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    "ocrText": "Page 9 of 4*\nover China and that part of Asia. Oswald's anti-aircraft unit,\nhighly classified with regard to security, had the specific\nassignment of guarding a U-2 hangar and was surrounded by a high,\nheavily wired Page fence. Even the arrival of the daily mail\ntruck required that it be preceded by a sergeant on foot,\nequipped with the password for the day. 17 His service at\nAtsugi Air Base is probably best memorialized by two of the many\nCentral Intelligence Agency documents concerning him which were\nclassified as unavailable following the Warren Commission\ninquiry: CD 931 \"Oswald's access to information about the U-2\"\nand CD 692 \"Reproduction of C.I.A. official dossier on\n18\nOswald.\nAnother indication of the peculiar security status which\nOswald had acquired in the Marines has been well concealed from\ncasual view. The island of Quemoy, just off the mainland of\ncommunist China, was occupied by the nationalist Chinese - allies\nof the United States - but was within shelling distance of the\nred Chinese. Periodically, a crisis surfaced when Quemoy was\nshelled and threatened by possible invasion from the mainland.\nDuring one of these occasions Oswald was assigned to duty on\nQuemoy - but the assignment apparently was of a high security\nclassification because it was not indicated anywhere in his\nservice record made available to the Warren Commission.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 1\nPage 10 of 4*\nThis special mission was discovered later by a non-government\ninvestigator who undertook the laborious task of going through\nOswald's payroll records and discovered the fact of his unlisted\npresence in Quemoy. Oswald was a trained specialist in radar and\nanti-aircraft operations and it would appear that this special\nassignment was in that connection. It is not known with any\ncertitude, however, because the purpose of his special assignment\n19\nhas been kept secret.\nIt was not long after taking the Russian examination at El\nToro that Lee Oswald received his discharge from the Marines.\nWithin two weeks he surfaced in Moscow where he ostentatiously\nannounced that he had \"defected\" from the United States and\nremained for 30 months before returning. What is important to\nkeep in mind is that it was only at this time in Moscow that the\nscenario of Oswald as a \"Communist\" - later to be so advantageous\nin making him the scapegoat for the assassination - began.\nHowever, the overwhelming weight of the evidence makes it clear\nthat back in his Marine days - even while he was being taught\nRussian - he had not the slightest inclination towards Communism.\nIt is hard to avoid becoming curious about Kerry Thornley\nwhose extravagant testimony differed so enormously from all the\nother Marines who served with Oswald. It mattered not how\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 2\nPage 11 of 4\nnumerous and unanimous the others were about the total absence of\nMarxist leanings on Oswald's part -- it was Thornley's testimony\nwhich was grabbed and held high, for all to see, by the Warren\nCommission and the government, the incurious national press and\nthe writers of obsequious books approving the official travesty.\nStrangely enough, Nelson Delgado -- who had lived in the same\nbarracks as Oswald and had known him much longer (and had \"never\nheard Oswald say subversive things\") -- was not even given the\n20\nusual 72 hours' notice before being called to testify.\nOn\nthe other hand, Thornley was given six months in advance,\nremaining in the Washington, D.C. area, while he prepared to\ntestify for the government.\nHe arrived in Washington promptly after the assassination of\nthe President and stayed there until his lengthy testimony for\nthe Warren Commission in May of the following year. Whatever lay\nbehind it, Thornley's testimony stands out as most singular --\nalmost as discordant as the government's triumphant and\npublicized seizure of it (in the face of the heavy weight of\nevidence to the contrary) as evidence that Lee Oswald was a\ndedicated Marxist revolutionary.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 3\nPage 12 of 4\nIt should be noted that when Oswald left El Toro, where he\nhad been given examinations in Russian, he was given an honorable\ndischarge.* His departure for Europe followed promptly (his\nLykes Steamship ticket was obtained at the Lykes office of New\nOrleans' International Trade Mart, managed by Clay Shaw).\nAlthough he sailed to England, it is known that he departed\neastward by air. However, a mystery still exists as to what kind\nof air service was made available to him. His departure from the\nLondon airport was stamped with the date of 10 October 1959. He\narrived in Finland that evening, and checked into his hotel some\nhours before the arrival of the first commercial air liner on\n21\nthat day.\nUnder the circumstances, it is highly unlikely\nthat his flight to Finland was made aboard any commercial\nairliner.\nLee Oswald's departure for Russia was made with State\nDepartment approval, according to Health, Education and Welfare\n22\nDepartment records in Dallas, to work as a radar specialist.\nA former C.I.A. finance officer, in a statement made in 1978, has\nbeen even more specific. Oswald, he stated under oath, had been\nrecruited from the military by the C.I.A. \"with the express\n*The dishonorable discharge did not occur until he had arrived in\nRussia and announced that he had \"defected\". In retrospect, that\naction appears to have been the creation of a standard\nintelligence \"funny\", intended to add verisimilitude to a\nmission. However, Lee Oswald, upon his return to the United\nStates, filed a strong formal complaint about the change made in\nhis discharge from the Marines.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 4\nPage 13 of 4\npurpose of a double agent assignment in the U.S.S.R.\"*\nThe Agency, has been exceedingly modest about Oswald's\npossible intelligence assignment in the Soviet Union, its\nposition being -- quite understandably -- that he was not\nemployed by the Agency. However, even if he had not been the\npatsy for Kennedy's elimination, that would be its standard\nposition with regard to any employee executing such an\nintelligence assignment.\nThe former air defense technician in the Marines might well\nhave had an assignment connected with the visibility of U-2\noverflights (and the consequent contrails left by the hot engines\nin the cold upper atmosphere). In that connection, an\nexamination of external occurrences, related in time with\nOswald's departure from Russia, reveals that the arrangements for\nhis return to the United States were made at approximately the\n*From the former C.I.A. employee's testimony before the House\nCommittee on Assassinations. This employee, a paymaster,\ntestified that he had handled the funding for the project to\nwhich Oswald had been assigned. Disposing of this problem,\nhowever, was duck soup for the Agency. A chorus line of other\nAgency witnesses, whose names he had mentioned, was produced and\nthey smoothly denied all knowledge of such a. thing. The members\nof the Committee lost interest in the lead and turned their minds\nto livlier leads such as Castro's revenge. 23 The observation\nmust be made that nothing seemed to interest the Committee's\nhigher investigative staff less than the production of informa-\ntion connecting the C.I.A. with Lee Oswald.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 5\nPage 14 of 4\nsame time that the United States launched the Midas, the\nsatellite observer missile, to overfly Russia on a regular\n24\nbasis.\nWith the satellite observer taking over and replacing\nthe U-2 overflights, there would no longer have been any need for\na ground observer to see whether or not visible contrails were\nleft by hot airplane engines.*\nThe Agency's name rarely appears on the record for anything\nit initiates which is in the slightest respect sensitive. For\nexample, if it wants a man transferred from one place to another,\nit arranges behind the scenes for Bureau X to request Bureau Y to\nmake the transfer. After the mission is accomplished, even\nthough the Agency was its \"sponsor\"*, there remains nothing on\nthe record to show that any interest on its part ever existed.