Glaring inconsistencies of the Warren Commission's findings, growing public skepticism in the wake of ongoing revelations, and the strange deaths of JFK assassination witnesses prompted the convening of the House Assassinations Commitee in 1979. They came to the conclusion that a second gunman fired at Kennedy from the grassy knoll area of Dealy Plaza.(4) More recently, British forensic scientists, reviewed the evidence and came to the conclusion that there was a 96.3% certainty that a fourth and final shot originated from the grassy knoll.(5)

A host of presumably independent researchers have since published works that paint a picture of the intelligence establishment, organized crime, and Cuban-exile terrorists acting together to commit the murder and cover it up.(6) New Orleans District Attorney, Jim Garrison, brought the only charges for that crime to date. Those charges allege that CIA agent, Clay Shaw, was at the heart of the plot to kill the president. He succeeded in convincing the jury, and by extension much of the public, that the murder was the result of a conspiracy. He failed, however, to bring sufficient evidence to jail Shaw as witnesses were killed off or otherwise intimidated into silence (or into lying).(7)

But why did it happen? JFK was a ruthless politician, and his policies were increasingly liberal and progressive. Domestically, he supported the civil rights movement enough to anger most in the right-wing. His foreign policy was moving in the direction of detante with the Soviets after both nations almost plunged the world into a nuclear holocaust over a dispute about missile deployment in Cuba. Kennedy refused to offer air support for the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba; dooming the operation to failure. He then publicly accepted responsiblity for the affair, fired the CIA's top executives, and vowed to "...splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds."(8)

Researchers point to National Security Action Memorandum # 263 as the straw that broke the camel's back. That memorandom proposes a withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam.(9) It outlines the immediate removal of 1000 advisors by the end of 1963. The enduring questions about the assassination prompted yet another committee to investigate the matter in the form of the Assassination Records Review Board. They released 800 pages of Joint Chiefs of Staff documents that plan for ending direct US military involvement in Vietnam. An October 4, 1963 memo from General Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs stated that, "All planning will be directed towards preparing RVN (South Vietnamese) forces for the withdrawal of all U.S. special assistance units and personnel by the end of calendar year 1965." A few weeks later, JFK was murdered and President Johnson immediately reversed these policies for the region.(10) 16,300 American personnel were stationed in South Vietnam at the time Kennedy was assassinated. In five years, 536,000 would be there and 58,000 soldiers would die before it was over.

"Let us, if we can, step back from the shadows of war
and seek out the way of peace. And if that journey is
one thousand miles, or even more, let history record
that we, in this land, at this time, took the first step."
-John F. Kennedy
on concluding the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty between the USA, the UK, and the USSR(11)

Currently, the questions about 9-11 prompted the establishment of a modern day Warren Commission. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (estblished last year) is responsible for answering those questions and setting up the nation for the official spin. The Bush administration did all it could to stonewall the establishment of the commission but had to capitulate under the constant pressure from the victims' families. Bush even attempted to appoint Henry Kissinger to chair it. To this day there has been scant coverage of the commission's momentous developments in the mainstream media.(12)

The Bush Administration is still attempting to withold key presidential briefings that would shed light on the what really happened on 9/11. Democracy Now reports (citing a Washington Post article) that the pResident is directing the course of the investigation by controlling "...what briefings can be seen and on what portions of the briefings may be shared with the rest of the commission. The White House is also demanding it review any notes that commissioners take concerning the documents." This development outraged some of the commission members prompting former Senator and commission member Max Cleland to declare on CNN, "The White House gets to cherry-pick how much access the nation's commission looking into 9/11 gets to crucial documents. I'm ready to vote for subpoenas right now."(13)

"If this decision stands, I, as a member of the commission,
cannot look any American in the eye, especially family
members of victims, and say the commission had full access.
This investigation is now compromised."
-Max Cleland
Former Senator and member of The National Commission
on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States refering to
White House policies regarding the sharing of presidential
briefings with the commission (14)

Independent research and activism is the way to get at the truth, not likely to be found from sources in the government and the corporate owned media. Thus, some of the families of the victims have set up the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission. They are trying to get the answers not forthcoming from the White House or the media about 9/11. They ask such pointed questions as, "Intelligence was told in March of 2001 to back off investigating terrorists. Who gave the order? Why?"(15) The independent commission asks, "A briefing prepared for senior government officials at the beginning of July 2001 contained the following language: 'Based on a review of all source reporting over the last five months, we believe that UBL (Usama bin Laden) will launch a significant attack against U.S. and/or Israeli interests in the coming weeks. The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.' How did Bush and his team respond to this dramatic and accurate warning? What intelligence was this heads-up based upon?"(16) The intelligence agencies of eleven different countries provided advance warnings that the attacks were forthcoming and 2 Israeli Mossad agents warned of a large-scale terrorist operation and named four of the alleged hijackers, none of whom were arrested.(17)

