Final_Judgment

540 The Continuing Cover-Up [443]
about the causal chain of events leading to Kennedy's murder would be an
important symbolic step toward restoring faith in American democracy. "1110
Morley says that "We should not [Morley's emphasis] bother to reach a
consensus out of fear that hypothetical persons complicit in President
Kennedy's murder are a menace to democracy today. This is the paranoid
position . . . "1111 (In other words, anyone who seeks to point a finger of
blame—at this late date—is a trouble-making lunatic conspiracy theorist
and therefore a menace to democracy.)
While Morley concedes that there is evidence that the conspiracy
behind the JFK assassination was larger than one "lone nut," 1112 he also
suggests that the most important goal is not determining who really killed
John F. Kennedy, but, instead, realizing that the controversy over the
assassination stemmed from "the government's secrecy about the
assassination and its investigatory aftermath." 1113 This secrecy, he claims
correctly, was wrong, but he says that "the shroud of secrecy is finally being
lifted 1114 by JFK Assassinations Record Review Board. Now, according to
Morley, the work of the review board, effectively makes any "polemics
[about who was behind the assassination] passe." 1115
Morley admits "that the most likely explanation for the cause of
Kennedy's death lies in his policies," (and he's certainly right on that one)
but Morley adds that in seeking a "consensus" that "we should not
scapegoat any persons, groups, political creeds or institutions." 1116 (In other
words, no person or institution—such as the CIA or the Mossad—should
ultimately be held responsible for the crime.)
Adding, that "we need to respect the complexity of history," 1117 Morley
says that "the grounds for consensus are now emerging," and that "the story
of the Kennedy assassination and the mystery that surrounded it is not a
saga of an immense and monolithic conspiracy. Nor is it simply the tale of a
lone nut. Rather it is a chapter in the history of the Cold War, a cautionary
tale for the next generations about the perils of secrecy in a democracy. "1118
Thus, according to Morley, the real problem is government secrecy.
The big question is not who really killed John F. Kennedy—and why. In
Morley's skewed perception, it seems, it really doesn't matter in the end
why John F. Kennedy was assassinated or who was responsible. The gravest
matter of concern is restoring the faith of Americans in their government.
I don't agree with Jefferson Morley and the Washington Post—nor do
most Americans.
Americans are, in the words of Noam Chomsky, "those who are
interested in discovering the real world that lies behind 'official history "1119
and not interested in the kind of artificial "consensus" being touted by the
Washington Post. And it is this kind of new approach to the JFK
assassination that we must ponder as we consider the way that the truth
about the assassination is treated by the media and about the way the facts
and the so-called facts will be released to the public.