MY RESPONSE TO DAVID STAGER by Gary Mack David Stager's rebuttals suggest he wants very much to believe the Warren Commission and Gerald Posner got the right answers, no matter how flawed their analyses. My "Eyes Closed" article argues clearly that Gerald Posner ignored or misrepresented evidence that conflicts with his lone gunman theory. He crafted a prosecution case which leaves out evidence that raises doubt about a person's guilt. But this is 1993. Lee Oswald is not on trial, although the accuracy and honesty of the various investigations are. Mr. Stager thinks he knows more than he really does. Let's take another look. 1] Ballistics Expert Donahue - Posner takes great delight in bashing certain critics for their pro- conspiracy writings, but it is improper at best to include Howard Donahue as a ballistics expert without mentioning his laughable claim that a Secret Service agent in the follow-up car stood up and accidentally shot JFK in the head. I know, from face-to-face interviews with Donahue, his author, Bonar Menninger, and their publisher, Tom McCormack, that none knew about the Bronson film showing everyone inside the car seated at the moment of the head shot. I studied the original head shot frame under a microscope in October 1978 and on a computer screen just last month - you'll see the head shot sequence on Frontline, November 16, 1993. 2] Carcano Bullet Velocity - Posner theorizes that the "single bullet" was traveling so slowly by the time it reached Connally's thigh that it should not have deformed any more than it already is. It's a crucial position, one that demands documentation. The House Assassinations Committee published a chart showing muzzle velocities of various rifles, including the Carcano, in volume seven of their exhibits. On page 371 the speed is shown to be 2296 feet per second, yet Posner refers to the muzzle velocity as 2000 feet per second. He then slows the bullet down as it travels through air, clothing and bodies by velocities that may or may not be accurate. Where is the documentation for those specific numbers? When I found he arbitrarily lowered the muzzle velocity by 13%, I wondered if the other figures were arbitrary, too. 3] The Walker Bullet - If the bullet in evidence today is not the same bullet that just missed the late General Walker, all the neutron activation analysis tests in the world are irrelevant. Even on the late news the following night (according to a script in my possession), the news media still identified the slug as a 30-06, not a 6.5mm (the two could not be fired in the same rifle). The identification had been made by a detective at the scene. The original police report and their supplementary report, both filed the night of the shooting, identify the slug as a steel-jacketed bullet. Silver and copper are two different colors, and the bullet sizes are different. Those facts were compiled by police for use in a trial; to assume they were wrong is, at best, wishful thinking. 4] London to Helsinki Trip - The passport does note he left London on the 10th of October, but hotel records showed a Helsinki check-in the same day, although the only known flight arrived far too late for Oswald to go through customs and get a taxi to the hotel on that date. How Oswald got to Helsinki within the known time frame is a question no one has been able to answer, and Posner's avoidance of the issue exposes his mind set. Is the hotel record accurate? Well, what's the purpose of keeping the record if it doesn't need to be correct. 5] Oswald and the U-2 - Francis Gary Powers was the first U-2 pilot shot down by the Russians, no matter what Stager says. We do not know what information, if any, Oswald divulged to the Russians, and while their latest document releases are interesting, they should not be considered the definitive answer to what Oswald and the Russians did. With so many CIA files still classified why should we assume the Russians are releasing everything they know. 6] Tippit Timings - Since David Belin's own timing of the walk from the rooming house to the Tippit scene was 17 minutes 45 seconds (6H434), and Oswald left the rooming house between 1:00 and 1:03, he must have arrived too late to be the killer. And although Belin's route was slightly longer than the direct route, the difference would not have been nearly enough for the shooting to have occurred by 1:16. The next time Stager visits Dallas he should bring a stopwatch and start walking! 7] Helen Markham - The woman was obviously badly frightened by what she had seen, but that's why her activities prior to the shooting are so important. It was a regular work day for her and she was on her way to catch her regular bus. Since the scheduled stop was at 1:12 (CD 630h), and she wasn't late, the Tippit shooting had to have occurred prior to that time. Posner left that part out, but any competent defense attorney would have brought it up should Oswald have stood trial. 8] Oswald's Mexico Money - When Oswald left the Paine house he had left behind $170 in cash and his wedding ring, keeping $13.87 for himself (R421). He had either decided to kill JFK, end his marriage, or both. It is simple ludicrous for Posner, Belin or anyone else to believe he might have been headed for Mexico unless he had plans to meet someone there with money. 9] Acoustics - The problem with the carillon bell sounding 7 seconds after the last shot was that no one could remember such a bell anywhere within earshot of Dealey Plaza. But the 1964 Plaza film I found has a carillon bell striking a very similar tone (one bong at the half hour in the police recording, and one bong at 1:00 in the 1964 film showing the Hertz clock); therefore, that part of the acoustics should not be an issue. While I have never claimed to be an acoustics expert, I do understand much of this subject and, obviously, more than Mr. Stager. The original Dictabelt recording was a plastic belt with grooves, very much like a phonograph record. It was NOT a magnetic tape recording, nor did it have atomic particles as part of the sound. The crosstalk is an artifact, an anomaly, that fooled Alvarez and the rest of the panel. In fact, there is crosstalk from another officer, Sergeant Bellah, that proves the Decker crosstalk has no relevance at all other than confirming the Dictabelt is not the original (which does not alter the acoustic findings). 10] Bronson Film - Seven of us, including film and computer technicians and scientists, recently saw apparent movement in at least two of the sixth floor TSBD windows. Whether or not the movement is human or the grain of the film will be revealed on the Frontline show. Groden, Earl Golz and I saw the same movement in the original film in 1978, as did the House Assassinations Committee photo scientists who recommended further analysis. I suspect Stager has confused the Bronson film with the Hughes film, for Bronson did not pan his camera at all during the "windows" sequence ("The Jim Garrison Tapes" home video shows the Hughes film but mistakenly calls it Bronson). As for Carolyn Arnold, maybe she never changed her story; perhaps the agents took it down wrong or misreported it. 11] Hughes Film - If Stager had the opportunity to view the original Hughes or Bronson films, he would notice movement in the windows. If his evaluation comes from home video, multi-generation copies, he should know better. Too much resolution is lost to distinguish "shimmer" from a moving person. 12] Frontline - I am neither promoting nor panning the Frontline Oswald special, for I was not involved in editorial decisions. They asked my advice on many things, and I gave it. This co-production with the BBC will, unfortunately, be only two hours long in England, but three hours here. 13] Badge Man - The Badge Man images have intrigued many image enhancement experts. While most agree that computer enhancement may not significantly sharpen the image more than what we already have, some still want to try. I have never claimed Badge Man's shot struck Kennedy, for the picture cannot prove that (Nigel Turner, producer of "The Men Who Killed Kennedy," believes it did). You should know that the PBS show "Nova" did not have access to our material, the original Polaroid or Mary Moorman's original camera. That segment of their JFK assassination program was certainly not good science. 14] Nix Film - The moving object in the Nix film has nothing to do with "the guy on the car rifleman" once thought to be the second gunman. If you had seen Groden's film, as I have, rather than a degraded home video dub, you would appreciate the clarity and see that it is not a distortion caused by camera panning or rotoscoping. Closing - Mr. Posner has done neither researchers nor history a favor by presenting his one-sided analysis of the evidence. A terrific opportunity has been wasted and Mr. Stager has become just one more victim of the gunfire in Dealey Plaza. 1993 Gary Mack, All rights reserved.