An assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure Public figure is a legal term applied in the context of defamation actions as well as invasion of privacy. A public figure (such as a politician, celebrity, or business leader) cannot base a lawsuit on incorrect harmful statements unless there is proof that the writer or publisher acted with malice (knowledge or reckless disregard for the truth), usually for political purposes.

Assassinations may be prompted by religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe,, ideological An ideology is a set of ideas that discusses one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class, political Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in other group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to, or military A military is an organization authorized to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military. Militaries often function as societies within societies, by having their own reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain Contract killing is a form of assassination, in which one party hires another party to kill a target individual or group of people. It involves an illegal agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to kill the target in exchange for consideration, monetary , or otherwise. The hiring party may be a single person, a group of people, a, revenge Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a real or perceived grievance. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punitive focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one. Whereas justice generally implies actions undertaken and supported by a, or personal public recognition Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and shows an extroverted personality. There is a wide range of ways by which people may become celebrities: from their profession, appearances in the mass media, or even by complete accident or infamy. Instant celebrity is the term that is used when someone becomes a celebrity in.

Assassination may also refer to the government-sanctioned killing of opponents or to targeted attacks on high-profile enemy combatants.[1]

Contents

Etymology

Main article: Hashshashin The Hashshashin , was the Persian designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages. The Nizari, or Hashshashin, as they were designated by their enemies, split from the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire following a dispute regarding the succession of their spiritual and political leader the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-

The word assassin is derived from the Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabī) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million word Hashshashin The Hashshashin , was the Persian designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Muslims during the Middle Ages. The Nizari, or Hashshashin, as they were designated by their enemies, split from the Isma'ili Fatimid Empire following a dispute regarding the succession of their spiritual and political leader the Fatimid Caliph Ma'ad al-[2], referred to the Nizari Nizari teachings affirm the Islamic tenet that there is "No god but the One God, and Muhammad is the final Prophet of God". Along with other Shī‘a, Nizari believe that following the Prophet's death his relative Ali Ibn Talib was selected by divine decree to succeed the Prophet as Imam in the institution of Imamate which continues in branch of the Ismā'īlī Shia Shia Islam , is the second largest denomination of Islam, after Sunni Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'as but the terms Shiites or Shi'ites are common Anglicisations. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shī‘atu ‘Alī (شيعة علي), meaning "the followers of Ali" or "the faction of Ali& under the instruction of Hassan aṣ-Ṣabbaḥ during the Middle Ages. They were active in the fort of Alamut Alamūt was a mountain fortress located in the central Alborz Mountains south of the Caspian Sea close to Gazor Khan near Qazvin, about 100 km from Tehran in Iran. Only ruins remain of this fortress today in Iran from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This group killed members of the Arab Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire [disambiguation needed]. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but Al Andalus, Seljuq The Seljuq were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They set up an empire, the Great Seljuq Empire, which at its height stretched from Anatolia through Persia and which was the target of the First Crusade. The dynasty had its origins in the Turcoman tribal and crusaders élite for political and religious reasons, but mostly targeted the knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers), were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. The organization existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages and the ruling Sunni kings[3] in the name of the Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate or al-Fātimiyyūn was an Arab Shi'a Muslim caliphate centered in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sicily, Malta,the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171. The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who were basedly originally in the Tunisian city of Mahdia, before establishing the Egyptian city of Shia Sultans of Egypt.[citation needed] Later, after Egypt became Sunni during the campaigns of Saladin, Assassins continued on their own account.[citation needed]

Although commonly believed that assassins were under the influence of hashish Hashish (from Arabic: حشيش ḥashīsh, lit. "grass", from hashisha "to become dry"; also hash) is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed stalked resin glands called trichomes, collected from the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than other parts of the plant during their killings or during their indoctrination, there is continued debate within the historical community whether these claims have any merit, as direct evidence from any contemporary source, Nizari or otherwise, is non-existent. Marco Polo Marco Polo (English pronunciation: /ˈmɑrkoʊ ˈpoʊloʊ/ ; Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo]) (c. 1254 – January 8, 1324) was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through and subsequent European visitors to the area received from rivals of the Nizarai, what were to these opponents, derogatory names for the Nizarai Ismaili, and significantly embroidered stories about them. Polo, Henry II, Count of Champagne, William Marsden, an envoy of Frederick Barbarossa Frederick I Barbarossa was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1154, and finally crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. He was crowned King of Burgundy at Arles on 30 June 1178. The name Barbarossa came from the northern Italian cities he, William, Archbishop of Tyre and others following, popularized the names and stories in Europe, oblivious to their origin in factional propaganda.[4]

The earliest known literary use of the word assassination is in Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of a performance of what was likely Shakespeare's play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare [a] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".[b] His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays,[c] 154 sonnets, two long narrative (1605).[5][6]

