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Conspiracy in Camelot

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The book is divided into two distinct non-overlapping parts. The first part is a series of tightly woven summaries of some (but not all) of the
Most popular theories of the JFK assassination. The second is a psychological analysis of some (but again not all) of the key players. Although the author provided his own rationale for the selections in each part, given what exists today in the JFK assassination literature, the author's choices seem somewhat arbitrary and certainly incomplete. For instance, neither Jim Garrison's investigation, nor Michael Collins Piper's monumental work "Final Judgment" seem to have warranted status as full-blown separate theories. This was especially irritating since Garrison's work was referenced and used throughout many of the analyses. Piper's work, perhaps because it was too new in 2002 when this manuscript went to press, or too volatile, was not mentioned at all. The angle dealing with JFK's problem with Israeli nukes is missing altogether but is obviously a fertile area, especially since LBJ, as he did in the case of Vietnam, quickly reversed U.S. policy on this issue.

I also had problems with the way the parts were arranged in the text. Surely the best of all worlds would have been to display the two parts and then somehow add a third section that juxtaposed or integrated the earlier two. I was surprised to discover that the parts were treated more or less as separate stand-alone almost self-contained and distinct parts, with the trailing psychological analysis being more or less an epilogue or afterthought to the very solid summaries.

This arrangement struck me as being exactly the opposite of what could have proven maximally effective. Arguably, it would have been much better to have provided the psychological analysis up front, first as foreground, or prologue, rather than as an afterthought or epilogue -- especially since it served a primarily contextual or background setting function. And then the author should have used it later as a marker guiding and integrating the various aspects of the respective theories and summary analyses.

The best example of how this approach could have worked effectively is with respect to ex-Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover's homosexuality. Obviously his closeted homosexuality played a central, if not a decisive role, in the staging of and shaping of the conditions that led to the plot that killed JFK's: in corrupting the FBI, giving illicit power over to the mob and to the CIA, becoming a willing tool of LBJ -- all in a rather desperate effort to conceal his personal secret -- and then in making it all but inevitable that he (Hoover) would be an involuntary part of the cover up of the assassination plot. As foreground, and by setting the context, Hoover's homosexuality explains a lot; as epilogue, it is a mere salacious detail, an afterthought that serves little or no purpose. [Also in this regard, it is worthwhile to point out that at least one analysis focuses on the homosexuality of some of the key players (like in addition to Hoover, Clint Murchinson, David Ferrie, General Edwin Walker, et. al.) as a sub-assassination theory of its own.] The same can be said for JFK's philandering and his close ties to the mob, as well as his father's long-term debits to the mob. Not only were these private moral indiscretions examples of recklessness difficult to explain, but were central spokes in the background that made the wheels of several of the assassination plots turn. To relegate them to what amounted to a large appendix was at the very least, inefficient.

These comments aside, the analysis within the summaries was of a very high quality indeed. And certainly one of the unintended high points of the book was the way in which it systematically and completely demolished Gerald Posner's "Case Closed."

Four points in particular seem to have done the job: (1) the recently discovered photograph showing Oswald and Ferrie as part of the same New Orleans Civil Air Patrol unit, destroys Posner's unfounded contention that Oswald and Ferrie did not know each other prior to the assassination. (2) The fact that Parkland doctors confirmed that more than 40 bullet fragments were found in the president's skull proved that both frangible and non-frangible bullets were used and thus could not both have come from the same Mannlicher-Carcano that Oswald used -- guaranteeing that there had to be at least two shooters and thus a conspiracy; (3) Brain matter, skull bone, blood and tissue sprayed the patrolman at the left rear of the motorcade, invalidating Posner's cockamamie notion that an involuntary motion caused JFK's head to go backwards (in the same direction from which the shots were fired), defying Newton's second law of motion; and (4) the vector from the bullet that hit bystander Teague, a block away, when traced back to its origin, points to a shooter in the Dallas-Tex building, not to the Book Depository, also guaranteeing at least two shooters.

