Conspiracy. Lies. Mystery. These only serve as a portion of the words that are most commonly associated with the assassination of former Democratic President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Throughout the decades, multiple allegations have been made, adding more of a conundrum to the still growing conspiracies that loom over the American people to this day. The J.F.K. assassination case should be re-opened as a result evidence alluding to the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald may have not killed John F. Kennedy. Contentions supporting the aforementioned claim include that the CIA was behind J.F.K.’s murder, Lee Oswald  was lacking the skills necessary to perform such a shot, the rifle supposedly used was not adequate and ‘/

lacking the proficiency needed to perform such a shot, the bullet to have supposedly injured J.F.K. and injure Texas Governor Connally was not the “magic bullet”, and  E. Howard Hunt gave a confession confirming the CIA played a part in the assassination plot.
Our first contention is that the CIA played a major role in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. During the time period of the Bay of Pigs, the CIA hosted many Anti-Castro campaigns and operations with one objective; to kill or overthrow Communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Kennedy was in office during the Bay of Pigs and accepted full responsibility for its failure. 

“‘ Supposedly Kennedy was fed up with the shenanigans that the CIA was pulling,” Dave Perry said. He found out that the CIA was trying to kill(Cuban leader Fidel) Castro, which is a fact. So the argument is that the CIA felt that Kennedy was going to disband them. And as a result of that, they were the ones that ordered the killing of Kennedy’( Patterson, pg.1).

One CIA operation stands out in particular, Operation 40. In the 1960’s Operation 40 and it’s participants were a CIA kill squad tasked with high level assassinations, more commonly known for being tasked with the objective of killing former Communist leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro, but never succeeded. Some of its members included Frank Sturgis(who would later become one of the Watergate burglars), Felix Rodriguez(CIA officer part of the  capture and execution of Che Guevara), Luis Carriles, Orlando Bosch, Porter Goss and legendary CIA operative E. Howard Hunt(later confirmed as one of the Watergate burglars and gave verbal confession to his involvement in the assassination of J.F.K.). The above-mentioned men are suspected to have framed Lee Harvey Oswald and to have carried out the assassination of Kennedy.

“For their part, many CIA officers and Cuban exiles blamed Kennedy for failing to support the operation, in
particular canceling a planned second set of airstrikes”(“The CIA and the JFK Assassination”,1).

The CIA held contempt for J.F.K. for failure to support extensive Anti-Castro operations during the Bay of Pigs.J.F.K. Affirmative Debate Essay
“Kennedy accepted responsibility publicly, but privately blamed the CIA and obtained the resignation of longtime Director Allen Dulles and others. He also implemented NSAM 55, transferring control of paramilitary operations to the Defense Dept”(“The CIA and the JFK Assassination”,1).

J.F.K. only added to this malevolence portrayed by the CIA during the time period, by transferring control of paramilitary operations to the Defense Dept., and obtaining longtime CIA director Allen Dulles resignation(he was later part of Warren Commission tasked with investigating the murder of J.F.K.). The CIA held enormous amounts of animosity towards J.F.K. and had the means to execute him and cover it up by using a patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald. 
Our second contention is that Lee Harvey Oswald was not an exceptional enough shot to have killed J.F.K. Oswald joined the Marine Corps. on October 24th, 1956. Oswald was trained as a radar operator, he was first assigned to Marine Corps. air station El Toro in 1957. Oswald was transferred with the Marine Air Control Squadron 1 to the Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Japan. During his service in the Marines, Oswald took the Marksmanship test twice. In the Marksmanship test there are three possible rankings based on scores, Marksman ranking(given to people who received a score of 190 to 209), Sharpshooter ranking(given to people who received a score of 210 to 219), and the Expert ranking(given to people who received a score of 220 to 250). “ In December 1956, after “a very intensive 3 weeks’ training period”, Oswald scored 212: two marks above the minimum for a ‘sharpshooter’("Was Oswald an Expert Marksman?”,1). “In May 1959, he scored 191: one mark above the minimum for a ‘marksman’("Was Oswald an Expert Marksman?”, 1).
“As a trainee he qualified for the rating of sharpshooter(the 2nd highest of 3 possible ratings), but he later slipped to the lowest qualifying rating of marksmen”(Knight, 18).
As demonstrated by Lee Oswalds scores on the tests, Oswald was a mediocre shot in the Marine Corps. Was Oswald able to pull of a shot at 81 meters and shooting at a target moving away from him? Based on his scores Oswalds capability with a rifle did not extend far enough to where he could perform a shot with the deleterious accuracy achieved on that fateful day in Dealey Plaza.