Use in history

Main article: History of assassination

Ancient to medieval times

Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics Power politics, or Machtpolitik , is a state of international relations in which sovereigns protect their own interests by threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression. The term was coined in Martin Wight's 1979 book of the same name, which the Times Literary Supplement dubbed the 18th most influential book since World, dating back at least as far as recorded history. Perhaps the earliest recorded instance is the murder of the Moabite King, Eglon by Ehud around 1337 BC, described by The Book of Judges. Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon, (Greek: Φίλιππος Β' ο Μακεδών — φίλος = friend + ίππος = horse — transliterated Philippos 382 – 336 BC, was a Greek king (basileus) of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III, the father of Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon , popularly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος, Mégas Aléxandros), was a Greeki[›] king (basileus) of Macedon. He is the most celebrated member of the Argead Dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander received a classical, and Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Cæsar/Caesar was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire are famous victims. Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Shia Imams Imāmah is the Shī‘ah doctrine of religious, spiritual and political leadership of the Ummah. The Shī‘ah believe that the A'immah ("Imams") are the true Caliphs or rightful successors of Muḥammad, and Twelver and Ismā‘īlī Shī‘ah further that Imams are possessed of supernatural knowledge, authority, and infallibility (‘I. The practice was also well known in ancient China Chinese civilization originated in various regional centers both along the Yellow River and the Yangtze River valleys in the Neolithic era. Also, the Yellow River is to be said as the Cradle of Chinese Civilization. The written history of China can be found as early as the Shang Dynasty . Oracle Bones with ancient Chinese writing from the Shang. An example of this is Jing Ke Jing Ke was a guest residing in the estates of Dan, crown prince of Yan and renowned for his failed assassination of Ying Zheng, King of Qin, who later became China's first emperor (reign from 221 BC to 210 BC). His story is told in the chapter entitled Biographies of the Assassins (刺客列傳) in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, or's failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), personal name Ying Zheng (Chinese: 嬴政; pinyin: Yíng Zhèng), was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC. He ruled until his death in 210 BC at the age of 49. The ancient Indian The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago hominids from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India. A sophisticated and military adviser Chanakya Chānakya (c. 350–283 BCE) was an adviser and prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340-293 BCE), and was the chief architect of his rise to power. Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient Indian political treatise called the Arthaśāstra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise Arthashastra The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian Hindu treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and Viṣhṇugupta, who are traditionally identified with Chāṇakya (c. 350–283 BC), who was a scholar at Takshashila and later the prime minister of the Maurya Empire. On April 28, 1192, Conrad of Montferrat Conrad of Montferrat, or Conrad I of Jerusalem was one of the major participants in the Third Crusade. He was the de facto King of Jerusalem, by marriage, from 24 November 1190, but officially elected only in 1192, days before his death was assassinated by two hashshashin.

The apocryphal Old Testament story of Judith illustrates how a woman frees the Israelites by tricking and assassinating Holofernes In the deuterocanonical Book of Judith Holofernes was an invading general of "Nebuchadnezzar". "Nebuchadnezzar" dispatched Holofernes to take vengeance on the nations of the west that had withheld their assistance to his reign. The general laid siege to Bethulia, commonly believed to be Meselieh, and the city almost surrendered, a war-lord of the rival Assyrians Assyria was a kingdom centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur (Akkadian: 𒀸𒋗𒁺 𐎹 Aššūrāyu; Arabic: أشور Aššûr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר Aššûr, Aramaic: ܐܬܘܪ Aṯur. The term with whom the Israelites were at war.

In the Middle Ages The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in, regicide The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after alleged due process of law was rare in Western Europe, but it was a recurring theme in the Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by emperors in direct succession to the ancient Roman emperors. It was called the Roman Empire, and also Romania , by its inhabitants and its neighbours. As the distinction between "Roman Empire". Blinding and strangling in the bathtub were the most commonly used procedures. With the Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historic era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not uniform across Europe, this is a general use of the, tyrannicide Tyrannicide literally means the killing of a tyrant, or one who has committed the act. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing or assassination of tyrants for the common good. The term "tyrannicide" does not apply to tyrants killed in battle or killed by an enemy in an armed conflict. It is rarely applied when a tyrant is killed—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe. The reigns of the French kings Henry III Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575 and Henry IV Henry IV was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and (as Henry III) King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France. His parents were Queen Jeanne III and King Antoine of Navarre, and William the Silent William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent (Dutch: Willem de Zwijger), or simply William of Orange (Dutch: Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born into the House of the Netherlands ended with assassination.

