http://www.newsmax.com/commentmax/articles/Reed_Irvine.shtml
CommentMax

Ken Starr's Secret Reports

Reed Irvine

March 16, 2001

When independent counsel Kenneth Starr released his report on the

death of former White House deputy counsel Vincent W. Foster Jr.

in October 1997, he refused to make public reports written by three

consultants that he had hired to study the case. Accuracy in Media

(AIM) sued the Office of the Independent Counsel (OIC) to obtain

these and other documents that should have been made public long

ago. The three reports by Starr’s consultants were recently given to

AIM. They appear to hurt Starr’s case more than they help it.

Take the report submitted by Dr. Brian Blackbourne, the San Diego

County medical examiner. Its text is only 3-1/4 single-spaced

typewritten pages. Dr. Blackbourne reports meeting with Dr. James

Beyer, the 75-year-old Northern Virginia medical examiner who

performed the autopsy on Foster. He says, among other things, "I

discussed the autopsy X-rays with him."

That suggests that there were autopsy X-rays to discuss, but Dr.

Beyer has testified under oath that he did not take any X-rays, even

though he checked the "X-rays taken" box on the autopsy report.

When asked about that discussion of the X-rays, Dr. Blackbourne

admitted that it was actually about the absence of X-rays. He told

me Dr. Beyer had explained their absence, saying that his X-ray

machine was not working on the day he performed the autopsy.

That was what he had told the FBI and the Senate Whitewater

committee.

When Dr. Blackbourne was told that the first call to service this

brand new machine was made over three months after Foster’s

death, he was shocked. He asked, "Do you mean that they couldn’t

take any X-rays for three months?" No, it meant that Dr. Beyer

was lying about the machine not working. What is worse, Starr’s

investigators, and presumably Starr himself, knew that the claim

that the machine was not working was false. We know that because

the record of that first service call on Oct. 29 was included among

the documents AIM obtained from the OIC. They had investigated

Dr. Beyer’s excuse and had found the proof that it was false, but

they did nothing about it.

Dr. Beyer had checked off "X-rays taken" and had told a Park

Police officer attending the autopsy that they showed no bullet

fragments in the skull. The X-rays were undoubtedly taken. Crucial

evidence had vanished, but Ken Starr and his investigators did not

disclose that fact, and there is no indication that they tried to find

what had become of them. They didn’t even tell Dr. Blackbourne

that they had evidence that exposed Dr. Beyer’s lie.

It turns out that Dr. Beyer is an old friend of Dr. Blackbourne,

whose faith in his honesty appears unshakeable. He didn’t know

that his old friend had used "Clintonspeak" to cover up his lie about

the X-rays when he testified under oath before a Senate committee.

When asked when the machine was repaired, he responded that he

had no X-rays in his files between two dates that spanned the day

of Foster’s autopsy. He was allowed to get away with that evasion.

Dr. Beyer claimed to have found an exit wound about the size of a

half-dollar in the back of Foster’s head that no one else saw. If that

were true and the shot had been fired where the body was found,

there would have been a bloody mess, but the police and rescue

workers and Dr. Donald Haut, the county medical examiner who

examined the body at the scene, all said there was very little blood

visible on the body and none on the surrounding vegetation. Park

Police Sgt. John Rolla had tried to find an exit wound by feeling the

back of Foster’s head. All he could find was a soft spot, and he

reported that the bullet did not exit.

Dr. Haut told the FBI investigators that there was very little blood

and that he had seen more damage done by a .25 caliber bullet. The

gun found in Foster’s hand was a .38 revolver and the casing of the

expended round was HV, high velocity. If that had been fired into

Foster’s skull through his mouth, there would have been a large exit

wound and torrents of blood.

Starr stacked the deck in hiring Dr. Beyer’s friend to evaluate his

work. Dr. Blackbourne won’t admit that the evidence indicates that

his old friend has lied about the X-rays, but he should have been

informed before he wrote his report. Those who concealed that

evidence should be called to account no matter what positions they

now hold or hope to get.