Given that most of the key players are now dead, and the likelihood that the court certifiable standard of "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" will henceforth never be forthcoming, one would think that the criteria for testing the validity of a given JFK theory would now be relaxed. And although this is what the author does in practice, it seems that in order to avoid being labeled a "conspiracy nut" he, like many others, nevertheless goes overboard in sticking to this impossibly high standard of proof. One would hope that a more relaxed standard such as "a preponderance of cross-confirming evidence by reliable witnesses and participants," would become the new standard of proof for JFK investigation research. As well, prior independent knowledge of the assassination itself and lying by key figures about their whereabouts on the day of the assassination should be given more solid weight in determining whether or not a conspiracy occurred. In such cases, it is easy enough to assign a quality value -- from "poor to totally convincing" -- to the reports and interviews of what actually happened. Also, logical consistency and common sense should be allowed to play a much weightier role in assessing the value and validity of information - especially with regard to secondary sources. Certainly the author did a great deal of this but he did so rather self-consciously and timidly.

Finally, the gestalt that is the JFK assassination phenomenon itself has its own validity and resonance. Even though we may never be able to prove it in a court of law, we all know in our bones the truth when we see and hear it. Thus among other things, this book establishes that the real "conspiracy nuts" are those who still hold on, in their collective delusional state, to the idea that the Warren Commission's Report (a true state sanctioned conspiracy theory) represents even a facsimile of the truth.

Five stars

A marvelously balanced, thorough, and objective historical treatment of the Kennedy assassination . . .and absolutely riveting!

. . . William Yabroff, Professor Emeritus Fielding Institute, author of The Inner Image

I'm an assassination aficionado, and this is the most
comprehensive, up-to-date, in-depth treatment I have
ever read. Phenomenal!!

William Burtoni

Dr. Kroth again confronts cultural icons with psychological spelunking. This time it is Kennedy's sexual addiction which places him in contact with dangerous characters acting behind the scenes in shady government and greedy, gangland business. No thinking person in America can accept that Kennedy was killed by a single, lucky loner. Written with grace and style Kroth peals the layers of the onion to the sweet center and leaves no doubt that this is not the America you thought it was. Our president was taken from us for all too tawdry reasons. There is no clear hero in this story and no clear victim but there is insight which will keep you thinking long after you have finished this book. Bang for the buck, I give it a hearty five stars.

Jerry Kroth's Conspiracy in Camelot, may be the most significant contribution to date towards understanding the underlying dynamics of the Kennedy assassination. His artfully written synthesis of well developed academic research and psychological insights, yield a fascinating, certain classic.

Kroth is the first author to delineate the role of John F. Kennedy's mental instability, and its manifestation as sexual addiction, as key role in his untimely death. Many of John F Kennedy's behavioral patterns, are modeled after his father, Joseph Kennedy. As a result of sexual and economic acting out, both father and son were subsequently brought into close contact with mafia and other underworld connections. These dark linkages played a prominent role in Kennedy's untimely murder, and the deaths of scores of others with Kennedy connections.

Conspiracy in Camelot rivets the reader like the finest detective novel. But the substantive new insights and statistical data that Kroth provides, will influence the historical perspective on America's most romantic and admired president.

Bette U. Kiernan
Palo Alto, California

Fascinating, readable and more information objectively presented than I have ever seen.

"Conspiracy In Camelot" could probably also go by the alternate title of: "The More JFK Assassination Theories, The Better".

Despite the fact that all of the physical evidence points toward Lee Harvey Oswald as President John F. Kennedy's lone murderer on November 22, 1963, books like this still get published year after year. I've yet to completely figure out why this continuously occurs.

Some thoughts re. the JFK case (with a healthy dose of common sense attached)........

THE "SINGLE-BULLET THEORY":

Virtually every last scrap of physical evidence surrounding the double-man wounding of President John F. Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally on 11/22/63 "fits" to a tee within a pro-"SBT" solution/context. Common sense also supports a pro-SBT conclusion as well.