\nThis point is made because, in connection with Lee Oswald's\ntrip to Russia and back, there is a pattern of government help\nfor him rather than opposition to him. This is all the more\nunprededented when such special solicitude is observed occurring\nafter his incendiary announcement in Russia - at a press\n*This is not intended as a probability estimate of Oswald's\nprecise function while in the Soviet Union because insufficient\ndata has been made available for such an estimate. It is,\nhowever, intended as an example of the fact that he was not\nwithout potential utility to the United States Intelligence\nCommunity.\n**Customary Intelligence Community terminology for the primary\ninstigator or supporter of a mission.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 6\nPage 15 of 4\nconference which he called at his Moscow hotel - that he was\n\"defecting\" from the United States, that he believed in Marxism\nand that he not only was going to remain in Russia but that,\nbecause of his experience in radar, he was in possession of\nmilitary secrets which he was going to turn over to the Soviet\ngovernment.\nAs this dramatic defection hit the world media, the F.B.I.\nduly picked it up. The Bureau, after making a study of Oswald's\nMarine Corps files, stated that \"no derogatory information was\ncontained in the U.S.M.C. files concerning Oswald. \" 25\nThe\nBureau further was informed that the Office of Naval Intelligence\n26\ncontemplated no action against him in the matter.\nConcerning\nthe F.B.I. 's failure to investigate the Oswald \"defection\" any\nfarther, J. Edgar Hoover later stated that the American Embassy\nin Moscow had given Oswald a \"clean bill. 27\nA close study of the record reveals that - after his 30 month\nsojourn in Russia was over - Oswald once again received the same\npeculiarly preferential treatment from the United States govern-\nment with regard to his return to the United States. The special\ntreatment did not extrude. Its profile was sufficiently low so\nas not to catch the eyes of the media. But it was there.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 7\nPage 16 of 4*\nIt is noteworthy, for example, that when Lee Oswald prepared\nto return from Russia the State Department approved his return\n(it could have opposed his return as a defector) * It authorized\nthe American Embassy in Moscow to lend him the money (in behalf\nof State) for his return. 29 It is also noteworthy that a State\nDepartment regulation provides that such a repatriation loan\ncannot be made unless \"loyalty to the United States beyond\n30\nquestion\" has been established with regard to the recipient.\nThe State Department's Passport Office found \"no reason\" why his\npassport should not be renewed** and the Department authorized\nthe American Embassy to renew it. 31 (In fact subsequently, in\n1963, when he applied for his passport again, he received it\nwithin 24 hours 32 - a circumstance which would have been\nutterly impossible had his \"defection\" to Russia been genuine).\nThis governmental pattern demonstrating almost paternal\nsolicitude for Lee Oswald's welfare - following his fiery\n\"defection\" in Moscow, and, 30 months later, following his return\n*The Department's report stated that it had determined that\nOswald \"had not expatriated himself\" by his actions upon arriving\nin Russia in 1961. It added that there was no indication in the\nreports on Oswald sent to the Department by the F.B.I. that\nOswald was a communist. 28\n**Ordinarily, when an American citizen goes abroad and commits an\nact indicating allegiance to another country (such as the Soviet\nUnion) the Passport Office automatically prepares a \"lookout\"\ncard to catch its attention in the event the party ever attempts\nto review his passport. In Oswald's case, no such \"lookout\" card\never was prepared. Like the American Embassy, the Passport\nOffice gave Oswald a \"clean bill of health.\"\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 8\nPage 17 of 4\nto the United States - is quite perceptible, upon close analysis,\nto one even unconnected with the government. The governmental\nsponsors of the assassination, consequently, must have been\nacutely conscious of it.\nThis would seem to explain their felt need, which otherwise\nwould have been redundant and unnecessary, to backdate his\napparent Marxism all the way to El Toro Marine Base in 1959 - a\nremarkable feat which was accomplished by producing a witness to\ntestify before the members of the Warren Commission concerning\nhis radical tendencies even back then. This crucial stain (which\nhad the effect of inferring that the Russian adventure was but a\ncontinuation of a deep seated radical dementia, rather than a\npossible government mission assigned to him) was held up high for\nthe media to see by its presentation before the Commission\nitself. This darkly incriminating testimony was printed in\nVolume XI of the hearings.\nOn the other hand, the other Marines, who had served more\nclosely with Oswald and had known him longer in the Marines,\nunanimously testified that they never had observed any radical\ntendencies whatsoever (Oswald \"never said subversive\nthings\" \"He would discuss his ideas but not anything against\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 9\nPage 18 of 4\nour Government or -- nothing Socialist, mind you\n\"I never\nheard him in any way, shape or form confess that he was a\nCommunist, or that he ever thought about being a Communist\n\"\nI\nnever heard Oswald make any anti-American or pro-Communist\nstatements'\n\"Oswald never gave me any indication of favoring\nCommunism or opposing capitalism \"I do not recall any remarks\non his part concerning Communism, Russia or Cuba\" are some of\nthe examples cited earlier herein of the consensus of his former\nMarine associates). This material, consisting of depositions and\naffidavits - in contrast to the inciting and incriminating\ntestimony presented openly before the members of the Commission -\nwas bunched in a separate volume of the Warren Report from\nThornley's testimony and it appears unlikely that most, if any,\nof the Commission members ever saw it.\nOswald was met on his arrival in New York not by the F.B.I.\nnor any other law enforcement agencies but by Spas T. Raikin, who\nwas the secretary-general of the American Friends of the Anti-\nBolshevik Nations, Inc., an anti-Communist operation with\nextensive intelligence connections. No effort ever was made by\nthe government to prosecute Oswald for his alleged defection. To\nthe contrary, as will be seen in the following chapter, when he\nultimately moved from Fort Worth to Dallas he was received with\nopen arms by the ferociously anti-communist White Russian\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 10\nPage 19 of 4*\ncommunity in Dallas and by the United States government, as\nwell. Pending more detailed consideration in the following\nchapter, a single incident will suffice here as an illustration.\nLearning the real status of a defector - who later became a\nre-defector - can be relatively simple. Simply find out what\ntheir standing is with the local F.B.I. office. The Bureau,\nwhose agents are trained to sniff out a Communist a thousand\nyards away, does not equivocate on that subject.\nOf the number of Dallas anti-communist Russians welcoming the\nOswalds, only Anna and Teofil Meller had any serious reservations\nabout the couple. This was because Anna, while visiting the\nOswald's apartment, had seen a copy of Karl Marx' \"Das Kapital\"\non a table. She seems to have been unaware of it but Teofil, her\nhusband, later called the Bureau and reported the fact. He was\ninformed by the Bureau's spokesman that Oswald was alright.\nThis information was obtained from a Dallas police\ninvestigative report dated February 17, 1964, captioned \"Teofil\nMeller. \"* How one might ask, was the fact that on this occasion\nthe Bureau regarded Oswald as \"alright\" handled by the Warren\nCommission - considering that the latter by that date had begun\n*It was obtained by researcher Harold Weisberg, one of the most\nindefatigable critics of the \"official solution\". See his book,\nWhitewash II (New York, Dell, 1966), pp. 45-50.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 11\nPage 20 of 4*\nits project of converting Oswald into a reptile more deadly than\nthe King Cobra?