Was Robert Kennedy killed by a real 'Manchurian candidate'-style assassin?

[Bozita]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=601960


Was Robert Kennedy killed by a real 'Manchurian candidate'-style assassin?

A new book claims to reveal evidence that the CIA, FBI and Aristotle Onassis hypnotised a Palestinian man into assassinating Robert Kennedy. John Hiscock reports

18 January 2005

It happened nearly 38 years ago, but doubts and suspicions have lingered on. Now the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Robert Kennedy are being resurrected and re-examined in an attempt to establish the truth of what happened that night in the cramped pantry of a Los Angeles hotel.

New evidence has emerged and pressure is mounting on authorities to reopen the case of Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted of the assassination and who remains in the California state prison in Corcoran.

Celebrities and journalists are joining the campaign for a federal investigation, which has been sparked in part by a new book, Nemesis, by the British author Peter Evans. Evans, who spent 10 years researching the book, has unearthed evidence to support Sirhan's contention that he was hypnotised into being the "fall guy" for the murder. Evans identifies the hypnotist, who had worked on CIA mind control programmes and who was later found dead in mysterious circumstances.

In another move to reopen the case, a lawsuit has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court to stop the pantry at the Ambassador Hotel being destroyed with the rest of the hotel because, it is claimed, bullet holes in the walls and ceiling demonstrate conclusively that more than one gunman fired shots at Senator Kennedy.

more...

[elshiva]

1. Nothing surprises me anymore...

[dflprincess]

3. I'm surprised Sirhan Sirhan is still alive.

And, if there's any serious look at this case, I'll become very worried about his health.

[Minstrel Boy]

8. Sirhan still has hypnotic blocks about the night.

The last thing he remembers is getting coffee for the girl in the polka dot dress.

At his trial, even the prosectution admitted he'd been hypnotized. Only, that he had hypnotized himself.

[Rockerdem]

29. I got to shake RFK's hand outside a college rally in 67

Boy, were things a lot different in those days, securitywise. I saw him speak inside and old college gym, and then walked outside where a handful of people were milling around. All of a sudden, he climbed on top of a convertible and about 10 people surrounded his car. I heard him say that he had a few minutes to kill. I think that he had only 2 or 3 security, and they were probably his own staff -- no earpieces in those days. I just walked up to the car and shook his hand, no crush of people, media entourage or anything. Had I been anyone but a clueless college student, I could carried on a conversation with him, it was that intimate.

Now topdrawer politicians travel like Hamid Karzai.

[Straight Shooter]

2. Yes, he was.

And I'm not saying another word about it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. I saw a documentary about the RFK assassination, and there was a lot

about it that was suspicious.

The campaign worker who saw two people running out the back way from the kitchen was browbeaten into recanting her story.

[1monster]

7. There were several witnesses who were coerced into changing their

stories to fit law enforcement's version of what happened. There was a book several years ago which covered the investigation and the trial of Sirhan. There was a huge cover-up with evidence seized and destroyed and witnesses forced to change their testimony.

But, darned if I can remember who wrote it or the name of the book. :eyes:

[Zan_of_Texas]

5. Onassis?!?!?!?!

Well, that would be odd.

The article says the theory is that Onassis had hated RFK since 1953 about some deal that was scuppered, and was impatient and wanted to marry Jackie but RFK was making them wait until after the election.

And, as the article points out, RFK could well have won the election.

I remember well that he was really starting to gain momentum -- the campaign had really gotten on an upward curve. It had that feel -- the feel of a victory gaining steam.

Reminds me of the momentum the Wellstone campaign had shortly before the election date for Senate -- the polls had just started showing him with a decent lead, then came his rather untimely "accidental" plane crash.

[autorank]

6. Amazing, this story was around shortly after the murder.

It was the 60's so nothing sounded strange back then. One was dismissed as a screw-ball for taking this story seriously at the times. It showed up in some form in the LA Free Press. Well, quelle surprise! The story has legs now. I'm beginning to think that the only sensible solution to our current troubles is to have the Disney Land version of the song "It's a Small World" placed on a constant loop and transmitted non stop on all electronic media (except the internet and cell phones). This just makes me so ill I can't describe it.

