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

If you believe Lee Harvey Oswald that he didn't own a rifle, and I believe him because I don't think he was stupid enough to lie to police about it. It wasn't a crime to own a rifle and if his rifle was used to shoot someone, it didn't necessarily mean that he did it. Weapons get stolen all the time. 

We have to start with the premise that an innocent person has no reason to lie to the police, and it would be very foolhardy to do so. 

So, if you believe Oswald was innocent, you have no reason to think he lied to police when he said he owned no rifle.

But, think about what else it means. It means that that whole story about Marina watching the assassination coverage on television and then rushing into the garage to see if the blanket with the rifle was still there.  And she was relieved when she saw the empty blanket. Apparently, she couldn't tell that it contained no rifle. 

But then, the police came, and they asked her if he owned a rifle, and she said he did, and that it was in the garage. So, they went into the garage, and some officer picked up the blanket and dropped it, showing that it was empty. And that's when Marina nearly fainted.

But, isn't it preposterous to think that she couldn't tell that there was no rifle in the blanket prior to that? 

Author Thomas Mallon interviewed Ruth Paine, and this is what she told him: "When I asked her, nearly forty years later, to reconstruct what happened in the garage, Ruth groaned, before saying that Marina 'showed this blanket roll, which was on the floor. The officer picked it up, folded it over his arm. It was empty. He didn't even have to open it. You could see it was empty. That was when I had this feeling, My God, it could have been Lee — that he came out last night, that the gun had been there. . . . That was probably the worst moment."

There is no way anyone would mistake an empty blanket for one with a rifle. The demonstration wasn't necessary. Visually, it would be seen immediately. Rifles have got this thing called shape. So, this story has no credibility. 

Now obviously, this did not happen because Oswald owned no rifle. But, when did they start telling this story?

Let us look at the affidavit that Marina signed on November 22. November 22. 

Marina didn't type it. Somebody else typed it from what she said. This is really a short synopsis of her whole life with Lee Harvey Oswald, starting with her marriage to him. And as she recounts everything, it's notable what she doesn't say. She says nothing about him shooting at Walker or wanting to shoot Nixon. She said that he used to own a rifle to hunt with in Russia. Well, the implication of that is that he doesn't own one now. There was no point in mentioning the Russian rifle if there was another one since then. Then she said that she knew there was "a" rifle in Ruth Paine's garage. A rifle? The implication of that is that it wasn't necessarily his rifle. She said that two weeks before, she saw the blanket in the garage, and she opened it to find a rifle. She said that today at police station they showed her a rifle, and it looked like her husband's, but not exactly. For instance, she didn't remember the sight, the telescopic sight. But, wait a second. Stop! Do you mean to tell me that they took Marina to the the police station on Friday, November 22 and did not let her see her husband? Doesn't it seem like she would have insisted on it? "I want to see, Lee."

And apparently, Marina was taken to the DPD on Friday, although I am just finding out about it now.

"Within minutes, the police were hauling off boxes of the Paines' and the Oswalds' belongings, while Ruth protested in vain. A neighbor, Dorothy Roberts, watching this front-lawn drama, which must have resembled an eviction, thought that she had never seen Mrs. Paine so angry. One policeman grabbed Ruth's arm; another threatened to take her children "to Juvenile" if she and Marina didn't hurry up and come downtown with them."

So, we have to face the fact that Marina Oswald was at the DPD on Friday, and she did not demand to see her husband. It is just plain weird. Didn't she think that if she asked her husband what happened that he would tell her the truth? 

But, to be fair, it's possible that she did ask about seeing Lee, and they told her that it wasn't possible that day but that they would bring her back tomorrow to see him.

But, take a look at this affidavit again because it demonstrates that Marina knew nothing about Oswald owning a rifle in Texas. SHE WOULD  NOT HAVE MENTIONED THE RIFLE HE OWNED IN RUSSIA IF THERE WAS ANOTHER ONE SINCE THEN.

And obviously, if he did not own a rifle, then he did not shoot at Walker or seek to shoot at Nixon.

So, in the weeks that followed, they completely twisted her mind, and crafted for her a new alternate reality with alternate memories. And it is scary to think that they could do that. And she has been living with it all these years. Doesn't it seem like at moments she would get glimpses of the past, her real past? I have been told by people who know her that she fears that she is being watched constantly. And that makes sense. Because somewhere deep down inside, she knows the truth. And if that were to surface...