\nThe Warren Commission handled this problem with its usual\nelan. It simply did not call Teofil Meller as a witness - nor\neven ask him for an affidavit.\nIn view of such an accumulation of considerable anomalies,\none is tempted to want to examine Oswald's income tax for the\nperiod in question in order to see if income was reported by him\nfrom the C.I.A., Naval Intelligence or a related government\nbureau. Unfortunately for that thought, Oswald's income tax for\n33\nthe relevant time period has been classified as secret.\nLee\nOswald is probably the only lonely, itinerant drifter in the\nhistory of the human race to have his income tax return\nclassified as secret for reasons of national security.\nThe next chapter will demonstrate in particular - and\nfollowing chapters will reinforce - that Oswald's treatment,\nfollowing his return, both by the Intelligence Community and by\ndedicated anti-Communist individuals unquestionably supports the\nconclusion that in Russia he had been engaged in a government\nintelligence clandestine mission (as his mother attempted to\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 12\nPage 21 of 4*\ninform federal officials in vain as far back as 1961³⁴). The\nfacts support the conclusion that Oswald actually was anything\nbut a real defector. It follows that a number of men high in the\nAmerican Intelligence Community, despite their silence since,\nnecessarily would have been well aware of this.\nIn any case, those same individuals therefore would know, as\nwell, of the uniqueness of a young American who had branded\nhimself a dissident Marxist in the eyes of the world and who\nultimately would be returning to the United States, where he\nnecessarily would continue to be responsive to their orders.\nOswald would return to Texas in 1962, leaving in the summer\nof 1963 to spend the summer in New Orleans. There he would be\n\"sheep dipped\"* - under the cold eyes of Guy Banister, the former\n*Sheep dipped\" is intelligence terminology for placing an\nindividual in a form of activity which will condition him in a\nparticular way in the public eye. In 1962, following his return\nto Russia, Oswald had been surrounded by markedly anti-Communist\nRussian exiles in Dallas so that, with the assassination coming\nup later in 1963, it was necessary to cause him to go through\nsome \"refresher\" motions (e.g. handing out pro-Castro leaflets on\nthe street in front of news photographers, who had been called\nbeforehand) so that the public could be reminded, at the proper\ntime, that he was a trouble maker who had once \"defected\" to\nRussia. It would not have been difficult for the older men\naround him in New Orleans to induce him to such action by\nconvincing him that he was helping to \"penetrate\" the pro-Castro\ngroup (which actually had no members in New Orleans) known as\n\"Fair Play for Cuba,\" headquarters which was in New York.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 13\nPage 22 of 4\n(Continuation of footnote of previous page)\ntime, that he was a trouble maker who had once \"defected\" to\nRussia. It would not have been difficult for the older men\naround him in New Orleans to induce him to such action by\nconvincing him that he was helping to \"penetrate\" the pro-Castro\ngroup (which actually had no members in New Orleans) known as\n\"Fair Play for Cuba,\" headquarters which was in New York.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 14\nPage 23 of 4\nSpecial Agent in Charge of the Chicago F.B.I. office and a member\nof Naval Intelligence in World War II - by being instructed to\nhand out pro-Castro leaflets in the streets of New Orleans and\n35\nengage in other dissident antics.\nThe Lure of Louisiana\nKerry Thornley - the young man who would one day be the\ngovernment's star witness against his former Marine friend - was\na native of California, having gone to high school in Whittier\nand then to the University of Southern California. In January,\n1961 - the month of President Kennedy's inauguration - he moved\nto New Orleans, Lee Oswald's hometown (prior to his moving to\nFort Worth when in high school) where he was to remain for\nseveral years and the very place where Oswald would be returning\nto hand out inflammatory pro-Castro pamphlets in the summer\n36\nbefore the assassination.\nOswald, meanwhile, was in the midst of his 30 month stay in\nRussia, an ostensible defector working in a radio factory in\nMinsk. * He would not be back in New Orleans until he arrived to\nMinsk was one of six cities to which the Russians automatically\nsent defectors arriving from other countries. Whatever Oswald's\nassigned mission was, consequently, it was predictable in advance\nthat the Soviets would assign him to one of these six cities.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 15\nPage 24 of 4\nspend the summer there in 1963.\nThornley, when questioned by the New Orleans District\nAttorney's Office, denied having encountered Oswald in New\nOrleans during the latter's 1963 sojourn back in the city,\nalthough witness Barbara Reid strenuously disagreed with this.\nShe described in great detail seeing them together on several\noccasions at the Bourbon House, a combination bar and restaurant\n37\nin the French Quarter.\nFor Thornley the lure of Louisiana suddenly ended several\ndays after Kennedy's assassination. At that time he permanently\nleft New Orleans. He abruptly departed (as he explained in a\nhasty note left for his landlord) \"for the Washington, D.C.\n38\n=\narea.\nWhere, Thornley was asked, had he stayed while living in New\nOreans? As chance would have it, he had resided for a time on\nLafayette. Square - the highly active center, although low in its\nprofile, for the Intelligence Community's operations in New\nOrleans in the early 1960's. * This was learned when he was asked\nwhy he had had a box key for the Lafayette Square post office (it\nwas not known that he had one, but it earlier had become apparent\n* See Chapter 7, THE LAFAYETTE COMPLEX.\nBANKSTER ARRANATAS\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 16\nPage 25 of 4\nthat all the intelligence employees at Guy Banister's clandestine\noperation - later including Lee Oswald in the summer of 1963 -\ncarried such a key, apparently either for receiving instructions\nin their mail box from their particular intelligence case agents\nor for an explanation of their periodic presence in the building\nin which the Office of Naval Intelligence was located).\nThornley's answer was that he had possessed such a key because he\nhad lived at the Fox Hotel right across the street from the post\n39\noffice building.\nRight across the street? Mirabile dictu! And right across\nthe street from Guy Banister (the former career intelligence\nofficial and now the man running the anti-Castro effort for the\nCuban emigres in New Orleans) * And right across the street from\nthe hang-out of David Ferrie (the peripatetic C.I.A. contract\nemployee and Oswald's former captain in the Civil Air\n41\nPatrol)\nAnd right across the street from 544 Camp Street,\nfrom which in the summer of 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, would be\n42\nhanding out his provocative \"pro-Castro\" leaflets.\nAnd right across the street from Naval Intelligence\nheadquarters. 43 And two blocks down the street from the\nCentral Intelligence Agency and the F.B.I. offices. 44\n*See Chapter 7, THE LAFAYETTE-COMPLEX. 40\nFamily Apparates\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 17\nPage 26 of 4\nHere the point should be made that in dealing with an\nIntelligence Community product (such as, to a degree, is\nrepresented by the twenty-six volumes of \"hearings and evidence\"\nof the Warren Commission) it is not merely enough -- no matter\nhow scholarly the effort -- to confine one's study to that highly\nselective product. There must also be some primary investigation\nto develop reference points connecting with exterior reality.\nFor example, not a trace of the content of the material being\npresented in this chapter would be found anywhere in the\ntwenty-six volumes of the government's investigation - aside from\nthe briefly cited effort of government attorneys to portray the\nofficially selected scapegoat as a \"Marxist.