In modern history

As the world moved into the modern day, the killing of important people began to become more than a tool in power struggles between rulers themselves and was also used for political symbolism, such as in the propaganda of the deed Propaganda of the deed is a concept that promotes physical violence against political enemies as a way of inspiring the masses and catalyzing revolution. Propaganda of the deed may take many forms, but in many cases utilizes violence against people seen as threats to the working class. It also refers to the use of symbolic acts of violence against. In Russia The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union. It was the second largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen, surpassed only by the Mongol Empire, and the third largest empire the world has ever seen, surpassed alone, four emperors were assassinated within less than two hundred years: Ivan VI, Peter III, Paul I Paul (1 October [O.S. 20 September] 1754 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801) was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801, and Alexander II Alexander II Nikolaevich (Russian: Александр II Николаевич, Aleksandr II Nikolaevich) (29 April [O.S. 17 April] 1818, Moscow – 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1881, Saint Petersburg), also known as Alexander the Liberator (Russian: Александр Освободитель, Aleksandr Osvoboditel') was the Emperor, or Czar, of the.

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, one of the last major events in the American Civil War, took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater with his wife and a twenty-eight year-old officer named Major Henry R. Rathbone, and his fiancee,, artist's depiction from 1865. Assassin John Wilkes Booth on the right.

In the United States, four presidents, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy died at the hands of assassins. There have been at least 20 known attempts on U.S. presidents' lives.

In Europe the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalist insurgents (The Black Hand) is blamed for igniting World War I after a succession of minor conflicts, while belligerents on both sides in World War II used operatives specifically trained for assassination. Reinhard Heydrich was killed by Czech partisan killers, and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the U.S. to carry out a targeted attack, killing Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto while he was travelling by plane. The Polish Home Army conducted a regular campaign of assassinations against top Nazi German officials in occupied Poland. Adolf Hitler, meanwhile, was almost killed by his own officers, and survived various attempts by other persons and organizations (such as Operation Foxley, though this plan was never put into practice).

During the 1930s and 1940s Stalin's NKVD carried out numerous assassinations outside of its borders, such as the killings of OUN leader Yevhen Konovalets, Ignacy Porecki-Reiss, Fourth International secretary Rudolf Klement, Leon Trotsky and the POUM leadership in Catalonia.[7]

India's "Father of the Nation," Mohandas K. Gandhi, was shot to death on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse.

Cold War and beyond

See also: Cold War and War on Terrorism

During the Cold War, there was a dramatic new increase in the number of political assassinations, likely due to the ideological polarization of most of the First and Second worlds, whose adherents were often more than willing to both justify and finance such killings.[citation needed]

Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, was assassinated by Saad Akbar, a lone assassin, in 1951. Conspiracy theorists believe his conflict with certain members of the Pakistani military (Rawalpindi conspiracy) or suppression of Communists and antagonism towards the Soviet Union, were potential reasons for his assassination.

The U.S. Senate Select Committee chaired by Senator Frank Church (the Church Committee) reported in 1975 that it had found "concrete evidence of at least eight plots involving the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro from 1960 to 1965."[8]

Most major powers were not long in repudiating Cold War assassination tactics, though many allege that this was merely a smokescreen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia, Israel,[9][10] USA, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and other nations accused of still regularly engaging in such operations.[11] In 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan (who survived an assassination attempt himself) ordered the Operation El Dorado Canyon air raid on Libya in which one of the primary targets was the home residence of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi escaped unharmed; however, his adopted daughter Hanna was one of the civilian casualties. In the Philippines, the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr. triggered the eventual downfall of the 20-year autocratic rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. Aquino, a former Senator and a leading figure of the political opposition, was assassinated in 1983 at the Manila International Airport (now the Ninoy Aquino International Airport) upon returning home from exile. His death thrust his widow, Corazon Aquino, into the limelight and, ultimately, the presidency following the peaceful 1986 EDSA Revolution.

After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the new Islamic government of Iran began an international campaign of assassination that lasted into the 1990s. At least 162 killings in 19 different countries have been linked to the senior leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[12] This campaign came to an end after the Mykonos restaurant assassinations, because a German court publicly implicated senior members of the government and issued arrest warrants for Ali Fallahian, the head of the Iranian Intelligence.[13] Evidence indicates that Fallahian’s personal involvement and individual responsibility for the murders were far more pervasive than his current indictment record represents.[14]

On August 17, 1988 President of Pakistan Gen. M. Zia ul Haq died along with his staff and the American Ambassador to Pakistan when his C-130 transport plane exploded in mid-air after taking off from Bahawalpur because of an on-board bomb. The CIA, KGB and Indian secret service RAW all have been implicated by various conspiracy theorists.[who?]

