population is unable to withstand knowing the full  truth.

 

As initially planned no doubt there'll be few of us alive to find out what happened on that November day 54 years ago.      

I imagine most  of us who were at least a teenager at the time  remember the event clearly.    I know I certainly  do.

 

 

[CaptHaddock]

1 hour ago, watcharacters said:

Thanks for providing the link  CaptHaddock for two reason:    you provide support for your post and you've shown me a site that I believe I'll  throughly enjoy investigating

 

While I don't subscribe to the philosophy of  some, that government intrusion into private lives is innocuous if one has nothing to hide,   I do believe the government telling citizens they  has no right to view  documents because of fear is patently insane.

 

At this point in time I suspect it'll absolutely  take until the calendar year  2039 for a serious chance at full disclosure unless whoever is president at the time again gets convinced the population is unable to withstand knowing the full  truth.

 

As initially planned no doubt there'll be few of us alive to find out what happened on that November day 54 years ago.      

I imagine most  of us who were at least a teenager at the time  remember the event clearly.    I know I certainly  do.

 

 

Of course, we do want the release of all of the records related to the JFK assassination, but even without all the available documentation the broad outline of what happened is by now clear:  Elements of the government conspired to have Kennedy killed including the Secret Service, the CIA, and the military, at least.  In other words, it was a coup d'etat.  There is enough critical evidence, the evaluation of which does not require special expertise, to make the lone gunman theory untenable.

 

[watcharacters]

46 minutes ago, CaptHaddock said:

Of course, we do want the release of all of the records related to the JFK assassination, but even without all the available documentation the broad outline of what happened is by now clear:  Elements of the government conspired to have Kennedy killed including the Secret Service, the CIA, and the military, at least.  In other words, it was a coup d'etat.  There is enough critical evidence, the evaluation of which does not require special expertise, to make the lone gunman theory untenable.

 

 

 

I think the lone gunman theory  became laughable with the proposal of the "Magic Bullet" theory.       But that theory has nevertheless  been futilely defended for decades now.

 

But how could it have all come together?     How could  such an audacious and criminal  plan be implemented without  some leakage at the time?      Just how many agencies and groups were in fact involved.      Everyone from Texas oilmen and the Dallas Police Dept. to the mafia  have been considered.       The more people involved the greater the likelihood someone will expose the plan.

 

 

For anyone who hasn't seen it I definitely recommend: 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+men+who+killed+Kennedy+episode+1