[Minstrel Boy]

9. The technical advisor to the film boasted about working with Sirhan.

LA hypnotist and CIA contractor Dr William Joseph Bryan Jr had a big mouth, and liked to brag about famous jobs he'd taken on for police departments and the agency. For instance, he boasted to prostitutes about having hypnotized Albert Di Salvo, the convicted Boston Strangler, while Di Salvo was in custody. He also spoke about having worked with Sirhan. It didn't mean anything to the hookers, but the thing is, he never had access to Sirhan in custody. And here's a funny thing: in Sirhan's notebook of "automatic writing," the name "Di Salvo" is scribbled, though Sirhan claims to not recognize it. Perhaps Bryan couldn't keep from boasting of his past accomplishments, even with Sirhan under hypnosis.

You can read about that in The Assassination of Robert F Kennedy by William Turner and John Christian.

[mountainvue]

24. Didn't Bryan wind up dead under

mysterious circumstances?

[leesa]

10. Where WAS Dubya's Daddy that day?

[Minstrel Boy]

11. Sirhan FINALLY has a lawyer who believes he is innocent.

Here's an hour-long presentation on the case by Sirhan's attorney Lawrence Teeter:

http://sf.indymedia.org/uploads/lawrence_teeter-june_7_2003.mp3

RFK was shot from behind at an upwards trajectory, the gun nozzle no more than an inch from his skin. Sirhan was standing a foot to a foot and a half in front of Kennedy. Multiple witnesses saw only flashes and paper residue flying from Sirhan's gun, suggesting he was firing blanks. Many present who had heard many gunshots in their lifetimes said Sirhan's gun sounded more like a cap pistol.

In photos of RFK lying wounded on the floor, there's a clip-on tie by his outstretched hand. It's the tie of security guard Thane Eugene Caesar, who was contracted to work that night, had CIA links, and was standing at precisely the spot from where, according to the coroner, RFK's killer must have fired. Kennedy grabbed his tie and pulled it off as he fell. Caesar lied about his possession of a gun which matched the murder weapon.

Photos of the crime scene show many more bullet holes than can be accounted for by Sirhan’s gun. (The LAPD subsequently removed the wood panels and ceiling tiles and destroyed them.) Five people were shot, one twice, besides Kennedy, who himself was shot four times. To account for Sirhan hitting them all, requires several "magic" bullets with astonishing trajectories.

And on and on.

"Lone gunman," my ass.

[tinanator]

33. oh sure

next you'll be claiming that JFK and Malcolm and MLK were all the victims of conspiracies. That there was some sort of pattern in these assassinations in the 60's. That the real killers all skated.
likely story.

[klyon]

39. yup they were I think

KL

[NewYorkerfromMass]

34. The LAPD burned the door frame with the multiple bullet holes

now, it's one thing to remove a door as evidence, but to tear from the wall the f'ing FRAME!?! and then BURN IT!?!
Someone 'splain why that shouldn't lead you to think it was a conspiracy.

http://www.reopenrfkassassinationcase.com/

[SleeplessinSoCal]

44. My brother was in prison with Sirhan-Sirhan on 9/11...

My black sheep drug abusing brother, who served most of his time for probation violations, was in charge of distributing things like TVs to the prisoners. He told us that on 9/10 Sirhan asked for a TV which he never asked for or watched before. It seemed that he was able to get info on the attacks before they happened while he was on the inside.

Don't know how that plays into Manchurian candidate brainwashing, but you can bet he'd be changed by a life in prison whether he acted alone, with a group or by come chip planted in his head.

[Dancing_Dave]

12. GREAT QUESTION TO RESEARCH!!!

I'm no expert on this one yet, so I'll keep my mouth shut until I know more. But this is EXACTLY the sort of thing we need to research, if we are to have any hope of reviving real democracy in this country.

[Merlin]

13. It's been researched to death (pardon the pun).

The problem is the cover up--like most--was extremely thorough.

[Wilms]

14. "Second Gun"

That's a film I saw way back.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't.

But, damn. That one hurt, too. Right on the heels of Martin. :cry:

[Merlin]

15. Here's the deal on the RFK assassination in a nutshell.

It was a hit job. Sirhan--who lived with his mother and had gone missing for 3 months prior to the assassination, according to his Mom--fired wildly from across a metal commercial kitchen food prep table, never closer than 7 or 8 feet from RFK.

Meanwhile, RFK was being "guarded" by security people assigned by the Ambassador Hotel (I think their getting ready to tear it down), and in particular by a part-time security guy named Thane Cesar--who is still living somewhere in Southern Cal.

Cesar had RFK by his right elbow, drew his gun immediately when shots started and fired it at least once.

RFK, on being hit, whirled around and grabbed Cesar by the necktie. Unfortunately it was one of those clipons. So RFK died, lying on the kitchen floor, with Cesar's necktie in his hands.

