The Power of Disinformation: The Lie That Linked CIA to the Kennedy Assassination

 

 

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By Max Holland

    The 1967 arrest and indictment of Clay Shaw for conspiring to kill President Kennedy was one of the greatest travesties in the history of American jurisprudence.

 

    That much was understood by 1969, once Shaw was acquitted after 54 minutes of deliberation by a New Orleans jury. What was not understood until fairly recently, though, was the lie at the core of DA Jim Garrison's persecution of Shaw. Garrison was duped by a  false allegation published in a  Communist-controlled Italian newspaper, Paese Sera. The Garrison saga would be almost laughable, given how the DA was so easily fooled, save for the tragedy inflicted on Clay Shaw, and the lasting damage Garrison wrought to the public  perception of what happened in Dallas on 22 November 1963.

 

    Garrison forever changed the terms of public debate on the assassination. Before the New  Orleans district attorney became involved, the worst criticism made of the U.S. government was that it had not been sufficiently devoted to, or diligent about, finding the true  perpetrators. Garrison made the U.S. government--specifically, the CIA--complicit in the assassination itself.

 

    Click on the title to read “The Power of Disinformation: The Lie That Linked the CIA to the Kennedy Assassination,” which appeared in Studies in Intelligence in 2001.

 

    Oliver Stone, whose 1991 film JFK exalted Jim Garrison, critiqued the Studies article in a 2002 paid advertisement that appeared in The Nation magazine.

 

 

© 2001 by Max Holland

Comments

[TruthMakesPeace]

Obviously, some members believed Jim Garrison's arguments about Clay Shaw were true. Otherwise the jury would take a vote and be out in 5 minutes. The jury took 54 minutes, which is a long time to deliberate. All they needed was to establish reasonable doubt to return a non-guilty verdict.

Subsequent evidence has proved Garrison to be accurate, such as the photos of Oswald and David Ferrie in the same Civil Air Patrol unit.

In 1979, Richard Helms, former director of the CIA, testified under oath that Clay Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service of the CIA, where Shaw volunteered information from his travels abroad, mostly to Latin America. By the mid-1970s, 150,000 Americans (businessmen and journalists, etc.) had provided such information to the DCS. In 1996, the CIA revealed that Clay Shaw had obtained a "five Agency" clearance in 1949. See sources listed in Wikipedia.

Your attempt to make us believe the trial was "one of the greatest travesties" is not working. It makes you appear to be trying to spread disinformation and propaganda.

[David L]

Just because someone found some facts on Wikipedia doesn't really mean anything. So, Clay Shaw gave some intel to the CIA, like thousands of others did . . . and so he had 5 agency clearance, but so did thousands of others who may or may not be working for the CIA. Remember, that was post WW2 Cold War time-frame. But whoever posted the above comment doesn't mention the fact that while Oswald and David Ferrie may or may not have known each other well, may or may not have worked on some conspiracy . . . the fact remains that Clay Shaw had nothing to do with that, apart from knowing them, or perhaps even introducing them. I'm sure Charlie Manson was introduced by a lot of Hollywood celebrities to other people. Does that mean they conspired with them to kill Sharon Tate? Of course not. So, you allege a conspiracy without any real proof . . . and aside from coincidences and fuzzy memories, and several honest mistakes or errors in the investigations that have taken place, there really isn't any real proof that someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald conspired to kill JFK. The only evidence we do have is a dead President, a dead assassin, and dead guy who killed the assassin. The only reason it's lasted this long is that people still can't believe it actually happened . . . but it did.

[Ed capobianco]

Clay Shaw was a contract agent for the CIA and he was no angel. He most certainly knew Oswald and David Ferrie. Anyone who believes oswsald [sic] acted alone is a moron. The CIA or parts of it did have a hand in killing Kennedy and the fatal shot was a shot to the temple. Charles voyd [sic] Harrelson fired that head shot and he was a freelance assasin [sic] who also was a contract agent for the CIA. Its all there in the Zapruder film and photographs taken on Nov 22 1963.

[Teknik Informatika]

Pertanyaan singkat: "Bagaimana Garrison berhasil mengubah terminologi dalam debat publik mengenai pembunuhan tersebut? Sebelum jaksa distrik New Orleans terlibat, kritik terberat terhadap pemerintah AS adalah bahwa pemerintah tidak cukup bersungguh-sungguh atau rajin dalam menemukan pelaku sejati. Bagaimana Garrison membuat pemerintah AS, khususnya CIA, terlibat dalam pembunuhan itu sendiri?"

Quick question: "How did Garrison manage to change the terminology in the public debate regarding the murder? Before the New Orleans district attorney got involved, the harshest criticism of the US government was that it was not serious or diligent enough in finding the true perpetrators. How did Garrison make the US government, in particular CIA, involved in the murder itself?"