Various governments around the world, such as Saddam Hussein, have also used assassination to remove individual opponents, or to terrorize troublesome population groups.[citation needed] In return, in post-Saddam Iraq, the Shiite-dominated government has used death squads to perform countless extrajudicial executions of radical Sunni Iraqis, with some alleging that the death squads were trained by the U.S.[15][16][17]

In India, Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi (neither of whom were related to Mohandas Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1948), were assassinated in 1984 and 1991. The assassinations were linked to separatist movements in Punjab and northern Sri Lanka, respectively.

In Israel, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995. Yigal Amir confessed and was convicted of the crime. Many questions were subsequently raised about the actual cause of and rationale for his death.

Israeli tourists minister Rehavam Ze'evi was also assassinated by a Palestinian assassin named Hamdi Quran in 2001.

In Lebanon, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005, prompted an investigation by the United Nations. The suggestions in the resulting Mehlis report, that there was Syrian involvement, prompted the Cedar Revolution, which drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon.

In Pakistan, former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, while in the process of running for re-election. Bhutto's assassination drew unanimous condemnation from the international community.[18]

In Guinea Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira was assassinated in the early hours of Monday March 2, 2009 in the capital, Bissau. Unlike typical assassinations his death was not swift; first surviving an explosion at the Presidential Villa before being shot and wounded and finally butchered with machetes. His assassination was carried out by renegade soldiers who were apparently revenging the prior assassination of General Tagme Na Waie, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Guinea Bissau, who had been killed in a bomb explosion the day before.

In 2002, the George W. Bush Administration prepared a list of "terrorist leaders" the CIA is authorized to assassinate, if capture is impractical and civilian casualties can be kept to an acceptable number. The list includes key al-Qa'ida leaders like Osama bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as well as other principal figures from al-Qa'ida and affiliated groups. This list is called the "high value target list".[19] The US president is not legally required to approve each name added to the list, nor is the CIA required to obtain presidential approval for specific attacks, although the president is kept well informed about operations.[19]

President Obama's CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that Special Activities Division efforts in Pakistan have been "the most effective weapon" against senior al-Qa'ida leadership.[20][21]

On July 14, 2009, several newspapers reported that CIA director Leon Panetta was briefed on a CIA program that had not been briefed to the oversight committees in Congress. Panetta cancelled the initiative and reported it to Congress and the President. The program consisted of teams of Special Activities Division paramilitary officers organized to execute targeted assassination operations against al-Qa'ida operatives around the world in any country. According to the Los Angeles Times, DCIA Panetta "has not ruled out reviving the program".[22] There is some question as to whether former Vice President Richard Cheney instructed the CIA not to inform Congress.[23] Per senior intelligence officers, this program was an attempt to avoid the civilian casualties that can occur during Predator drone strikes using Hellfire missiles.[24]

On July 22, 2009, National Public Radio reported that U.S. officials believe Saad bin Laden, a son of Osama bin Laden, was assassinated by a CIA strike in Pakistan. Saad bin Laden spent years under house arrest in Iran before traveling last year to Pakistan, according to former National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell. It is believed he was killed sometime in 2009. A senior U.S. counterterrorism said U.S. intelligence agencies are "80 to 85 percent" certain that Saad bin Laden is dead.[25]

Further motivations

As military doctrine

See also: Manhunt (military)

Assassination for military purposes has long been espoused – Sun Tzu, writing around 500 BC, argued in favor of using assassination in his book The Art of War. Nearly 2000 years later Machiavelli also argued assassination could be useful in his book The Prince.[citation needed] In medieval times, an army and even a nation might be based upon and around a particularly strong, canny or charismatic leader, whose loss could paralyze the ability of both to make war. However, in modern warfare a soldier's mindset is generally considered to surround ideals far more than specific leaders, while command structures are more flexible in replacing officer losses. While the death of a popular or successful leader often has a detrimental effect on morale, the organizational system and the belief in a specific cause is usually strong enough to enable continued warfare.

There is also the risk that the target could be replaced by an even more competent leader or such a killing (or a failed attempt) will "martyr" a leader and support his cause (by showing the moral ruthlessness of the assassins). Faced with particularly brilliant leaders, this possibility has in various instances been risked, such as in the attempts to kill the Athenian Alcibiades during the Peloponnesian War. A number of additional examples from World War II show how assassination was used as a military tool at both tactical and strategic levels:

Use of assassination has continued in more recent conflicts:

As tool of insurgents

Insurgent groups have often employed assassination as a tool to further their causes. Assassinations provide several functions for such groups, namely the removal of specific enemies and as propaganda tools to focus the attention of media and politics on their cause.

The Irish Republican Army guerrillas of 1919–1921 assassinated many RIC Police Intelligence officers during the Irish War of Independence. Michael Collins set up a special unit – the Squad – for this purpose, which had the effect of intimidating many policemen into resigning from the force. The Squad was headed by the infamous Bevis Pole. The Squad's activities peaked with the assassination of 14 British agents in Dublin on Bloody Sunday in 1920.

