John Barbour: Averill Harriman ordered the assassination

[Cliff Varnell]

Thanks for your reply Cliff. I still don't see any real evidence of Harriman's involvement in the assassination.

I think we're looking at Harriman's possible knowledge of the plot.

The Wise Men, Walter Isaakson & Evan Thomas, pg 640:

[11/22 Harriman's Chief of Staff] Bill Sullivan found Averell Harriman that afternoon sitting on the edge of his chair, in front of a television set, holding his head in his hands.

Sounds like Harriman was extremely uptight that afternoon.

That bit about "US gov't top Kremlinologists" was clearly a lie.

He may have been full of it regarding his opinion about what "top Kremlinologists" had said and yes, it was way too soon to conclude that but how does that equate to "ordering the assassination" which is what this discussion is about?

I'm laying out my approach to the case, your mileage will vary no doubt. Look for the liars. Like Bundy:

The President Has Been Shot. Charles Roberts (p. 141) A reporter for Newsweek Roberts was on AFI and met McGeorge Bundy at Andrews.

I remember looking at (McGeorge) Bundy because I was wondering if he had any word of what had happened in the world while we were in transit, whether this assassination was part of a plot. And he told me later that what he reported to the president during that flight back was that the whole world was stunned, but there was no evidence of a conspiracy at all.

11/23 George HW Bush called the FBI to put the finger on fellow Young Republican James Parrott. Liar.

The evening of 11/22 Jock Whitney went into his office at the New York Herald Tribune to write an editorial identifying Oswald as a lone psychopath. Liar.

Harriman, Bundy and Bush were Skull & Bones.

Whitney, Harriman and Bush had pads in uber-exclusive Jupiter Island, Florida.

The cover-up was directed by high level WASPs.

And even if he was lying as you claim he was he would have only been lying about his certainty that there was no Soviet involvement because in actual fact, there wasn't any! And again, there were many, many people in government discounting the possibility of any conspiracy , Soviet or otherwise, without having any more basis for their opinions than Harriman had for his. Were they all conspirators?

At 7pm EST 11/22/63 there was one guy pushing the no-conspiracy story -- McGeorge Bundy.

There was more activity painting Oswald as a Red agent.

Bill Kelly compiled the following:

6)Julio Fernandez, one of three anti-Castro Cubans whose boat was financially supported by Clair Booth Luce, called Luce, wife of the publisher of Time-Life on the evening of the assassination to report information on Oswald's activities in New Orleans. Fernandez, a former Cuban publisher, was married to an attorney who worked for Catholic Welfare Services in Miami.

7)In Miami, shortly after the assassination, Dr. Jose Ignorzio, the chief of clinical psychology for the Catholic Welfare Services, contacted the White House to inform the new administration that Oswald had met directly with Cuban ambassador Armas in Mexico.


8)In Mexico City, David Atlee Philips of the CIA debriefed a Nicaraguan intelligence officer, code named "D," who claimed to have seen Oswald take money from a Cuban at the Cuban embassy. [see: Alvarado Story]


10)Brothers Jerry and James Buchanan, CIA propaganda assets, began promoting the Castro-did-it theme immediately. According to Donald Freed and Jeff Cohen (in Liberation Magazine), the source of the Buchanan's tales was the leader of the CIA supported International Anti-Communist Brigade (IAB). "Back in Miami," they wrote, "a high powered propaganda machine was cranking out stories that Oswald was a Cuban agent…" Sturgis is quoted in the Pampara Beach Sun-Sentinel as saying that Oswald had talked with Cuban G-2 agents and fracassed with IAB members in Miami in 1962.

None of this proves Harriman-dunnit, but it does make him a Person of Interest deserving closer scrutiny.