Most conspiracy believers think that "common sense" re. this topic supports the anti-SBT side. When, in actuality, it's precisely the opposite. The anti-SBT scenario is a billion times more silly-sounding and undoable than is the SBT. (Not that we've ever been treated to a full-fledged "version" of what that pro-CT, anti-SBT scenario might entail -- since virtually no CTer ever wants to look foolish enough to actually cough up the shot-by-shot scenario.)

But any conspiracy theorist must surely realize the craziness and unbelievable string of "coincidences" that they must believe in if they don't want to accept the Single-Bullet Theory as a fact....don't they? I truly wonder if they do realize this. But just saying "the silly SBT is impossible" is not nearly good enough to discredit its viability.

By simply watching the very good cable-TV documentary "JFK: Beyond The Magic Bullet" (aired in late 2004 on The Discovery Channel), a lot of the "mystery" surrounding the plausibility of the "magic" bullet and the SBT in general should be wiped from a person's mind. Because that "re-creation" test of the SBT bullet path mimicked the real deal of bullet CE399 very closely.

The test didn't perfectly re-create everything right to the letter, true -- but no such test will ever be able to simulate TO THE INCH everything CE399 did, because JFK's and John Connally's bodies, naturally, weren't available to utilize in such a simulated SBT test.

But just watch that Discovery Channel program, and after doing so ask yourself this question -- If the SBT is truly a piece-of-junk theory, could those guys associated with that cable-TV documentary have REALLY re-created the same basic damage path and trajectory that the real CE399 bullet is said to have taken, and then also have that test bullet emerge in one piece, without any fragmentation to the test bullet at all?

The test bullet was flattened more than the real CE399, yes -- but the test missile remained completely INTACT following the SBT re-creation, just exactly like 399. The test bullet didn't break up into pieces, even after having travelled the same basic path that the real #399 travelled, and also having caused an approximate amount of damage in the two surrogate bodies.

It was a pretty impressive "re-creation" of the SBT and CE399's capabilities if you ask me. Not 100% perfect. But that's never gonna happen in a million years. And here's another thing that couldn't have happened in a million years either -- i.e., 3 gunmen fire 3 separate bullets into 2 men (as many conspiracy theorists actually believe did happen in Dealey Plaza on 11/22/63), and then, afterwards, somehow these three seemingly-associated (but supposedly, per CTers, separately-created) wound paths, trajectories, and actual wounds inside the two victims so closely appear (falsely) as if all of this stuff COULD have occurred with just a single shot and a single bullet labelled Commission Exhibit #399 that the Warren Commission and follow-up investigations actually propose that this THREE-BULLET MIRACLE SHOOTING was, indeed, just a ONE-BULLET occurrence.

Another excellent source to seek out to establish the workability of the SBT is computer animator Dale K. Myers, who worked for about a decade on an animation project that simulates the inner workings of the SBT and the entire assassination shooting sequence (based primarily on the Abraham Zapruder Film).

Almost all of Mr. Myers' computer model stems from "Key Framing" his animated model to the actual Zapruder Film itself. To quote from Myers' own website:

"In essence, the key frame process had created a motion file of Zapruder's camera in 3D space."

Mr. Myers' work is incredibly detailed and thorough...and IMO should be looked upon as a breakthrough with respect to solving the long-asked question of whether the SBT was a "doable" deed from the Book Depository's Sniper's Perch or not. And the answer to that question, thanks to Mr. Myers' efforts (and others as well) is a resounding and undeniable "Yes".

I've heard it said by some CTers that Mr. Myers has intentionally skewed data in order to make his computer animation more "SBT friendly". But, seeing as how Mr. Myers was a believer in a JFK conspiracy up until about 1994 or so (pre-dating his work on his animation), if he were to have had any desire to "fudge" the results of his work, he almost certainly (at that time in the mid-90s) would have wanted to fudge it to lead toward CONSPIRACY (and an anti-SBT conclusion), rather than a pro-SBT stance.

