Rating: 
Summary: Regicide: The Official Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Review: Reading all the available books on the JFK assassination is like watching the movie "Drowning Mona." EVERYONE has a reason and is suspect, though few actually carried it out.I'm afraid that this book only adds to the list of "crack-pot" theories, as Douglas subtly warns. A reference made in his book from an exert of the Driscoll Report mentions that the US Government allows all sorts books criticizing the Warren Commission Report to be published so should the truth be revealed, it will be obscured by lunacy. This book is, however, full of eye-opening material. I also like the references to Posner's book "Case Closed." Douglas is rather tame in countering Posner's claims that "everyone is wrong, I and the Warren Commission are right." Douglas also breaks up his book into three areas: The "official" account, the Driscoll Report, and his own information based on the CIA man Robert T. Crowley. I don't believe Douglas editorializes his information, nor do I think he is sensationlizing the facts. Instead, I believe he is painting a clear-cut picture of events which leads the reader wanting more records opened. This is a must-read and should be read along with "On the Trail of the Assassins," by Jim Garrison, and "Destiny Betrayed," by James DiEugenio.
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating work that appears to be a fraud
Review: REGICIDE promises several new documents related to the death of JFK: (1) an English translation of an (undated) study by the Soviet Union; (2) a 20 April 1978 Defense Intelligence Agency study; (3) a summary of OPERATION ZIPPER dated 22 December 1963; and (4) Gregory Douglas' own critical comments and critique. These items--(1) through (3)--allegedly came into his possession through a fortuitous encounter with Robert T. Crowley, a former Deputy Director for Operations for the CIA, an expert on Soviet intelligence. Douglas claims to have had extensive conversations with Crowley from 1993 to 1996, when his health took a bad turn. He died in 2000. According to Douglas, Crowley had taken numerous documents with him upon his retirement from the CIA and occasionally shared them with various historians. As he came to trust Douglas, he became increasingly forthcoming, especially about the sequence of events that led to the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The Soviet assassination summary includes a three shot sequence with the driver slowing the limousine to a virtual stop, where JFK was hit in the throat from in front, John Connally was hit from above and behind, and JFK was hit in the head from behind. According to the Soviet study, Lee Oswald was recruited by ONI and used his pseudo-defection as an occasion to convey valuable information about the U-2 program, which subsequently enabled the Soviets to shoot down a plane piloted by Gary Powers. Oswald had an extensive history with the CIA and later the FBI, where, because of his defection and new persona as a pro-Castro communist sympthizer, he became a useful pawn as the designated patsy when the assassination went down. Remarkably, the DIA study by Vedder B. Discoll, Colonel, US Army, arrives at many of the same conclusions. It also finds the driver having slowed the vehicle and endorses a three-shot scenario even while rejecting the notion that JFK was shot from above and behind. The first shot (to the throat) came from the right front, the second (to Connally) from above and behind, and the third (to the right temple) from the right front again, using a .223 calibre weapon loaded with a murcury-filled bullet. Neither the Soviet nor the DIA study have complete accounts of the shooting sequence, since JFK himself was hit at least four times, including a shot to the throat, a shot to the back, and two shots to the head, as ASSASSINATION SCIENCE and MURDER IN DEALEY PLAZA reveal. But there were multiple additional shots. They are incomparably more accurate than THE WARREN REPORT, but
their similar three-shot scenarios raises troubling questions. If eight, nine, or ten shots were in fact fired, as appears to be the case, it is extraordinarily implausible that the Soviets and the DIA would converge on three, rather than more, shot accounts. The author, ostensibly Chief, Soviet/Warsaw Pact Division of the Directorate for Intelligence Research, is unsparing of THE WARREN REPORT as political propaganda based upon false depictions of the shots and the shooters, especially the "magic bullet" theory as an obvious fabrication, which is certainly correct. Both studies report that Oswald was homosexual, where the DIA concludes that his intimate relationship with George de Mohrenschild, a CIA operative, infuriated his wife, and that the CIA was willing to give him up to insure that his knowledge of CIA activities be contained. The DIA study makes it clear that US officials never suspected the Soviet Union of any complicity, including James Jesus Angleton, the Chief of Counterintelligence for the CIA, who may well have personally played a key role in initiating the sequence of events that led to the assassination. Angleton, who tended toward paranoia, discovered that JFK was sharing highly classified information with Nikita Krushchev, which he regarded as treason. I suspect that JFK was using Krushchev to verify or falsify what he was being told by the CIA, which he knew he could not trust. Because the CIA and the Mafia both wanted JFK out, it was easy to draw in the mob, which eventually led to the recruitment of French assassins from Marseilles. The FBI was bought on board, then the Vice President, and finally the Joint Chiefs, who were enthusiastic about removing him from office. The plan to take out JFK was called OPERATION ZIPPER because the target allegedly had trouble keeping his up. According to Douglas, the actual assassination weapons were two 7.65 surplus Argentine Mausers and a specially constructed .223 calibre rifle, which was supplied with mercury-filled bullets. Serious students of this case will find much here that has the ring of truth. The reconstruction of the shooting falls short on all of these accounts, since we now know much more about what happened in Dealey Plaza and how it was covered up. But those familiar with BLOODY TREASON and BODY OF SECRETS will appreciate the extent to which the big picture fits. One of the most disturbing aspects of ZIPPER, however, is a set of five appendices (not included) alleged to be photographs of JFK in sexual situations with various of his alleged paramours. These were supposed to have been given out as "momentos", but that defies credulity. What politician would run such a risk? Surely not JFK! The very existence of the ZIPPER document is likely to generate the most controversy, since it is difficult to imagine that the principals to the assassination would record their meetings about it. This appears to be a case in which documents that appear to be too good to be true are indeed "too good to be true". Douglas maintains that Crowley's willingness to assist him in these ways was largely motivated by a driving desire to attain a sense of exoneration by explaining why he and others who played crucial roles were convinced that JFK had to be removed. He offers a chilling scenario. The skeleton of this account may well be true, but the documents on which it is based appear to have been fabricated. The corrupt objective, alas!, may be to present a largely accurate account based upon phoney records, whose exposure as forgeries is meant to discredit the account itself. I wish it were not so, but that is how things appear.
