The Silent Conspiracy

[Jon Banks]

If you're arguing that Oswald was motivated by pro-Castro/Communist ideology, then his refusal to claim responsibility does go against the pattern of terrorists or killers who are motivated by ideology.

Another one: Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, didn’t immediately proclaim his responsibilities upon being incarcerated...

What you appear to be ignoring, is that Jack Ruby’s murder of LHO prevented any chances that LHO might have claimed responsibility for JFK and Walker after he had obtained an attorney. Opinions on that possibility (predictably) vary...

McVeigh left a long trail of evidence about his motives. He was even wearing a T-shirt with a John Wilkes Booth quote at the time of his arrest. 

In contrast, no one knows why Oswald allegedly killed JFK.

And I'm not claiming that Oswald's lack of a motive exonerates him. As I said earlier, I'm inclined to believe he was involved.

What I'm objecting to is the speculation that Oswald was some sort of ideology driven extremist.

There's lots of reasons to doubt that and as a suspect with no motive and no claim of responsibility, he doesn't fit the pattern of most fanatical extremist killers.

[Charles Collins]

McVeigh left a long trail of evidence about his motives. He was even wearing a T-shirt with a John Wilkes Booth quote at the time of his arrest. 

In contrast, no one knows why Oswald allegedly killed JFK.

And I'm not claiming that Oswald's lack of a motive exonerates him. As I said earlier, I'm inclined to believe he was involved.

What I'm objecting to is the speculation that Oswald was some sort of ideology driven extremist.

There's lots of reasons to doubt that and as a suspect with no motive and no claim of responsibility, he doesn't fit the pattern of most fanatical extremist killers.

Here’s a clip from a Los Angeles Times article about the officer who arrested McVeigh. I can’t help but notice how close hanger came to ending up like Tippit.

Hanger was driving north on Interstate 35 when he passed a rusting, yellow 1977 Mercury Marquis with no license plate. He stopped the car and found behind the wheel a clean-cut, 26-year-old Timothy McVeigh wearing military boots and a windbreaker.

McVeigh also wore a T-shirt with a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the words his assassin, John Wilkes Booth, shouted in Ford’s Theater: “Sic semper tyrannis.” (“Thus always to tyrants.”) On the back was a quote from Thomas Jefferson: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

McVeigh didn’t have proof of insurance or a bill of sale for the car. He told the always-suspicious Hanger that he was on a long, multi-state drive — moving to Arkansas and on his way to get more of his belongings. But there was no suitcase in the car. No change of clothes, either.

As McVeigh reached into his rear pocket for his driver’s license, his windbreaker tightened, and Hanger noticed the bulge of a shoulder holster under his left arm. McVeigh was wearing a loaded Glock pistol and had a 6-inch knife on his belt.

“My gun is loaded,” Hanger recalled McVeigh telling him as Hanger grabbed the bulge under the jacket.

“So is mine,” the trooper responded, putting his own gun to McVeigh’s head before arresting him for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon. If he hadn’t spotted the bulge, he would have let McVeigh go with a ticket.

As Hanger drove back to the Noble County Courthouse, McVeigh, sitting in the passenger seat, rattled off the serial number of his gun, correctly except for a single digit. He asked Hanger how fast his car ran, what kind of firearm he carried, how he could get his own gun back.

“I thought it was just nervous chatter,” Hanger said. “The radio was going. They were still sending units to Oklahoma City. I never made any comment about it and he never made any comment about it. I thought, ‘He’s just passing through. He doesn’t know what’s going on.’”

Hanger booked McVeigh into the Noble County Jail, inmate 95-057, and took his wife to lunch. Like everyone else, he was glued to the TV news coverage of the bombing.

As the nation searched for the bomber and public speculation lingered on men of Middle Eastern descent,McVeigh sat in a concrete cell atop the aging courthouse.

McVeigh was supposed to go before a county judge the next day, Thursday, but his hearing was delayed because the judge got tied up in a messy divorce case. The hearing was rescheduled for Friday.

Hanger was at home that morning when a dispatcher with Highway Patrol headquarters called asking if McVeigh was still in jail. Hanger doubted it, since he could easily make bail, but to his surprise McVeigh was still there, his car still parked by the interstate about 35 miles south of the Kansas state line.

McVeigh’s hearing had been delayed again, this time because the judge’s son had missed the school bus and the judge had to give the boy a ride. McVeigh probably would be seeing the judge any minute, Hanger told the dispatcher. Put a hold on him for the FBI, he was told. Now.

The trail that led to McVeigh had begun with the discovery of the Ryder truck’s rear axle.

Flung two blocks from the blast site, the axle still held the vehicle identification number, which led authorities to the rental agency and then to a motel where McVeigh had stayed, registered under his real name. Staff said he resembled a composite sketch of “John Doe No. 1,” seen near the Murrah Building before the explosion.

Authorities had learned McVeigh was in jail because Hanger had run his Social Security number through a national crime database after his arrest.

Word spread fast in Perry that something was up.
...

These days, Hanger says he was just doing his job, though he later realized that, had he made one false move, McVeigh could have shot him on that highway.

“Looking back later at who I was dealing with, what could have happened — that was more frightening than what happened that day,” Hanger said. “I often run the whole scenario back through my mind to see if there was something I missed, something I should have picked up on, and I’m just glad I didn’t let him go.”

However the main point is that even though McVeigh was arguably more radical,  like LHO, he didn’t immediately proclaim his cause or guilt.

[Jon Banks]

However the main point is that even though McVeigh was arguably more radical,  like LHO, he didn’t immediately proclaim his cause or guilt.