This tactic was used again by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969–present). Assassination of RUC officers and politicians was one of a number of methods used in the Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997. The IRA also attempted to assassinate British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by bombing the Conservative Party Conference in a Brighton hotel. Loyalist paramilitaries retaliated by killing Catholics at random and assassinating Irish nationalist politicians.

Basque terrorists ETA in Spain have assassinated many security and political figures since the late 1960s, notably Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973. Since the early 1990s, they have also targeted academics, journalists and local politicians who publicly disagreed with them, meaning that many needed armed police bodyguards.

The Red Brigades in Italy carried out assassinations of political figures, as to a lesser extent, did the Red Army Faction in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.

Middle Eastern groups, such as the PLO and Hezbollah, have all engaged in assassinations, though the higher intensity of armed conflict in the region compared to western Europe means that many of their actions are either better characterized as guerrilla operations or as random attacks – especially the technique of suicide bombs.

In the Vietnam War, assassinations were routinely carried out by communist insurgents against government officials and individual civilians deemed to offend or rival the revolutionary movement. Such attacks, along with widespread military activity by insurgent bands, almost brought the Diem regime to collapse before the US intervention.[29]

For money or gain

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be and removed. (January 2009)

Individually, too, people have often found reasons to arrange the deaths of others through paid intermediaries. One who kills with no political motive or group loyalty, only for money, is known as a hitman, or contract killer. Note that by the definition accepted above, while such a killer is not, strictly speaking, an assassin, if the killing is ordered and financed towards a political end, then that killing must rightly be termed an assassination, and the hitman an assassin by extension.

Entire organizations have sometimes specialized in assassination as one of their services, to be gained for the right price. Besides the original hashshashin, the ninja clans of Japan were rumored to perform assassinations, though it can be pointed out that most of what was ever known about the ninja was rumor and hearsay.

In the United States, Murder, Inc., an organization partnered to the Mafia, was formed for the sole purpose of performing assassinations for organized crime. In Russia, the vory (thieves), Russian organised crime syndicates, are often known to provide assassinations for the right price, as well as engaging in it themselves for their own purposes. A professional hitman is called "cleaner" in Russia; he is used to clean away the target. The Finnish as well as the Swedish underworld uses the word "torpedo" for a contract killer.

Targeted killing

Author and Red Cross legal adviser Nils Melzer defines targeted killing as "the use of lethal force attributable to a subject of international law with the intent, premeditation and deliberation to kill individually selected persons who are not in the physical custody of those targeting them".[30] The concept and term "targeted killing" has been accepted as part of legal doctrine by some governments and media organizations.[citation needed]

The use of assassinations for political or military reasons by sovereign states is an extremely contentious subject, with opinions ranging from people considering it a legitimate form of defense, especially against non-state actors like terror groups, to people calling targeted killings state terrorism itself.[citation needed] In addition, challenges arise when one considers targeted killing in the context of both international humanitarian law and international human rights law.[31] Both those for and against targeted killings are also often faced with accusations of being clearly partisan to one side of the particular struggle discussed.

Targeted killings are also sometimes called "extrajudicial punishment",[40] as some states require some form of judicial trial in absentia before such an undertaking.

Psychology

A major study about assassination attempts in the US in the second half of the 20th century came to the conclusion that most prospective assassins spend copious amounts of time planning and preparing for their attempts. Assassinations are thus rarely a case of 'impulsive' action.[41]

However, about 25% of the actual attackers were found to be delusional, a figure that rose to 60% with 'near-lethal approachers' (people apprehended before reaching their target). This incidentally shows that while mental instability plays a role in many modern-age assassinations, the more delusional attackers are less likely to succeed in their attempt. The report also found that around two thirds of the attackers had previously been arrested for (not necessarily related) offenses, that around 44% had a history of serious depression, and that 39% had a history of substance abuse.[41]

Techniques

Ancient methods

It seems likely that the first assassinations would have been direct and simple: stabbing, strangling or bludgeoning. Substantial planning or coordination would rarely have been involved, as tribal groups were too small, and the connection to the leaders too close. As civilization took root, however, leaders began to have greater importance, and become more detached from the groups they ruled. This would have brought planning, subterfuge and weapons into successful assassination plans.[citation needed]

The key technique was likely infiltration, with the actual assassination by stabbing, smothering or strangulation. Poisons also started to be used in many forms. Death cap mushrooms and similar plants became a traditional choice of assassins especially if they could not be perceived as poisonous by taste, and the symptoms of the poisoning did not show until after some time.[citation needed]

In ancient Rome, paid mobs were sometimes used to beat political enemies to death.[citation needed]

Modern methods

With the advent of effective ranged weaponry, and later firearms, the position of an assassination target was more precarious. Bodyguards were no longer enough to hold back determined killers, who no longer needed to directly engage or even subvert the guard to kill the leader in question. Moreover, the engagement of targets at greater distance dramatically increased the chances for an assassin's survival. The first heads of government to be assassinated with a firearm were the Regent Moray of Scotland in 1570, and William the Silent of the Netherlands in 1584.