Our third contention is that the rifle supposedly used to kill J.F.K. was not adequate and/or proficient enough to have been used by Oswald in the assassination.The rifle allegedly used by Oswald in the assassination was a 6.5mm Carcano Model 91/38 carbine. The 91/38 Carcano was an Italian infantry weapon manufactured in 1940 at the Royal Arms Factory in Terni, Italy. The ammunition found in the weapon was 6.553mm Cartuccia Modello 1895 rimless cartridges. In the Warren Commission's findings it stated:
“ Every time we changed the adjusting screws to move the crosshairs in the telescopic sight in one direction it also affected the movement of the impact or the point of impact in the other direction. … We fired several shots and found that the shots were not all landing in the same place, but were gradually moving away from the point of impact”("Testimony Of Robert A. Frazier", 1).

The rifle was in poor condition and was a “cheap old rifle” that was not efficient to the point of being used in the assassination of J.F.K. Oswald, already a poor marksman using a poor and unreliable rifle firing three shots in a 5.6 seconds and hitting his target twice while J.F.K. was in a moving vehicle is highly improbable, especially when the rifle had trigger, bolt and scope problems. Oswald would have needed to fire one shot every 1.87 seconds(using the 91/38 Carcano which had problems with the trigger and bolt), this means that Oswald would have loaded, aimed and fired three shots while trying to hit a moving target at 81 meters away. Oswald was not capable of performing such and feat, and the 91/38 Carcano carbine also was ineffective based on the Warren Commission's findings, only adding to the ever growing improbability that Oswald killed J.F.K.

Our fourth contention is that the bullet to have allegedly injured J.F.K. and Texas Governor Connally is not the “magic bullet”. The bullet was found on a stretcher outside Parkland Hospital, in Dallas while Connally was undergoing surgery. The bullet was amazingly still intact, even though it is said to have gone through Kennedy's throat, destroyed 4 inches of one of Connally’s ribs and shattered the radius bone in the wrist, which is one of the densest bones in the body. “The US Army fired ten similar bullets into the wrists of human cadavers. In all ten cases, the bullets were severely damaged”(“Was Oswald Framed?”,1). This leaves speculation on whether or not CE 399 actually is the “magic bullet” fired from the 91/38 Carcano that Oswald purportedly used. “The FBI fired two bullets into tubes of cotton. Both of these bullets displayed a minimal amount of damage, just like CE 399”(“Was Oswald Framed?”,1). The lack of damage inflicted upon the bullet itself was so minimal that many question its validity, considering that it went through Kennedy’s throat and broke several bones in Connally’s body.

“ More metal had been deposited in Governor Connally’s wounds than was missing from the bullet. The surgeons who operated on Connally noted several tiny fragments of bullet lead in his wrist, as well as a larger fragment in his thigh. Other fragments may well have been washed out when the wounds to the torso and wrist were cleaned prior to surgery”(“Was Oswald Framed?”,1).

Based on evidence provided, it points out that the “magic bullet” isn’t magic after all, and may have been planted on the stretcher outside of Parkland Hospital. A man by the name of Darrell Tomlinson was said to have found CE 399 outside of the hospital.

“The Warren Commission’s bullet, Commission Exhibit 399, was not shown to Tomlinson during his testimony. Another hospital employee, O.P. Wright, who also saw the bullet on the stretcher, was not called to testify. Three years later, a researcher showed a photograph of the CE 399 bullet to Wright, who claimed that the bullet he had seen on the stretcher was of an entirely different shape”(“Was Oswald Framed?”, 1).

Wright’s claim that the bullet was entirely different shows that CE 399 may be false evidence that was planted on the stretcher, and a mangled bullet would be in support of Connally’s wounds he received. CE 399 suffered very little damage considering the damage it is said to have caused, which goes to show that it is not the magic bullet and was used against Lee Harvey Oswald during the Warren Commission's investigation. Because of the discrepancies in Wright’s and Tomlinson’s testimonies, the case should be re-opened.