Alarmingly, five of the alleged hijackers were trained in US military bases.(18) Contrary to procedure, Fighter aircraft were not deployed after contact with the airliners was broken and their flight paths dramatically reversed until an hour and a half later. The FAA didnt notify NORAD about losing contact with Flight 11 until 32 minutes later.(19) Rather than aggressively acting to prevent and prosecute terrorism, the FBI and CIA have acted to prevent adequate investigations of the same. Before 9/11, FBI personnel, such as Colleen Rowley and Special Agents Robert Wright and John Vincent, had their inquiries and evidece of terrorist activity suppressed by the Bureau.(20) During the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when all other flights were suspended, the Bush administration allowed groups of 140 Saudi's, including relatives of Bin Laden, to secretly fly away without being interviewed by the FBI.(21) After 9/11, senior intel officials have been pressuring congressional investigators to remove information about supposed Saudi government involvement in the affair.(22) Clearly, there is enough evidence that the White House and intelligence agencies had forknowledge of the attacks and that they are trying to cover it up (at the very least).(23)

But why did it happen THIS TIME ? Former British Labour MP Michael Meacher lambasted the Bush administration, calling their war on terrorism bugus, and declaring, "We now know that a blueprint for the creation of a global Pax Americana was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice-president), Donald Rumsfeld (defense secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), Jeb Bush (George Bush's younger brother) and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses, was written in September 2000 by the neoconservative think tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC)."(24) That plan shows the intention by the Bush regime to take control of the Gulf region well in advance of 9/11 and it is unlikely that Americans would have supported an imperial invasion of the region without a pearl harbor-like event to urge them onto a war footing. 'Rebuilding America's Defenses' goes on to outline a plan for the future that includes "regime change" in China, renewed deployment of American forces in Southeast Asia, and the development of US military forces for the conquest of space. It also plans for the complete control of cyberspace (enjoy indymedia while you can). And most chillingly, it talks about developing biological weapons "that can target specific genotypes [and] may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool".(25)

The reason for 9/11 and the cover up might have something to do with the fact that the West is running out of hydrocarbon energy. In the next few years its is projected that the middle east nations will control 60% of the world's oil supply and 95% of world export of oil resources.(26) Meacher further cites evidence of forknowledge and complicity by the Bush Administration: "A report prepared for the U.S. government from the Baker Institute of Public Policy stated in April 2001 that 'the U.S. remains a prisoner of its energy dilemma. Iraq remains a destabilizing influence to... the flow of oil to international markets from the Middle East'. Submitted to Vice-President Cheney's energy task group, the report recommended that because this was an unacceptable risk to the U.S., 'military intervention' was necessary."(27)

"It’s a chilling thought, made more chilling by the assassination of John Kennedy.
The accusations linger. In some minds, the suspicions persist of a dark unsolved
conspiracy behind his murder. You can dismiss them, as many of us do, but knowing
now what our secret government planned for Castro, the possibility remains:
Once we decide that anything goes, anything can come home to haunt us."
-Bill Moyers reporting on the history of the secret government dirty tricks
including the assassination attempts on Cuba's Fidel Castro.(link to video)

(1)Meacher, Michael, This War On Terrorism is Bogus, The Guardian (link)
(2)Farrell, Maureen, JFK, 9/11 and Conspiracy Theories, November 19, 2003, Buzzflash (link)
(3)Anderson,Kevin, BBC News Online, March 1, 2002, Washington (link)
(4)cited by Farrell
(5)scientist D.B. Thomas, writing for the journal, Science and Justice, cited by Farrell.
(6)Duffy, James P. and Ricci, Vincent L. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. New York, Thunder Mouth Press, 1992
Groden, Robert J. and Livingstone, Harrison Edward, High Treason. Baltimore: The Conservatory Press 1989
Groden, Robert J. The Killing of a President, Viking Penguin 1993
Marrs, Jim. Crossfire, New York, Carroll & Graff Publishers, 1989
And several others...
(7)Garrison, Jim. On the Trail of the Assassins. New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1988
(8)Marchetti, Victor and Marks, John D. The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. Dell Publishing Co. 1974
(9)NATIONAL SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 263 (link)
(10)Associated Press, Document Reopens Debate on JFK's Vietnam Plans, CNN.com, December 22, 1997 (link)
(11)Livingstone, Harrison Edward. High Treason 2. Carroll and Graff Publishers, New York. 1992,
(12)Schechter, Danny and Kelly, Colleen. Media Silence on 9/11. AlterNet, November 25, 2003 (link)
(13)cited by Farrell
(14)Goodman, Amy. 9/11 Commissioner & 9/11 Widow Condemn the White House For Restricting Access to Intelligence Documents. Democracy Now. Thursday, November 20th, 2003 (link)
(15)Questions about Al Qaeda and State Sponsored Terrorism, Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission, July, 2003(link)
(16)Question # 12 directed at the FBI/CIA/NSA, Family Steering Committee
(17)Meacher citing the Daily Telegraph, September 16, 2001) (link)
(18)Meacher citing the Newsweek, September 15, 2001) (link)
(19)Farrell (link)
(20)Ross, Brian. Called Off the Trail? ABC News.com, December 19, 2002(link)
Also...
Crogan, Jim. Another FBI Agent Blows the Whistle. LA Weekly, August 2-8, 2002 (link)
(21)Guerrilla News Network citing a Vanity Fair press release(link)
(22)Robinson, Linda and Pound, Edward T. Exclusive: CIA and FBI press Congress to exclude intelligence on the Saudi role with 9/11 terrorists US NEWS.com June 20, 2003(link)
(23)Corn, David. The 9/11 Cover-Up, LA Weekly November 21-27, 2003 vol25/#53 (link)
(24)Meacher (link)
(25)ibid (link)
(26)ibid (link)
(27)Meacher citing Sunday Herald, October 6 2002 (link)