Cesar was the assassin. There is no doubt about it.

The autopsy was performed by Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Nagucci, a brilliant, courageous man. The Kennedy family asked that Dr. Cyril Wecht, my friend from Pittsburgh, then head of the American Academy of Forensic Physicians, assist Noguchi. Cyril flew out and joined him. Their findings were absolutely certain, beyond question and unanimous. RFK had been killed by a shot fired 1 inch below his right ear in a nearly vertical direction.

The autopsy caused a stir leading to Nogucci being fired for not retracting it. Meanwhile, Sirhan's court-appointed lawyer copped a plea for him assuring there would be no trial.

There was an official "investigation" conducted by the LAPD. I have a tape recording of one woman eye-witness in the kitchen being interrogated by an LAPD inquisitor (she had it secretly in her purse). She kept saying she saw what she saw. Sirhan did not fire in the direction of Senator Kennedy. The "cop" (actually he told her he was CIA on loan to LAPD) told her over and over again what she saw was wrong, she had not seen what she thought, everyone else said she was wrong, she did not see it that way, and on and on. It is incredible!

The "Investigation" was given the name Special Unit Senator (or something like that). Heading it up was none other than the infamous Darryl Gates. Need I say more?

Who was behind it? I think the same people who were behind Dallas and Memphis. They wanted to wipe out all liberal leaders, and succeeded.

I think they were a cabal of right wingers, not unlike those in this administration, who believed they knew better than the nation's voters what was good for the country. I think J. Edgar Hoover and Allen Dulles were definitely participants, as was Richard Helms. Charles Cabell and his brother, the mayor of Dallas, were both in on the JFK hit, as was John Connally.

But nothing will ever be proven because these forces that pulled this stuff off come out of the intelligence community and they are very good at covering their tracks.

I wouldn't mind paying a little visit to Thane Cesar, though. Anybody care to join me?

[Matilda]

18. I also think the deaths of JFK, RFK and MLK were linked.

I've come to believe that it was the military/industrial complex
behind them all.

JFK did want to begin withdrawing troops (sorry, advisers) from
Vietnam in his second term; MLK had begun to speak against the
Vietnam war during his last year of life, and RFK was campaigning
on a peace ticket. Too coincidental.

I've read in the excellent book JFK: An Unfinished Life how the
Military Chiefs of Staff were furious with Kennedy because during
the Cuban missile crisis he wouldn't order the immediate bombing
of all the missile sites, and they complained to the press behind
his back. No loyalty there. Imagine how they'd have felt about
a pullout from Vietnam. And we all know about the kind of big
corporations that make their profits from war - no doubt how they'd
feel either.

And the prosecution in the Sirhan case never really advanced a viable
reason as to why Sirhan would hate RFK enough to kill him - something
about Palestine, but RFK wasn't overly concerned with Palestine
at that stage, he was solidly focused on Vietnam. Never did make
sense to me.

I think there's an even stronger basis for conspiracy with RFK than
there was with JFK.

[Merlin]

19. I agree almost completely.

I don't think, though, we can blame it on something as vague as "The Military Industrial Complex."

It was clearly (IMO) a group of individuals withing the MIC of like minded malignancy who did all three and probably still hold annual celebrations over it.

For example, I doubt the entire Joint Chiefs was involved. But I absolutely think Gen. Curtis Lemay was involved.

You can pick out the ruthless bastards; the nazis. They're not hard to identify. And they recognize each other easily, too. That's how little cabals form.

There were some very specific people behind these things. Many of them are still alive. E. Howard Hunt, for example, is in his 80s, living out his days somewhere in Virginia, I think. Man would he be a fountain of insight.

[Matilda]

28. LeMay was the model for the mad General in Dr Strangelove,

I think. He was definitely one of those who thought Kennedy should
have just bombed the hell out of Cuba, so I guess he probably would
have loved to get rid of Kennedy when he didn't do it.

Gee, Dubya would have loved him.

Edit: correct grammar

[Merlin]

30. Kennedy used to record LeMays comments when he'd leave the room....

during meetings at the WH. There's a tape where LeMay is cursing JFK while JFK is out of the room temporarily to take a call.

In another meeting there was a great exchange between the two. LeMay tells Kennedy: "You're in a hell of a fix, Mr. President." Kennedy says "Well I... ahhh... what did you say, General?" "I said you're in a hell of a fix." "Well, General, in case you didn't notice, you're right in there with me."

