Speaking of spooks...

My readers have behaved themselves. The last few times I mentioned the Great Unpleasantness of fifty years ago, visitors to Cannonfire kindly refrained from inundating me with nonsense about the Illuminati and Skull and Bones and Building Fucking 7. Perhaps, then, I may safely direct your attention to a free online book called State Secret, by Bill Simpich. It's being serialized online, and so far we have only the Preface and the first two chapters. Here they are:

Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

What we have of this work seems quite remarkable. A word of warning: Although Simpich is a clear and engaging writer, he gets into some heavy duty Cold War spy stuff, based (mostly) on newly-released documents. We're not talking about bullet trajectories in Dealey Plaza and all of that other familiar -- albeit important -- material.

(The difference between a "conspiracy freak" and a parapolitical researcher is that the latter doesn't mind reading actual documents about actual spies.)

Black Op radio, run by Len Osanic, has interviewed Simpich, who turns out to have a rare ability to make difficult material compelling. In the past, I've hesitated to link to Osanic's podcasts because he has been known to blather on about Building Fucking 7. Long-time readers will know my reaction to that crap: "Slowly I turned...step by step, inch by inch..." But I must admit that his interviews with JFK researchers are highly recommended for students of the case.

Osanic has also come out with a series of brief videos titled 50 Reasons for 50 Years. These short films are often superbly done -- although you do have to make allowances for Osanic's quirks.

For example, he speaks about the Warren Commission as if it were still in session. This oddity gives the impression that the JFK assassination is a topic fit only for greybeards trapped in a 1960s time warp. I hope that's not true. And I certainly hope that future generations have access to (and an interest in) the real research, as opposed to the crap pushed by Bill O'Reilly and Vince Bugliosi, and the different-but-equally-crappy-crap pushed by Alex Jones and his comrades in kookiness.

Speaking of Bugliosi: If all goes well, I should soon have an interview with Jim DiEugenio, the best of the current researchers. He's a frequent guest on Osanic's program. Jim has written an amazing new book called Reclaiming Parkland, which takes the form of a rebuttal to Bugliosi's epic defense of the Warren Commission findings, although Jim's work is really about something more. He meticulously constructs a devastating critique of the way the mainstream media has been bamboozled for decades.

Most of the JFK books in your local Barnes and Noble are blather, but some are worth your time. I can highly recommend anything by DiEugenio, anything by Joan Mellen, Barry Ernest's The Girl on the Stairs, and the re-issue of Gaeton Fonzi's inside account of the HSCA, The Last Investigation.

If you want the motive, study Mexico. Give Osanic credit: The episode of "50 Reasons" embedded below is probably the hippest assassination-related video on You Tube. Unfortunately, the tale of Lee Oswald in Mexico City is extremely confusing (at least to newbies). Worse, Osanic leaves out some important material.

Perhaps confusion is inevitable. Oswald's visits to Soviet and Cuban embassies are of consummate importance: Those who carefully study this episode will, I think, learn both the name of the plot's mastermind and the true motive of the crime. Alas, following the document trail is a daunting task. Anyone who attempts the job will probably feel like a pianist asked to play Rachmaninov's Third while doing calculus with a pencil held between his toes.

Nevertheless, former NSA analyst John Newman and Professor Peter Dale Scott have done remarkable work in this area. If you want to "do Mexico" right, hit those two links.

Before you do, allow me to make make a complex story really, really simple...

Someone in the CIA went to enormous lengths to create the impression that Oswald was taking orders from a KGB assassination specialist named Kostikov. This linkage was phony. The Oswald impersonator who called the Soviet consulate asking for Kostikov spoke Russian poorly. (Oddly, the caller spoke Spanish like a native. The real Oswald probably knew no Spanish.)

The trick might have worked. The CIA wiretapped and recorded every call to the embassy, but usually kept the tapes for only a couple of weeks. After a certain amount of time, only transcripts of the calls would exist. The transcript would give no clue that the "Oswald" who made the call was an impersonator.

Fortunately, the actual tape recording of that call was -- for whatever reason -- not erased. It was sent on to DC, where Hoover's men gave it a listen. They informed President Johnson that the "Oswald" on the tape was not the real Oswald.

There was other concocted evidence against Oswald involving bogus claims by a guy named Alvarado (who turned out to be a Nicaraguan spook close to the CIA) and a right-wing Mexican writer named Elena Garro (who might be considered the Ann Coulter of her time and place).

If this story is starting to sound "Curveball-ish" to you -- well, it ought to. Some things haven't changed much during the last fifty years. When spooks want to gin up a war, they have only so many tactics available to them.

To a small extent, I must criticize Osanic. He says (in the film below) that the purpose of all this deception was to foment an invasion of Cuba. No; the situation was far worse. The purpose was to foment war with the Soviet Union.

That's right. Nuclear war. Millions of deaths.

Yes, there really were people in the military and the intelligence services who wanted that outcome. I can prove the point, if readers wish.