3#2), we wrote about the long,
controversial career of journalist James Phelan, a strong
supporter of the Warren Commission and harsh critic of Jim
Garrison and his "wacky conspiracy theories." Phelan always
strongly denied he was compromised in any way. Even when
confronted with documents showing connections to government
agencies (like the FBI) he still denied it. When Phelan did his
book on Howard Hughes-which completely whitewashed the ties of
the eccentric billionaire to the CIA-that "instant" book was a
top secret project of Random House, handled by Bob Loomis.

Needless to say, Loomis was Hersh's editor at Random House on
both his My Lai books. David Halberstam, in The Powers That Be,
noted that it was Loomis who put Hersh in contact with St. George
and Sturgis during Watergate (p. 681). According to his
secretary, Loomis worked closely with Hersh on The Target Is
Destroyed. Certainly, one of the most ridiculous statements made
by Hersh would be music to Loomis' ears. Hersh's Holy Grail on
the assassination conspiracy, the cinching piece of the puzzle,
would be "a reel of tape of Oswald getting briefed by Giancana"
(Anson p. 120). With what serious people have learned about
Oswald today, through work by Phil Melanson, John Newman, and
John Armstrong, this is preposterous. The Blakey-Davis whim about
the Mafia hiring a "hit man" who couldn't hit the side of a barn
and used a $12.95 bolt action rifle to do the job, went out the
window when the HSCA closed down. But "crack" reporter Hersh
still buys into it. As he does the idea that Sirhan killed Bobby
Kennedy, proven by the fact that he wrote a blurb praising Dan
Moldea's 1995 whitewash of that case.

Behind all the sordid details of these articles there is a bigger
picture to be outlined.