by H. N. Lloyd
Of course there are holes in this theory you could drive a double-decker bus through. Let’s just start on the theorist’s grasp of Masonic history; to show how well they did their research. The theorist’s are blatantly wrong when they pontificate on wounds allegedly inflicted on Hiram Abiff. Abiff was not struck on the back, throat and head, but rather had two glancing blows to his upper torso, not his throat or back, and one blow to the front of his cranium, not the rear. Also Lee Harvey Oswald is not stood in a Masonic pose in the famous photograph of him holding his newspaper and guns as alleged. There is one well known image of a person dressed as a Masonic candidate, where both Oswald and the candidate hold their legs in a similar position; in both their respective photographs, but the Masonic candidate is quite clearly not partaking of any Masonic ritual when the photograph was being taken, he is not stood in a deliberate Masonic pose, he is simply meant to be displaying the Masonic regalia of initiation whilst stood in a casual pose. The theorists who espouse these two points as fact are either genuinely mistaken as they have not taken the time to research Masonic lore properly, or they are deliberately trying to mislead their readers by shoring up what is at best very shaky coincidences into some hash of a conspiracy. There is also the small fact that according to some researchers there is a lot of historical animosity between the Catholic Church and the Freemasons. The Catholic Church outlawed Freemasonry, made being a member of its group heresy. Many Freemasons were tortured and burnt at the stake for being a member of its illustrious conclaves. The outrages performed against Freemasonry by the Catholic Church, and the animosity it created within the charitable organisation; are cited as the number one major reason for the Freemasons becoming secretive in the first place. Without the catholic churches interventions and persecutions Freemasonry would never have had to have gone underground. Why then an organisation such as Freemasonry, with such a tumultuous history with Catholicism, would suddenly start taking orders from the Pope is beggar’s belief. As for Dealey Plaza being the site of the first Masonic Temple in Dallas, well, it was also the site of the first Post Office, so you can see from this that it no more means that a group of Freemasons murdered President Kennedy, than it does that a group of disaffected postal workers did.
No, this entire theory is hokum, I always stand by the adage that if it wouldn’t stand up in court, then you haven’t got a case to answer. If you put this nebulous and preposterous theory before a jury it wouldn’t just not stand up; it would be laughed right out of the courthouse.
The Israeli Connection
Did the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion become so frustrated with President Kennedy’s attempts to thwart his dreams of Israel becoming a nuclear power; that he conspired with President Kennedy’s enemies to murder him? Was this decision spurred on by Mr Ben-Gurion’s belief that President Kennedy came from a family of anti-Semites, and that President Kennedy’s desire to block Israelis attempts to develop nuclear weapons stemmed from this anti-Semitism? Well that is the unbelievable theory put forward by Michael Collins Piper in his book ‘Final Judgement’.
It was the Jim Garrison investigation into the activities of Clay Shaw that first led Piper to the Israeli connection. Garrison had uncovered that Clay Shaw was on the board of directors of a company called Permindex; a little bit more research into this company revealed that one of its major shareholders was Banque De Credit International, an organisation based in Geneva. This company in turn had been founded by an individual called Tibor Rosenbaum, a key financier of Mossad in those early years of the Israeli state. Further research suggested that Banque De Credit International regularly laundered money for the ‘Mobsters accountant’ Meyer Lansky, one of the key players in the Cuban Casino business and major lobbyist in wanting Cuba ‘liberated’ so it could be put back under Mob rule. Permindex had further dubious connections to others who were allegedly involved in the various conspiracies against President Kennedy. Permindex owned a subsidiary company called Centro Mondiale Commerciale, a company that was a known front for CIA operations in Italy and France. So it seemed telling that the Chairman of Permindex, a company that had links to the CIA, Meyer Lanskey, and the Mob, just also happened to be another key financier of Israel in the early years of its existence, one Louis M. Bloomfield.
