Book Review: Conspiracy Theory in America (2013)

The Conspiracy Theory [and Proof] of 20th-21st Century ‘Conspiracy Theory’
by Lance deHaven-Smith (University of Texas Press)

conspiracy_theoryThis marvelous book is a deep, practical scholarly dissection of the origin and application of the term ‘conspiracy theory,’ particularly in America in the late 20th century. DeHaven-Smith is Professor in the Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University and former president of the Florida Political Science Association; he’s written several books and appeared on numerous national mainstream-media news and talk shows, as well as Alex Jones’ Infowars and other alternative outlets.

This investigation goes straight to the heart of the problem of the coercive state and its sycophants in mainstream academia and media (academedia) who dismiss causal ex- planations of political events with the simple utterance, “Well, that’s only a conspiracy theory.” From the book description on Amazon:

From the book description on Amazon: Ever since the Warren Commission concluded that a lone gunman assassinated President John F. Kennedy, people who doubt that finding have been widely dismissed as conspiracy theorists, despite credible evidence that right-wing elements in the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service—and possibly even senior government officials, and/or the Israeli state—were also involved. Why has suspicion of criminal wrongdoing at the highest levels of government been rejected out-of-hand as paranoid thinking akin to superstition?

Conspiracy Theory in America investigates how the Founders’ hard-nosed realism about the likelihood of elite political misconduct—articulated in the Declaration of Independence—has been replaced by today’s blanket condemnation of conspiracy beliefs as ludicrous by definition. Lance deHaven-Smith reveals that the term “conspiracy theory” entered the American lexicon of political speech to deflect criticism of the Warren Commission and traces it back to a CIA propaganda campaign to discredit doubters of the commission’s report.

He asks tough questions and connects the dots among five decades’ worth of suspicious events, including the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, the attempted assassinations of George Wallace and Ronald Reagan, the crimes of Watergate, the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages deal, the disputed presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, the major defense failure of 9/11, and the subsequent anthrax letter attacks. Continue reading

Book Review: JFK and the Unspeakable (2008)

Why he died and why it matters
by James Douglass
Review by Brian R. Wright

jfk_unspeakable“The extent to which our national security state was systematically marshaled for the assassination of President John Kennedy remains incomprehensible to us. When we live in a system, we absorb a system and think in a system. We lack the independence to judge the system around us. Yet the evidence we have seen points toward our national security state, the systemic bubble in which we all live, as the source of Kennedy’s murder and immediate coverup.” — page 370

The Turning …

In a crime, proof of guilt requires evidence of motive, means, and opportunity. But the greatest of these, especially for crimes of state, is motive. The distinguishing characteristic of JFK and the Unspeakable, aside from its rigorously passionate scholarship, is its complete unraveling of the “why” of the assassination of JFK.

“John F. Kennedy was turning. The key to understanding Kennedy’s presidency, his assassination, and our survival as a species through the Cuban Missile Crisis is that Kennedy was turning toward peace. The signs of his turning are the seeds of his assassination.” — page 321

James Douglass, a peace advocate with international stature,[1] homes in on the context of Kennedy’s presidency with respect to the war machine—the military-industrial complex, the Pentagon, and the CIA.[2] We learn that Kennedy, to some extent, ascended politically by out-“Cold-Warring” his opponents, often by advocating a more belligerent military posture vis a vis several foreign policy annoyances… and promoting higher military spending. For example, in a 1958 speech, as Senator, Kennedy accuses President Eisenhower of enabling a missile gap between the US and the Soviets.[3] Continue reading

Guest Column: The Truth about JFK and RFK

President Kennedy and His Brother Robert Kennedy Were Murdered By The Military-Security Complex, by Paul Craig Roberts
Excerpt from full column here

The_Neoconservative_Threat_To_World_OrderPresstitute Media, such as the UK Telegraph, spend a lot of energy debunking exposes of government conspiracies. For example, the thousands of highrise architects, structural engineers, physicists, nano-chemists, demolition experts, first responders, military and civilian pilots, and former government officials who have provided vast evidence that the official story of 9/11 is a made-up fairy tale at odds with all evidence and the laws of physics are dismissed by presstitutes as “conspiracy theorists.”

Similarly, those, such as James W. Douglass, who have proven beyond all doubt that President John F. Kennedy was not assassinated by Oswald but by his own paranoid anti-communist military-security complex, are dismissed as conspiracy theorists. Continue reading

Book Review: History Will Not Absolve Us (1996)

Orwellian control, public denial, and the murder of President Kennedy
by E. Martin Schotz

1996, Kurtz, Ulmer, and DeLucia , 326 pages
Review by Brian Wright

History Will Not Absolve Us“We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society.  There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.” — Harry S. Truman, from an article entitled “US should hold CIA to intelligence role,” published in the Washington Post, December 21, 1963

Former president Truman’s letter sent from his home in Independence, Missouri, just 30 days after JFK’s assassination, was a highly significant, Continue reading