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Title: How steel back brace made JFK a sitting duck in Dallas
Source:
The Standard
URL Source: http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Opinion/FK27Df02.html
Published: Sep 9, 2009
Author: James Reston
Post Date: 2009-09-09 21:10:18 by Turtle
Keywords: None
Views: 1901
Comments: 135
Two years ago, historian Robert Dallek revealed new details about the extraordinary range of shots, stimulants and pills former United States President John F Kennedy took to control his physical pain and present his youthful image to the world. Important and interesting as these details are, they should not distract us from the one medical remedy that probably killed the president: his corset. Members of Kennedy's inner circle had often witnessed the painful ritual that Kennedy endured in his private quarters before he ventured in public, when his valet would literally winch a steel-rodded canvas back brace around the president's torso, pulling heavy straps and tightening the thongs loop by loop as if it was a bizarre scene out of Gone With the Wind. Once in it, the president was planted upright, trapped and almost bolted into a ramrod posture. Many would wonder how JFK could ever move in such a contraption. And yet move he did, and, besides his painkillers, his corset contributed to the youthful, high-shouldered military bearing that he presented glamorously to the world. But this simple device imparted a fate almost Mephistophelean in its horror to the sequence of events in Dallas 41 years ago. In researching my biography of governor John Connally of Texas 15 years ago, I was led to the critical importance of Kennedy's corset in the ghastly six seconds in November 1963 by a former Texas senator, the late Ralph Yarborough, who was in the motorcade that day. Yarborough growled softly about that ``damned girdle,'' and this led me to the remarks of two doctors, Charles James Carrico and Malcolm Oliver Perry, buried in Volume 3 of the 26-volume set of testimony that attended the Warren Commission report. In November 1963, Carrico was the 28-year-old resident in the emergency room of Parkland Hospital who first received the injured president in the trauma room; Perry came quickly to the emergency room to supervise the case - and then to pronounce the president dead a half-hour later. Before the Warren Commission, Carrico told of removing Kennedy's back brace in the first seconds after his arrival. He described the device as made of coarse white fibre, with stays and buckles. Apart from the never-ending controversy over how many bullets Lee Harvey Oswald actually fired from the Texas School Book Depository, most experts agree with the Warren Commission that Oswald's first bullet passed cleanly through Kennedy's lower neck, missing any bone, then entered Connally's back, streaking through the governor's body and lodging in his thigh. This was the first so-called magic bullet. When Connally was hit, he pivoted in pain to his left, his lithe body in motion as it swivelled downward, ending up in the lap of his wife, Nellie. But because of the corset, Kennedy's body did not act as a normal body would when the bullet passed through his throat. Held by his back brace, Kennedy remained upright, according to the Warren Commission, for five more seconds. This provided Oswald the chance to reload and shoot again at an almost stationary target. The frames of the Zapruder film confirm this ramrod posture: Kennedy's head turns only slightly in those eternal seconds, and his upper body almost not at all, from frame 225 (when the first shot entered his neck) to the fatal frame of 313. Without the corset, the force of the first bullet, travelling at a speed of 600 metres a second, would surely have driven the president's body forward, making him writhe in pain like Connally, and probably down in the seat of his car, beyond the view of Oswald's cross hairs for a second or third shot. With no bones struck and the spinal cord intact, the president almost certainly would have survived the wound from the first bullet. Both Carrico and Perry testified to this likelihood (and apropos of the decades-long controversy, both testified that the small, round, clean wound in the front of Kennedy's neck was an exit wound rather than an entry wound). To Perry, under the questioning of then-assistant counsel - now senator from Pennsylvania - Arlen Specter, the injury was ``tolerable''; the president would have recovered. Because the bullet had passed below the larynx, the wound would not even have impaired his speech later. In the new focus on cortisone shots, codeine painkillers, barbiturates, stimulants such as Ritalin, and gamma globulin injections, the simple corset needs to be emphasised, tragically, in the context of those medical strategies Kennedy used to create the illusion of the vigorous leader.
Poster Comment: I've always been amused by Kennedy "experts" who've pontificated to me about three shooters, the grassy knoll, his driver shot him...and not one of them knew Kennedy was straight-jacketed into his back brace, and that the throat shot was not fatal, indeed not even that bad of a wound.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 105.
