Most tragic events are not directly related, nor a domestic Conspiracy

A rebuttal To "Talking with Jim Marrs about JFK and 9/11 Parallels" by Morgan Reynolds

Jim Marrs in a well-known and often featured conspiracy advocate, unfortunately his speculations and unsupported ideas have also gained fame. Instead of healthy skepticism and review of most evidence, Marrs is content to offer unverified views. Marrs asserts these subjects remain important to him, but his assertions often damage informed review. American history contains significant moments of loss and injustice and some officials have committed verified misdeeds, while others exhibited blatant incompetence. However, the vast majority were not involved in a murderous conspiracy. This does not mean officials have not used certain events to benefit themselves and their chosen special interests. Yet without substantial verified evidence to connect two points in history, both remain independent occurrences and tacit connections presented as substantial fail to prove many claims offered. 

"I liked him as a person but the churches here had told us that JFK in office meant the Pope would run the country. I was horrified by his murder, of course, but it was kind of a gift and cheered in the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) area. Just week before, UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was spit upon in Dallas amid cries to "Get out of the U.N." (Jim Marrs)i

Most of these claims are correct; however, the most important is pure speculation. Various preachers did claim President Kennedy would obey the Pope in Rome and others asserted the deadly event delighted some citizens. Yet unless Marrs has proof to substantiate a large group of people celebrating the assassination, the claim is unproven. Many have attempted to label Dallas the City of Hate since Kennedy's assassination, it is an untenable emotional distraction. No city, state, or country is responsible for the actions of a citizen or citizens by virtue of geography. Fringe political elements and their loud dissent cannot reasonably assign blame to a large area of Americans. The blame resides upon those who perpetrated the crime and the people residing in Dallas and Fort Worth bear no responsibility.

"The Secret Service guys were drinking at the Cellar Club the night before, but it was not about partying, they were violating Secret Service regulations, drinking vodka in grim fashion, whispering, trying to get their courage up or forget what was going to go down the next day." 

The Cellar NightClub was a Fort Worth Late night spot

Marrs again mixes fact with speculation, it is true the Secret Service did violate repeated protocols and some agents drank alcohol and had little sleep the night before the assassination.ii iii Delayed responses were definitely a contributing factor, however, this was the extent of verified evidence and Marrs diverges from evidence into grand speculation. Instead of attributing these mistakes to likely disregard and a desire to engage with strippers, Marrs claims the Secret Service had direct knowledge of a conspiracy. He assumes complicity because they were drinking and violating protocol. No primary evidence supports this claim, nor do most witnesses and it is unnecessary to attribute nefarious action to what corroborated misconduct explains.

"I remember talking to others, more than a hundred witnesses near the Grassy Knoll who heard a bang, then a pause, then a bang, bang, in a rapid fire sequence not possible with a bolt action rifle. There was synchronization, three salvos or volleys, as many as nine total shots fired..." 

Mr. Marrs' personal discussions and feasibly inaccurate count of witnesses again mixes truth with speculation, indeed dozens of witnesses did hear shots from the Grassy Knoll yet this number did not approach or exceed one hundred.iv v vi vii viii ix x xi xii The majority of witnesses are unquestioned in the aftermath and some important witnesses did hear a rapid-fire sequence, and some heard four shots.xiii xiv xv xvi Yet this does not support his extraordinary claim of three volleys and up to nine shots and his ideas are consistently inaccurate. Marrs additionally states officials arrested Oswald in a strange way and he mistakenly believes this is meaningful and infers nefarious action. Marrs finally offers substantial information by referencing the large amount of witnesses who substantiate a Grassy Knoll firing position but it becomes lost in his attempts inflate the number and perceive deeper implications without evidence.

"I wrote a major newspaper article about the Congressional JFK investigation and stated it was an inside job, a coup d'état, when the powers-that-be killed Kennedy in 1963. I began teaching a JFK class at UT-Arlington in 1976, and students could vote at the end of class and they voted unanimously that it was a coup d'état, there was no proof on the other side....The last two pieces of evidence pinning the crime on Oswald have recently collapsed..."

These bold claims and hearsay do not substantiate the many ideas Marrs presents and he is determined a conspiracy occurred without a substantial amount of decisive evidence in nineteen seventy-four. He taught a class on the subject before the evidence revealed during the House Select Committee on Assassinations was even a consideration. Marrs unfortunately seeks to use the vote in a class he taught as confirmation of his ideas and it fails to do so. Additionally, the claim neglects to account for his influence and control of information his students received, his seeming bias, and students desire to do well in his class.