[JetCityLiberal]

22. I agree these deaths are linked

It is hard to keep the movement going when the leaders keep getting assassinated.

Also agree with posters below that liberals aren't vile enough to do this.

JetCityLiberal

[PROGRESSIVE1]

26. JFK, RFK, and MLK were playing against the establishment and...

they had to be done away with. Yes, their murders are linked!

[elshiva]

41. I think the 3 deaths were connected by

The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. 'nuff said.

[Minstrel Boy]

25. "Here's the champion, Robert F Kennedy / Gunned down while mixing up the

remedy to all our ills
What did my man do?
Took on the racists and the military too..."

Streaming hiphop tribute to RFK, by NYC scholar and FTW editor Jamey Hecht:

http://www.jameyhecht.com/RobertFKennedy.html

[Jazzgirl]

37. Merlin, I have always thought JFK, MLK, and RFK's

assasinations were tied together for the very same reason you state. I was 14 when MLK was killed and it left a very marked impression on me. That period was when I became interested in "conspiracy theories" as well as paying closer attention to the social injustices people were fighting against at the time. I always wondered if the truth about all 3 assasinations would ever come out. My dad really got me reading all the info I could find at the time. I read the Warren report when I was a teenager too and thought it was the biggest bunch of crap ever published, total waste of paper. This is seriously scary!

[reprobate]

16. Why have the only successful assassinations been of democrats?

Just asking.

BTW, remembering the screwed up hit attempt on Ray Gun, just who was scheduled to have dinner with the shooters brother that night?


Wait for it......

That's right. None other than George H. W. Bush. Boy, don't that family get around?

And that's the same company man who was described by an FBI agent as accompanying her in the same car in which a trunk full of rifles was delivered from Miami to .....Dallas Texas, just a few days before some ex-marine fired the famous 'magic bullet' at JFK.

He was also the company man in charge of the bay of pigs 'air force' before JFK called the attack off. Could that possibly have been one motivation for the assassination?

From my cynical perspective neither of the Kennedys were killed by the accused. Look into history and I believe that you'll find that the company has been a rogue agency from it's beginnings. Hell, they even financed the American Federation of Labor in the 40s and 50s. And not to advance the labor movement.

Once you accept the fact that there has been a shadow gov't in charge of us since the end of WWII, it become easy to understand everything that's happened since.

[Merlin]

17. Because liberals aren't vile enough to do that kind of thing (YET).

But if things keep going the way they've been going...

Who knows? Maybe we'll all be in the hills with rifles.

[RaleighNCDUer]

20. That's where the EE in BFEE comes from. n/t

[Charon]

27. Why

If I remember correctly, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, as was James Garfield.

[FlaGranny]

31. Today's Republicans would

recognize neither of them as one of their own.

[Bridget Burke]

32. Both those deaths were some time ago...

And Lincoln certainly wouldn't be claimed by today's Republicans.

[reprobate]

47. He WAS a republican. But it was not the SAME republican party as now.

In the 60s the two parties effectively exchanged places when the democrats embraced civil rights and the republicans went after the conservative right.

So, Yes he was a republican, but this was the exception that proves the rule.

[NYC]

42. Read Farewell America byJames Hepburn.

http://www.jfk-online.com/farewell00.html

Well worth reading. The entire book is online.

[daleo]

21. I have wondered if this is why Kerry didn't protest the "election" long

Or very vigorously. He may know how ruthless these people are.

[Sterling]

35. He may know how ruthless these people are.

Or he could just be working WITH them?

[mountainvue]

23. Evans book is very, very good.

To answer your question, yes, I believe so.

[Minstrel Boy]

36. "Is everybody okay?"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2965425

[klyon]

38. I think back and wonder what a different world it might be now if

he had not been murdered. I was completely changed on that day. No more idealistic kid, I new something was a foot. I think we are seeing the end game today.

KL

[NYC]

43. The end game.

Read Farewell America by James Hepburn.

http://www.jfk-online.com/farewell00.html

This all started a long time ago.

[robertpaulsen]

40. Teeter seems like he's on the money, Evans sounds a bit sensationalistic.

After their experience with RFK's brother trying to splinter their organization into a thousand pieces, I would say the CIA had a much greater motive for taking him out than Onassis. But Evans does seem like he's done accurate research regarding the hypnotist Dr. Bryan. I believe I've seen him mentioned in the documentary Second Gun.

Great to see that research is being done to expose the truth, it's the best news I've heard all week!

