This is from what TCB and Fred refer to as one of my crackpot websites, but it’s good stuff. Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory? The assertion that a tape exists, however, is an empirically-verifiable assertion and I think more inquiry is merited.
[quote]After 37 years of official denial and cover-up, tape-recorded evidence, that has existed for decades and has been in the possession of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has finally been made public.
It proves what “conspiracy theorists” have argued since 1970—that there was a direct military order leading to the unprovoked assassination of unarmed students. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents show collusion between Ohio Governor James A. Rhodes and the FBI that aimed to terrorize anti-war demonstrators and their protests that were raging throughout the nation.[/quote]
This is the AP version of the news story. It says that the tape is very hard to hear. But if they do for some reason reopen the case, perhaps modern voice analysis could determine what and who said anything before they opened fire.
[quote]The Kent State shootings have never been thoroughly examined. Forty years later, family members of those killed have initiated the Kent State Truth Tribunal to preserve and honor the stories of those whose lives have been touched by this tragedy. The Truth Tribunal will generate the only comprehensive historical record and live archive of the Kent State massacre.
We live in a rule of law democratic society. Let the investigation begin. I have no problem with any digging into how these people were killed. I applaud the effort.
What are you talking about, fred? The incident happened over 40 years ago. If there wasn’t sufficient evidence to convict the guardsmen then, and it hasn’t emerged in the 40 years since, it’s highly unlikely to come out now. Of course that doesn’t mean there wasn’t an order to fire; it just means – as with the teabaggers spitting on congressmen and calling them n3ggers – that there weren’t so many trillions of audio and video devices focusing on every conceivable spot on our planet so that the exact moment was clearly and indisputably captured for all to see. Instead, we’re left with a fuzzy, arguable recording.
That doesn’t mean an order to shoot wasn’t given. And it certainly doesn’t mean the national guard didn’t seriously blunder their mission. After all, we do know for a fact that soldiers armed with live ammunition were called in to quell campus unrest and within a period of 13 seconds, 29 of those soldiers fired 67 bullets at the students, killing 4 and injuring 9.
There will surely never be a definitive answer for why they started firing and there won’t be any trials or convictions. But it’s clear it was a tragedy. And it’s clear the guard screwed up. So why the gloating? What’s to gloat about?