\"\nOf course, Kerry Thornley's presence in the middle of the\ncrowded Lafayette Square intelligence scene might have been the\npurest happenstance. It is nevertheless notable that federal\ninvestigators seem to have shown no interest in nor any awareness\nof the coincidences involved in his presence in New Orleans, his\ncontacts there and the timing of his arrivals and departures from\nthe city.\nAnother small eyebrow raiser, as well, is the fact that,\nwhile living in New Orleans, Kerry Thornley had been writing a\nnovel \"inspired by\" Lee Oswald (he finished the book in February\n45\n1963 -- just eight months before the assassination)\nNot\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 18\nPage 27 of 4\nmany other people were writing books inspired by Lee Oswald. At\nleast, not before the murder of President Kennedy.\nThe D.A.'s office already had learned that Thornley arrived\nin New Orleans in early 1961. A routine check of police records\nshows that he was in New Orleans in 1962, as well. He was\narrested in August of that year for putting a sign on a telephone\npost on Royal Street, in the French Quarter, in violation of a\ncity ordinance. 46 The arresting police officers, when\nquestioned, could no longer recall the subject of the sign.\nThornley's arrival in New Orleans in January of 1961 could\nturn out to be the explanation of the previously unexplainable\n\"Bolton Ford incident. 47 While Oswald was still in Russia, a\nyoung man (initiating a bid for ten Ford pick-up trucks for the\nC.I.A.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion) gave his name to the\nBolton Ford company as \"Lee Oswald\"\nThe bid was being made by this \"Oswald\" in behalf of Guy\nBanister's \"Citizens for a Democratic Cuba.\" The proposed\n*Oswald's name, quite apparently, was on the bid form which the\nF.B.I. agents -- following the assassination -- so carefully\nremoved with tweezers from the Bolton Ford files. Although\nThornley must have arrived in Washington almost as soon as the\nbid form, there is no indication in the twenty-six Warren\nCommission volumes that anyone ever asked him about that -- or\nabout the number of other instances of the use of Oswald's name\nby a young man.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 19\nPage 28 of 4\ntransaction was occurring at a time when this organization was\nengaged in gathering material for the C.I.A.'s attempted invasion\nat the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. This indirect procedure was being\nused to acquire military equipment for the invasion in order to\nsupport the posture - later adopted by the United States\ngovernment - that the invasion had been developed and launched\nsolely by anti-Castro Cubans. At the time of the bid, the young\nman using Oswald's name told the Ford people, \"You ought to sell\nus these trucks at cost. This is for a patriotic thing. 48\nThe young man using Oswald's name was accompanied by a husky\ncharacter who appeared to be Latin and who had a distinctive one\ninch vertical scar through his left eyebrow. The powerful\nlooking Latin would later be seen regularly at another operation\nout of Banister's place. After the real Lee Oswald's return to\nNew Orleans in the summer of 1963, when he began flamboyantly\nhanding out the pro-Castro leaflets, the man with the scar would\nalways be present on the edge of the crowd - out of range of the\ncameras - as his bodyguard.*\n*This is standard operating procedure for intelligence when an\nemployee or agent is engaged in a provocative activity. The\nnearby bodyguard is insurance against a violent reaction from\nsome individual in the crowd. Additional insurance is also\nacquired by selecting a controlled environment for the\nprovocative scene. For example, the most widely photographed\nlocale when Oswald played the \"agent provocateur\" was at the\nentrance of the International Trade Mart, which was operated by\nClay Shaw, a man who long since has been confirmed to have been a\nC.I.A. employee. For more information regading Shaw see Chapter\n6, THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF CLAY SHAW, and Chapter 8, THE COMPANY\nOF FRIENDS.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 20\nPage 29 of 4\nMost people in New Orleans did not know the name \"Oswald\" but\nin 1961 Thornley would not have been unaware of his former\ncomrade at arms. Within the next year or so he would be writing\nthe book about him - well before he was made famous as the\nsolitary killer of the President. However, Thornley was unable\nto recall using Oswald's name nor being at Bolton Ford.\nIn fact, Thornley did not recall many things about his stay\nin New Orleans from early 1961 until late November of 1963. He\ndid recall staying for a brief period at an obscure lodging house\ncalled the McBeath Hotel on Napoleon Avenue. That place was no\nlonger operational when the D.A.'s investigators arrived there,\nfollowing Thornley's reference to it, but some of its old records\nremained. Among them, interestingly enough, was the registration\nof Lee H. Oswald in 1959, just before he sailed on the Lykes\nsteamship (with a ticket purchased at Clay Shaw's International\nTrade Mart) for Europe.\nBecause of the implications of the Bolton Ford bid made under\nthe name of Lee Oswald, the D.A.'s office located a copy of\nThornley's driving license in California and compared his\nstatistics with Oswald's. Between the two of them there was one\ninch difference in height and a few pounds difference in\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 21\nPage 30 of 4\nweight. Obviously they were fairly close in appearance -- two\nvery thin young men with almost exactly the same physical build,\neach with brown hair and similar facial features.\nOne very strange thing happened, however, when Kerry Thornley\ndescribed his Marine comrade in 1964 during the course of his\n33-page discourse on him. Warren Commission Counsel Jenner asked\nhow tall Lee Oswald was and here is the colloquy which resulted:\nMr. Thornley: I would say he was about five-five maybe. I\ndon't know.\nMr. Jenner: How tall are you?\nMr. Thornley: I am five ten.\nMr. Jenner: Was he shorter than you?\n49\nMr. Thornley: Yes.\n-\nBut wait a minute! Oswald -- who was nearly six feet tall --\nwas the taller of the two. It would not be possible for Thornley\nto reverse such a fact in his mind. Why, then, was he describing\nhis friend Lee as six inches shorter than he really was? Was he,\n*California driver's license #G86606, issued in 1968, indicated\nThornley to be 5 feet 10 inches tall and 145 pounds in weight.\nOswald was 5 feet 11 inches tall and approximately 150 pounds in\nweight. The sources of Oswald's measurements used by the D.A.'s\noffice for the comparison were: his Selective Service\nRegistration, his medical examination while still in the Marines\nand his passport.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId:59167984 Page 22\nPage 31 of 4\nperhaps, fearful that someone might believe that he, Thornley,\nhad been the young man who had been acting out the role of Lee\nOswald in the early 1960's\nat Bolton Ford in New Orleans\nthen in Dallas.\nand then in Mexico in September\nand\nthen back in New Orleans\nand then in Dallas again?\nIf it was anything much less than that, less horrendous and\ninadmissible, why wasn't the Warren Commission counsel saying\nanything to \"refresh his recollection\"? Everyone connected with\nthe inquiry had to know by then that Oswald was 5 feet 11 inches\ntall.\nObviously, not enough people really cared -- rote was being\nchanted out to create the tableau of an extensive inquiry.\nThornley easily could have said that Oswald was only three feet\ntall. Allen Dulles would have puffed on his pipe and grinned.\nThe truth was that everything was really all over when the\nscapegoat was shot and put away in a box. *\nBut for anyone who might still be interested in the facts, a\ncareful reading of Thornley's testimony produces the acrid smell\n*The Dallas police, anxious to make at least a belated show of\nefficiency, seem to have been prompt in their recognition that\nthe case was already over. After Oswald was shot they marked\ntheir one-page investigation of the President's murder with a\nrubber stamp: \"Case closed.