But, Martin, don't forget the fact that Marina—within hours of President Kennedy's assassination on 11/22/63—directed the police straight to Ruth Paine's garage and straight to that blanket on the floor. And when she did that on November 22nd she was directing the police to the place in Ruth's house where Marina was certain that her husband stored a rifle.
And regardless of what rifle it was—the C2766 Mannlicher-Carcano or another rifle altogether—Marina obviously thought that A RIFLE of some kind was wrapped up in that blanket in Ruth Paine's garage. Wouldn't you agree with that last statement?
If that is what really happened, yes I would agree with that statement that Marina did indeed think there still was a rifle in that blanket and that it was Oswald's. Having said that, what Marina thought isn't really evidence. Only last week my wife believed that I had taken money out of her bag, when in fact - as it turned out - she had left it in the car.
Whenever it comes to Marina there are IMO a couple of things to consider. First of all, after the assassination she was a young woman in a foreign country with two little children, no relatives, no real friends and a dead husband who was accused of a double murder. That alone would have been a motive for self preservation. Secondly, we have to consider the fact that in all the interviews she gave to various law enforcement agents, prior to her testimony, she lied multiple times. She actually admitted that she did, so there can't be any discussion about that. Thirdly, and this for me is crucial in understanding Marina, is the fact that at some point, prior to her testimony, an immigration officer was flown in to attend an interview with her who basically told her that if she would cooperate she would be allowed to stay in the country. This alone makes her testimony completely unreliable. In an honest investigation Marina's word would have counted for nothing without some sort of corroboration.
Or do you really think that Marina concocted her "There's A Rifle In The Garage" story right on the spot on the day of the assassination itself when she led the cops straight to the blanket on 11/22? And thusly, via such a concoction, she was in essence attempting to point an accusing finger of guilt directly at Lee Oswald for the murder of the President. Or at least it would certainly appear that way at the time she did it on Nov. 22. Would you not agree?
I agree. I am actually convinced that Marina, in those early days, was convinced that Oswald did the shooting. The mere fact that she destroyed another BY photo tells us that she tought Lee was guilty and yet as a good wife she wanted to help him by destroying evidence. But if what a wife or husband thinks, at some point in time, is actual evidence of guilt of their partner, there would be an overpopulation in the prisons. People thinking can be and frequently is a recipe for disaster.
Now, just ask yourself: Why on Earth would Marina have wanted to invent such a lie about a rifle being stored in Ruth Paine's garage just hours after Marina herself knew that the President had just been shot and killed from the very same place where her husband was employed?
The notion that Marina Oswald would have ever conceived of inventing such a false story about the rifle on the very day of the assassination is just too far-fetched to be believed.
I don't think Marina wanted to invent anything. I think she was a young, very insecure, woman who was overwhelmed by the events and who didn't know what to do and where to turn. Some of what she said was probably true and some of it was just something she believed at the time. The value that is now being attached to Marina's testimony is IMO overrated.
I do, however, agree with this comment you made above:
"It seems far more logical to me that he [Lee Oswald] would have disposed of the rifle after shooting at General Walker (if that's what he did) and before his trip to New Orleans."
I have myself often wondered why Oswald did not get rid of the C2766 Carcano rifle after he tried to kill General Walker with it on April 10, 1963. Here are two times in the past I wrote about that mystery—in 2009 and 2016:
"Oswald could be pretty brazen at times. For example—holding on to the rifle with which he shot at General Walker. Oswald, incredibly, apparently actually felt no need or desire to get rid of the weapon with which he took that potshot at Walker.
For more than SEVEN MONTHS he held onto it, even though he almost certainly had to know that the bullet that he fired into Walker's house WAS recovered and could conceivably (for all Oswald knew) be linked to Carcano Rifle #C2766.
I've often wondered why in the world Oswald didn't toss Rifle C2766 in the trash after he shot at Walker on April 10, 1963 (or dispose of it in some other fashion). He ran a fearful risk by keeping that rifle in his possession for all those months.
Perhaps it was a sign of Oswald's miserly and penny-pinching ways. Maybe he just hated the idea of spending $21.45 for a weapon he would only be using once.
I also wonder this --- Would Oswald have disposed of his rifle if he had succeeded in killing General Edwin A. Walker in April 1963?
And I also sometimes wonder this --- If Oswald HAD trashed his Carcano rifle after the Walker shooting, would he have purchased another rifle at some point in time to use in another assassination attempt?
It's possible, of course, that even if Oswald had disposed of the C2766 Carcano, he could have still purchased another gun to use on President Kennedy. Oswald had enough time to get himself another gun between the time he could have learned for certain that JFK would be passing by the front door of the Depository and November 22 itself.
Which begs the follow-up question (which has been asked by many people too) --- Since Oswald had more than $170 and since he had at least 2 to 3 days to get himself another gun...why did LHO decide to use his traceable mail-order Mannlicher-Carcano rifle to shoot the President?
Food for thought anyway.
Indeed. No matter from which perspective you look at this, it simply doesn't make sense.
In summary:
We can never know the answers to all these questions relating to Lee Harvey Oswald, his rifle, and the thoughts that might have been floating around in his warped brain. But the one thing that we do know beyond all REASONABLE DOUBT is this --- Lee Oswald took Mannlicher-Carcano rifle #C2766 to work with him on 11/22/63 and fired three shots from that weapon at President Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building."[/i] -- DVP; June 28, 2009
But the one thing that we do know beyond all REASONABLE DOUBT is this --- Lee Oswald took Mannlicher-Carcano rifle #C2766 to work with him on 11/22/63 and fired three shots from that weapon at President Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building.How exactly do we know this beyond a reasonable doubt?
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"Lee Oswald purchases a cheap rifle for himself in March 1963 (so he can shoot a certain retired general in Dallas). He misses in his attempt to kill General Walker, but decides to hang on to the Carcano rifle (for some reason that I've never quite been able to figure out, other than his own extreme stinginess and unwillingness to get rid of something he only used once)." -- DVP; March 6, 2016
This is just editorializing