[quote="Caj. . .I’ve been unclear. I’m saying: a backwards head jerk is not an unusual reaction to a shot from behind. Thus, it does not cast doubt on a shot from behind.
See, “likely enough” is just my probabilistic way of saying “not unusual.”
Caj[/quote]
Got it. I understand you are not saying the shot could not have originated from the front. If so, we’re in agreement about the reaction of JFK’s body.
According to the US government documents on LHO here are some of his “issues”:
Despite his trouble in school, he entered the US Marine Corp and worked in one of the most secret aspects of intelligence gathering.
He was a radar operator with knowledge of U2 altitudes and flight patterns. And he offered the Soviets those secrets, but they declined.
He did indeed teach himself to speak Russian, and Spanish.
He was court martialed and remained in the Marines until he wanted out.
When he wanted out of the military, he got out.
He found a way to travel to the Soviet Union within three days of his hardship discharge.
He involved himself with Marina Prosokov, the niece of Colonel Prosokov of the MVD (which ran parts of the Gulag and served also as an internal security force).
When told he would have to leave, he faked a suicide attempt and manipulated the KGB into allowing him to stay and treating him like a VIP.
He put himself in a position to be provided an apartment better than the man who ran the entire factory where he worked in Minsk.
He must have been a fantastic dancer, because after one date with Marina, he entered the hospital and she snuck in to visit him. And LHO visited her often at her uncle’s apartment. Although LHO was an American defector, the uncle allowed it. Russians were very aware of what looked suspicious, but not this colonel. Why?
After knowing her for just over a month, two weeks of which were spent in a hospital bed, LHO proposed marriage to Marina on April 20. They are married April 30. That took special permission, because LHO was a foreigner, he was also a defector. That permission was granted within ten days.
After 30 days, or so, of marriage, LHO tells Marina he’s tired of the Soviet Union. And LHO returns to the USA with a Soviet bride in the height of the cold war. He is never debriefed by the CIA at a time when the US intelligence apparatus wanted to gain any information about the Soviet way of life.
He became an activist and was interviewed on television and radio. Those who interviewed him described him as being very articulate and well spoken. When specifically asked about his goals for the US in Cuba, LHO stated he wanted 1) resumption of diplomatic relations with Cuba, 2) resumption of trade with Cuba, and 3) resumed tourism in Cuba. Those are presently being advocated in the US Congress. The ideas were radical only for the times.
He took a shot at General Edwin Walker, and he got away. It was only after his death that Marina informed authorities of the act.
He traveled to Mexico City, the hot-bed of intelligence activity closest to the USA, and was interviewed by Valery Kostikov, KGB, head of black ops (assassination) in the western hemisphere. The CIA failed to share information about the contact with James Hosty, LHO’s case officer in Dallas.
He decided he wanted to kill the President of the United States and so he did, even though he passed up the most logical shot as the limo drove towards him on Houston St.
He referred to himself as a “patsy” when asked if he did it. And he was murdered while in police custody as they paraded him before the press.
Witnesses in close proximity to the Presidential limousine, testified under oath and consequence of perjury, that their observations were different from the WC conclusion.
The last three years of LHO’s life, according to the documentation in US files, were filled with international and domestic escapades and contacts that are the stuff of spy novels and works of fiction. To play that off as a “troubled youth” is a mastery of understatement, and remains the very reason for speculation.