#3. To: Turtle (#0)
This is the bullet that magically entered JFK's back, did a left hand turn, stopped and did a sharp 90 degree turn to exit his throat, hit Connally in the back, turn, exit, hit him in the wrist, turn, travel up his hand, turn, then hit in the leg, all without damaging the bullet at all... Here's a diagram of what the Warren Commission claimed happened. More info below;
Typical conspiracist nonsense from an ignoramus. The bullet hit Kennedy in the back, exited through his throat, tumbled upright, made a "keyhole" wound in Connely's back, exited, hit his wrist and bounced into his thigh. I will tell you what I tell all conspiracist crackpots: I will give you 10,000 years to prove your case, be it Kennedy or the "Truther" nonsense. You're never do it.
Have you ever fired a gun Turtle? Bullets are made of lead and deform when they enter soft tissue, and if they hit bone they fragment.
Have you ever fired a gun Turtle? Bullets are made of lead and deform when they enter soft tissue, and if they hit bone they fragment. You are truly an ignoramus. The bullet was steel-jacketed.
Loddy, you ever hear of such an animal? One would think that a steel jacket would weld itself to the barrel.
Turtle starts arguments that he can't finish and then we find him aflounder in his little pond vainly trying to right himself with nonsensical assertions. "Musta been a steel-jacketed bullet." There actually is such an animal for small arms. I know of a 7.62x39 armor piercing. It has a copper wash. Without it, yeah, it would indeed weld itself to the barrel. But I think you would look in vain for steel-jacketed munitions made for milsurp rifles of this vintage. Here's Wiki on the ammunition used in the purported JFK assassination weapon. "A 6.5 mm 160 gr (10 g). round-nosed fully copper-jacketed military-type bullet, of a type normally used in 6.5 mm military rifles (such as the Carcano) was found by Governor Connally's gurney in Parkland Hospital. This bullet (CE 399, see single bullet theory), and two bullet fragments found in the presidential limousine, were ballistically matched to the rifle found in the book depository building. A partial palm print of Oswald was also found on the barrel of the gun.[19]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_rifle
I will tell you what I tell everyone: I will give you 10,000 years to prove that anyone but Oswald killed Kennedy, or that there were remote-controlled airplanes and explosives in the WTC. You cannot do it.
On JFK: About the assassination: The Zapruder film contains all the evidence one needs. Kennedy is first hit while the limo is behind the large street sign--around Zapruder frames 216-220. As Kennedy comes into view front behind the street sign his arms are in motion to grasp at his throat. By the time he comes into view from behind the sign, this bullet is LONG gone. This bullet hit Kennedy in his back and exited out his throat and hit no one else. As the frames continue and at 230, Connally has turned back to his right and towards Kennedy who is, by then, clutching his throat in reaction to being hit during frames 216-220. In frame 230, Connally’s RIGHT wrist can be clearly seen HOLDING his Stetson at chin level. Connally HAS NOT been hit in frame 230. From 230 to when Connolly is hit in frame 238, Connally swings back towards the front of the car; his right wrist makes a sweeping motion down to the front and towards his left thigh; his torso becomes more perpendicular with the front of the limo. It is then, at frame 238, that Connally is hit. His cheeks puff out at frame 238 and the trajectory is set for a shot from top, back right going down through his chest (shattering ribs), hitting his right wrist (which, by that time, is atop his LEFT leg), with the bullet coming to rest at Connally’s left femur near his knee. The Zapruder film runs at 18 frames per second. Kennedy and Connally were hit by different bullets from different weapons from different angles one second apart. About 4.1 seconds after Connally was hit and at frame 313, Kennedy’s death shot came from level front right. Even a steel jacket round would exhibit deformity subsequent to inflicting bone damage as seen in Connally. The weight of the magic bullet and the bullet fragments left in Connally add up to more than the round under consideration, anyway. On this alone, the magic bullet theory is 100% bullshit. The magic bullet may well be the one that initially hit Kennedy and no one else. About who and why: Let’s review what President Kennedy was doing/did leading up to his murder. 1) In a fight with Israel over Israel obtaining and possessing nuclear weapons. 2) Wanted to take power away from the federal reserve. 3) a double cross in the Bay of Pigs 4) Cut a backroom deal with Khruschev during the Cuban missile crisis and made, in the eyes of some, too many concessions to Russia. 5) wanted to and WAS going get US out of Vietnam 6) was a northern catholic Yankee; charismatic and didn’t take shit from no one. 7) was going to divest the CIA of a lot of power 8) didn’t like or get along with Hoover/FBI 9) was a womanizer and shared Mafia women while brother Bobby declared war on the Mafia (condoned by JFK and which was seen as reneging on Mafia support for JFK‘s election). 