"Capturing Oswald"

[Martin White]

Against my better judgement I downloaded this and watched it this morning.

Right from the outset, with the VO "Before the conspiracy theories, there were just facts." it's a distorted, one sided crock of bull.

I've come to expect nothing more from the Discovery channel with regards to this case. There were so many lies, I forgot most of them, but my favourite was the retired DPD cop near the end who said "I thought we had the best police department in the world". Without the slightest reference to the numerous reversals from that era involving corruption in the PD and at the DA's office. Or without reference to any of the FUs in the evidence in this case.

Any program which uses Helen Markham as a witness AT ALL loses credibility, but this one makes her out to be the only witness! It's as though no breakthroughs occurred in the evidence after 11/24/63, or as though the AARB ever existed.

Oh, and their "consultant"? Dave Perry.

Apologies to those who have already seen this or discussed it.

[Albert Doyle]

American cable is basically CIA propaganda being pumped to a captive audience.

[Martin White]

And clearly they've no scruples about exporting it the UK either. The BBC has long since lost any investigative desire and only repeats the MSM line. And Murdoch's satellite TV company Sky broadcasts Discovery, National Geographic and the "History" Channel so there's no let up, and no channel that dares broadcast anything about conspiracies that isn't a pitying condescending askance look at the poor deluded Conspiracy Theorists.

[Tracy Riddle]

There was a time, decades ago, when there was a little room in the MSM for doubt and skepticism towards the official story. Not a lot of room, but it was permissible. Sometimes they even called Oswald the "alleged" or "accused" assassin. That all seems to have gone away in the last 15 years.

[Jim DiEugenio]

BTW, isn't this the one that Mr. Single Bullet Fact, Dale Myers, worked on?

[Martin White]

Since I've nothing much better to do at the moment, I watched the program again today and made a list of the contentious points I noticed. Others may want to correct my assumptions or fill in where I wasn't sure.



[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Minutes[/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Describing the motorcade route; "They had laid out 2 or 3 different routes for him to take but he decided to use the one going downtown" Jim Leavelle. "He" presumably being JFK, again falsely trying to blame JFK for his own death. In actuality JFK had nothing to do with selecting the parade route.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]"Within 9 seconds, three shots ring out" - VO. Might as well have said "within 20 seconds", to be honest.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Describing the scene as he looked into the limo on the way to Parkland: "There was blood and brains and hair on the jump seat in front of the President" James W Courson. Edited that way? Or did Courson really not see all the matter on the trunk and everywhere else? [Emphasis added][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]"In the pandemonium after the shooting, the policemens training kicks in. Officers who heard the shots race towards the TSBD." VO. And the Knoll, which isn't mentioned.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Caption showing "12.35pm", then VO says "Minutes later, eyewitnesses claim they saw a man with a rifle in one of the windows of the Depository. The police lock down the building, but it's too late. Oswald has already left the scene." The implication being that the police locked the building down shortly after 12.35. All my books and other materials are in the loft and I was unable to find a TSBD lockdown time on the the internet, but I thought it was nearer to 1pm when they locked down the Depository?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]Video shows Oswald taking his .38 from a drawer, take it out of the holster, and putting the holster back in the drawer. Was the empty holster listed among Oswald's possessions at the rooming house?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]"He walked 9/10 of a mile up to Tenth Street where he turned east, and was walking a pretty fast clip down Tenth Street when Tippitt came cruising along." Jim Leavelle

No-one actually saw Oswald walking on Tenth Street, did they? In fact, aren't there conflicting accounts as to which direction Tippitt's killer was walking prior to the car pulling up next to him.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]Caption puts the Tippitt shooting at 1:11pm. Regarding the witness which they don't identify as Helen Markham until later "She locks eyes with the killer. It's a face she won't forget" - VO. Except she did forget - she had a lot of trouble identifying Oswald to the WC.

Also, they depict Tippitt and the killer talking through an open passenger window. Pictures of the car after the shooting show the window rolled up.

No mention of the wallet found at the scene. Why would they not mention this? Maybe because this makes it the third wallet?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]Scene shows "Oswald" taking off his jacket and folding it over, then hiding it in between a number of cinder blocks. Wasn't it found under a car?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]Archive footage shows a DPD officer (Day?) in the TSBD dusting what looks like an entire MC shell i.e. the casing AND the bullet. Where did that go? Was this the live round that was in the chamber of the MC rifle?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]"The Captain got a hold of Mr Truly and asked him to do a head count on all of his employees and Oswald was the only one missing." Jim Leavelle. Carolyn Arnold also went home immediately after the shooting and was not present for the roll call.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]"At Love Field, new President Lyndon Johnson prepares to bring Kennedy's body back to Washington" VO. No mention of the struggle with Earl Rose to illegally remove the body from Parkland.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]Describing the reporters in the hall at the police station "Oswald knew they were out there, and that's exactly what he was looking for, was publicity, because when we had occasion to move him, Oswald, from our office up to the jail and back, you could tell that he was enjoying when they were throwing questions at him right and left." Jim Leavelle.

I have never seen ANY footage where Oswald could be described as enjoying the reporters' questions, in fact, there is one clip where he looks totally pissed off by having to repeat an answer. Maybe this was at the midnight press conference. If Oswald wanted publicity, why would be continue to deny both murders?[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]27[/TD]
[TD]Recreation shows Oswald appearing in an identification parade. "Oswald appears before several eyewitnesses to the Tippit murder, including Helen Markham; the woman who saw the shooting." VO [this is the first time they identify the witness they used in the recreation at 11 minutes.]

"And she picked him out without any trouble" Jim Leavelle. No mention of the fact that despite coaching before her testimony, Markham refused to identify Oswald as the killer before the Warren Commission. No mention either of the numerous problems with the lineups.

Also no mention that Assistant Counsel Joseph Ball of the WC describer her as "an utter screwball" and "utterly unreliable".[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]28[/TD]
[TD]"They [DPD] had collected enough evidence to make a prosecution almost a certainty." Dave Perry.

Strange then, that Hoover told LBJ that the case wasn't strong enough for a prosecution. I don't recall exactly when Hoover told LBJ this, but it was before Oswald was killed so I'm guessing it was Saturday night.

"They found … a palmprint on the rifle." VO. Not by Saturday night, they didn't. In fact, it only appeared after Oswald was dead.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]The midnight press conference. No mention of Jack Ruby being there, correcting DA Wade on the FPCC, or how he got into the police station.

"He continues to protest his innocence, whilst playing to the reporters." - VO[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Now this was just some of the howlers that I noticed. There are probably more of them to be found.

[Martin White]

BTW, isn't this the one that Mr. Single Bullet Fact, Dale Myers, worked on?

Myers is not credited on the ending credits at all.

[Drew Phipps]

According to Gerald Posner in "Case Closed," (p. 269) the officers had the TSBD locked down by 12:45 CST.

[Tracy Riddle]

Good summary, Martin.

According to Gerald Posner in "Case Closed," (p. 269) the officers had the TSBD locked down by 12:45 CST.

I remember Weisberg (in Whitewash) arguing that the TSBD wasn't locked down until 1 - 1:30pm, and even that was questionable.