A reader, Richard, notes the most interesting observation made by CIA man Robert Baer in the otherwise disappointing “JFK Declassified.”
“The first episode in this much-promoted History Channel series begins with the following slides:
“In 2017, the final government documents from the JFK assassination will be declassified. More than two million files have already been released. No one has analyzed them. Until now.”
“With that falsehood, the program goes downhill.
“Retired CIA agent Robert Baer’s initial premise is an interesting one. If Oswald were living today and went to Syria to meet with ISIS, then came back to the United States and committed a horrific political crime, could we really say that he had acted alone? Baer makes the case that Oswald’s meetings with America’s enemies in Mexico City amount to exactly the same sort of crime that should have been investigated.
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Baer apparently was unaware of the former spy’s book that was published in 1993 that details his meetings with Oswald.
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“The producers apparently felt it necessary to introduce known facts in the case as explosive new discoveries. For example, linking “Comrade Kostin” with KGB operative Valery Kostikov is sensationalized as a breakthrough in the case.
There is a similar occurrence in the second episode when the “discovery” of Silvia Duran is treated as a potential turning point. As Baer enters the building where former KGB agent Oleg Nechiporenko lives, he states that he has no idea what kind of story he will be told. Despite being immersed in the case for years, Baer apparently was unaware of the former spy’s book that was published in 1993 that details his meetings with Oswald.
“What is most distressing about the series, though, is what MIGHT have been. Had the producers wanted to break new ground, they could have focused instead on the work done by Dr. John Newman, attorney Bill Simpich, and investigative reporter Jeff Morley. When I first heard that the History Channel was doing a series called “Tracking Oswald”, my hope was that it would focus on the work of this trio that has moved the JFK case forward by light years. But it wasn’t surprising that the focus of the main stream media, if it shows any signs of looking at this case in a new light, is only being broadened a millimeter at a time.
“Baer says that his study of the assassination has taught him not to come to conclusions too quickly, and several episodes in this series are yet to be broadcast. Hope does spring eternal, but the longer I spend watching this series, the more my hope that the truth will finally be broadcast continues to fade.”