10) would have been re-elected. Needless to say, JFK had a plethora of “enemies” both within and without the government. Whether or not LBJ actively participated in the actual assassination, his administration damn well covered it up. In my opinion a cabal of divergent interests came together to kill JFK and then cover it up. In November 1963, there was a coup d’etat . In my opinion, the orders came from the Zionists, American Big Business Elite (including the military-industrial complex [which, interestingly, Eisenhower had warned us all about]), and elements of the CIA. It was a confluence of interests and they employed underworld and untraceable actors to do the deed. I cannot say which of these interests led the cabal but am always partial to the saying “follow the money“--so I guess I would lean towards the Federal Reserve Power Masters as being the main driving force. Because of what transpired during the USS Liberty incident [see below], I tend to lean away from Israel/Mosaad as MAJOR players in JFK’s murder--I bet they were “pushing” the plan . (As an aside, there was no doubt that Bobby Kennedy was going to be elected. We see what happened to him. Teddy started drinking and just shut up.) The events following the assassination were nothing less than astounding: the Warren Commission; the magic bullet theory; Ruby killing Oswald then conveniently dying; the autopsy and lost evidence fiascos; the dead witnesses; on and on and on--all of it just surreal. In closing and addressing what I think may have prompted your query, Fred, was that I made a connection between LBJ, the USS Liberty and Israel. When the USS Liberty was attacked and despite the IDF immediately targeting the Liberty’s communications systems, the Liberty crew did get off a message to the Sixth Fleet. The Sixth Fleet (Admiral Larry Geis) then knew it was Israel perpetrating the attack. Geis dispatched fighters from his two carriers. That Americans other than those on the Liberty knew it was them, the IDF, attacking the Liberty AND that Americans who could actually shoot back were on the way, Israel backed off--but there were some behind the scenes activities rapidly occurring. Israel did not want Washington, DC to know that Israel was about to lay a sneak attack on and major escalation of the hostilities on its neighbors to the north and south. Some Israeli nationals have freely and openly opined that Israel thought that the Liberty/U.S. was either intentionally or unintentionally providing information on Israel's military movements to Israel's enemies and that, therefore, Israel justifiably did what it had to do to take the Liberty out AND/OR the Israeli military was going to sink the Liberty and blame Egypt. Had the IDF sent the Liberty and all hands to the bottom and thanks to the inordinate amount of control and influence Zionists and liberal Jews have over the American news and entertainment industries, most Americans would now think that Egypt did it. On to the connection: LBJ and McNamara RECALLED the fighters while the attack on ON!!! Un-f-ing believable!! The decision by Washington, DC to recall the fighter cover was abetting the IDF’s act of premeditated murder. This was treasonous. It was the Commander in Chief turning on his own troops. WHY, OH, WHY?? Why would Johnson recall fighter protection from an American ship under fire?? What could explain that? And, further, what could possibly explain the federal government’s subsequent handling of the entire Liberty affair--its treatment of the crew--its COVER UP? Israel. That’s what. Here is what I think is extremely probable and this all happened in an extremely short period of time. Israel said we’ll back off; you stop the fighters and we won’t go public about your [LBJ‘s] involvement with and/or in JFK’s murder. We’ll both say and maintain forever that it was all just a tragic case of mistaken identity. The deal was done. It is, therefore, that I make the connection between JFK, LBJ, the USS Liberty, and Israel. Now, could you, and completing our “deal”, specifically and exactly explain how and why, in your opinion, President Bush would say that Israel’s security and defense is vital to America and Americans--a true national interest of the United States including detailing the specific and exact benefits to America and Americans from the American-Israeli relationship.
It is, therefore, that I make the connection between JFK, LBJ, the USS Liberty, and Israel. I think you have it nailed. I've seen no other plausible explanation for LBJ's recall of the fighters.
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#8. To: FormerLurker (#3)
#14. To: Turtle (#8)
#17. To: FormerLurker (#14)
#29. To: Lod, Turtle (#17)
The bullet was steel-jacketed.
#42. To: Esso (#29)
#44. To: randge (#42)
Turtle starts arguments that he can't finish
#102. To: Turtle (#44)
I posted this here about five years ago and it seems this thread is a good place for a repost:
#105. To: wbales (#102)
Here is what I think is extremely probable and this all happened in an extremely short period of time. Israel said we’ll back off; you stop the fighters and we won’t go public about your [LBJ‘s] involvement with and/or in JFK’s murder. We’ll both say and maintain forever that it was all just a tragic case of mistaken identity. The deal was done.
Replies to Comment # 105.