5 comments about Texas Connection: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

1. This is an excellent account as far as conspiracy theories go. Well researched and very readable, Zirbel's version of the Kennedy assassination makes some huge leaps and cites many sources that he did not document. It did convince me that LBJ had a hand in it anyway.



2. I bought this book with some skepticism, however, Zirbel, an attorney, does an impressive job of making his case. Although some time has passed since its writing, and it could use a new edition, Zirbel makes a VERY convincing case for LBJ's involvement in the JFK assasination. I left with a feeling that Zirbel is onto something, and he certainly convinced me. Definately a worthwhile book. It even inspired me to so my own research into this!



3. Craig I. Zirbel read almost every book, article, or newspaper dealing with the JFK assassination for 25 years. This book is the result of his studies. If it happened in a foreign country, 11/22/1963 would be viewed as a coup d'etat. If finding a motive for murder exposes the killer, then motive could explain why JFK was killed. This book explains why the Warren Commission and others are not credible. The most likely solution may be the most obvious, not the most complex (p.4).

   After JFK's death LBJ refused to leave Dallas until JFK's body was placed on the plane. The Warren Commission decided there was no conspiracy; Oswald was a lone gunman. Page 17 tells of the faults in the autopsy of JFK. The Warren Commission was created to investigate the crime (p.23). They would examine the evidence developed by the FBI. LBJ was never called as a witness (p.27). Chief Justice Warren would not listen to Jack Ruby (p.29)! LBJ created and controlled this Commission, when he was one of the logical suspects (p.33).

   Page 35 explains why political assassinations occur, and why some are covered up. Page 37 explains why Oswald did not fit the pattern of assassins (not insane, no motive). His quick elimination hints at a wider conspiracy. Page 43 tells of the problems in that mail-order rifle. Page 47 tells of the failures with a stationary target. (A telescopic sight adjusted to shoot "high and to the right" would have the built-in lead exactly needed for the shots fired that day! But was this done before that day?)

   Chapter 7 analyzes various assassination theories, and tries to discredit them all in a few pages. (You may not agree with it once you've read other books.) Does the photograph on page 82 resemble the villain in "From Russia With Love"? Chapter 8 discusses his theory of "right hand man assassinations". I don't think his examples prove his theory. Chapter 9 announces that he will try to pin it on LBJ alone (p.95). The big problem in this is the lack of any defender who may dispute his charges. Being dead, there is no way LBJ can defend himself. So his arguments are one-sided. Is that fair?

   Chapter 11 tells of LBJ's moral rules. Chapter 12 tells of his support by Big Business, page 113 tells how the NASA Space Center was built. How did LadyBird buy those radio stations? See pages 117-8. Page 122 tells of the crash of LBJ's airplane. Chapter 18 hints at the reason why LBJ didn't run in 1968: a strenuous campaign could cause a heart attack (he died in 1973). Chapters 22-23 describes the three major scandals of the Vice-President. Chapter 27 explains how the unsafe detour past the Schoolbook Depository was done against Secret Service wishes. Chapter 29 list the mistakes and problems in Oswald's capture. Chapter 31 tells of Oswald's activities; these may be explained as that of a secret agent who is controlled by others. Could the failure to record Oswald's interrogation be explained by the knowledge that he was doomed? Chapter 35 relates various strange acts: LBJ bought "presidential china" (p.256) in the fall of 1963! Chapter 37 lists 9 reasons for a conspiracy (p.282). Chapter 38 provides a parallax view to the events. Chapter 39 asks you to form your own conclusion. Do this after reading other books. You may find that Mark North's "Act of Treason" is the better book.




4. This common sense approach to the myriad JFK conspiracy theories has a lot to recommend it. It is coherent in the extreme. However, much like Posner's Case Closed, it is very one-sided and long on plausibility and speculation and short on confirmable facts and citations. To the author's credit, and rather uncannily the book presaged much of what is now confirmed "factions" in Blood, Money and Power.
   
   While the author's scenario holds together extremely well even under a hypothetical criminologist framework, it is nevertheless more "structured fantasy" than serious investigation or even serious academic research since it rests on a foundation of common sense speculation.
   