President Kennedy was against Israel gaining nuclear capabilities for eminently sensible reasons; given the state of the world stage during the early 1960’s. It was a time of turbulence in Israel and Palestine, were strike and counter strike and invasion and counter-invasion happened regularly. Kennedy felt that allowing Israel to develop nuclear bombs would only lead to growing tensions in the Arab regions, and that by ensuring that they did not have a nuclear option it would force Israel to take a more ‘moderate’ approach to its diplomatic troubles. Indeed the CIA in a confidential memo to President Kennedy in March 1963 stated that if given the opportunity to develop nuclear weapons Israel would, ‘seek to exploit the psychological advantages of its nuclear capability to intimidate the Arabs... It would probably feel freer than it does now to take vigorous retaliatory action... And it would probably make propaganda underlining the impotence of the principal Arab governments in the face of Israeli power, and would thereby seek to compound Arab frustrations and to promote disunity in the Arab world’. Further concerns were that if given nukes; Israel would use them to force America’s hand in supporting policies that were not necessarily in America’s favour. The CIA feared that this in turn would destabilise the Middle East as a whole, causing ‘acts of violence directed against the real or presumed friends and accessories of Israel...charges of US complicity in the Israeli achievement would be widely made and widely believed in the Arab world. The anti-US sentiments implicit in certain Arab nationalist doctrines would be strengthened. US influence with the Arabs...would be drastically reduced’. The greatest fear was the escalation of destructive capability this would cause in the Middle East, that Israel developing nuclear weapons would be the first step toward a mutually assured destruction in the area, ‘Nasser (President of the United Arab Republic) would contemplate, and might embark upon, a nuclear weapons program of his own... Nasser might claim to have nonnuclear weapons of mass destruction, chemical or biological, and might even make an effort to develop some capability along these lines’. There was even concern that if Israel developed nuclear weapons it would further the seemingly indomitable spread of Communism, as the Arab nations turned to Soviet Russia for protection, ‘It is conceivable that the Soviets might place nuclear weapons on Arab territory, retaining them under Soviet control. This might involve no more than a few bombs which could be dropped by Egyptian aircraft... Or, it might go so far as the establishment of missile bases, with an extensive Soviet military presence... the Soviets would substantially enhance their influence and position throughout the Middle East, and perhaps find the basis for a firmer Bloc-Arab alignment against the West than they have so far been able to achieve’. Such a chilling report, highlighting such dire consequences would have put President Kennedy dead against any Israeli development of nuclear capabilities, and so it was that President Kennedy used his considerable influence to block the Israeli nuclear program.
In ‘Final Judgement’, Piper claimed that President Kennedy’s stance in refusing to allow Israel the chance to develop nuclear weapons commenced a ‘secret war’ between the two nations, that only ended when President Kennedy was assassinated, and President Johnson immediately dropped his predecessor’s resistance to Israel developing a nuclear option. So a cabal of powerful forces came together against President Kennedy, Mossad, the CIA and the Mob. The plan they developed was simple, Mossad would foot the bill, The Mob would do the hit, the CIA would do the clean up, and they would all get what they wanted out of President Kennedy’s death. The CIA would be saved from destruction and would no longer live under the threat of being torn into a thousand pieces and scattered to the wind, the Mob would no longer be persecuted by the unfaithful Kennedy clan, and Israel would get its nuclear
bomb.
Other than the possible connections the alleged conspirators had to an obscure company and its subsidiaries, the only proof of such a wild conspiracy was the word of Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician who had spent eighteen years in prison for selling Israeli nuclear secrets to the British press. Despite only being nine at the time of President Kennedy’s assassination, Vanunu stated to the Al-Hayat newspaper that there were ‘near-certain indications’ that Israel had been involved in the assassination. Despite this resounding endorsement of the theory, the odds against a conspiracy of this nature working would be astronomical. For starters ensuring the silence of all those involved after the event would be a monumental task, especially considering the incredibly flaky nature of some of those allegedly involved. One of the alleged key conspirators, Meyer Lanskey, was eventually caught by the FBI thanks to the bugging of his home and office, and during this period he was proven to be a character unable to keep his mouth shut, and not boast and blab about all his ventures and criminal activities to boost his criminal standing. A man like him would surely have told someone about his participation in something as big as a Presidential murder. Further evidence that disproves this theory are the declassified documents and memos; which revealed that the CIA were just as scared by the thought of Israel getting nuclear weapons as President Kennedy was. It would be highly unlikely given the CIA’s stance just eight months before the assassination, that they would go on to conspire to create just such a dreaded inevitability. Sadly when it was released, and Final Judgement was met with almost universally scathing reviews, Piper’s supporters ungraciously fell upon the old anti-Semitic rejoinder, that he had been smeared and his work unfairly discredited by a media that is controlled by Jewish influences.
President Kennedy and the Men From Mars
Is it possible that President Kennedy was getting too close to discovering the best kept secret America had at the time of his murder? That he was on the verge of uncovering the existence of extra-terrestrial life on earth? During the 1950’s and 60’s America’s love affair with the UFO phenomena was at its height. It had all began in 1947, when Roswell Airbase in New Mexico sent out a press release stating it had in its possession the remains of a downed ‘flying saucer’. This became worldwide headline grabbing news; before a retraction of the statement was made less than twenty-four hours later, and the story was put about that the captured flying saucer had simply been a weather balloon that had been misidentified. Yet this incident spawned a love affair with the subject that still infatuates people to this day. For a while the American government took the ‘threat’ of UFO’s seriously. Instead of the derision the subject is officially met with today, the CIA launched Project Bluebook, a secret operation to catalogue; and if they possibly could explain, any previously unexplained aerial phenomenal. The great fear was that flying saucers and UFO sighting might have been incidents involving prototype soviet spy ships that posed a clear and present danger to American airspace. On Tuesday the 12th of November 1963, just ten days before his murder, President Kennedy made an official request to the CIA for access to all relevant information the CIA had on UFO phenomena; which affected ‘National Security’. President Kennedy wanted the CIA to arrange ‘a program of data sharing with NASA’, in order to help NASA’s Mission Directors clearly define their ‘defensive responsibilities’. Researcher, Timothy Cooper, claimed that he was leaked a memo that the CIA had tried to burn, in which the Director of the CIA stated ‘Lancer’ the CIA’s codename for President Kennedy, ‘has made some inquiries regarding our activities, which we cannot allow... Please submit your views no later than October. Your action to this matter is critical to the continuance of the group’. It is argued therefore; that the CIA’s response to President Kennedy’s request for the UFO files was to murder him whilst he was visiting Dallas.