I agree but my point is McVeigh did have a clear motive based on the evidence discovered later, unlike LHO who never uttered a negative word about Kennedy according to everyone who knew him.

Even if McVeigh was killed before confessing to the OKC bombing, it was clear that he was a rightwing extremist and the bombing was connected to his ideology...

[Charles Collins]

I agree but my point is McVeigh did have a clear motive based on the evidence discovered later, unlike LHO who never uttered a negative word about Kennedy according to everyone who knew him.

Even if McVeigh was killed before confessing to the OKC bombing, it was clear that he was a rightwing extremist and the bombing was connected to his ideology...

McVeigh even wrote about it from prison. LHO didn’t get a chance.

On the eve of the assassination at the Paine residence, LHO didn’t even want to comment about the presidential visit to Dallas when Ruth Paine tried to bring it up for conversation. If LHO still liked JFK, why do you think that he tried to avoid that subject?

[Richard Smith]

McVeigh left a long trail of evidence about his motives. He was even wearing a T-shirt with a John Wilkes Booth quote at the time of his arrest. 

In contrast, no one knows why Oswald allegedly killed JFK.

And I'm not claiming that Oswald's lack of a motive exonerates him. As I said earlier, I'm inclined to believe he was involved.

What I'm objecting to is the speculation that Oswald was some sort of ideology driven extremist.

There's lots of reasons to doubt that and as a suspect with no motive and no claim of responsibility, he doesn't fit the pattern of most fanatical extremist killers.

Oswald had no idea he only had 48 hours or so to live after his arrest.  He thought he had years or decades.  By assassinating the President, he had changed history and made his mark as a political revolutionary when he pulled the trigger.  He had no incentive, however, to assist the authorities in placing legal responsibility and imposing punishment on himself.  He had only his confession and the details to bargain for his life in that context.  Had he lived, he likely would have waited until he had a deal before confessing.  Similar to James Earl Ray. 

In addition, Oswald was a nut.  Nuts don't have neat "motivations" for their actions.  They don't behave in the same way as normal people.  So it is not surprising that Oswald's "motive" remains unclear.  Only he would know for sure assuming even he could have articulated a reason.  There are clues from his actions that allow us to draw logical inferences but no one can say with absolute certainty.  That doesn't mean there is any doubt that he did it.  Only that his motive must, by necessity, remain the product of some speculation because his actions were not those of a rational person.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

McVeigh left a long trail of evidence about his motives. He was even wearing a T-shirt with a John Wilkes Booth quote at the time of his arrest. 

In contrast, no one knows why Oswald allegedly killed JFK.

And I'm not claiming that Oswald's lack of a motive exonerates him. As I said earlier, I'm inclined to believe he was involved.

What I'm objecting to is the speculation that Oswald was some sort of ideology driven extremist.

There's lots of reasons to doubt that and as a suspect with no motive and no claim of responsibility, he doesn't fit the pattern of most fanatical extremist killers.

Oswald was a completely political person. Politics was his entire life; even more important than his family. He defected to the Soviet Union and turned his back on his family (read the letters he wrote to his brother). He returned to the US, failed miserably, and wanted to defect to Cuba. He was rejected and had to return to the US.

Note: In one letter to his brother when he lived in the USSR he wrote: "In the event of war, I would kill any American who put a uniform on in defense of the American government--any American." Granted, he likely suspected that the KGB was reading the letters so he wanted to impress them with his devotion of the country. Still, it's a pretty odd thing to write.

He regularly read - even though he had little money - radical publications. He talked politics, he read politics, he lived politics. Marina said he used to sing songs to Fidel and wanted to name their first baby Fidel.

His writings indicate he loathed the American political and economic systems. He also said he hated the Soviet system. His personal writings are only about politics. The evidence for me is persuasive that he tried to shoot Walker. He called himself a Marxist (as he understood the term). If that's not someone with extreme views then I'm not sure what we would call it.

I don't believe that on November 22, 1963 that he suddenly woke up and abandoned all of this.

This is a person with extreme views. Who dresses and acts like this?

[Jon Banks]

McVeigh even wrote about it from prison. LHO didn’t get a chance.

On the eve of the assassination at the Paine residence, LHO didn’t even want to comment about the presidential visit to Dallas when Ruth Paine tried to bring it up for conversation. If LHO still liked JFK, why do you think that he tried to avoid that subject?

I don’t know. Maybe he wasn’t in a good mood because of his Marriage issues.

[Charles Collins]

Oswald had no idea he only had 48 hours or so to live after his arrest.  He thought he had years or decades.  By assassinating the President, he had changed history and made his mark as a political revolutionary when he pulled the trigger.  He had no incentive, however, to assist the authorities in placing legal responsibility and imposing punishment on himself.  He had only his confession and the details to bargain for his life in that context.  Had he lived, he likely would have waited until he had a deal before confessing.  Similar to James Earl Ray. 

In addition, Oswald was a nut.  Nuts don't have neat "motivations" for their actions.  They don't behave in the same way as normal people.  So it is not surprising that Oswald's "motive" remains unclear.  Only he would know for sure assuming even he could have articulated a reason.  There are clues from his actions that allow us to draw logical inferences but no one can say with absolute certainty.  That doesn't mean there is any doubt that he did it.  Only that his motive must, by necessity, remain the product of some speculation because his actions were not those of a rational person.

When Castro realized that he wasn’t likely to be able to keep the nuclear missiles he wrote the Armageddon letter to Kruschev requesting a preemptive nuclear strike against the U.S. There’s nothing rational about that either...