My new book, "Into the Nightmare"

[Charles Drago]

The shooters were probably Cuban exiles who had received US military training (one of Bobby's mistakes; some of them would have shot his brother for free) or some imported mercenary/professional snipers (the Gladio stable of fascists, Corsicans, etc.) [EMPHASIS ADDED BY DRAGO]

Tracy, while I stand in near-total agreement with what you've written below, I am obliged to note for the record that I find you conclusion as rendered above vis a vis Cuban exiles to be as flawed and, to the best of my knowledge, indefensible as McBride's Tippit-as-Badge-Man argument. Also, I must indicate my problem with your either/or stricture.

To be precise, I take issue with the words "probably" and "or".

I eagerly anticipate reading what I have every reason to expect will be a typically thoughtful, reasoned defense of your Cuban exiles argument.

In the meantime, I would remind you of the potential for disaster when the either/or mindset is applied to the study of deep political events. Solely for example, please tell us why the shooter teams could not have been comprised of Cuban exiles AND mercenary/professional snipers.


I'm happy to reproduce the balance of your post now, insofar as I find it to be insightful and informative.

You wouldn't use a local cop (unless, of course, you were willing to kill him soon after). But in his later years, I think Tippit was busy full time with a wife and 3 kids, a job as a cop that paid poverty wages (I think $6000 a year was what I read), plus extra jobs on the side. He probably didn't have a lot of time and energy to spend target shooting to keep his skills in top shape. The low wages they paid Dallas police made them good candidates for corruption, though.

I used to work with a guy who was an Army sniper in Vietnam (two tours, proud to have hunted "the most dangerous game.") A total gun nut, talked about them all the time, owned a virtual arsenal. Went target shooting every chance he could. A big library of books and magazines on guns. Not only does this not sound like Tippit, it sounds even less like Oswald.