Who amongst us wants to potentially look like a fool to others by changing our position 180 degrees on a given subject that we've studied for years? But Dale Myers did just that by going from a conspiracy believer to an LNer in the 1990s. And if he were going falsify any data when he began his animation project in the mid-90s (at a time when he was still a CTer), does anybody think he'd want his data to show a result in favor of the SBT (a position he opposed for years)? That's just kooky.

But Mr. Myers was big enough to swallow any pro-CT pride he might have had and simply followed the evidence to where it ultimately led him -- to the Sniper's Nest in the Texas School Book Depository, and to Lee Harvey Oswald .... as well as to the SBT being a concrete scientific FACT.

With the Single-Bullet Theory in place, here's what exists:

1.) One bullet (CE399).

2.) Zero "missing" bullets to account for.

3.) Zapruder Film evidence which validates the SBT (victims reacting at precisely the same point in time).

4.) A wound path from JFK to JBC which validates the SBT, whether any conspiracist wants to admit it or not.

5.) No bullets or large bullet fragments found inside the neck or back regions of JFK's body; plus no major neck damage whatsoever in JFK (validating the undeniable fact that a bullet went completely through him).

6.) No vehicle damage to the back-seat or jump-seat areas of the X-100 limousine, validating the fact that the one bullet that undeniably exited JFK's throat went somewhere else other than into the limousine seats...with that one place, without doubt, being John Connally's back (which was the only possible place for the bullet to go if it did not hit other victims or the vehicle in flight).

7.) An elongated entry wound on Connally's back, validating the SBT's flight path...i.e., a bullet which was tumbling upon entering Governor Connally's body.

8.) An amount of damage to John Connally's wrist which also validates the probability of the SBT; i.e., if that bullet that crashed into Connally's wrist had NOT gone through JFK first, it was determined that JBC's wrist would have been more severely damaged.

9.) Bullet fragments from Connally's wrist wound are consistent with bullet CE399 (with a very good degree of probability, those fragments came from that one exact bullet, "to the exclusion"; not 100% probability, true...but there's a high pct. of certainty that CE399 was inside JBC's body on 11/22/63).

10.) The incredible "coincidence" would exist -- if the SBT is wrong -- of having John Connally being hit in the back (by a turning-sideways bullet) at just precisely (or very close at any rate) the exact point on his far right back where he would have also been struck had a bullet coming out of JFK's neck at a downward trajectory of approximately 17 degrees continued on to strike Governor Connally. What do you suppose the odds are of this occurring via a separate non-SBT shot? Must be pretty remote (at best).

11.) And #10 probably had no way of happening in the first place...because JFK was in the gunman's line of fire when Connally was hit by the bullet that struck him in the back.

12.) And the amazing "coincidence" of THREE separate gunmen being able to pelt the two victims with bullet holes (from THREE different rifles, per any conspiracy-flavored account of the event) in such a perfect arrangement on the two men to make a "SBT" even remotely feasible or plausible in the first place. Such a perfect connect-the-wounds feat would be more appropriate within a Warner Brothers' Saturday-morning cartoon. (And yet CTers laugh at the SBT?? Get real.)

13.) And one of the biggest questions that shall never go away via any anti-SBT scenario --- WHERE ARE THE BULLETS that must "replace" the Single-Bullet Theory's CE399 bullet? Show the world just ONE. Please. (Of course, CTers really need three bullets to replace the SBT, if 399 is a "plant", as all CTers believe is the case -- but I would settle for just ONE measly non-399 bullet. I'd love to see it. But, alas, we never shall; because those anti-SBT bullets never existed in the first place.)

In short....the Single-Bullet Theory is a rock-solid fact, and has been since 11/22/63. Every scrap of evidence supports the SBT being the way the shooting occurred (CTer scorn notwithstanding). And, frankly, such CTer scorn and scoffing at the SBT is meaningless and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Because there hasn't been a single anti-SBT theory that has stood up to the overwhelming support and evidence that favors the SBT being true. And there never will be, IMO.

