Two different things, Mr Reeves. This is like watching a nine year old trying to make a lego house out of curlers and turnips.
Had the WC staff wanted to "mercilessly grill" Rowland, they would have done the backgrounder first, then confronted him with it during his testimony.
It's Rowland's improbable claims and additions in his testimony that prompted them to look into his background and see if it matched what he had told them. TL;DR: it didn't.
"It's Rowland's improbable claims and additions in his testimony that prompted them to look into his background..."This is not true.
The reason the FBI take the unprecedented step of investigating Rowland is his claim about the black male in the SN window.
The first part of their report is to discredit this aspect of his testimony, the rest is character assassination.
It is noteworthy that when they visit the TSBD they are only interested in Eddie Piper and Troy West as possible candidates for the man in the SN window
when they already know Bonnie Ray Williams was on the 6th floor having his lunch at the time in question and that the remains of his lunch were found on top of the SN!Go figure.
There can be no doubt the young Mr Rowland is a bit of a bullsh%tter and this does no favour for his trustworthiness or credibility as a witness. But there is a simple way to assess the accuracy of his observations regarding the man with the rifle - are they corroborated by other witness testimony or evidence.
That Rowland's description of the man with the rifle is confirmed by three other eye witnesses is solid corroboration.
That a scoped rifle is found on the 6th floor is solid corroboration.
As far as the black male in the SN window is concerned - Bonnie Ray Williams is known to be having his lunch on the 6th floor at that time, the remains of which were found on top of the SN and not 30ft away on a trolley. Rowland's observation that this man disappears about 5 minutes before the motorcade arrives corresponds with BRW's movements around this time.
Obviously this destroys the LNer narrative and must be discredited at all costs but that involves believing in an almost miraculous coincidence.
Barbara Rowland's testimony is telling, it is almost exclusively about her husband and culminates in a very personal question to which she gives a curt reply:
Mr BELIN: ...just from your general experience, do you feel you can rely on everything that your husband says?
Mrs. ROWLAND: I don't feel that I can rely on everything anybody says.
Belin is almost apologetic:
Mr. BELIN. Well, this is really an unfair question for me to ask any wife about her husband, and I am not asking it very correctly, but---Mrs Rowland then reveals an important aspect of her husband's character:
Mrs. ROWLAND: At times my husband is prone to exaggerate. Does that answer it?
Mr. BELIN:I think it does.
Is there anything else you want to add to that, or not?
Mrs. ROWLAND. Usually his exaggerations are not concerned with anything other than himself. They are usually to boast his ego. They usually say that he is really smarter than he is, or he is a better salesman than he is, something like that.Arnold Rowland is prone to bigging himself up, particularly his intelligence. This is exactly what the FBI investigation reveals. Nearly every aspect of what is regarded as false in his testimony relates to this aspect of his character.
But this is a far cry from making up false claims in a murder investigation involving the president of the United States. Claims that could put him in some real trouble if proven false.
Rowland's claims about the men on the 6th floor can be solidly corroborated by other witness testimony and physical evidence. His character has no bearing on the matter.
One final note - LNers like to make the point that Rowland's man in the SN is some kind of late addition but the fact is that Roger Craig reports Rowland talking about
two men on the 6th floor. I'm not sure if Rowland makes the same point to Harkness, Turner and Sorrels but the main interest of the investigating authorities would be the man with the rifle.
It is only later that evening Rowland understands the importance of the man in the SN which is why he raises the issue with the FBI agents who visit him Saturday morning. Interestingly, these agents have no interest in the man in the SN window and basically tell him to forget about it. It's almost as if it's been decided there was only one person involved in the assassination by Saturday morning.
Go figure.