Gunpowder and other explosives also allowed the use of bombs or even greater concentrations of explosives for deeds requiring a larger touch; for an example, the Gunpowder Plot could have 'assassinated' almost a thousand people had it not been foiled.

Explosives, especially the car bomb, become far more common in modern history, with grenades and remote-triggered land mines also used, especially in the Middle East and Balkans (the initial attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand's life was with a grenade). With heavy weapons, the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) has become a useful tool given the popularity of armored cars (discussed below), while Israeli forces have pioneered the use of aircraft-mounted missiles for assassination,[42] as well as the innovative use of explosive devices.

A sniper with a precision rifle is often used in fictional assassinations. However, there are certain difficulties associated with long-range shooting, including finding a hidden shooting position with a clear line-of-sight, detailed advance knowledge of the intended victim's travel plans, the ability to identify the target at long range, and the ability to score a first-round lethal hit at long range, usually measured in hundreds of meters. A dedicated sniper rifle is also expensive, often costing thousands of dollars because of the high level of precision machining and hand-finishing required to achieve extreme accuracy.[43]

Despite their comparative disadvantages, handguns are more easily concealable, and consequentially much more commonly used than rifles. Of 74 principal incidents evaluated in a major study about assassination attempts in the US in the second half of the 20th century, 51% were undertaken by a handgun, 30% with a rifle or shotgun, while 15% of the attempts used knives and 8% explosives (usage of multiple weapons/methods was reported in 16% of all cases).[41]

In the case of state-sponsored assassination, poisoning can be more easily denied. Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident was assassinated by ricin poisoning. A tiny pellet containing the poison was injected into his leg through a specially designed umbrella. Widespread allegations involving the Bulgarian government and KGB have not led to any legal results. However, it was learned that after fall of the USSR, the KGB had developed an umbrella that could inject ricin pellets into a victim, and two former KGB agents who defected said the agency assisted in the murder.[44] The CIA has allegedly made several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro, many of the schemes involving poisoning his milkshakes. In the late 1950s, KGB assassin Bohdan Stashynsky killed Ukrainian nationalist leaders Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera with a spray gun that fired a jet of poison gas from a crushed cyanide ampule, making their deaths look like heart attacks.[45] A 2006 case in the UK concerned the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko who was given a lethal dose of radioactive polonium-210, possibly passed to him in aerosol form sprayed directly onto his food. Litvinenko, a former KGB agent, had been granted asylum in the UK in 2000 after citing persecution in Russia. Shortly before his death he issued a statement accusing then-President of Russia Vladimir Putin of involvement in his assassination. President Putin denies he had any part in Litvinenko's death.[46]

James Bell proposed "Assassination Politics" both as a political idea and as a logical consequence of anonymous cash.[47] Essentially anonymous contributors fund those who can predict the time and manner of a given person's death; the "predictor" is also paid anonymously.

Counter-measures

Early forms

One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins was employing bodyguards. Bodyguards act as a shield for the potential target, keeping lookout for potential attackers (sometimes in advance, for example on a parade route), and literally putting themselves 'in harm's way'--both by simple presence, showing that physical force is available to protect the target,[41][48] and by shielding the target during any attack. To neutralize an attacker, bodyguards are typically armed as much as legal and practical concerns permit.

This bodyguard function was often executed by the leader's most loyal warriors, and was extremely effective throughout most of early human history, leading assassins to attempt stealthy means, such as poison (which risk was answered by having another person taste the leader's food first).

Another notable measure is the use of a body double, a person who looks like the leader and who pretends to be the leader to draw attention away from the intended target.[citation needed] One example can be such as in the beginning of Star Wars: Episode 2, when one of Senator Padmé Amidala's handmaids acted as a decoy, while the senator acted as an escort pilot. As a result, the handmaid died of an explosive device.

Notable examples of bodyguards include the Roman Praetorian Guard or the Ottoman Janissaries--although, in both cases, the protectors sometimes became assassins themselves, exploiting their power to make the head of state a virtual hostage or killing the very leaders they were supposed to protect. The fidelity of individual bodyguards is an important question as well, especially for leaders who oversee states with strong ethnic or religious divisions. Failure to realize such divided loyalties led to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards in 1984.

Modern strategies

With the advent of gunpowder, ranged assassination (via bombs or firearms) became possible. One of the first reactions was to simply increase the guard, creating what at times might seem a small army trailing every leader; another was to begin clearing large areas whenever a leader was present, to the point where entire sections of a city might be shut down.