\"\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 23\nPage 32 of 4\nof fraud on the part of men connected with the government -- a\nfraud never disowned, still bearing the imprimatur of the\ngovernment after twenty years. Have you ever observed how\nintensely the Justice Department prosecutes fraud in the private\nsector? Here we have one of history's most gigantic frauds - one\npart of a giant constellation of fraud - on the part of the\ngovernment itself. The loud silence from the Justice Department,\nsince the Warren Commission edifice toppled and fell, remains\ndeafening.\nDid this star witness as to Lee Oswald's Communism in the\nMarines in California by any chance, happen to have met Guy\nBanister in New Orleans before the assassination? Yes, he\nreplied to the New Orleans D.A.'s office. He had met Banister by\naccident. They had \"discussed the book\" inspired by Oswald,\nwhich Thornley was writing.\nA curious group, the D.A.'s office asked another question.\nHad the government's star witness also met David Ferrie in New\nOrleans prior to the assassination? Well, yes again. He had met\nFerrie also by accident. However, Thornley added, in a burst of\ncooperation, \"I'm nearly sure that no significant conversation\ntranspired.\"\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId:59167984 Page 24\nPage 33 of 4\nAlso, during Thornley's conversation with the New Orleans\nauthorities, he was questioned about his travel schedule in 1963\nwhen he went (by bus) to visit his parents in California. He\nexplained that he had left New Orleans at the end of April and\ngone by way of Dallas, where he spent a few days visiting (the\nfirst few days of May). By strange coincidence, this was the\nvery period during which photographs were taken - with Oswald's\nhead rather clumsily superimposed on them - of a young man\nholding in one hand a Communist newspaper and in the other a\nrifle (needless to say, it is rather rare in the annals of\nassassination for the culprit to so obligingly provide\nincriminating evidence against himself in advance).\nThe photographs were taken in the backyard of the Neely\nStreet apartment which the Oswalds had occupied in Dallas. They\nhad moved out of it to New Orleans in early May, leaving a week's\nrent still paid for.\nEither the Communist newspaper or the rifle would have been\nstrong enough for a man soon to become a scapegoat - but the\ncombination of the two leaves a fragrance which is too strong to\nbe. taken seriously. These \"incriminating\" photographs of the\ndesignated assassin would be found by Dallas police on the\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 25\nPage 34 of 4\nafternoon of the assassination.\n50\nThornley had returned in September by way of Mexico City\n(\"for many years I had wanted to visit Mexico City. \") 51\nInterestingly enough, this happened to be very close to the time\nthat the Warren Commission said Oswald was in Mexico, allegedly\ncontacting the Russian embassy and trying to get a visa from the\nCuban embassy (so that he could go to Russia by way of Cuba, if\nyou are ready for that one). Actually, Lee Oswald, himself,\nnever contacted the Soviet Embassy nor the Cuban Embassy in\nMexico City. As explained in more detail, later in THE MAN WHO\nWASN' T THERE, someone else was using his name, one more acting\nout of the role of the offensive Marxist dissident, one more\ncontribution to the pre-assassination dis-creditation of the\nscapegoat.*\nTowards the end of his stay in New Orleans, by November 1963,\n*For example, Lee Oswald's communications with the Russian\nembassy were described in a C.I.A. memo dated prior to the\nassassination. 52 His \"conversations\" (consisting of the query,\n\"this is Lee Oswald. Are there any messages for me?\",)\ninvariably were followed by a negative response from the\nEmbassy's switchboard operator, and were recorded by the C.I.A.\nAfter the President's murder, F.B.I. agents listening to the tape\nconcluded, in a moment of uninformed candor, that the voice was\nnot Oswald's. 53 This untrue pre-assassination Agency memo and\nthe contrived \"conversation\" fairly should be recognized as early\nevidence demonstrating Agency participation in setting up the man\nwho was to become the official patsy for the President's\nremoval. See Chapter 9, THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE for\nconsiderably more detail in this regard.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 26\nPage 35 of 4\nThornley was living at John Spencer's house -- about three or\nfour blocks away from Clay Shaw. Spencer happened to be a friend\nof Shaw's and sometimes he visited Shaw and sometimes it was vice\nversa. However, both Clay Shaw and Spencer were in agreement hat\nShaw never came by while Thornley was staying at John Spencer's.\nAfter spending nearly three years in New Orleans, Kerry\nThornley suddenly left - for good. Several days after the\nassassination, Spencer came to his house and found Thornley\ngone. There was a note from him in Spencer's mailbox saying, \"I\nmust leave. I am going to the Washington, D.C. area, probably\nAlexandria, Virginia. I will send you my address so that you can\nforward my mail. Spencer said it was quite unexpected because\nThornley had at least ten days left in the month before his rent\nwould have been due. He went to Thornley's apartment, which was\napartment \"C\", and paper all over the place had been torn up into\nsmall pieces resembling confetti. Before being torn up the paper\n*This is an example of real coincidence. At the end of summer,\nRuth Paine - who subsequently got Lee Oswald his job at the now\nfamous Texas School Book Depository - had driven to Washington,\nD.C. to visit her brother-in-law (employed by the Agency for\nInternational Development, for all practical purposes an Agency\nsubsidiary), then returned to New Orleans in September. Payne\npicked up Marina Oswald, the baby and the Oswald family\nbelongings -- and drove them on to Dallas, where Lee Oswald was\nto join them. Now back in New Orleans, hardly had the gunshots\nin Dallas died out when Oswald's old Marine buddy also was seized\nwith the urge to go to Washington. 54 But, in all fairness, it\nshould be observed that the Washington area is very picturesque\nand the sudden desire to visit it can be impelling.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 27\nPage 36 of 4\nhad been watered down so that the ink had been blurred, making it\nunreadable.\nSpencer said he had had some conversations with Thornley\nabout his book \"The Idle Warriors\" and that Thornley had asked\nhim to read a copy of the manuscript which had been turned down\nby several publishers before the assassination. He never did get\naround to reading it. After the assassination Thornley told him\nthat he was going to be a rich man because of the coincidence of\n55\nOswald having been the subject of his book.\nThe New Orleans D.A.'s office traced Thornley's path to the\nWashington area. It was found that indeed he had wound up at\nArlington, a Washington suburb. He had moved into Shirlington\nHouse, a first-class apartment building, where he worked as\ndoorman. Thornley stayed at Shirlington House until he testified\nbefore the Warren Commission. (That was a six-month stay in\nWashington. There are plays produced on Broadway with shorter\nrehearsal periods than that.) The D.A.'s office ascertained\nthat, oddly enough, his salary was less than the rent of his\n56\nShirlington House apartment.\nThornley sometime later sent a lengthy, almost biographical,\naffidavit to the New Orleans D.A.'s office describing, among\nother things, evidence which he had encountered of Nazi activity\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 28\nPage 37 of 4\nthere in connection with President Kennedy's murder. Although it\ndid not quite accord with reality in many respects, as the D.A.'s\noffice saw it, it had one interesting feature. Purely\ngratuitously, it mentioned in brief detail how he and John\nRosselli had happened to become friends after Thornley had left\nWashington and returned to California. The affidavit was mailed\nbefore Roselli's abrupt dispatchment to the hereafter, his early\ndeparture having been accomplished by dropping him in an oil drum\ninto the ocean off the coast of Florida.