Even Chen Shui-bian Considers 3/19 Shooting Incident Unsolved

Even Chen Shui-bian Considers 3/19 Shooting Incident Unsolved
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
March 19, 2012

Summary: Tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the 3/19 Shooting Incident. Chen Shui-bian recently wrote Annette Lu, saying "I implore you. Call on President Ma. Persuade him to re-open the 3/19 Shooting Incident case, Uncover the real truth. After all, the Ma administration has been in office for over four years. Yet it still has no explanation for what took place."

Full Text below:

Tomorrow is the eighth anniversary of the 3/19 Shooting Incident. Chen Shui-bian recently wrote Annette Lu, saying "I implore you. Call on President Ma. Persuade him to re-open the 3/19 Shooting Incident case, Uncover the real truth. After all, the Ma administration has been in office for over four years. Yet it still has no explanation for what took place."

Even Chen Shui-bian says he considers the 3/19 Shooting Incident unsolved. Even he says the truth remains unknown. That is why he wrote a letter to Annette Lu, imploring her to persuade President Ma to reopen the case. That is why Chen complained that the Ma administration has no explanation for what took place, even though it has been in office for over four years.

Without the truth, there is no president. The 3/19 Shooting Incident led to the complete and utter discrediting of DPP rule and the Chen Shui-bian regime. It was one of the main reasons the Democratic Progressive Party was unable to restore public trust in its governance. Eight years later, Chen Shui-bian has the temerity to make an about face, and demand that the case be reopened so that we may uncover the truth. His gesture is absurd and shameless. After all, the Chen regime ruled for four years following the 3/19 Shooting Incident. It dismissed the incident as "water under the bridge." It offered "no explanation for what took place."

Let us click the rewind button. Consider the results of the report issued by the Chen Shui-bian regime's ad hoc investigative group. Consider the actions of the Chen Shui-bian regime's "fact finding group," eight years ago.

On August 17, 2005, the fact finding group announced the results of its investigation. It identified the murderer as Chen Yi-hsiung. It claimed he fired two rounds. One bullet struck one person. The other bullet struck another. That same day, President Chen Shui-bian issued a comment. He said, "The ad hoc group took over a year to investigate the case. It expended enormous manpower and materiel. It aggressively pursued the matter. It made use of forensic techniques to examine the evidence and question the witnesses. It did the best job it could, I, Chen Shui-bian, respect the investigators' findings. I hope the community will respect the findings of the ad hoc group's professional, objective, and independent investigation."

This was how Chen Shui-bian spun the incident seven years ago, Later he often cited the group's findings. He said it proved he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Now however, he repudiates this "professional, objective, and independent" investigative report. Now he wants the case reopened.

Does Chen Shui-bian really want to uncover the truth? Consider his attitude eight years ago. Blue Camp legislators established a "3/19 Shooting Incident Fact-Finding Group" within the Legislative Yuan, to be headed by Wang Ching-feng. No sooner had they begun to investigate, then the Chen regime asserted an "executive right of resistance." It stonewalled completely, obstructing any effort to investigate. In October 2004, when Su Jia-chyuan was Minister of the Interior, he argued that "Civil servants have a 'executive right of resistance' to illegal and unconstitutional demands. They can refuse to comply." Eight years ago, Chen Shui-bian asserted an "executive right of resistance." Eight years later, Chen Shui-bian wants President Ma to re-open the case and uncover the truth. Are we supposed to believe that Chen Shui-bian experienced a Pauline conversion, on the Road to Damascus?

Even Chen Shui-bian has repudiated the results of the 3/19 Shooting Incident Report. The case may remain unsolved. The case was riddled with problems from the start, from the traces of ointment and blood on Chen Shui-bian's abdomen. In particular, the assertion that "one gunman fired two shots from one gun" was incredible. According to the report, the two rounds were light loads with only half the amount of powder. The round loaded with a copper jacketed bullet was slightly more powerful. It could wound a human target. But it was fired through the windshield. It lost much of its energy after penetrating the windshield. The round loaded with a plain lead bullet was less powerful. It merely scratched the skin. It was the one that grazed Chen Shui-bian's abdomen. If the two bullets had been reversed, then the lead bullet would not have penetrated the windshield. The copper plated bullet would have inflicted more damage on the person struck. Most incredible of all, the report, purportly based on "forensic science," alleges that the two rounds were fired within 0.63 seconds of each other. Anyone can simulate this scenario by pulling a trigger twice in 0.63 seconds. It is extremely difficult. Furthermore, the recoil from the first round would elevate the muzzle. Could one really aim the second round accurately enough to merely graze Chen Shui-bian across the belly?

We can be certain of only one thing about the 3/19 Shooting Incident: one copper jacketed bullet penetrated the windshield and wounded Annette Lu in the knee. This however, does not prove that Chen Shui-bian's wounds were inflicted at the same time and at the same location. This does not prove that "two rounds were fired from one gun" within 0.63 seconds of each other.

For years, the catechism about the 3/19 Shooting Incident report has been: "Believers remain believers. Skeptics remain skeptics." But Chen Shui-bian once insisted that the report was "professional, objective, and independent." Now he openly repudiates the report, and wants the case re-opened, to uncover the truth. Now he argues that the report was utterly incredible. Chen Shui-bian has in effect, affirmed the skeptics who never believed the original report.

