The examination of the provenance and authenticity of CE399 was a joint collaboration of Garry Aguilar
and Josiah Thompson.
This is my chief source for these points and my source for the lack of Todds initials on the bullet is
John Hunt who did examine it at the archives.
Hunt was adamant they were not to be found.
I'm quite happy to entertain the possibility that a scratch on a bullet may be hard to find,
but remember, this is stored in the National Archives, not someone's garage and the propostion that "the initials are
there but we just cant see them' is unsatisfactory to say the least.
I have no reason to believe that Todd was lying when he swore he initialed the bullet.
I also, have no reason to believe that John Hunt was lying when he says on close examination of the bullet
the initials are not present.
So, at this stage that point is unresolved.
Tim, you said
"Odum was well into his 80s and four decades had passed. He can be forgiven for not recalling having handled the bullet."
Really Tim?
Where is the proof his memory was deficient or that the passage of years had somehow affected the reliability of his statement?
And it's not a question of memory in any case.
He did not say he couldnt recall the bullet...he said he had never ever seen or touched CE399 and further more, he said that he
had never visited Wright or Tomlinson as part of any enquiry into it's authenticity.
Nothing vague about that..
Fazier and his times:
If Frazier has demonstrated a pattern of incorrect entry of times in various documents it matters not and if so then
discussion of whether or not this item fits that pattern is yet another point.
Im happy to accept the possibility of errors from Frazier.
As far as the points I'm making, what Frazier does or doesnt do is somewhat irrelevant.
My points on this matter dont rely on Frazier's accuracy with times.
Here is my position which reflects my first post on the topic.
OP Wright said the bullet in the archives is not the one they found at Parkland.
An FBI memo says Odum showed the bullet to Wright and Tomlinson and they recognised it.
Odum says he did no such thing and he has never laid eyes or hands on CE399.
Elmer Todd said he initalled the bullet.
John Hunt says that the initialls cannot be found on the bullet in the archives.
Any enquiry as to the authenticity and provenance of the bullet is therefore problematic and as far as I'm
concerned remains unresolved.
The other point I also made was that the 'magic bullet theory' was just that...a theory.
The commssion was split down the middle on this and said exactly that, and further stated that whether
or not the theory was true, it didnt matter to the conclusions of it's report anyway.
And its worthwhile to note that the 'theory' was the commissions.
The FBI backed the governor's account of 2 separate bullets.
In my view, the official account concerning CE399 says far more about the commission and the FBI, than it
does about the shooting.