As the 20th century dawned, the prevalence of assassins and their capabilities skyrocketed, and so did measures to protect against them. For the first time, armored cars or armored limousines were put into service for safer transport, with modern versions rendering them virtually invulnerable to small arms fire and smaller bombs and mines.[49] Bulletproof vests also began to be used, though they were of limited utility, restricting movement and leaving the head unprotected – as such they tended to be worn only during high-profile public events if at all.

Access to famous persons, too, became more and more restricted;[50] potential visitors would be forced through numerous different checks before being granted access to the official in question, and as communication became better and information technology more prevalent, it has become all but impossible for a would-be killer to get close enough to the personage at work or in private life to effect an attempt on his or her life, especially given the common use of metal and bomb detectors. This is, of course, assuming that the assassin does not decide to simply use his or her bare hands.

Most modern assassinations have been committed either during a public performance or during transport, both because of weaker security and security lapses, such as with US President John F. Kennedy and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, or as part of coups d'état where security is either overwhelmed or completely removed, such as with Patrice Lumumba and likely Salvador Allende.[51]

The methods used for protection by famous people have sometimes evoked negative reactions by the public, with some resenting the separation from their officials or major figures. One example might be traveling in a car protected by a bubble of clear bulletproof glass, such as the Popemobile of Pope John Paul II (built following an attempt at his life). Politicians themselves often resent this need for separation – which has at times caused tragedy when they sent their bodyguards from their side for personal or publicity reasons, as U.S. President William McKinley did during the public reception at which he was assassinated.[50]

Other potential targets go into seclusion, and are rarely heard from or seen in public, such as writer Salman Rushdie. A related form of protection is the use of body doubles, a person built similar to the person he is expected to impersonate. These persons are then made up, as well as in some cases altered to look like the target, with the body double then taking the place of the person in high risk situations. According to Joe R. Reeder, Under Secretary of the Army from 1993–1997 writing in Fox News, Fidel Castro had also used body doubles, though no details were specified.[52]

United States Secret Service protective agents receive training in the psychology of assassins.[53]

