CLAIM MADE THAT ARRESTS ARE EXPECTED IN KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
By Arthur Maglin
The credibility of the report of President Johnson’ s Commission: on the Assassi-’ nation of President Kennedy received another blow on February 18 when James Garrison, the. district. attorney of New Orleans, Louisiana; issued a statement saying that he had been conducting an investigation into the Kennedy case and expected to make arrests. in: the near future.
» On February 19, Congressman Gerald R. Ford, the House Republican leader and a° member of the Warren Commission, said that "whatever evidence is found should be transmitted to the United States Attorney General and to the President for consideration." To which Garrison replied on February 20, "I am running this investigation, not the President, not the Attorney General. I'm’ in charge of the operation and we've made a lot of progress working this way. So I don't propose to make any changes that might result in.a slowdown and make us less effective."
The ‘February 20 New York World Journal Tribune reported:
“"Asked what the Federal Bureau of Investigation is doing about Garrison's probe, an FBI spokesman said, 'The only thing I can say regarding any questions about that is No comment."'
"After New Orleans newspapers broke the story of his investigation on Friday (February 17], Garrison said ‘irresponsible release of so many details' would delay ‘the arrests he said would be forthcoming.
"The release of details and names, he said, ‘has now created a problem for us in finding witnesses and getting cooperation from other witnesses and in at least one case has endangered the life of a witness -- a possible witness -- so that whatever timetable we might have had before is somewhat extended now. '
"In another development a-former private detective says five persons were involved with Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of President Kennedy, and he knows their identities.
"David Lewis, a bus station express handler who worked as a private investigator here in the months before the assassination, said ‘yesterday [February 19] he has the names of the five persons allegedly involved in the planning phase of the piot on the president ' s life. .
- "But Lewis said he would not disclose the names of ‘the alleged conspirators until permitted to do so by Garrison."
. The February 20 New York Post reported that Garrison "refused to go into the question of whether only Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in the assassination of Kennedy in Dallas November 22, 1963.
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“rtd rather not comment on that,' Garrison said:
"tl will say this: that. from our inquiry into the matters, there is no question at all that other individuals were involved in the initial planning in the New Orleans area which culminated in the death of President Kennedy.'
"In Miami, Cuban exile Bernard. Torres, 32, who helped the Secret Service guard President Kennedy in Miami four days before the assassination, said Garrison had engaged him to look into the background of some Cubans reported to have been with Oswald. shortly before the shooting in Dallas.
"Norres said he believes the Warren Commission -- which said its exhaustive investigation showed there was no credible’ evidence that anyone else was implicated -will be proved incomplete.
"In San Diego, attorney Melvin Belli said Oswald and Jack Ruby, the man who slew Oswald after Kennedy's death, were in New Orleans at the same time but it was just a coincidence. .
"Belli, who defended Ruby in his trial for the slaying of Oswald, said he does not believe there was any plot to kill Kennedy.
"Their presence in New Orleans was a coincidence, it was absolutely innocent and there was nothing sinister about it, Belli said.
"He added that he knew Ruby. had activity in New Orleans and with Cuba, but he was just trying to ingratiate himself with a wealthy Mafia type who was involved in Las Vegas gambling activities. : "This was 3. typical of Ruby" s efforts to be identified with. the wealthy ¢ and powerful, -Belli-said."-
The February 21 New York Times reported that "a source within Mr. ‘Garrison’ s office name a.'suspect', but asked that the same be withheld. This source also. said one theory was that President Kennedy's assassination grew out of a plot by anti- Communist forces to kill Premier Fidel Castro of Cuba. According to this theory, the conspirators planned to send Lee Harvey Oswald to Cuba to kill Premier Castro, and later decided to attack President Kennedy when Oswald was denied entry into Cuba.”
Garrison's disclosures led Senator Thomas J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, to. urge on February 20 that the Warren Commission reopen its inquiry to consider evidence purporting to say that the Kennedy assassination was carried out by a conspiracy.
In other news connected with the assassination controversy, the - New York World Journal Tribune reported.on February 17: o
"The White House kept silent today on a request of Rep. Theodore R. Kupferman, R-N.Y.,.for an official examination of X-rays and photographs of. President Kennedy' s autopsy.
- ."'There won't be a . public reply,' said George Christian, press secretary. for President Johnson. oo
Further on the story says:
"Kupferman said in a letter to the President that his own request to examine the X-rays and photos with autopsy experts had been denied by Burke Marshall, attorney for the Kennedy family, and the National Archives in Washington where the material is stored.
"Kupferman, a lawyer, wrote that he was 'amazed' to learn that the X-rays and photos taken at the autopsy were not made available to the Warren Commission. They could have significant bearing upon the issue of whether the same bullet struck President Kennedy and Texas Gov. James Connally. [Critics of the Warren Report have pointed outthat if Kennedy and Connally were not struck by the same bullet then it would have: been impossible for one man acting alone to have killed the president. ]
"The congressman called upon the President to either give him,. accompanied by Drs. Helpern and Wecht, the right to inspect the films or direct an official examination and make a public report on the findings." ;
With each new development. in the assassination controversy, public.confidence in the government agencies and high officials connected with producing the Warren Commission's report is further eroded. In particular, the responsibility for setting up an inquiry that led to such unsatisfactory results is becoming an increasing political liability for Kennedy's heir.
NOT CHIANG CHING BUT KANG