Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Do you realize that it was only Dallas Police who claimed to recognize "Ruby" in the garage? No reporter claimed to recognize him, nor did any photographer. Two who definitely knew Ruby were Hugh Aynesworth and Ike Pappas. Aynesworth claimed to see the shooter "zip" on in (his word) but he did recognize him as Jack Ruby. He found out that he was Ruby the same way we all did. And Pappas acted surprised when he found out that it was "Ruby" as if he himself was wondering why he didn't recognize him, why something didn't register with him at the time. But, Ruby had reportedly stuck his head in the NBC News van the evening before, so one of the NBC people could have recognized him. And considering the local celebrity that Ruby was, one of the KRLD people should have recognized him as well. The same applies to the WFAA people. These were local Dallas stations. 

The cop who got the most limelight for claiming to see and recognize "Ruby" is Jim Leavelle. But, Jim Leavelle is a confirmed liar. This is him acting out for a tv movie what he claimed to do in the garage, which is shove on Ruby's left shoulder. 

He never did that. You can watch any of the films and see for yourself that he never did it. And frankly, I don't know where Leavelle got the nerve to claim that because he claimed it that very afternoon, and surely he knew that there were films which showed otherwise. But, I am not surprised that no one ever called him on it (until I did) because it's part of the JFK assassination, the Bizarro World. He also claimed to try to jerk Oswald behind him but only wound up turning him, but he didn't do that either. At the time of the shot, Oswald was facing straight ahead, not turned.

"Ruby" is about to pull the trigger here, and as you can, Leavelle is nowhere near him, and Oswald is facing straight ahead, not turned at all.

And then, of course, he pulled the trigger.

It isn't trapped gas that is causing Oswald to cringe. He's been shot. At least, according to the story, he's been shot. And notice that Leavelle is still on the other side of Oswald and nowhere near "Ruby". 

Finally, Leavelle looks like he sees "Ruby." And Oswald looks like he's going to topple. But, he doesn't. He actually gets a second wind and veers back and up on his toes, which is amazing for a guy with a devastated circulatory system. Here's another shot of the pre-shot. It's very blurry, but you can see how they're lined up. "Ruby" is attacking from one side; Leavelle is on the other side; and they are far removed. And, by the way, that short guy with the short neck could not possibly be Jack Ruby, who was only a fraction of an inch shorter than Oswald and had a longer neck.  

But, the point is that Jim Leavelle lied. He lied profusely. He lied exorbitantly. So, why not accept that his claim of recognizing Jack Ruby in the garage was also a lie? 

The garage spectacle was just that: a spectacle. It was made for television. It was all for show.

I am reminded of the old joke: 

A little boy says to his mother, "Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a musician." And she says, "Well, just remember, dear: you can't do both."

And you can't put on a television spectacle and also deliver a surgical strike with a firearm, precisely placed to do lethal damage. This was the dog and pony show. They got down to business afterwards. 

And by the way, I keep being told that I am going to be sued for libel by Jim Bookhout. Actually, it isn't possible. In the United States, there are no libel laws against the dead. You can say anything you want about a dead person. 

I happen to know that the sister of Natalie Wood is waiting for a certain aged actor to die, and then, she is going to publicly accuse him of having raped her sister, Natalie Wood, when she was a teenager. It's well known who that actor is. And if you want to know who he is, just Google: Who raped Natalie Wood?

But, I'm not accusing James Bookhout of rape, nor am I accusing him of murder. I'm saying that the whole thing was a ruse, and James Bookhout simply played his part, his role. Who actually did the shooting afterwards that killed Oswald? I have no idea. And, I wouldn't begin to speculate. But, I am absolutely certain that it wasn't James Bookhout. What would they need him for that for? He wasn't that kind of FBI agent. He was an FBI lawyer. 

The whole thing was a plot of the Dallas Police Department and the FBI, and the order to do it had to come from LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover. These Dallas policemen they were all, perhaps to the last man, former military. And so were most of the FBI agents, although not Bookhout.  When the Commander in Chief tells you to take someone out, you take him out. It was a matter of following orders. But, these Dallas cops, they all knew Tippit, and they really believed that Oswald killed him. So, the assignment was welcome.

But, I'm sure the rational that was given was that it would be paralyzing to the country to have to go through a long trial. And that was true. Look how paralyzing the O.J. trial was. And that was nothing compared to what this would have been. But, the real reason Oswald had to die was that Oswald would have prevailed at trial. And, Lyndon Johnson, who was soaked in the blood of John Kennedy, certainly knew that. In fact, what they realized was that they had to get Oswald dead before he spoke to a lawyer. Just letting him speak to a lawyer would have been devastating.

Jack Ruby was innocent of killing Oswald. The Dallas Police and FBI did it. And it was one of the biggest and most diabolical manipulations of the public mind that has ever occurred.