To claim that President Kennedy was assassinated to stop him discovering the truth about how much America really knew about extra-terrestrial life and technology is to misunderstand what President Kennedy was actually asking for in his original memo to the CIA. At the time President Kennedy was exploring the possibility of a unique and groundbreaking program of co-operation with the Soviet government, in order for America to work with the Soviets in the space race. Rather than America spending billions trying to send a man to the moon, President Kennedy dared to consider sharing the cost with the Russians, a joint endeavour that could stir the hopes and spirits of both nations; without the endeavour being sullied by embittered national pride. However it transpired that America weren’t the only ones being troubled by UFO’s. Russia’s secret service had been worried by the phenomena too, and Kennedy wanted information which he could show to the Russians; to prove that the UFO’s were not America’s doing, America were not technologically more advanced in the space race than the Russians were, and his request for co-operation in the space race wasn’t simply a cover for an extended spying mission. Kennedy was also concerned after the Cuban Missile Crisis that the Russian’s might mistake a UFO for an act of American aggression, and that it might trigger a nuclear holocaust. President Kennedy was not in the least bit interested about finding out if the intelligence services had little green men hidden away somewhere, or if they had downed alien technology they were secretly trying to retro-engineer. No, all President Kennedy wanted was information he could use to help prevent a nuclear war. His request was no were near serious enough for anyone to want him dead for simply asking. If the intelligence services did have such information hidden away, then they could have happily have kept it hidden, all President Kennedy wanted and needed to be given was information freely available to him via Project Bluebook, which would have proven to the Russians that America was being plagued by the strange areal phenomena too.
Conclusion
In recent years there has been a backlash against the conspiracy buffs and their theories; cumulating in three major studies into the assassination concluding that Oswald acted alone; and that Jack Ruby reacted out of his insurmountable grief. Gerald Posner, Vincent Bugliosi and Martin Fido believe any explanation other than the lone gunman hypothesis is just too fantastical. What do I think? I honestly came to this piece as a believer in the official lone gunman theory. I was persuaded away from talk of conspiracy by the respective works of Messrs Posner, Bugliosi and Fido. Carrying out my own research my perspective changed. For my liking there are far too many inconsistencies and contradictions in the official narrative, too many assumptions and perversion of facts. Now as I have stated many times before; anyone can point to the numerous holes and contradictions in a work as detailed as the Warren Commission; without it necessarily meaning that its conclusion as a whole are invalid; but when facts have been deliberately changed and misrepresented to support a pre-determined conclusion; then in my opinion the entire work is compromised.
After thoughtful and careful consideration of the facts I believe that Oswald acted as part of conspiracy involving the Mafia; who wanted a more pro-war President; a President who would hopefully wage war against Cuba. After the Presidential murder; fear of public pressure pushing America towards a Third World War with Soviet Russia; who appeared the likely paymasters of the accused gunman; given Oswald's history of defection and Marxism, caused the American government and Intelligence Agencies to enter into a benign; knee jerk cover-up of the facts. This was all to stop a potential Third World War from happening; and once the government started down that road; even when they realised Oswald wasn’t part of a Soviet plot; there was no turning back. As a result; over the decades that followed the inconsistencies in the case were discovered; the conspiracy detected; and more and more sinister motivations attributed as to the reasons for the cover-up. Why might you ask were the Mafia never brought to book if they were involved in President Kennedy's murder? I think the likeliest answer to this is that the American government still hoped one day to oust Fidel Castro; and they would have been concerned that public knowledge of President Kennedy being murdered
to hasten this war; could have made any prospective military engagement over Cuba publically unpopular as a result. Added to this the fact that the Mafia were heavily in bed with the CIA; it could have given the CIA real fears that they would be falsely incriminating themselves in the eyes of the public; or indeed that the Mafia could blackmail them over the cover-up. There will of course be numerous people who disagree with this conclusion. I'm aware that it’s not perfect; but in a case where there is such conflicting evidence; and a half century of deceit muddying the waters of truth; a best fit solution; I believe; is all we can hope for.
All we can do for certain is remember a President who wasn't perfect; who only got to power threw fraudulent means; but who wanted to change the world for the better; a President who saved the world from nuclear holocaust on numerous occasions, and who; if given the chance, could have saved a nation a decade of war and bloodshed. In the end all we can hope for is that such a flawed and noble person will come forward again when they are needed, and that when he (or she) does; next time around their contribution to world history is recognised by all; and their thanks for that contribution won't simply be a bullet from a snipers rifle.