WP: Scientists cast doubt on Kennedy bullet analysis - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Scientists cast doubt on Kennedy bullet analysis - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Scientists cast doubt on Kennedy bullet analysis
Multiple shooters possible, study says
By John Solomon
The Washington Post
Updated: 11:17 a.m. ET May 17, 2007

In a collision of 21st-century science and decades-old conspiracy theories, a research team that includes a former top FBI scientist is challenging the bullet analysis used by the government to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The "evidence used to rule out a second assassin is fundamentally flawed," concludes a new article in the Annals of Applied Statistics written by former FBI lab metallurgist William A. Tobin and Texas A&M University researchers Cliff Spiegelman and William D. James.

The researchers' re-analysis involved new statistical calculations and a modern chemical analysis of bullets from the same batch Oswald is purported to have used. They reached no conclusion about whether more than one gunman was involved, but urged that authorities conduct a new and complete forensic re-analysis of the five bullet fragments left from the assassination 44 years ago.

"Given the significance and impact of the JFK assassination, it is scientifically desirable for the evidentiary fragments to be re-analyzed," the researchers said.

Tobin was the FBI lab's chief metallurgy expert for more than two decades. He analyzed metal evidence in major cases that included the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 1996 explosion of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island.

After retiring, he attracted national attention by questioning the FBI science used in prosecutions for decades to match bullets to crime suspects through their lead content. The questions he and others raised prompted a National Academy of Sciences review that in 2003 concluded that the FBI's bullet lead analysis was flawed. The FBI agreed and generally ended the use of that type of analysis.

Using new guidelines set forth by the National Academy of Sciences for proper bullet analysis, Tobin and his colleagues at Texas A&M re-analyzed the bullet evidence used by the 1976 House Select Committee on Assassinations, which concluded that only one shooter, Oswald, fired the shots that killed Kennedy in Dallas.

The committee's finding was based in part on the research of now-deceased University of California at Irvine chemist Vincent P. Guinn. He used bullet lead analysis to conclude that the five bullet fragments recovered from the Kennedy assassination scene came from just two bullets, which were traced to the same batch of bullets Oswald owned.

To do their research, Tobin, Spiegelman and James said they bought the same brand and lot of bullets used by Oswald and analyzed their lead using the new standards. The bullets from that batch are still on the market as collectors' items.

They found that the scientific and statistical assumptions Guinn used -- and the government accepted at the time -- to conclude that the fragments came from just two bullets fired from Oswald's gun were wrong.

"This finding means that the bullet fragments from the assassination that match could have come from three or more separate bullets," the researchers said.

"If the assassination fragments are derived from three or more separate bullets, then a second assassin is likely, as the additional bullet would not be attributable to the main suspect, Mr. Oswald."
© 2007 The Washington Post Company

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18709539/

Call the RNC and demand they stop censoring Ron Paul.

Call the Chairman of the RNC in Michigan who wants to ban Ron Paul from further debates. Tell them your pissed and want to hear from somebody.
517-487-5413

Or call the RNC at
202-863-8500

Israel launches retaliatory airstrikes, killing two

cnn

• Airstrikes come as fighting among Israel, Fatah, Hamas continues
• The fighting has killed at least 40 Palestinians since Sunday
• Israel: "We want to show the terrorists we know where they are"
• Three rockets land in Sderot, Israel, one hitting a school

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel retaliated Thursday against two days of Hamas rocket attacks by launching airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, killing two people and leaving more than 30 wounded, Palestinian security sources and an Israeli security source told CNN.

The first Israeli strike, on Hamas' executive force compound, killed one person and wounded 30, Palestinian medical sources said. A later Israeli airstrike targeted and hit a car in Gaza City, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said.

Palestinian security sources said one member of Hamas' Izzedine al Qassam brigades was killed in that attack and another was wounded.

The strike on Hamas' military wing headquarters came as violence ratcheted up between the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah and between Palestinians and Israeli forces, claiming the lives of more than 40 Palestinians since Sunday.