Our fifth contention is that E. Howard Hunt gave a verbal confession confirming that the CIA played a part in the assassination. E. Howard Hunt was a CIA officer and writer who played a role in Operation 40 during the Bay of Pigs, he was part of the Special Activities Division of the CIA and was later one of Nixon's burglars in the Watergate scandal.After his death in 2007, Hunt’s confession of being a “benchwarmer” in the assassination plot of J.F.K.  was aired on national radio. In the audiotape made in 2004 for his son St. John to be played after his death, he says he was invited to a meeting in Miami in 1963 to plan the “big event”, and named others in the plot.

“Frank Sturgis, an anti-Castro paramilitary closely associated with Hunt. Sturgis was one of the Watergate burglars”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”, 1).
“David Morales, Chief of Operations at the CIA's JM WAVE station in Miami. Morales himself told a few close associates of his involvement”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”,1).
“David Phillips, CIA propaganda specialist and later Chief of Western Hemisphere Division. Phillips was assigned to Mexico City during the mysterious trip of Lee Harvey Oswald, or someone using his name, to that city in the fall of 1963”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”,1).
“Antonio Veciana, Cuban exile leader of Alpha 66. Veciana told the HSCA that a "Maurice Bishop," thought by many to be Phillips, pointed out Lee Harvey Oswald to him”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”,1).
“William Harvey, a CIA officer who ran the ZR/RIFLE "executive action" program. Harvey fell out of favor with the Kennedys when he sent sabotage teams into Cuba during the 1962 Missile Crisis”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”,1).
“Cord Meyer, a high-level CIA officer whose ex-wife Mary Meyer was having an affair with JFK”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”,1).
“French Gunman Grassy Knoll. Hunt's chart included an unnamed French hit man on the infamous grassy knoll”(“Confession of Howard Hunt”,1).
“Lyndon Johnson, Vice-President”(Confession of Howard Hunt,1).
In his confession, Hunt named all of the aforementioned people as taking part in the assassination plot. According to Hunt, L.B.J. was the one who ordered the killing and had “an almost maniacal urge to become President”. According to Hunt, L.B.J. considered J.F.K. an obstacle to achieving his goal of making it to the Presidency and ordered the meeting in Miami, which was purportedly a meeting where Hunt and others were planning J.F.K.’s assassination. Hunt’s audiotape confession undoubtedly shows that Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill President Kennedy, and that the CIA played a major role in the assassination offering more evidence that shows that the murder investigation should be re-opened.
In conclusion, the aforestated evidence clearly shows that Lee Harvey Oswald did not assassinate President Kennedy because of his obvious lack in skill as a marksman, his equipment was dated and unreliable and the CIA and associates played the major role in the heinous act of  malicious manslaughter, which gives controversial reasoning to re-open the murder investigation. This is incontrovertibly proven through numerous pieces of evidence. The CIA was behind the assassination due to animus between them and Kennedy over the Bay of Pigs and L.B.J.’s maniacal urge to become president. Lee Oswald was  an undistinguished shot and did not have the capabilities needed to be able to fire such a shot. The rifle allegedly used as the weapon of choice for Oswald was outdated, antiquated and suffered from mechanical issues, proving it almost futile in any attempt in a long range shot at a moving target with the deadly accuracy demonstrated in Dealey Plaza. The bullet to have supposedly went through Kennedy’s throat and Connally’s ribs and wrist was not the “magic bullet”. Finally, E. Howard Hunt’s confession confirming the CIA’s participation in the plot to execute Kennedy furthermore substantiates the CIA’s involvement. November 22nd, 1963 is a date that will live in ignominy amongst the pages of history, the only way to improve upon this is to find and condemn the real conspirators who connived against the President of the United States of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and bring them to justice.  

                                BIBLIOGRAPHY

   Bojczuk, Jeremy. "Was Oswald an Expert Marksman?" Was Lee Harvey Oswald an Expert      Marksman? : The JFK Assassination. 22november1663.org.uk, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

"Confession of Howard Hunt." Confession of Howard Hunt. Mary Ferrell Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Knight, Janet M., and Lester A. Sobel. Three Assassinations. New York: Facts on File, 1971. Print.

Patterson, Thom. "One JFK Conspiracy Theory That Could Be True - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

"Was Oswald Framed?" Was Lee Harvey Oswald Framed? : The JFK Assassination. Http://22november1963.org.uk/, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015

"Testimony Of Robert A. Frazier." Testimony Of Robert A. Frazier. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2015.