   However, to his credit, the author makes no pretense of objectivity. From the start he says LBJ dunnit, and then proceeds to tell us why. There are many titillating never before explained facts which have the smell of truth, but they are all either hatched from the author's head or cannot be confirmed independently because they are not attributed to any particular source. That's a pity because this would be a good book to cite, were there any citable facts in it.
   
   Three stars for a common sense approach that makes the author's premises and ground rules clear.



5. Like several other books, Craig Zirbel's "The Texas Connection" hasn't aged well. While he only had one major conference appearance and one major tv show appearance("Geraldo"), his book was a best-seller, largely due to the Oliver Stone movie "JFK" (as was the case with "Mortal Error", "Plausible Denial" and, with all due respect [I love the books], "High Treason" & "High Treason 2"). Not only is Barr McClellan's book better (and even his book doesn't hold up as well only a few short years later!), the lack of true, rich documentation does this book in. Some intersting info. on LBJ, a few morsels...but not a full course meal.
   Vince Palamara

No comments about Gambling on fear.

No comments about The life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd: Containing his letters from Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas island, where he was imprisoned four years for alleged complicity ... the case; also "diary" of John Wilkes Booth.

No comments about Medicolegal Investigation of the President John F. Kennedy Murder.

No comments about A trial in Burma;: The assassination of Aung San.

No comments about The Murder of the Romanovs: The Authentic Account.

No comments about In the Crosshairs (Famous Assassinations And Attempts FromJulius Cesar to John Lennon).

No comments about An Honourable Defeat: a History of German Resistance to Hitler, 1933-1945.

No comments about ARABS ISRAEL - Jun 22- Israel Revives Assassination Policy.: An article from: APS Diplomat Recorder.

3 comments about Fenian Fire.

1. The world's only global superpower is faced with terrorists in its greatest city, trying to destroy its major landmarks. These foreigners were born in one nation, a backward, oppressed land with an alien religion which, however, is of great geographic and strategic importance to the superpower. They are financed from another country, an immensely wealthy, so-called ally and friend of the superpower. To defeat these desperate men and their heinous ends, the superpower must engage them on their own terms, and fight a dirty war, which will prove corrosive to freedom and democracy at home, and only increase the hatred of the foreign land.

   The United States in 2001? Er, no, it's Great Britain in the 1880s, faced with Irish-American dynamiters who attacked Scotland Yard, the House of Commons, and, in spectacularly unsuccessful fashion, London Bridge. The British response to this threat is like John LeCarre rewritten by Flann O'Brien. The chief counter-terrorist securocrat in Gladstone's Liberal government, Jenkinson, is a convinced Home Ruler. With the aide of his double agents and informers within the Irish-American organizations, he sets a phony bomb plot to assassinate Queen Victoria in motion. By demonstrating the danger of Irish extremism, he hopes to convince British opinion of the need to conciliate moderate Irish nationalists with Home Rule. However, Gladstone's government falls, and Lord Salisbury's Tories take over. Vehemently opposed to Home Rule, Salisbury sees an opportunity to use the phony bomb plot to discredit Parnell's party, by linking Irish terrorists with Irish parlimentarians. Meanwhile, another Irish-American faction in Chicago decides to set up its own Jubilee plot, this time for real...

   Fenian Fire is an engaging and original history which (quite deliberately) reads like a thriller. I found it fascinating stuff, but like the spymasters and their convoluted and perplexing plot(s), the narrative occasionally threatens to run out of control.




2. I had no idea that Queen Victoria had been the subject of a serious assassination plot. Sure she had had potshots taken at her but this was SERIOUS. The Fenians (Irish) were out to get her - or were they? In a style reminiscent of Tom Clancy, Christy Campbell reveals the characters and plot. A criticism of the book is that the story is not linear and jumps around. The historical characters are also brought in at different times to suit the author and do not come into the story in a logical fashion. Or not to me anyway.



3. Although subtitled "The British Government Plot to Assassinate Queen Victoria", this book is really about the fight for Irish home rule from 1858 to 1891. If that's a subject that's of interest to you and you like your history full of facts, dates, names and places, this book may be for you, but I found the going tough and eventually was skimming more than reading. It's a scholarly piece of work, but I prefer my history a lot less dry and more digested.