I read Gerald Posner’s Case Closed, and it seemed to me to make a dispositive case that Oswald acted alone. This was the first explanation that I had read which convincinly debunked the criticism of the one-bullet hypothesis.
Basically (and this was even more clearly shown on the ABC special), the bullet did not have to do any zig-zagging; once you place both Kennedy’s and Connolly’s bodies in the positions that the Zapruder film clearly shows that they were in, the bullet tracks line up perfectly with each other and with the sixth-floor window of the Texas Book Depository. QED.
The fact that the bullet tracks passed only through soft tissue before striking Connally’s wrist accounts for the relatively small amount of deformation observed in the bullet, which was in no way “pristine”.
The position of the head wound is such that it rules out any possibility that it could have been inflicted by a shot fired from the grassy knoll.
The six-second window is the time between the first and second shots which hit Kennedy. The assumption is often made that the shot that missed was in between these two shots. Examination of the Zapruder film (which clearly shows that he flinched slightly at the sound of each shot) strongly suggests that the shot which missed was fired two seconds or so BEFORE the first of the shots which hit. This extends the time window to eight seconds, more than enough for a competent rifleman (which Oswald was, according to his service record) to make the shots.
All of this (which was covered in detail in last night’s special) seems consistent with the conclusion that Oswald acted alone.
It is certainly possible that Oswald was acting in concert with the Mafia, the CIA, the Cubans, the Russians, or the Martians. However, the burden of proof is on those who would assert the presence of a conspiracy.
This is a textbook “extraordinary claim” requiring “extraordinary evidence”, and to date the conspiracists have only been able to put forth innuendo, speculation, and in many cases, outright fabrications.
The closest that they have come is the analysis of the police radio recording, which seemed to suggest that four shots were fired. This analysis was dependent on the police motorcycle being located within fifteen feet of a particular location. This assumption has since been shown to be invalid.
Hugh Aynesworth, a reporter who was in Dallas forty years ago, concluded a recent article on this subject with the following, which seems to sum it up pretty well:
"Often I am asked why I do not believe there was a conspiracy in the JFK assassination. After all, most Americans do, according to several legitimate polls. I usually tell them I do not know if there was or there wasn’t.
All I know is, there is absolutely no evidence of it.
I’m still a reporter. Still looking for the evidence 40 years later. If it exists."
