The most convincing argument I've yet seen that Oswald did not act alone is the view from the shooter's nest in the book repository. During a recent worktrip to Dallas, I had a little time on my hands and walked to the scene of the crime. Went to the sixth floor and crouched at the window next to the Oswald window, which is now glassed in.
I'm not sniper material by a long shot, but I'm a pretty dang good shot through open sights. Crouching right there, the thought of making those shots with a pristine rifle, much less that clunker, looked WAY unlikely. WAY.
I also stood behind the fence on the grassy knoll. Hard to imagine an EASIER shot, and the trajectory to me matched PERFECTLY with what my impression has always been when viewing the Zapruder film.
BTW, a question for those more familiar than I with Dealey(sp?) Plaza: At the spot behind the fence on the grassy knoll, was that big storm drain in place in 1963? I'm assuming not, since I've never seen mention of it, but man oh man, talk about an escape route; the shooter could've made the shot, dropped into the hole, and scurried away underground.
Side commentary: What an awful thing that day turned out to be. First of all, such an assassination is cold-blooded unjustifiable murder any way you cut it. Second, IMHO a far sleazier man inherited the office. Third, a mediocre-at-best president became an idealized martyr.
MM (in TX, and not a conspiracy theorist)
Yes, but he was a liberal, so he would have been cannonized anyway.
From a tree stand, I killed a running deer at about the same distance with 3 shots from a scoped WWII vintage Lee Enfield. Hit him twice; one hit was minor, the fatal shot entered about an inch from the tail and exited his chest.
I had much the same reaction when I was there at the window.
The real clincher though, was when I realized that Oswald's line of sight for the 'single bullet' shot simply did not line up with the limo's occupants, JFK and Connelly. - Oswald was too far up and too far right of the limo's path at the point where JFK's hands went up to his throat.
JFK and Connnely did not 'line up' from Oswalds point of view.
And no credible photographic evidence of that line up exists.
I'm not sniper material by a long shot, but I'm a pretty dang good shot through open sights. Crouching right there, the thought of making those shots with a pristine rifle, much less that clunker, looked WAY unlikely. WAY.
Funny. I looked through that same window as you did, and my impressions was just the opposite -- it looked pretty easy to me. The shot was much closer than I had the impression of from looking at photos of the area. Like you, I'm not an 'expert marksman' but even with my limited experience, I think I could hit 2 of 3 at a slow moving target from there.
And there was noting "clunker" about that rifle. It was and remains a fine, accurate weapon. The only reason it was so cheep then ($15 ?) is because there were tens of thousands of them on the surplus market.