The most suspicious aspect of the 3/19 Shooting Incident was its role Chen Shui-bian's "re-election." This suspicion discredited DPP rule and Chen Shui-bian's second term. The conclusions of the report were suspicious. The Chen regime invoked an "executive right of resistance" to obstruct any investigation. It deepened public suspicion of Chen Shui-bian, and inspired contempt for the Chen regime. The lesson of the 3/19 Shooting Incident is: Without the truth, there is no president.

The report claimed that two rounds were fired within 0.63 seconds of each other. But people who have been asked to duplicate the feat own their own find it difficult to believe. Chen Shui-bian is the last person who ought to give any credence to the report. Now, even he has declared that he does not believe the report. As far as the world is concerned, the 3/19 Shooting Incident investigation is back to square one.

連陳水扁也不相信三一九槍擊案破案
【聯合報╱社論】
2012.03.19 02:37 am

明天是三一九槍擊案八周年。陳水扁致函呂秀蓮說：「懇請您代為籲請馬總統，能下令重查『三一九事件』的真相。畢竟馬政府四年過去了，迄無交代。」

也就是說，連陳水扁也不相信三一九槍擊案已經偵結破案；他認為「真相」未明，因此函呂秀蓮轉請馬總統重啟調查；且抱怨馬政府「畢竟四年過去了，迄無交代」。

沒有真相，沒有總統。三一九槍擊案是造成民進黨扁政府統治正當性崩盤的事件，影響所致，這也是民進黨迄今難以恢復「執政信賴感」的主因之一。陳水扁在八年後的今天，居然回過頭來，要求重新調查「真相」，尤其顯得荒唐無恥；「畢竟」扁政府在槍擊案後的執政四年也早已「過去了」，亦是「迄無交代」。

歷史倒帶，先看陳水扁在七年前如何評價專案小組的偵結報告，再看陳水扁在八年前如何應對「真相調查小組」的查案動作。

二○○五年八月十七日，專案小組宣布偵結，認定陳義雄是兇手，一人一槍兩彈。當日，陳水扁總統發表評論稱：「專案小組一年多來投入大量人力、物力，積極偵辦，以科學鑑證方式找尋所有可能證據、證人，已盡全力，阿扁尊重此項司法調查結果，並希望社會各界也都能尊重專案小組專業、客觀、獨立的調查結果。」

這是七年前陳水扁的說法，後來他又幾次引據此項偵結報告，謂已洗刷了他的「不白之冤」。但是，現在竟連他自己也否定了這個「專業、客觀、獨立」的偵結報告，主張重啟調查真相。

陳水扁真的想調查真相嗎？且看八年前他的態度。八年前，藍營經立法院的程序成立「三一九槍擊案真相調查小組」，由王清峰領軍；進行之際，扁政府發動「行政抵抗權」，全面杯葛，阻撓調查。二○○四年十月，時任內政部長的蘇嘉全說：「公務員對違法違憲的要求有『行政抵抗權』，可以不遵從指揮。」如今，八年前發動「行政抵抗權」的陳水扁，竟然在八年後籲請馬總統重新調查真相，莫非真是此一時彼一時耶？

現在，連陳水扁也否定了三一九槍擊案的偵結報告，本案可能成為永遠的歷史懸案。此案自第一現場陳水扁肚子上油膏多於血跡開始，即充滿疑點；偵結報告謂為「一人一槍兩彈」，尤其匪夷所思。這兩彈，火藥裝填量都極少（僅正常量的五成）；銅彈的力道略強，可以傷人，但用於射擋風玻璃，唯在射穿玻璃後已無殺傷力；鉛彈的力道更弱，剛好可以劃傷皮層，是劃破陳水扁肚皮的一彈。如果兩彈對調，則鉛彈射不穿玻璃，銅彈直接射人卻可能傷況較重。尤其不可思議者，偵結報告據「科學鑑證」，指兩彈連發射擊是在○‧六三秒內完成；其實，任何人皆不妨自我模擬在○‧六三秒鐘內紮實連扣兩次板機的情境，莫說在生理上幾無可能，更何況因第一彈射出後的後座力所抬高的槍口，如何能使子彈水平劃過陳水扁的肚皮？

因此，三一九槍擊案迄今唯一可以確定的事實是，有一發銅彈在現場射穿擋風玻璃並傷了呂秀蓮的膝蓋；但此一事實，並不能引伸證明陳水扁的傷口是在同一現場造成，尤其不可能是「一槍兩彈」在○‧六三秒內造成。

多年來，對於三一九槍擊案的偵結報告，常聞「信者恆信，不信者恆不信」的說法；但是，如今連當年視此報告為「專業、客觀、獨立」的陳水扁，也公開否定此一報告，並主張「重查真相」，則此一報告之不可置信，不啻已經獲得陳水扁的背書。

對三一九槍擊案的最核心質疑，是懷疑陳水扁贏得大選的手法不正當，因而亦使扁政府的第二任期失去統治正當性；而偵結報告之疑竇叢生，及扁政府以「行政抵抗權」之阻擾調查真相，更深化了國人對陳水扁的懷疑與鄙視。三一九案的教訓是：沒有真相，沒有總統。

偵結報告可以主張○‧六三秒兩彈連發，但模擬摳動自己手指的國人都可以不相信。本來，陳水扁應是這世界上最後一個仍然相信偵結報告者，如今竟然連他自己也宣示其否定這個報告的立場，則世人對三一九槍擊案的所有質疑皆可回到原點。