But it would be nice if the "Anti-SBT" crowd could at least make an attempt at putting forth a detailed analysis of the way the shooting supposedly happened by coming up with something that makes MORE sense than the SBT (if possible)....and something that PROVES the SBT is a wild dream concocted out of thin air by Arlen Specter and the Warren Commission....and PROVE that an anti-SBT theory can hold up to critical scrutiny when weighing it against the EVIDENCE in the case. (And blindly proclaiming "All the evidence is faked" just isn't good enough, in my view.)

I'm still awaiting that proof of the SBT being dead-wrong. And I think I'll be waiting for a long time to come.

---------------------------------------------------

THE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AND WHERE IT LEADS:

Anyone who bothers to study the documented PHYSICAL EVIDENCE in the two 11/22/63 murders (JFK's assassination plus policeman J.D. Tippit's killing, which many CTers, incredibly, feel was also not committed by Oswald) can easily see an "Oswald's Guilty As Sin" pattern emerging pretty quickly.

By "physical evidence", I'm talking about bullets, fragments, fingerprints, fibers, guns, and bullet shells. And where does all of that kind of stuff lead? -- Answer: To Lee H. Oswald and ZERO other people. Could ALL of this evidence have really been "faked" in order to frame lovely lil' Lee? If anyone thinks that is the case, I'd suggest re-thinking that mindset. (And then read Page #246 of Larry Sturdivan's excellent book "The JFK Myths", to see what that ballistics expert has to say on that subject of mass evidence fakery.)

Then study the eyewitness testimony of the 200+ Dealey Plaza witnesses. You'll easily find that the majority of witnesses did NOT think there were multiple shooters firing guns in the Plaza on 11/22/63. In fact, an incredibly-small percentile of less than 5% thought gunshots came from MULTIPLE directions. And a huge percentage of witnesses heard exactly three gunshots (including, to my knowledge, every single one of the news-gathering people in the media who were in a position to relay the immediate news of the shooting to the world via electronic means....radio, newswires, and television).

The Zapruder Film shows JFK's head moving forward at the MOMENT OF IMPACT AT Z313, proving that the shot struck from the rear. Plus, there's no visible "spray" at the REAR of the head, which is not at all possible if Mr. Kennedy had the BACK of his head blown open.

Has the Zapruder Film been faked too? Sorry, but that pro-conspiracy argument is almost as silly as the "Let's Use Several Different Riflemen To Frame Just One Patsy In The Book Depository" hunk of craziness that many theorists believe in (without noticing how utterly stupid such a "Patsy" plot is from every vantage point).

To anybody who doesn't have a tendency to scream "Cover-Up!" and "All This Evidence Is Fake!" at the drop of a hat, the evidence surrounding the JFK assassination is telling the world who it was who killed President Kennedy and policeman J.D. Tippit -- and that "who" was obviously Lee Harvey Oswald.

To believe otherwise is to place your faith in a vast conspiracy involving God knows how many total individuals -- including (no doubt) many members of the Dallas Police force -- a DPD which just had one of "their own" killed like a dog in the street and who, per many CTers, didn't hesitate for one moment as they forged ahead with the framing of an innocent man for Tippit's death; and thusly the DPD evidently couldn't have cared less about allowing the "real killer(s)" to walk away scot-free.

Doesn't that type of conspiracy-oriented mindset seem just a tad unrealistic when you think about it for a moment or two? A "CT" mindset, that is, which has the DPD willingly allowing the murderer(s) of a FELLOW OFFICER (AND FRIEND) to just waltz away with a "Free Murder" card?? That's just...insane.

But many CTers believe that to be the case re. the Tippit crime. And common sense ALONE tells me that kind of unsupported CT talk concerning Tippit and the Dallas Police is full of holes. Which, in turn, taints a CTer's whole conspiracy case swirling around the John F. Kennedy assassination, in my opinion.

---------------------

Was there a "Conspiracy In Camelot"? Sure there was -- there was a conspiracy among some individuals to keep President Kennedy's health issues a secret; and another conspiracy to keep JFK's constant womanizing a secret as well.

But there was no multi-gun "conspiracy" with respect to his assassination. The physical evidence which connects only Lee Harvey Oswald to the President's murder verifies that fact quite clearly -- and always has.