Rating: 
Summary: A GOOD READ, BUT NOT QUITE THE FINAL WORD
Review: Regicide provides a good overview of the the facts surrounding the JFK assassination, and offers what it claims to be documentation that the plot originated in the CIA. Regicide relies heavily on a DIA reports which summarizes Soviet intelligence investigation into the assassination, and what it claims to be the original documents of something called OPERATION ZIPPER; the removal of President John F Kennedy. The DIA documentation is believable because, it basically summarizes that physical evidence and provides background information on Oswald and Jack Ruby which is pretty much known fact at this point. As for the OPERATION ZIPPER documents, I suspect they're antoher case of planted disinformation. The facts show that there was a conspiracy to kill JFK, however, I'm yet to see any credible evidence that that the CIA authorized the plot. CIA Director John McCone was Kennedy's appointed man, it doesn't make sense that he'd authorize a plot to kill JFK. Overall, Regicide is a very quick read for background information on the JFK assassination, but far from the final word on the topic.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD READ, BUT NOT QUITE THE FINAL WORD
Review: Regicide provides a good overview of the the facts surrounding the JFK assassination, and offers what it claims to be documentation that the plot originated in the CIA. Regicide relies heavily on a DIA reports which summarizes Soviet intelligence investigation into the assassination, and what it claims to be the original documents of something called OPERATION ZIPPER; the removal of President John F Kennedy. The DIA documentation is believable because, it basically summarizes that physical evidence and provides background information on Oswald and Jack Ruby which is pretty much known fact at this point. As for the OPERATION ZIPPER documents, I suspect they're antoher case of planted disinformation. The facts show that there was a conspiracy to kill JFK, however, I'm yet to see any credible evidence that that the CIA authorized the plot. CIA Director John McCone was Kennedy's appointed man, it doesn't make sense that he'd authorize a plot to kill JFK. Overall, Regicide is a very quick read for background information on the JFK assassination, but far from the final word on the topic.
Rating:
Summary: Good reference book
Review: Several matches with recent NARA releases.
Rating:
Summary: Not reliable
Review: The list of sources and index of names is a farce. It is an old mailing list from a foreign service organization and nothing more. I would be willing to guess that many of these people never spoke with Mr. Douglas and know nothing about their inclusion as so called "sources". Hmmm...Credibility is highly suspect!
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Summary: Best on the Subject!
Review: There are hundreds of books published on the Kennedy Assassination. This book is by far and away the best. It is the clearest, most direct and most believable of all the many books I have read. Also, it has many dozens of pages of official U.S. Government/CIA documents which none of the other books have.
Almost all the other books are theory; this book is clear, cold fact. All of my questions have been clearly, and directly, answered. No one who is intersted in this landmark event should miss this work! Aaron Johnson
Rating:
Summary: Truth and the Media
Review: There have been many books published on the assassination of John Kennedy. All of them but one consist of supposition, theory and opinion. Some are very well written and others are pure nonsense.
This new book, Regicide, by Douglas, contains 60 pages of official documentation and, fortunately, none of the usual pictures.
This book is very logically and clearly written. Its message is quite simply that Kennedy was killed by order of senior leaders of the CIA because he and his brother, the Attorney General, were in contact with the Soviets and passing what the CIA considered sensitive material to them.
It appears that Kennedy, mindful of the dangers of confrontation with a major nuclear power, decided to establish personal contact with Khruschev. He did this through his brother and was able to defuse several serious international crises. By doing this, Kennedy bypassed the CIA and rendered their expensive projects obsolete.
This book uses an extensive report by the DIA in 1978 on the Soviet intelligence reports on the assassination. The author has published the entire file of relevant papers, both in the text and in fascimilie. The cover letter to the DIA report is signed by Colonel Driscoll, chief of the Soviet section of that agency. The information contained in this report, which includes the Soviet reports, will come as no surprise to those of us remaining who were privy to the matters covered.
This material came from Bob Crowley, the retired deputy director of Clandestine Operations of the CIA and a close friend of many of the plotters. This certainly is a book that should be read and understood by intelligence personnel, historians and concerned Americans.
As as added bonus, the Crowley papers published also include a 3,000+ list of names and addresses of known "intelligence sources and personnel" in Europe and the United States.
Well-researched, heavily footnoted and massively documented, this book is a real stunner.
Walter Storch
Rating:
Summary: Can You Handle The Truth?
Review: This book answers so many questions that it is chilling to read!! I have read a number of books and seen a number of documentaries & movies re: the JFK assassination but nothing comes close to the information contained in this book. Every other source has presented information that can explain some of what happened but this book provides documented answers. Based upon the information contained in this book, you can now understand why Oliver Stone's "JFK" movie created such an uproar - he probably didn't realize how close his movie came to the truth!!
Rating: 
Summary: New Information
Review: This book had a lot of information I had never heard before. I really enjoyed the entire book. It is worth the read.
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