His claim of no proof on the official side is also deficient, officials despite their many errors and acts of suppression do possess a significant amount of evidence. Most evidence gathered by the CIA and FBI was to implicate Oswald but verified information must enjoy consideration despite who offers it. Marrs seeks to dismiss large portions of evidence due to his disregard for officials but all the evidence must be reviewed to render a viable inquiry. Marrs then digresses into already determined official inconsistencies that do not prove a conspiracy. He again speculates that Dallas officials were complicit in illegal actions; he fails to consider incompetence and while many actions of involved authorities were dishonest and repressive, mistakes did occur repeatedly. His assertions including many connected individuals related to a conspiracy does not consider the likely chance of discovery.

"Well I have read the book reporting on the autopsy of JW's (John Wilkes Booth) remains in 1931 and Booth died in 1909. There is not much dispute about it. Then there is Roswell, New Mexico event over 400 witnesses and the government story that nothing happened there. Well something happened there...The globalists or New World Order types want to dissolve the USA." 

The International UFO Museum in New Mexico

John Wilkes Booth died April 26, 1865, he was surrounded the by Union military, shot, and later expired from his wounds and multiple witnesses were present and corroborate the death of Booth, including the military officer in charge.xvii xviii Unsurprisingly based on his past claims and review of the evidence Marrs remains incorrect and there is not much dispute of Booth's death in eighteen sixty-five after reviewing the evidence. Area 51 has long been the testing ground for experimental American military aircraft and while as Marrs suggests, "Well something happened there", it likely was not the mythical alien conspiracy. Explanations that are far more probable can be attributed these strange and unexplained events by decades of covert military operations.xix xx xxi xxii

The "globalists" Marrs refers to are once again a grand conspiracy theory with little evidence and while some international groups do seek to manipulate global events, world domination is not the agenda but financial profit. Manipulation of financial practices and law is a true threat; world domination is better left to film villains.xxiii xxiv Untenable theory regarding these matters creates improbable viewpoints and misinformation. Some critics are blind to reasonable criticism regarding official evidence and some advocates intentionally blind themselves to contending official facts and neither method is reasonable inquiry.
Sincerely,
C. A. A. Savastano

References:
i. Morgan Reynolds (September 22, 2006), Talking with Jim Marrs about JFK and 9/11 Parallels, nomoregames.net
ii.  Hearings of the President's Commission, Volume 5, Testimony of James J. Rowley and Robert Carswell, June 18, 1964, pp. 451, 454, 458, 459
iii. Jack Anderson, "American Exposé - Who killed JFK?", Saban Production, 1988
iv. Jefferson Morley, (November 21, 2007), “What Conspiracy Bashers Get Wrong”, Huffington Post, huffingtonpost.com
v. Stewart Galanor, (n.d.), “The Art and Science of Misrepresenting Evidence”, history-matters.com
vi. Hearings of the President's Com., Volume II, Testimony of Buell Frazier, p. 234
vii. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. XIX, Statement of William Newman, p. 490
viii. Hearings of the Pres. Com, Vol. III, Testimony of Roy Truly, p. 227
ix. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. VII, Com., Testimony of James Tague, p. 557
x. Hearings of the Pres. Com, Vol. XXII, Exhibit No. 1381, Deposition of Dorthy Ann Garner, p. 648
xi. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. VI, Testimony of Frank Reilly, p. 230
xii. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. VI, Vol. XIX, Sheriff's Report of Harold Elkins, p. 540
xiii. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. XVIII, Ex. 1024, Treasury Department Memo to J. Rankin, Statements of the Secret Service personnel, pp. 722-94. 
xiv. Report of the Pres. Com., Chapter 3, The Witnesses, p. 64
xv. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. VI, Testimony of Robert Edwin Edwards, p. 205.
xvi. Hearings of the Pres. Com., Vol. VI, Testimony of Ms. Jean Hill, pp. 205-07
xvii. Ashley Luthern (May 6. 2011), Documenting the Death of an Assassin, Smithsonian Magazine, smithsonianmag.com
xviii. Edward P. Doherty, "Pursuit and Death of John Wilkes Booth", Century Magazine Volume XXXIX, January, 1890
xix. Anthony Castellano, (August 16, 2013), Area 51 Revealed in CIA Spy Plane Documents, Good Morning America, abc.go.com
xx. Amanda Holpuch, (October 29, 2013), Area 51 hosted tests for 'secretly acquired' Soviet fighter jets, The Guardian, theguardian.com
xxi. George Knapp, (July 23, 2007), I-Team: New Top Secret Construction at Area 51, KLAS-TV Las Vegas, 8newsnow.com
xxii. Patrick J Kiger, (n.d.), Area 51: The Worst Kept Secret Around, National Geographic, natgeotv.com
xxiii. Christopher Alessi, and Mohammed Aly Sergie, (December 5, 2013), Understanding the Libor Scandal, Council on Foreign Relations, cfr.org
xxiv. Fixed Harmony - An admission of collusion exposes further legal woes, (December 7, 2013), The Economist, economist.com

Edited: March 2018