Akkam’s Razor

It’s a damn shame, the things that we’re left to wonder.  Can you safely assume there was no shooter on the grassy knoll?  That ‘DC Madam’ Palfrey committed suicide?  Or that alleged anthrax-attacker Bruce Ivins worked alone?  Or that the heroic passengers of Flight 93 brought the plane down, and not a US missile?

Did you see this story in the Post (and reprinted today on page 2 in the Inky)?

It has been known for years that Ford served as the FBI’s eyes and ears inside the commission. Long ago, the government released a 1963 FBI memo that said Ford, a Republican then representing Michigan, had volunteered to keep the FBI informed about the panel’s private deliberations, but only if that relationship remained confidential. The bureau agreed.

It was also well-known that Ford was an outspoken proponent of the bureau’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy acting alone.

A newly released memo provides more details about Ford’s role as the FBI’s informant. DeLoach wrote on Dec. 17, 1963, to outline what Ford told him in the congressman’s office about the commission meeting the day before.

“Two members of the commission brought up the fact that they still were not convinced that the President had been shot from the sixth floor window of the Texas Book Depository,” DeLoach wrote. “These members failed to understand the trajectory of the slugs that killed the President. He stated he felt this point would be discussed further but, of course, would represent no problem.”

There was no explanation of what Ford meant by “no problem.”

Warren Commission records released in 1997 revealed that in the final report, Ford changed the staff’s original description of one of Kennedy’s wounds. Ford said then that he only made the description more precise. Skeptics said Ford’s wording falsely made the wound seem higher on the body, to make the commission’s conclusion that one bullet hit both Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally more plausible.

History tells us that Ford somehow became Nixon’s choice to replace embattered VP Spiro Agnew, eventually becoming President after Nixon resigned.  A Nixon aide stated that Congress knew Ford so well that they would never impeach Nixon if it meant Ford would become President.”  Ford was a complicated character, oft regarded as hero for ending our long national nightmare, and cementing such rogues as Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney in the body politick.  He also castigated his Republican colleagues over the war - post mortem, that is.  So who knows what the real motivations were of Gerald Goddamned Ford.