Fix the Bus

Was Oswald Stupid or Smart?  The Warren Commission can’t decide.  He’s a confused, ne’er do well loner when they want him to be; he’s an ace assassin and escape artist when that seems convenient.

He has super powers.  He can descend buildings in seconds.  He can walk through blocks and blocks of North Oak Cliff without being seen. When he desires, he can project a clear image of himself when standing six stories high.  Such a shining light.

And yet, he possesses stupid powers also.  He conveniently leaves a beautiful trail leading from the assassin’s weapon to himself.  It comes packaged with a gift bow that Martha Stewart herself could not surpass.  He goes the extra mile in ensuring that people see him as a pompous, surly wife-beater.

He is über-man and ünter-man all wrapped up in one.  So which is he?

Well, his IQ, measured when a boy, was 118. This was achieved in a suboptimal socio-economic environment. In a good environment his IQ would be a full 10 points higher.
His Dallas acquaintance, Sam Ballen, said this:

Mr. LIEBELER. Did Oswald appear to be a particularly intelligent person or did you form an opinion as to his intelligence?
Mr. BALLEN. I thought he was of above average intelligence, and the unusual thing that struck me as being particularly unusual was the degree to which he would go for self-education and self-improvement. It was this quality–these qualities which attracted him somewhat to me.

His Russian was fluent.
Here is testimony from Anna Meller, a member of the White Russian community. White Russians were so named to distinguish them from Red Russians – Communists.

Mr. LIEBELER – It was quite clear to you at that time that Marina was not able to speak English?
Mrs. MELLER – Yes; absolutely not a word, absolutely not a word; however, he spoke Russian pretty good to understand, amazingly. Mr. LIEBELER – Was his Russian grammatically correct?
Mrs. MELLER – Pretty correct.
Mr. LIEBELER – Did he tell you where he learned Russian?
Mrs. MELLER – I don’t remember exactly. Later I heard certain somebody asked because we were wondering how he could speak and he said he took English in school and studied very much at home.
Mr. LIEBELER – Russian you mean.
Mrs. MELLER – Russian in school and studied at home very much with himself as Marina said later.
Mr. LIEBELER – Did you think that his command of the Russian language was better than you would expect for the period of time that he had spent in Russia?
Mrs. MELLER – Yes; absolutely better than I would expect.

That’s pretty good for a dumbass, wouldn’t you say?
Here is the testimony from Mr. George Bouhe, another member of the White Russian community in Dallas.

Mr. LIEBELER – Did you speak to Oswald in the Russian language from time to time?
Mr. BOUHE – Yes; I did.
Mr. LIEBELER – Did you form an impression as to his command of that language?
Mr. BOUHE – Yes.
Mr. LIEBELER – What was that impression?
Mr. BOUHE – A very strange assortment of words. Grammatically not perfect, but an apparent ease to express himself in that language.
Mr. LIEBELER – Did you know when you knew Oswald how long he had been in the Soviet Union, approximately?
Mr. BOUHE – That I knew from a clipping which I have at home, from the Fort Worth newspaper, yes, which first brought the name of Oswald before my eyes sometime in June 1962. And that story said the Fort Worth boy returns after so many years, and so on.
Mr. LIEBELER – Did Oswald’s command of the Russian language seem to be about what you would expect from him, having been in Russia for that period of time? Would you say it was good?
Mr. BOUHE – I would say very good.
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You don’t speak Russian that well unless you have been trained.  Kindly disregard the CIA bullshit that Oswald spoke poor Russian in Mexico City.

Well, I guess compared to Anton Chekhov, he did.

Oswald was an extremely intelligent guy.  It would make sense that he might have an affair with Judith Vary Baker in New Orleans. Intelligent people tend to find each other.
But we don’t have to rely on that alone.  We can look at other evidence.

Oswald, when stationed at El Toro, a base known for its intelligence operations was given a higher than standard security clearance.  And, if we are to believe Harold Weisberg, no reason not to, Oswald’s clearance was a crypto clearance, apparently one of the higher levels.

Does the military place dumbasses in their intelligence apparatus?  Do they station dumbasses in Atsugi?

Okay, you might ask, if Oswald was so smart, how did he manage to get set up as the patsy?  This is a good question.

To begin with, nobody calls himself a patsy unless he is working with people who might set him up as the fall guy.  I’ve been accused of doing a lot of stuff in my life. I’ve either admitted it or denied it. I’ve never said that I was a patsy.  Only team members would use that excuse.  Given that, how does a smart guy like Oswald get set up as a patsy?

Oswald was intelligent, but even intelligent people can be conned.  The Bernie Madoff victims got conned.  They were intelligent people.  Stacy Keach narrates an entire series on CNBC, entitled American Greed, dedicated to showing how confidence men sucker intelligent people out of their money.

No matter how smart we are, we all have the same emotional IQ: 6.  We all have needs grounded in emotion.  For some it’s love.  For others it’s money.  Oswald felt the need to belong.  He wanted to be part of a team.  As a boy he watched a lot of television. His favorite show was, I Led Three Lives. He fantasized about being a secret agent.

The man who set him up, an experienced, older and extremely intelligent CIA officer, played on that emotional need.  He supplied what Oswald needed.  For a price.  That’s how a confidence man works.  He appeals to your emotional needs, not your intellect.  You don’t realize you’ve been taken until it’s happened.  And then you tell the world: I’m a patsy.

Which is what Oswald said he was.

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