The Israeli security source said Israeli forces have "more strategic targets" they can hit.

"We want to show the terrorists we know where they are," the source said.

Israeli airstrikes Wednesday on Hamas headquarters in the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and other targets around Gaza killed at least six Palestinians, Palestinian officials reported.

Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Thursday that Palestinians were "very angry" that the "Israelis (were) trying to take advantage of internal fighting."

"Israel has decided to escalate this and this could lead to disaster... we have no peace partner," he added.

Three Qassam rockets fell in the Israeli town of Sderot on Thursday morning -- one of which fell on a school and left one person lightly wounded, Israeli officials said.

Since Monday, as many as 80 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, an IDF spokeswoman said. More than two dozen rockets rained down Wednesday, injuring at least 17 people, Israeli authorities said.

A statement from the Israeli government said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni "decided to allow the IDF and the security establishment to carry out a series of actions in order to hit those who launch Qassam missiles and their commanders, to disrupt launch capabilities and to strike at terrorist infrastructures."

"The prime minister made it clear that Israel cannot continue to show restraint when its citizens are being attacked; therefore, a harsh and severe response was decided upon," the statement said.

The IDF told CNN there was normal military activity near the border with Gaza, and a limited Israeli force inside Gaza near the northern section of the border.

Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza in September of 2005, ending their 38-year occupation of the region.

A Hamas official from the Izzedine Al Qassam brigades said it's the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against Israeli crimes in any way they see fit.

But even as they defend themselves, Palestinians loyal to Fatah and those loyal to Hamas are fighting each other.

At least 19 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in the fourth day of heavy fighting between the two parties.

Palestinian security sources in Gaza said gunmen fired on guards protecting Prime Minister Ismael Haniya's residence. Haniya, of the ruling Islamic party Hamas, was home at the time of the shooting, the sources said, but there was no report of injuries.

The latest cease-fire between the two groups took effect at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday, but sporadic gunfire could be heard into the night as Hamas fighters clashed with gunmen from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. It was the fourth attempt at implementing a truce in as many days.

Abbas canceled a planned trip to Gaza on Thursday because of the violence, his office said.

Elsewhere, Palestinian security sources confirmed one person was killed when clashes broke out during a funeral Thursday in Rafah.

In a sign of the heightening chaos, fighting in central Gaza City on Wednesday forced dozens of journalists to take cover in the studios of the television news network Ramattan, a 15-story building that came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.

Fatah-affiliated security personnel on the building's roof were taking fire from Hamas-affiliated gunmen below, the journalists reported. Video from the building showed the journalists inside huddled together closely, wearing bulletproof vests and helmets as explosions could be heard outside.

The Palestinian government is struggling to quell the latest round of fighting, which has highlighted the weaknesses of the Hamas-Fatah unity government formed earlier this year. Abbas spoke to Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, on Wednesday and both pledged to do everything within their power to end the fighting between their rival movements, Barghouti said.

Hamas came to power in parliamentary elections in January 2006 after more than a decade of Fatah rule over the Palestinian Authority. But the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and the European Union joined them in cutting off aid over the group's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist explicitly.

Yet Another Fox News Smear Job On Ron Paul, Alex Jones & 9/11 Truth

prisonplanet
Malkin, Gibson attack "9/11 conspiracy nut" Alex Jones, say Paul should be kicked out of debates for appearing on his show, suggest Middle Easterners enjoy being bombed and to claim otherwise is a tin-foil hat conspiracy theory

Fox "News" anchor John Gibson was joined by diehard Neo-Con Michele "put every Muslim in a concentration camp" Malkin last night to attack Ron Paul, Alex Jones and suggest that people in the Middle East enjoy being bombed and to state otherwise is a tin-foil hat conspiracy theory.

First of all, Gibson lies outright by claiming Ron Paul said the U.S. had a hand in the 9/11 attacks, something the Texas Congressman has never stated. He then brings on Malkin, who remains the poster child for a dwindling gaggle of Internet Neo-Con blowhards.

