General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Justice for JFK [View all]stopbush
(24,376 posts)To me, both the killing of JFK and Oswald were crimes of opportunity. Had JFK's motorcade not gone past the TSBD, Oswald wouldn't have had the opportunity to kill JFK. It did, and he did.
As far as Ruby killing Oswald, there's much to consider. First off, Ruby was very vocal to friends about how distraught he was over JFK's killing. IIRC, he made comments to the effect of "someone oughta kill that guy." His eventual killing of Oswald was premeditated in some respects. But the opportunity to kill Oswald was not premeditated. In other words, Ruby didn't go to the police station with the intent to kill Oswald. He went there because Ruby went to the police station all the time anyway.
Consider that Ruby was only in the vicinity because he had gone to the Western Union office to wire money to a former employee. Consider that he had one of his beloved dogs with him on that trip and left that dog in the car when he went to the police station. Does that sound like the action of a man who is on his way to kill someone? To leave a beloved pet in a car to which he has no intention of returning?
Most of all, Oswald was scheduled to be moved from the police station a full hour before the time that Ruby showed up and killed him. The delay in transfer was partially Oswald's own doing, as he wanted to change into clean clothes. If Ruby was plotting with others to kill Oswald at the police station, why would he not have been there at the scheduled time of Oswald's transfer? Why show up an hour after Oswald was scheduled to have been long gone from the police station? Why - if you are on the way to kill someone - go to a Western Union office to wire money? Wouldn't you worry that you'd end up getting delayed at WU and miss your "appointment" to kill Oswald?
Detective James R. Leavelle - the guy in the white hat in the picture of Oswald being shot - escorted both Oswald and Ruby from police headquarters. Unlike Oswald, Ruby was not handcuffed to Det Leavelle during his transfer. Leavelle reported that Ruby told him that he shot Oswald because he wanted to be a hero. To which Leavelle replied, You didn't do us any favors by killing Oswald.
In this case, the innocent (simple?) explanations are the most believable, for no other reason than the fact that if Ruby's killing of Oswald were part of some plot to silence Oswald, he was displaying a rather cavalier attitude towards getting the job done, wouldn't you say?