JFK assassination: "What the doctors saw"

Mick LaSalle in yesterday's SF Chronicle:

Now the 60th anniversary of the assassination is upon us, and there’s a new, illuminating documentary, “JFK: What the Doctors Saw,” which concentrates on what the doctors at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital witnessed on Nov. 22, 1963. 

The film brings together seven surviving doctors who were present in the emergency room with Kennedy. Some physically tried to revive him, and all had a clear view of the president’s wounds. All agree on what they saw, and none of it comports with the idea of a single gunman shooting from behind.

The Zapruder film, the only video record of the assassination, shows that Kennedy was first struck in the neck. 

In the Parkland emergency room, the doctors said they saw a small entry wound in the president’s neck, which would indicate someone shooting from the front....

Even without the doctors’ testimony, the Warren Commission’s account always seemed dubious on this score. How can a bullet, shot from above, enter Kennedy’s back and then, miraculously, make a U-turn and go out his neck?

Rob's comment:

Yes, this is what critics have been saying for years. The president was clearly killed in crossfire: a shooter in front and a shooter in back of the president. 

Here, for example, is a photo of the president's jacket with a bullet hole in the back well below the collar line.

More by LaSalle:

Most of the documentary was filmed 10 years ago at a reunion of the Parkland doctors, and their agreement on the crucial particulars make them persuasive witnesses. These are men in their 70s and 80s, with serious medical careers behind them, who seem neither deluded nor mendacious. 

Not that this proves anything — people can always lie for no reason — but certainly they have nothing to gain by lying. And here, individual viewers can judge their veracity for themselves.

In case it’s less than glaringly obvious, I do believe these doctors, largely because what they say is consistent with what anyone can see if they watch the Zapruder film. Just go on YouTube for 33 seconds and ask yourself if it really looks as though Kennedy was shot from behind.

....“JFK: What the Doctors Saw” is flat-out reassurance — that documentarians and streaming platforms are once again willing to break from the lone gunman orthodoxy. It’s about time.

Rob's comment:

What critics like me and the late Jim Marrs said for years: JFK was clearly killed in crossfire: a shooter in front and a shooter behind the president's car.

See, for example, a photo of the back of the president's jacket with a bullet hole well below the collar line. The wound in the president's throat of course couldn't possibly have been an exit wound for that bullet.

More than one shooter makes it a conspiracy.

The assassination of JFK: Case not closed.