Malkin knows which side her bread is buttered on and is perfectly aware of the fact that Prison Planet alone dwarfs the popularity of her own measly Neo-Con "Hot Air" blog. She seems to have a dangerous obsession with attacking us and most of the time we ignore her but this one was too hilarious to pass up.

Malkin defines 9/11 truth as a "virus" and repeats the term over and over to ensure Fox's geriatric 80-plus viewers don't forget it. Malkin resorts to the usual fodder of smearing 9/11 truth as a leftist fringe movement, despite the fact that we are routinely shunned and attacked by the liberal media, both mainstream and alternative.

Gibson and Malkin then recoil at the temerity of the suggestion that bombing third world countries breeds hatred and characterize it as a tin-foil hat conspiracy theory!

Of course, those poor people in the Middle East love being bombed and to suggest otherwise is unpatriotic!

Malkin cites Popular Mechanics, the Hearst Publishing yellow journalism rag that is edited by a tabloid TV critic as her bastion of credibility for standing up to 9/11 truthers, despite the fact that the magazine's 9/11 hit piece has been debunked over and over and is the target of Professor David Ray Griffin's new book , Debunking 9/11 Debunking.

"I try not to spend too much time in these cesspools," whines Malkin before attacking Ron Paul for appearing on radio with "9/11 conspiracy nut Alex Jones," and suggesting that the Texas Congressman should be kicked out of the debates for doing so.

All this of course stems from Ron Paul's confrontation with Rudy Giuliani, the supposed "9/11 hero" who had the real heroes - the firefighters - arrested when they objected to Giuliani's order that their colleague's remains be scooped up by and dumped in a landfill.

In reality, the supposed "slap-down" Giuliani handed out to Ron Paul during the debate has returned in the form of the truth to whack him back in the face tenfold.

Just for argument's sake, let's accept the premise that 9/11 was orchestrated from a cave and that Osama bin Laden somehow managed to neutralize the standard air defenses of the United States for the first time in history.

Both the vaunted 9/11 Commission Report and the CIA admit that U.S. foreign policy has endangered the U.S.

"The 9-11 Commission report detailed how bin Laden had, in 1996, issued "his self-styled fatwa calling on Muslims to drive American soldiers out of Saudi Arabia" and identified that declaration and another in 1998 as part of "a long series" of statements objecting to U.S. military interventions in his native Saudi Arabia in particular and the Middle East in general. Statements from bin Laden and those associated with him prior to 9-11 consistently expressed anger with the U.S. military presence on the Arabian Peninsula, U.S. aggression against the Iraqi people and U.S. support of Israel," reports the Nation.

In addition, Michael Scheuer, the former Central Intelligence Agency specialist on bin Laden and al-Qaeda, told CNN that "We're being attacked for what we do in the Islamic world, not for who we are or what we believe in or how we live. And there's a huge burden of guilt to be laid at Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton, both parties for simply lying to the American people."

But we'd be naive to think that Fox "News", Gibson and Malkin would let the facts get in the way of a good childish name-calling smear job.

Ron Paul was asked by CNN if he was going back down or apologize for stating the fact that people in the Middle East don't enjoy being bombed. Righteously, the Texas Congressman invited Giuliani to read the 9/11 Commission Report and apologize himself.

It is now clearly evident that Tuesday night's debate and its aftermath was elaborately rigged and directed towards discrediting Ron Paul and neutralizing the wave of popular support he has received that has absolutely terrified the establishment. But it's backfired because more people than ever now know who Ron Paul is and what he stands for.

Once again, we thank Fox News for the continued attention they are bringing to the 9/11 truth movement - because for any of their viewers that still possess their own set of teeth, they will be encouraged to Google terms like "WTC 7" and "Alex Jones" and find out the truth.

We invite Gibson, O'Reilly, Malkin and their ilk to continue their desperate ad hominem attacks because anyone with two brain cells left to rub together can immediately deduce how liars and con-artists behave - and how their impetuous smear tactics are manifested.