29-12-2016, 02:33 AM
Joseph McBride Wrote:I am surprised that Hay twists things unconvincingly to try to disprove
Douglas Horne, who has the evidence on the body
alteration by Dr. Humes before the official autopsy.
Martin Hay's review of A Coup in Camelot is akin to fake news. He repeatedly makes absurd arguments and misrepresents the record. For years--this London-based Kennedy buff (who I am told is a postman)--cannot abide the thesis put forward in Best Evidence.
The case for body alteration was laid out--chapter and verse--in Best Evidence, which was published (by Macmillan) in January 1981, and was a NY Times best seller and a Book of the Month Selection; and was then republished by three more publishers (Dell, Carrol and Graf (trade paper); and New American Library).
Some of the nonsense promoted in his review:
--that the major head wound reported in the Bethesda autopsy is really the same wound as was present in Dallas, but its true extent wasn't seen in Dallas because "Jackie closed the wound" by pushing down a flap of scalp" etc. --this nonsense promoted by Gary Aguilar. I call this the "Dutch door" version of the head wounds. Just "close the flap" and it isn't there. For those who are interested in details, Dr. Perry described the flap that he observed --in detail--to writer Jimmy Breslin and that flap was at the back of the head. This account was published within two days (in the St Louis Post Dispatch) and then reprinted, word for word, in a December 1963 issue of the Saturday evening post.
--That doctor Humes really did have to do work with a saw to remove the brain; ignoring what Dr. Humes testified to the Warren Commission: "We had to do virtually no work with a saw. . " etc.
--that there was no pre-autopsy because, well, because Martin hay says so(!). Yes, its practically that bad. Go read Chapter 18 of Best Evidence, where the facts are laid out, chapter and verse, including the non-negotiable fact--not "fact"--that the scalp was "flapped" before the official autopsy began. There were four symmetric scalp tears laid out on the first two pages of the autopsy report. It is all spelled out in B.E. (And it is all ignored by Hay).
--that Navy Commander Stringer said that the autopsy photos he took are the ones in evidence. FALSE. I interviewed Stringer in Aug/September 1972, when I accompanied Wecht to the archives, and what he said is quoted, at length, in Chapter 20 of Best Evidence. The hole in Kennedy's head was located at the back of the head, exactly where your head touches the floor of a bathtub, when you are lying on your back. I questioned Stringer carefully, and he used proper anatomical language. The hole was located in the occipital-parietal area--but that's where the autopsy photographs show no hole at all. (And that was exactly what Godfrey McHugh told me when I interviewed him in November 1967). Martin Hay: liar, liar, pants on fire. Do you really think you're going to fool "all of the people all of the time," simply because you write falsehoods in your review? (And what about you, DiEugenio: did it ever occur to you that its irresponsible to publish such garbage?)
--that the official report of the casket team is wrong, in stating that the body was brought in at 8 pm (this is the second entry of the Dallas casket, this time, with the body); and why is it wrong? Simply because. . well, simply because Martin Hay says so (!). Again, more fake news.
--That Dennis David's account of the arrival of the body in a shipping casket, in a black hearse, is incorrect because--well, again, because FNC ("Fake News Correspondant") Martin Hay says so. Apparently, Hay conveniently omits the powerful corroboration coming from witness Donald Rebentisch, of Grand Rapids Michigan, and who came forward the week B.E. was published--and was given a full two-page spread in TIME magazine. This was a wire-service account, and I then interviewed Rebentisch on camera, His account was included as an "Epilogue to the 1982 Edition" (and in all subsequent editions). So not only did Dennis David witness this (6:35 pm, approx) arrival; so did Rebentisch. Dennis David was on the 2nd floor, and saw the naval ambulance arrive 20 minutes later; Rebentisch was in the lobby, and saw Jackie ready to board the elevator. There's no question about the sequence, unless you live in a bubble, like Martin Hay, and write for DiEugenio, who will publish such junk on his website.
--the evidence of spinal cord severence, found at autopsy. See chapter 18 of Best Evidence.
There's so many other points I could make, but there's no time. What Sylvia Meagher once said of the Warren Commission applies to Martin Hay: "The use of the English language in the service of obfuscation and guile."
David S. Lifton - - 12/28/16
Author: Best Evidence
Los Angeles, California