My Amazon review of John M. Newman's "Uncovering Popov's Mole"

[Michael T. Griffith]

Dear Comrade Griffith,

There's nothing to preclude Oswald's believing he was being sent by the regular CIA on an exciting "I Led Three Lives" kinda mission, being jerked around by both the KGB-controlled CIA and the regular KGB, getting fed up with being used as a pawn in an unintelligible chess game by those two organizations and, perhaps, the KGB-penetrated FBI, as well, and either trying to kill General Walker (and actually killing JFK) at the encouragement of at least one of those organizations, or . . . gasp . . . striking out and doing it all by him widdle self-described Marxist, former Marine sharpshooter and U-2 radar operator self. -- Tom

Yeah, I figured you would come up with some nonsensical, convoluted scenario to neuter and trivialize your admission. Yet, even in your specious scenario, Oswald was an intelligence operative.

BTW, Oswald was not a "sharpshooter" by any standard definition of the term. "Sharpshooter" was the name that the Marine Corps and the other Service branches used for the second category of rifle qualification. Many new recruits who had never fired a rifle before in their lives managed to qualify in that category. I saw this with my own eyes when I went through Army basic training.

On his very best day at the range, Oswald barely managed to qualify in the Sharpshooter category. He was firing with a semi-automatic rifle, so he had no bolt action that he had to work between shots. He was firing at targets that he had already practiced against. And he was firing from a level position and with ample elbow room, and not through a half-open window in a cramped space.

Do you know what happened when the WC had three Master-rated riflemen use the alleged murder rifle in a test to try to duplicate Oswald's alleged feat? They failed miserably, even though they were firing from only 30 feet up, not 60 feet up, even though they were firing at stationary targets, and even though they could take as much time as they wanted for their first shot.

[Tom Graves]

Yeah, I figured you would come up with some nonsensical, convoluted scenario to neuter and trivialize your admission. Yet, even in your specious scenario, Oswald was an intelligence operative.

BTW, Oswald was not a "sharpshooter" by any standard definition of the term. "Sharpshooter" was the name that the Marine Corps and the other Service branches used for the second category of rifle qualification. Many new recruits who had never fired a rifle before in their lives managed to qualify in that category. I saw this with my own eyes when I went through Army basic training.

On his very best day at the range, Oswald barely managed to qualify in the Sharpshooter category. He was firing with a semi-automatic rifle, so he had no bolt action that he had to work between shots. He was firing at targets that he had already practiced against. And he was firing from a level position and with ample elbow room, and not through a half-open window in a cramped space.

Do you know what happened when the WC had three Master-rated riflemen use the alleged murder rifle in a test to try to duplicate Oswald's alleged feat? They failed miserably, even though they were firing from only 30 feet up, not 60 feet up, even though they were firing at stationary targets, and even though they could take as much time as they wanted for their first shot.

Dear Comrade Griffith,

(How much does Vladimir Putin pay you, anyway?)

One of Oswald's former Marine colleagues (whose name escapes me at the moment) revealed about ten years ago that Oswald was a very good shot from all but the standing firing position.

Have you seen his shooting results in his Marine Corps "score book" that was auctioned off for about $50K a few years ago?

Regardless, do you think his second and third shots from the Sniper's Nest window were particularly difficult -- even if he used his short-rifle's iron sights -- given the fact that he took 10.2 seconds to fire all three shots in that echo chamber known as Dealey Plaza?

-- Tom