\nYou may remember Rosselli, a racketeer of some renown. His\nname had surfaced during the Senate's investigation of the\nC.I.A.'s assassination practices. He was described as one of\nseveral men with underworld backgrounds who had worked for the\nCentral Intelligence Agency in its efforts to accomplish the\nassassination of Fidel Castro.* In fact, he had been one of a\nnumber of mobster types with whom the Agency had developed a\nrelationship during its pre-Castro activities in Cuba. ** They\n*See Chapter 12, THE HIDDEN SPONSOR, with regard to some of the\nAgency's specific assassination projects.\n**Rosselli's gambling proclivities in pre-Castro Cuba -- the site\nof numerous casinos - later had made him useful to Howard Hughes,\nthe eccentric billionaire, when he cast his covetous eyes on the\ntwinkling world of the Las Vegas casinos. With Rosselli and his\nconnections to ease the way, Hughes had moved into Vegas as only\nHoward Hughes could, buying up whatever caught his eye. It was\nwhile he was working for Hughes, and because of his background\nand gambling contacts in Cuba, that Rosselli was drafted by the\nC.I.A.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 29\nPage 38 of 4\nwould later prove to be valuable assets after Kennedy's\nelimination, because the Agency's dis-Information machinery was\nable to use their names to divert attention to the mob as a\npossible \"sponsor\" of the murder.*\nRosselli's assignment by the Agency was to accomplish the\nassassination of Fidel Castro. In retrospect he seems not to\nhave been as close-mouthed about his mission as the Agency would\nhave liked. Rosselli initiated -- between 1960 and 1963 -- at\nleast five attempts on Castro's life. When he later appeared\nbefore a Senate Committee investigating the assassination\nproclivities of the C.I.A., he testified that he was aware all\nalong that his murder project was sponsored by the Agency.\nNot long afterwards the remains of Mr. Rosselli -- shot in\nthe stomach and bound in chains -- were found floating in an oil\n*See Chapter 13, THE SECRET SPONSOR, regarding the C.I.A.'s use\nof \"false sponsors\" following assassinations. A particularly\nblatant example of the fascination of federal investigations for\nfalse leads pointing away from the C.I.A. is epitomized in the\n1978-1979 House Committe on assassination investigation. It\nfeatured an 1100 page volume of its hearings into Organized Crime\n- a very safe and popular target for the Congressmen to\nconsider. The volume has about as much relevance to Kennedy's\nassassination as if it were a study of the religious rites of the\nDruids in early England. This was a clear case of the\nCongressmen being taken for a ride by someone at the top level of\ntheir investigative staff. See APPENDIX: The House Committee on\nAssassinations.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 30\nPage 39 of 4\ndrum in Biscayne Bay. In accordance with official American\netiquette for that period (when a murder victim happened to have\nbeen a potential witness to an assassination project) federal\ninvestigators were unable to find any leads to the perpetrators.\nThis did not prevent the Justice Department from indicating that\nit thought the job was the work of organized crime. The C.I.A.\nsaid that it thought so, too.\nIt does not seem to have occurred to federal investigative\nauthorities that the mob, which admittedly is not something our\ncountry can be very proud of, would not likely have been the\nunhappy party as the result of Rosselli admitting to the Senate\nthat he had initiated assassination attempts for the C.I.A. Nor\ndid anyone point out that at this time - when the Agency's\ndis-Information machinery was stentoriously featuring Organized\nCrime as a very probable sponsor of the assassination - it is not\na very reasonable hypothesis that the mob would make such an\novert effort to put its \"signature\" on the murder of a witness so\ndirectly connected to the assassination inquiry.*\n*A second mob figure, Sam Giancana (who also had done some\nbusiness with the C.I.A. regarding Cuba) - was called to appear\nbefore the same committee - was killed shortly before his\nscheduled appearance. He was murdered with equal savagery, under\ncircumstances also dramatically suggestive of a traditional\norganized crime execution. He was shot in his home eight times\nin his neck and his head by someone whom he admitted into the\nhouse. Those who conclude that Organized Crime would be so\nlikely to also put its imprimatur on this scheduled Committee\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId:59167984 Page 31\nPage 40 of 4\n(Continuation of footnote of previous page)\nwitness are free to do so. Some of the more curious might wish\nto read, in Chapter 12, THE SECRET SPONSOR, of the variety of\nbrutal murder techniques developed by the C.I.A.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 32\nPage 41 of 4\nWhether this indeed was an old fashioned sentimental gesture\non the part of the \"mob\" or a clever example of what the Agency\nterms \"damage control,\" someone seems to have gone to some\ntrouble to produce a scenario reminiscent of the gangster days of\nyesteryear and Prohibition. In any case, in the course of\nbecoming an acquaintance of John Rosselli in the middle Sixties,\nKerry Thornley was not exactly becoming a friend of Joe Smith,\nCitizen. He had come a long way from his Marine days back at El\nToro with his buddy, Lee Oswald.\nA few months after his arrival in the Washington area,\nThornley had occasion to write an acquaintance. In passing, he\nmade a brief reference to the President's assassination:\n\"The whole thing was very interesting for awhile,\nthe assassination, because -- on the surface --\nthere was good reason for the unenlightened SS\n[sic] and F.B.I. to suspect I might've had a hand\nin it. We had some polite conversations and\nfinally, I guess, I was cleared. No word from\nthem lately. I hope, though, my move to this\narea scared the piss out of 'em. Whether or not\nI'll be asked to put my 2¢ in at the Warren\nhearing, I don't know. Or care. When it is all\nover, though, I may yet go piss on JFK's grave,\nRIP. \"*\nOne has to wonder at the whimsy of fate. With all due\nsympathy for Rosselli's tragic demise, the question arises: what\nwas a nice kid like Kerry Thornley doing with a character like\nthat?\n* From a letter written by Kerry Thornley, Arlington, Virginia,\nto Philip Boatright, Omaha, Nebraska, February 8, 1964. 57\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 33\nPage 8 of 4\ntest given to your basic soldier). His interrogator seems to\nhave sensed the explosive potential of this information because\nhe quickly added that Oswald had answered about as many questions\nwrong as he had correctly. With regard to a Russian examination,\nthis is very much like saying that your dog is stupid because you\ncan beat him playing chess three games out of five.\nRiRUSS\nhave alreads made clean my response to learning that O swold had incore been\nEXAM\ngiven an examination Dawald is The New Crillans resides this took and closes look\nD\nThis slip about the Russian examination is the beginning of\nthe evidence indicating that earlier Oswald had been selected for\nThat swoold might have been related for\nintelligence work. This is not surprising inasmuch as he\npossessed the characteristics looked for in recruiting such\nemployees: he was from a military family (one brother in the\nMarines, one in the Air Force), he was very closemouthed by\nnature, he followed orders automatically and he was well above\naverage in intelligence. * The other Marines around Oswald had\nacquired the impression that he had \"taught himself\" Russian,\nunaware that the government had taught him.\nThe libilihood of Cowald having\nHis having been picked for intelligence work while in the\nMarines is consistent with his assignment prior to the taking of\nthe Russian examination at El Toro Marine Base in 1959. Previ-\nTO A75061\niously, he had served in the Pacific at Atsugi Air Base - the\nultra-secret base for all of the daily super-secret U-2 flights\n*Oswald's Intelligence Quotient (\"I.Q.\") was 118. This means\nthat his intelligence had tested out, in approximate terms, as 18\npoints above the average I.Q.