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Assassination

Notes

  1. ^ Commentary: Targeted killing… — Cohen, Ariel, Washington Post, Thursday March 25, 2004
  2. ^ American Speech – McCarthy, Kevin M. Volume 48, pp. 77–83
  3. ^ Secret Societies Handbook, Michael Bradley, Altair Cassell Illustrated, 2005. ISBN 978-1-84403-416-1
  4. ^ Martin Booth (2004). "Cannabis: A History". Macmillan. http://books.google.com/books?id=O7AoY6ljSygC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Cannabis:+A+History#v=onepage&q=hashishiyya&f=false.
  5. ^ "Assassination." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, second edition, 1989
  6. ^ Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language, Seth Lerer, 2007
  7. ^ Michael Ellman. The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931 – 1934. Europe-Asia Studies, 2005. p. 826
  8. ^ Church Committee – Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders Part III.B, page 71 (from the 'history-matters.com' website. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  9. ^ Haaretz Israel targets senior Hamas, Islamic Jihad commanders in fresh Gaza strikes December 30, 2008
  10. ^ BBC Air raids kill militants in Gaza March 5, 2009
  11. ^ John Dingles (2004) The Condor Years ISBN 1-56584-764-4
  12. ^ "English front cover - No Safe Haven sample 1.psd" (PDF). http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/No-Safe-Haven_May08.pdf. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  13. ^ "Mykonos front cover .psd" (PDF). http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Murder-at-Mykonos_Mar07.pdf. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  14. ^ "Microsoft Word - 3- Condemned by Law - Report 11-10-08.doc" (PDF). http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Condemned-by-Law_Nov08.pdf. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  15. ^ "The Salvador Option" – The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq – Newsweek, Friday January 14, 2005
  16. ^ CBS: Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals – CBS Evening News, Wednesday October 4, 2006
  17. ^ Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight the Insurgency? – Democracy Now, Thursday, December 1, 2005
  18. ^ Benazir Bhutto shot dead at suicide bombing of rally; 20 feared dead – The Canadian Press, Thursday December 27, 2007
  19. ^ a b Risen, James (December 15, 2002). "Nytimes.com". Nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/international/15INTE.html?pagewanted=all&position=bottom. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  20. ^ CIA Pakistan Campaign is Working Director Say, Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper, New York Times, February 26, 09, A15
  21. ^ Gerstein, Josh (May 18, 2009). "CIA Director Panetta Warns Against Politicization". NBC New York. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/us_world/Panetta_warns_against_politicization.html?extpar=polit. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  22. ^ CIA Secret Program: PM Teams Targeting Al Qaeda, Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2009, A1
  23. ^ CIA Had Plan To Assassinate Qaeda Leaders, Mark Mazzetti and Shane Scott, New York Times, July 14, 09, A1
  24. ^ CIA Plan Envisioned Hit Teams Killing al Qaeda Leaders, Siobahn Gorman, Wall Street Journal, July 14, 09, A3
  25. ^ Bin Laden Son Reported Killed In Pakistan, Mary Louise Kelly, NPR.org, July 22, 2009,
  26. ^ a b Commando Extraordinary – Foley, Charles; Legion for the Survival of Freedom, 1992, page 155
  27. ^ CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam – McGehee, Ralph; from a usenet discussion citing numerous references, February 19, 1996
  28. ^ George A. Crawford, Manhunting: Reversing the Polarity of Warfare, 2008, ISBN 1-60441-332-8
  29. ^ Viet Cong – Pike, Douglas, The MIT Press; New Ed edition, Wednesday December 16, 1970
  30. ^ Melzer, Nils (2008). Vaughan Lowe. ed. Targeted Killing in International Law. Oxford Monographs in International Law. Oxford University Press. p. 468. ISBN 978-0199533169.
  31. ^ The Program for Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, "Brief Primer on Targeted Killings", Ihlresearch.org
  32. ^ "The Targeted Killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin". Archived from the original on December 12, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071212080743/http://www.defenddemocracy.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=218872. – Snow, Jonathan L., Foundation for Defense of Democracies policy institute, Washington DC, United States, March 26, 2004
  33. ^ a b Targeted killing is a necessary option – Sofaer, Abraham D., Hoover Institution, Friday March 26, 2004
  34. ^ "Do targeted killings work?", Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006, Volume 85, Number 2, p. 95-112
  35. ^ Fatal Choices: Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing – David, Steven R. ; Johns Hopkins University, United States, 2002
  36. ^ a b Renee Dopplick, "ASIL Keynote Highlight: U.S. Legal Adviser Harold Koh Asserts Drone Warfare Is Lawful Self-Defense Under International Law", Inside Justice.com, Mar 26, 2010, accessed Mar 30, 2010
  37. ^ Summary of Israeli Supreme Court Ruling on Targeted Killings Dec 14, 2006
  38. ^ Israel's Targeted Killings Threaten Peace in Entire Region, say Arab Leaders – Epoch Times, April 18, 2004
  39. ^ Palestinian PM-designate Not Immune: Mofaz – 'Islam Online' website
  40. ^ The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing – Luft, Gale; Middle East Quarterly, Volume X: Number 1, Winter 2003
  41. ^ a b c d Assassination in the United States: An Operational Study – Fein, Robert A. & Vossekuil, Brian, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 44, Number 2, March 1999
  42. ^ Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike – CNN, Saturday April 17, 2004
  43. ^ Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran – The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday February 13, 2007
  44. ^ The case of the poisoned umbrella. BBC World Service, 2007.
  45. ^ Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin. The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books, 1999. ISBN 0-465-00312-5 p. 362
  46. ^ Putin 'Deplores' Spy Death – Sky News Friday November 24, 2006
  47. ^ "Cryptome.org". Cryptome.org. http://cryptome.org/ap.htm. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
  48. ^ Lincoln – Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964
  49. ^ How to choose the appropriate bulletproof cars (from Alpha-armouring.com website, includes examples of protection levels available)
  50. ^ a b The Need For Protection Further Demonstrated – Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964
  51. ^ Salvador Allende Gossens (biography from the Encarta website). Archived 2009-10-31.
  52. ^ It's Bin Laden ... or Is It? – Fox News, Thursday December 20, 2001
  53. ^ Scott Pelley, "Mind Of The Assassin", CBS 60 Minutes II, Aug. 15, 2000, accessed Mar 30, 2010

Further reading

External links

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Could you please explain to me the government conspiracy of the assassination of JFK?
Q. Could you please explain to me the government conspiracy of the assassination of JFK? Just some information on it doesn't need to be long i am very interested in the assassination and want to know as much as i can!
Asked by Marisa - Thu Feb 5 19:48:33 2009 - - 15 Answers - 0 Comments

A. There are a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding the JFK assassination. So here are some facts: 1. Dozens of witnesses to the JFK murder who were set to give evidence before either the Warren Commission or House Committee on Assassination died mysteriously before the could give evidence 2. Many pieces of evidence have not been released to the public. 3. It is not possible for Oswald to have fired a rifle on that day, for two reasons. First, a wax imprint was taken of the side of his face which did not turn up any residue that would have been left from a rifle, and second that none of the people outside the building saw him leave. 4. JFK had an A secret service team and a B secret service team, All members of Kennedy's A team were absent… [cont.]
Answered by hanacellers - Fri Feb 6 09:12:41 2009

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