Posted on 08/20/2003 6:18:44 PM PDT by new cruelty
Lowest possible standard for a Marine, which is way way above your average Cub Scout competancy, you understand.
Oswald did manage to shoot in the middle of the pack at Sharpshooter capability. He was competent enough.
We're only talking about 150 to 277 feet where the Dallas shots were made. That's not even 100 yards at the greatest range, and the first shot was at 50 measly paces. He had a sighted-in 4x scope on his Carcano shooting down from a kneeling prone position resting on a window ledge at a non-deflecting target. A Marine with even the lowly pizza-box (Marksman) shooting badge should be able to get at least one shot through a donut hole at that range under those circumstances. A part of Oswald's rifle qualification as a Marine, part of his score involved prone shooting at man-sized targets 500 (five hundred) yards away.
Oswald's rifle was capable of printing three round groups the size of a dime at 100 yards, according to FBI testimony using data they got from several shooters who were all NRA Master riflemen. They just noted that the strikes were off by several inches up and to the right. That's to be expected from a rifle with a mounted scope that's been dropped, mishandled, collected as evidence, fiddled with, and who knows what else before it went into evidenciary lockup. They knocked the scope off it's zero at some point between the time Oswald would have shot Kennedy and the time that the FBI ballistics lab reproduced the scenario a few years later for the Warren Commission. That's reasonable. They ran the tests using the rifle as it was collected without adjustment. If they even removed the receiver from it's stock, or the scope from it's mount, that's a complete write-off of the scope zeroing even if they otherwise treated it as a piece of fine china.
The Kennnedy Assassination was two 50 and 90 yard shots in 8 seconds, and conspiracy theorists have been making it out to be that Lee Harvey Oswald needed to be Annie Oakley to make those shots.
Huh? Johnson was on the trip with Kennedy. They both slept at the Texas Hotel in Ft. Worth the night before and flew the extrememly short distance to Love Field together - JFK in Air Force One, LBJ in Air Force Two. Johnson was in the motorcade in a car behind Kennedy's. He did not need to change his flight plans to be there because he was already there. He had something of a front row seat before a black Secret Service agent climbed on top of him.
If there was any controversy on his flying, it was his insistance that he and JFK's body both were flown back to Washington on Air Force One as soon as possible. But first, he wanted to be sworn in and that is the famous photo you see of him, Judge Hughes and the blood-spattered Jackie Kennedy with LBJ's hand raised.
There is an interesting point to this photo. Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry, rather than coordinating the hunt for the killer(s) or securing the police facilities for the presumed flood of witnesses and suspects, was photographed on Air Force One with LBJ, witnessing the swearing in. Some believe that Curry was not out trying to find the gunmen because he already knew who the real killer was.
Here's the story I heard and I can't remember where I read or heard it.
RFK was hard after the mafia and the unions which had opened pension funds for mafia benefit. Supposedly, RFK hated the mafia so much he had New Orleans boss Marcello "arrested" and taken into Guatamala and released in the hills without any money. This after failing to be able to deport him in federal court in NO.
Given all that the mafia saw going on, Giancana in Chicago was getting a little PO'd. He dispatched Johnny Roselli and another guy to go talk to Joe Kennedy to remind him that his son owed his election in great part to the mob including the WVA primary which had knocked Humphrey out of the box for the nomination.
Papa Joe said he would talk to the boys when they came home for X-Mas (1962?. In the meantime, Joe had another stroke, a debilitating one, and reportedly he never spoke to the boys. The rest is as we know.
Another group which "benefited>"
I read Mortal Error years ago, found it quite plausible, and have wondered since if anyone had ever followed up on that theory. Do you know if, for example, any photograph of the SS car just after the first shot has ever turned up?
I'll give you a hint. Little hole in, big hole out."
You're right, of course, but have you ever really looked at the specs for 6.5x52mm Carcano? 2400 fps at the muzzle with a
Look at that projectile: It's a flying golf pencil. You know how those sorts of bullets are... Real penetrators that do complete unknowns after they hit. Capable of just punching straight through, or making things explode. Could be 'little hole in, big hole out' or 'little hole in, big hole out' or 'little hole in, bing-bang around like a moth around a porchlight' or maybe just go haywire upon impact like one of those 'Chinese ground bloom flower' fireworks. A tracer round at night would get the point across about the 'magic bullet', and I've seen quite a lot of that.
I've also seen the pics of the alleged 'Magic Bullet' and though it looks straight when seen from the side, it looks twisted when seen point-on.
You and I have both seen rifle bullets laying downrange that damn near look like they could almost be reloaded after firing, haven't we? I certainly have.
The fragment of skull retrieved [Harper fragment] was occipital.
The physicians and nurses at Parkland Memorial reported a large wound of exit in the occipital region, and a small wound of entry in the throat.
The x-rays were tampered with (Assassination Science, ed. James H. Fetzer, Ph.D, Catfeet, 1998).
Conspiracy of Silence, Charles A. Crenshaw, M.C., Penguin/Signet, 1992, collates the testimony of the Parkland staff.
The autopsy at Bethesda is discussed in detail in Best Evidence, David Lifton, Dell, 1980.
Gerald Ford claimed the rear shot was in the neck, but the FBI measured the holes in the suitcoat at 5-3/8" from the collar and in the shirt at 5-3/4" from the collar, making a throat exit wound impossible--just as the Parkland staff said.
Throat shot from front; Oswald in back; QED Warren Commission wrong: Oswald not sole actor.
To have to pass through the windshield would mean the gunman was at ground level. Kennedy is pushed leftward toward his wife after the hit, so it would be coming from an elevated right angle. That's the way it looks to me, I don't know how a hit from the back would do that.
I can believe that, though I've only been at the site once as a kid when visiting Dallas.
However: Have you ever performed a critical task, missed your chance at the easy way, and had to do it the hard way?
Maybe Oswald almost chickened out, was nervous, wiped the sweat off his lip, triple checked his rifle, who knows what.
He was about to assassinate the President of the United States, for gosh sakes. I can't even imagine the pressure, and certainly don't like to think about what was running through Oswald's head when he allegedly did it.
"(Johnson) had the motive, opportunity and means,"That much has been obvious to anyone who has thought much about the matter. It might be interesting to see how he tries to back it up.
marktwain
I have to admit that the motive, opportunity, and means of Johnson always made me wonder if he was involved. He certainly had the ethics and morals for it.
doug from upland
This is why no DemocRAT would ever have Hillary as VP on his ticket.
Regaurdless of whether LBJ was or was not involved in the asassination of JFK or had the lack of morals to do so, I definitely agree that Hillary Clinton has the moral depravity to do such a think if she were elected Vice President. I agree with doug from upland; any DemocRAT presidential nominee would be a fool to choose Hillary as his running mate. He would be increadibly safe till 12:00 pm. EST January 20, 2007. If you want to understand the significance of that time and date, reread the 25th amendment to the US Constitution.
... A smooth Mannlicher bolt action, you know.
The movie JFK did a great disservice by portraying the Carcano as 'the world's worst shoulder rifle' with a kludgy action that showed the actor next to Kevin Costner struggling to cycle the bolt. The smooth bolt cycle is one of the best things about the Mannlicher-Carcano, in reality.
Probably not as silky as a British SMLE Lee-Enfield which is a comparable rifle of the Carcano's time.
Italians make excellent weapons.
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