[Matilda]

45. Onassis' best revenge

would have been in marrying Jackie.

I'll hold to my theory of the right-wing military/industrial
conspiracy.

[sffreeways]

46. Duck in a noose

after I saw that I believe it.

[emad]

48. MKULTRA rears its ugly head once again....

"Teeter does not know for certain who hypnotised Sirhan, but, he said: "I know it was done. It was consistent with the US government's programme developed by the CIA and Military Intelligence to enable handlers to get people to commit crimes with no knowledge of what they are doing."

Evans goes further and names the hypnotist as a Dr William Joseph Bryan Jnr. He had worked on a CIA mind-control programme called MKULTRA and claimed to have moonlighted as a technical adviser on The Manchurian Candidate. The hypnosis, says Evans, had been done over three months, a period known as the "white fog" when the Los Angeles police task force later investigating the assassination - and trying to construct a meticulous timetable of Sirhan's activities up to the shooting - lost track of him."


GIVEN that the whole business of JFK's assassination, Marilyn Monroe's alleged suicide and the Martha's Vineyard tragedy of MaryJo Kopechne are all locked up in Jackie Kennedy's personal diaries/documents which she insisted must remain unopened for 50 years after her death....the untimely death of JFK Jr in that light aircraft of his back in '99 would also seem open to re-assessment.


Also, some UK Cold War historians (Eg. David Cesarini, author of biography on Eichmann) have alleged that former UK Prime Minister Sir Harold MacMillan did a deal with Jackie Kennedy to ensure that UK's security/intelligence files relating to JFK and his brothers Robert and Edward would remain in cold storage under reciprocal agreements with the US Justice Department over THEIR files spanning the period from the bombing of Buckingham Palace in September 1940 until the actual death of "Elizabeth II".

[Minstrel Boy]

49. Lisa Pease, co-editor of "The Assassinations," rebuts the Onassis theory:

In The Assassinations, Pease pieces together the RFK assassination puzzle as persuasively as I've seen. She thinks the Onassis theory is ludicrous misdirection and disinfo. From her blog:

...

In 1954, the CIA hired Robert Maheu, whom it would later hire to design Castro assassination plots, to perform a character assassination plot against Ari Onassis. Why? Because Onassis controlled the shipping of Arabian oil, an extremely lucrative market. The CIA was upset because both money and valuable intelligence were being lost to Onassis. According to the CIA’s Inspector General Report on Plots to Assassinate Castro:

“In the 1954-55 time period Maheu was hired by the Greek shipping magnate, Niarchos, to help in a financial tussle Niarchos was having with another Greek shipping figure, Onassis, who had managed to negotiate a pact with King Saud under which Onassis would control 90% of all Saudi Arabian oil shipments. British, American, and German shipping interests opposed Onassis' near monopoly, and the US and UK governments supported Niarchos in his fight to have the agreement canceled. Maheu is believed to have worked at top levels in both the British and American governments, reportedly meeting at least once with Vice President Nixon. Maheu's operations were financed by Niarchos, but CIA became involved in supporting them by request of the Department of State. Agency communications and pouch facilities were made available to Maheu, and he was given help in developing a black propaganda campaign against Onassis. Niarchos, with Maheu's help, won his scrap with Onassis.”

Would it surprise you to learn, then, that this same Robert Maheu was a chief source for author Peter Evans? Would it surprise you to learn that Evans’ other sources included CIA mastermind and Dulles/Helms/Angleton confidante Miles Copeland, as well as the CIA’s best man in Greece, Alfred Ulmer? Evans thanks these three for giving him the introductions and leads to the others in the story.

So what is Evans’ evidence that Onassis ordered Bobby killed? Granted, I’m skimming - but as best I can make it out, a woman said Ari told her he paid to have Bobby killed. THAT’S IT! I’m not kidding!! And 1) we have no way to know if the woman is telling the truth, and 2) even if she has been honest, we have no way of knowing whether she might have misinterpreted what Onassis said. Maybe he made the comment as a joke. We don’t have enough context to accurately assess the seriousness of this comment, if it was even made.

...

There's much more:

http://realhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2005/01/is-nemesis-black-book.html

[RandomKoolzip]

51. I've read 'The Assassinations..." great book.

The chapters on Malcolm X were very interesting.....and I never knew that the guy who COULD have shed some light on the MLK hit was bought off by TV.

[Vidar]

50. He enraged J. Edgar Hoover, the mafia, the teamsters and the CIA.

Take your pick.