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 34\nPage 9 of 4*\nover China and that part of Asia. Oswald's anti-aircraft unit,\nhighly classified with regard to security, had the specific\nassignment of guarding a U-2 hangar and was surrounded by a high,\nheavily wired Page fence. Even the arrival of the daily mail\ntruck required that it be preceded by a sergeant on foot,\nequipped with the password for the day. 17 His service at\nAtsugi Air Base is probably best memorialized by two of the many\nCentral Intelligence Agency documents concerning him which were\nclassified as unavailable following the Warren Commission\ninquiry: CD 931 \"Oswald's access to information about the U-2\"\nand CD 692 \"Reproduction of C.I.A. official dossier on\n18\nOswald.\nAnother indication of the peculiar security status which\nOswald had acquired in the Marines has been well concealed from\ncasual view. The island of Quemoy just off the mainland of\ncommunist China, was occupied by the nationalist Chinese - allies\nof the United States - but was within shelling distance of the\nred Chinese. Periodically, a crisis surfaced when Quemoy was\nshelled and threatened by possible invasion from the mainland.\nDuring one of these occasions Oswald was assigned to duty on\nQuemoy - but the assignment apparently was of a high security\nclassification because it was not indicated anywhere in his\nservice record made available to the Warren Commission.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 35\nPage 10 of 4*\nThis special mission was discovered later by a non-government\ninvestigator who undertook the laborious task of going through\nOswald's payroll records and discovered the fact of his unlisted\npresence in Quemoy. Oswald was a trained specialist in radar and\nanti-aircraft operations and it would appear that this special\nassignment was in that connection. It is not known with any\ncertitude, however, because the purpose of his special assignment\n19\nhas been kept secret.\nIt was not long after taking the Russian examination at El\nToro that Lee Oswald received his discharge from the Marines.\nWithin two weeks he surfaced in Moscow where he ostentatiously\nannounced that he had \"defected\" from the United States and\nremained for 30 months before returning. What is important to\nkeep in mind is that it was only at this time in Moscow that the\nscenario of Oswald as a \"Communist\" - later to be so advantageous\nin making him the scapegoat for the assassination - began.\nHowever, the overwhelming weight of the evidence makes it clear\nthat back in his Marine days - even while he was being taught\nRussian - he had not the slightest inclination towards Communism.\nNaw\nIt is hard to avoid becoming curious about Kerry Thornley\nwhose extravagant testimony differed so enormously from all the\nother Marines who served with Oswald. It mattered not how\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId:59167984 Page 36\nPage 11 of 4\nnumerous and unanimous the others were about the total absence of\nMarxist leanings on Oswald's part -- it was Thornley's testimony\nwhich was grabbed and held high, for all to see, by the Warren\nCommission and the government, the incurious national press and\nthe writers of obsequious books approving the official travesty.\nStrangely enough, Nelson Delgado -- who had lived in the same\nbarracks as Oswald and had known him much longer (and had \"never\nheard Oswald say subversive things\") -- was not even given the\n20\nusual 72 hours' notice before being called to testify.\nOn\nthe other hand, Thornley was given six months in advance,\nremaining in the Washington, D.C. area, while he prepared to\ntestify for the government.\nHe arrived in Washington promptly after the assassination of\nthe President and stayed there until his lengthy testimony for\nthe Warren Commission in May of the following year. Whatever lay\nbehind it, Thornley's testimony stands out as most singular --\nalmost as discordant as the government's triumphant and\npublicized seizure of it (in the face of the heavy weight of\nevidence to the contrary) as evidence that Lee Oswald was a\ndedicated Marxist revolutionary.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 37\nPage 14 of 4\nsame time that the United States launched the Midas, the\nsatellite observer missile, to overfly Russia on a regular\nbasis.\nWith the satellite observer taking over and replacing\nthe U-2 overflights, there would no longer have been any need for\na ground observer to see whether or not visible contrails were\nleft by hot airplane engines. *\nThe Agency's name rarely appears on the record for anything\nit initiates which is in the slightest respect sensitive. For\nexample, if it wants a man transferred from one place to another,\nit arranges behind the scenes for Bureau X to request Bureau Y to\nmake the transfer. After the mission is accomplished, even\nthough the Agency was its \"sponsor\"*, there remains nothing on\nthe record to show that any interest on its part ever existed.\nThis point is made because, in connection with Lee Oswald's\ntrip to Russia and back, there is a pattern of government help\nfor him rather than opposition to him. This is all the more\nunprededented when such special solicitude is observed occurring\nafter his incendiary announcement in Russia - at a press\n*This is not intended as a probability estimate of Oswald's\nprecise function while in the Soviet Union because insufficient\ndata has been made available for such an estimate. It is,\nhowever, intended as an example of the fact that he was not\nwithout potential utility to the United States Intelligence\nCommunity.\n**Customary Intelligence Community terminology for the primary\ninstigator or supporter of a mission.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 38\nPage 15 of 4\nconference which he called at his Moscow hotel - that he was\n\"defecting\" from the United States, that he believed in Marxism\nand that he not only was going to remain in Russia but that,\nbecause of his experience in radar, he was in possession of\nmilitary secrets which he was going to turn over to the Soviet\ngovernment.\nAs this dramatic defection hit the world media, the F.B.I.\nduly picked it up. The Bureau, after making a study of Oswald's\nMarine Corps files, stated that \"no derogatory information was\ncontained in the U.S.M.C. files concerning Oswald.\nThe\nBureau further was informed that the Office of Naval Intelligence\ncontemplated no action against him in the matter.\nConcerning\nthe F.B.I.'s failure to investigate the Oswald \"defection\" any\nfarther, J. Edgar Hoover later stated that the American Embassy\nin Moscow had given Oswald a \"clean bill.\nA close study of the record reveals that - after his 30 month\nsojourn in Russia was over - Oswald once again received the same\npeculiarly preferential treatment from the United States govern-\nment with regard to his return to the United States. The special\ntreatment did not extrude. Its profile was sufficiently low so\nas not to catch the eyes of the media. But it was there.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 39\nPage 16 of 4*\nIt is noteworthy, for example, that when Lee Oswald prepared\nto return from Russia the State Department approved his return\n(it could have opposed his return as a defector) * It authorized\nthe American Embassy in Moscow to lend him the money (in behalf\nof State) for his return: It is also noteworthy that a State\nDepartment regulation provides that such a repatriation loan\ncannot be made unless \"loyalty to the United States beyond\n30\nquestion\" has been established with regard to the recipient.\nThe State Department's Passport Office found \"no reason\" why his\npassport should not be renewed** and the Department authorized\nthe American Embassy to renew it.\nX\n(In fact subsequently, in\n1963, when he applied for his passport again, he received it\nwithin 24 hours X- a circumstance which would have been\nutterly impossible had his \"defection\" to Russia been genuine).\nThis governmental pattern demonstrating almost paternal\nsolicitude for Lee Oswald's welfare - following his fiery\n\"defection\" in Moscow, and, 30 months later, following his return\nThe Department's report stated that it had determined that\nOswald \"had not expatriated himself\" by his actions upon arriving\nin Russia in 1961. It added that there was no indication in the\nreports on Oswald sent to the Department by the F.B.I. that\nOswald was a communist.