Without Smoking Gun: Investigating The Death Of Lt. Cmdr. William Pitzer-a Victim Of The Jfk Assassination Conspiracy

Rating:
Summary: Not much groundbreaking material here...
Review: It's nice to know we can delve a little deeper into the life of a figure, Lt Cmdr William Pitzer, who up till now was just another mysterious death in the long list of JFK casualties. We see a more personal side of this man and some of the virtues (as well as shortcomings) of someone who honorably served his country.

The book gives a fair amount of attention to the controversial testimony of LTC Dan Marvin, who claims he was approached by the Agency in the mid-60s to assassinate Pitzer. I've always felt Marvin was sincere in his testimony, however the lack of clear facts and misleading (or eluding) evidence seems to haunt his credibility. The author tries to cover it from an objective point of view, and perhaps did all he could do given the circumstances.

Unfortunately the book dives into the all-too-common, endless maze of the "who-dunnit" scenarios, where "this shady figure was connected to this shady figure, who was connected to this other shady figure" and on and on, not to mention the CIA/mafia/opium/Vietnam war/Ollie North/Bush connections and rhetorical accusations blaming the Agency for practically all the word's evils and mishaps. Whether or not there's truth to some of the stuff presented here is not for me to say, but I don't think it helps to include it in this particular investigation; rather, it bogs the book down and throws it off track. The author says all this groundwork is necessary to understanding the big picture and attempts to wake us up to the reality of how crooked our government is and how it really operates. Either that or it was just filler material thrown in to make a complete book. Whatever the case, these "revelations" can be readily accessed from the endless number of books, magazines, and Internet articles out there claiming to expose "inside truths" of government conspiracy, where it's difficult to distinguish fact from hearsay (or paranoia).

For more insight into the personal life of Pitzer and detailed testimony of Dan Marvin, I would recommend it. Unfortunately, there's a lot of unnecessary, distracting stuff included in the book that would have been best left out.