\n**Ordinarily, when an American citizen goes abroad and commits an\nact indicating allegiance to another country (such as the Soviet\nUnion) the Passport Office automatically prepares a \"lookout\"\ncard to catch its attention in the event the party ever attempts\nto review his passport. In Oswald's case, no such \"lookout\" card\never was prepared. Like the American Embassy, the Passport\nOffice gave Oswald a \"clean bill of health.\"\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 40\nPage 17 of 4\nto the United States - is quite perceptible, upon close analysis,\nto one even unconnected with the government. The governmental.\nsponsors of the assassination, consequently, must have been\nacutely conscious of it.\nThis would seem to explain their felt need, which otherwise\nwould have been redundant and unnecessary, to backdate his\napparent Marxism all the way to El Toro Matine Base in 1959 - a\nremarkable feat which was accomplished by producing a witness to\ntestify before the members of the Warren Commission concerning\nhis radical tendencies even back then. This crucial stain (which\nhad the effect of inferring that the Russian adventure was but a\ncontinuation of a deep seated radical dementia, rather than a\npossible government mission assigned to him) was held up high for\nthe media to see by its presentation before the Commission\nitself. This darkly incriminating testimony was printed in\nVolume XI of the hearings.\nOn the other hand, the other Marines, who had served more\nclosely with Oswald and had known him longer in the Marines,\nunanimously testified that they never had observed any radical\ntendencies whatsoever (Oswald \"never said subversive\nthings\". \"He would discuss his ideas but not anything against\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 41\nPage 18 of 4\nour Government or -- nothing Socialist, mind you\"...\"I\nnever\nheard him in any way, shape or form confess that he was a\nCommunist, or that he ever thought about being a Communist'\nI\nnever heard Oswald make any anti-American or pro-Communist\nstatements \"Oswald never gave me any indication of favoring\nCommunism or opposing capitalism' I do not recall any remarks\non his part concerning Communism, Russia or Cuba\" ...\nare\nsome\nof\nthe examples cited earlier herein of the consensus of his former\nMarine associates). This material, consisting of depositions and\naffidavits - - in contrast to the inciting and incriminating\ntestimony presented openly before the members of the Commission -\nwas bunched in a separate volume of the Warren Report from\nThornley's testimony and it appears unlikely that most, if any,\nof the Commission members ever saw it.\nOswald was met on his arrival in New York not by the F.B.I.\nnor any other law enforcement agencies but by Spas T. Raikin, who\nwas the secretary-general of the American Friends of the Anti-\nBolshevik Nations, Inc., , an anti-Communist operation with\nextensive intelligence connections. No effort ever was made by\nthe government to prosecute Oswald for his alleged defection. To\nthe contrary, as will be seen in the following chapter, when he\nultimately moved from Fort Worth to Dallas he was received with\nopen arms by the ferociously anti-communist White Russian\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 42\nPage 19 of 4*\ncommunity in Dallas and by the United States government, as\nwell. Pending more detailed consideration in the following\nchapter, a single incident will suffice here as an illustration.\nLearning the real status of a defector - who later became a\nre-defector - can be relatively simple. Simply find out what\ntheir standing is with the local F.B.I. office. The Bureau,\nwhose agents are trained to sniff out a Communist a thousand\nyards away, does not equivocate on that subject.\nOf the number of Dallas anti-communist Russians welcoming the\nOswalds, only Anna and Teofil Meller had any serious reservations\nabout the couple. This was because Anna, while visiting the\nOswald's apartment, had seen a copy of Karl Marx' \"Das Kapital\"\non a table. She seems to have been unaware of it but Teofil, her\nhusband, later called the Bureau and reported the fact. He was\ninformed by the Bureau's spokesman that Oswald was alright.\nThis information was obtained from a Dallas police\ninvestigative report dated February 17, 1964, captioned \"Teofil\nMeller. \"* How one might ask, was the fact that on this occasion\nthe Bureau regarded Oswald as \"alright\" handled by the Warren\nCommission - considering that the latter by that date had begun\n*It was obtained by researcher Harold Weisberg, one of the most\nindefatigable critics of the \"official solution\". See his book,\nWhitewash II (New York, Dell, 1966), pp. 45-50.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 43\nPage 20 of 4*\nits project of converting Oswald into a reptile more deadly than\nthe King Cobra?\nThe Warren Commission handled this problem with its usual\nelan. It simply did not call Teofil Meller as a witness - nor\neven ask him for an affidavit.\nIn view of such an accumulation of considerable anomalies,\none is tempted to want to examine Oswald income tax for the\nperiod in question in order to see if income was reported by him\nfrom the C.I.A., Naval Intelligence or a related government\nbureau. Unfortunately for that thought, Oswald's income tax for\nthe relevant time period has been classified as secret. X Lee\nOswald is probably the only lonely, itinerant drifter in the\nhistory of the human race to have his income tax return\nclassified as secret for reasons of national security.\nThe next chapter will demonstrate in particular and\nfollowing chapters will reinforce - that Oswald's treatment,\nfollowing his return, both by the Intelligence Community and by\ndedicated anti-Communist individuals unquestionably supports the\nconclusion that in Russia he had been engaged in a government\nintelligence clandestine mission (as his mother attempted to\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 44\nPage 21 of 4*\ninform federal officials in vain as far back as 1961 X. The\nfacts support the conclusion that Oswald actually was anything\nbut a real defector. It follows that a number of men high in the\nAmerican Intelligence Community, despite their silence since,\nnecessarily would have been well aware of this.\nIn any case, those same individuals therefore would know, as\nwell, of the uniqueness of a young American who had branded\nhimself a dissident Marxist in the eyes of the world and who\nultimately would be returning to the United States, where he\nnecessarily would continue to be responsive to their orders.\nOswald would return to Texas in 1962, leaving in the summer\nof 1963 to spend the summer in New Orleans. There he would be\n\"sheep dipped\"* - under the cold Julves eyes of Guy Banister, the former\n*Sheep dipped\" is intelligence terminology for placing an\nindividual in a form of activity which will condition him in a\nparticular way in the public eye. In 1962, following his return\nto Russia, Oswald had been surrounded by markedly anti-Communist\nRussian exiles in Dallas so that, with the assassination coming\nup later in 1963, it was necessary to cause him to go through\nsome \"refresher\" motions (e.g. handing out pro-Castro leaflets on\nthe street in front of news photographers, who had been called\nbeforehand) so that the public could be reminded, at the proper\ntime, that he was a trouble maker who had once \"defected\" to\nRussia. It would not have been difficult for the older men\naround him in New Orleans to induce him to such action by\nconvincing him that he was helping to \"penetrate\" the pro-Castro\ngroup (which actually had no members in New Orleans) known as\n\"Fair Play for Cuba,\" headquarters which was in New York.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\nNW 12640 DocId: 59167984 Page 45\nPage 22 of 4\n(Continuation of footnote of previous page)\ntime, that he was a trouble maker who had once \"defected\" to\nRussia. It would not have been difficult for the older men\naround him in New Orleans to induce him to such action by\nconvincing him that he was helping to \"penetrate\" the pro-Castro\ngroup (which actually had no members in New Orleans) known as\n\"Fair Play for Cuba,\" headquarters which was in New York.\nC\n1984\nJim Garrison\n2640 DocId: 59167984 Page 46"
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