Assassination

Assassination is the targeted killing of an individual who is in a high-profile position.^[1] An added distinction between assassination and other forms of killing is that the assassin has an ideological or political motivation, though many assassins (especially those not part of an organization) also demonstrate insanity^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]}; other motivations are money (contract killing), revenge, or a military operation.

The assassination euphemism targeted killing (extrajudicial execution) also is used for government-sanctioned killing of opponents.^[2] 'Assassination' itself, along with terms such as 'terrorist' and 'freedom fighter', may in this context be considered a loaded term, as it implies an act where the proponents of such killings may consider them justified or even necessary.^[2]

Etymology

Main article: Hashshashin

The term 'Assassin' derives from Hashshashin, a militant Ismaili Muslim sect, active in the Middle East from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This mystic secret society killed members of the Abbasid and Seljuq élite for political and religious reasons.^[3]

It is speculated that the assassins were drugged for their murders with hashish and opium; assassin derives either from hasishin, the influence of the drugs, or hassansin, after their leader, Hassan-i-Sabah. Hashishinnya was an offensive term depicting this cult by its Muslim and Mongolian detractors.

The earliest literary use of the "assassination" is in The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1605).^[4][5]

Definition problem

The definition of "assassination" varies among sources, the The American Heritage Dictionary defines "to assassinate":

. . . to murder [a prominent person] by surprise attack, as for political reasons;^[6] however, the Oxford English Dictionary's definition is:

The action of assassinating; the taking the life of any one by treacherous violence, esp. by a hired emissary, or one who has taken upon him to execute the deed.^[7]

Should it include killings wherein the primary motivation is attracting attention to a political cause, wherein the victim is of secondary importance? Should it be limited to the murders of political leaders and figures hostile to the assassin's political agenda? Given that:

• the killing of someone by treacherous violence
• the killing of someone in the public view
• the killing of someone for political, moral, or ideological reasons

Use in history

Main article: History of assassination

Ancient history

Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics, dating back at least as far as recorded history. Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar can be noted as famous examples. Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Shia Imams. The practice was also well-known in ancient China. An example of this is Jing Ke's failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang. The ancient Indian military adviser Chanakya wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise Arthashastra.

In the Middle Ages, regicide was rare, but with the Renaissance, tyrannicide - or assassination for personal or political reasons - once again became more common. Rulers like Henry III and Henry IV of France as well as William the Silent of the Netherlands fell to it.

Image:The Assassination of President Lincoln - Currier and Ives.png

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, artists depiction from 1865. Assassin John Wilkes Booth on the right.

Modern history

As the world moved into the present day and the stakes in political clashes of will continued to grow to a global scale, the number of assassinations concurrently multiplied. In Russia alone, four emperors were assassinated within less than 200 years - Ivan VI, Peter III, Paul I, and Alexander II .

In the USA, Presidents Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy died at the hands of assassins, while many other presidents survived attempts on their life . Most of these assassinations however turned out to have no more than nebulous political backgrounds, adding a new threat - the mentally deranged assassin.

In Europe the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serb nationalist insurgents finally triggered World War I after a period of building conflicts, while World War II saw the first known use of specifically trained assassination operatives since the original Assassins^{[citation needed]}. Reinhard Heydrich was killed by Czech partisan killers, and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the US to carry out a targeted attack, killing Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto while he was en-route in an airplane. Adolf Hitler meanwhile was almost killed by his own officers, and survived numerous attempts by other individuals and organizations. Hitler ultimately died by his own hand.

India's "Father of the Nation", Mohandas K. Gandhi, was shot on January 30 1948 by Nathuram Godse, for what Godse perceived as his betrayal of the Hindu cause in attempting to seek peace between Hindus and Muslims.^[8]

Cold War and beyond

See also: Cold War

See also: War on Terrorism

During the Cold War, there was a dramatic new increase in the number of political assassinations, likely because of 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.

Nawabzadah 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 Pakistan military (Rawalpindi conspiracy) or suppression of Communists and antagonism towards the Soviet Union, were potential reasons for his assassination.

During the Kennedy era (which, as noted before, ended in an assassination itself), Cuban President Fidel Castro narrowly escaped death on several occasions at the hands of the CIA. At the same time, the KGB made creative use of assassination to deal with high-profile defectors and Israel's Mossad used them to eliminate Palestinian guerrillas and Palestinian political leaders.

Most major powers were not long in repudiating Cold War assassination tactics, though many allege that this was merely a smoke screen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia, Israel and other nations accused of still regularly engaging in such operations. In 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan (who survived an assassination attempt himself) ordered the Operation El Dorado Canyon air raid on Libya where 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.

Benigno Servillano "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. (November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Philippine senator and a leading oppositionist to the autocratic rule of Ferdinand Marcos. He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now named the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor) upon returning home from exile in the United States. His death catapulted his widow, Corazon Aquino, to the limelight and the presidency, subsequently replacing the 20-year-old Marcos regime.

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 because of an on-flight bomb. The CIA, KGB and Indian secret service RAW all have been implicated by various conspiracy theorists.

During the 1991 Gulf War, the United States also struck many of Iraq’s most important command bunkers with bunker-busting bombs in hopes of killing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Various dictators 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 Sunni Iraqis, with some alleging that the death squads were trained by the U.S.^[9][10][11]

Since the rise of al-Qaeda and similar organizations, who themselves often engage in assassination tactics, both the US administrations of Clinton and Bush have backed assassinations, mostly directed against terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden, but also against elected political leaders and opponents like Mullah Omar. Most of these attempts were undertaken with remote-controlled missiles and similar tactics, often using remote surveillance for the decision where and when to strike as well. One of the most well-known examples of recent assassinations carried out by the United States was the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, both killed as a result of two guided bombs on a safe house outside of Baghdad.

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

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. ^[12]

Further reasons

As military doctrine

Assassination for military purposes has long been espoused - Sun Tzu, writing around the time 500 B.C., 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. 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 organisational 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 that 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. There are a number of additional examples from World War II, the last major total war, which show how assassination was used as a military tool at both tactical and strategic levels:

• The American interception of the Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto airplane during World War II, after his travel route had been decrypted.

• The American perception that Skorzeny's commandos were planning to assassinate Eisenhower during the Battle of the Bulge played havoc with Eisenhower's personal plans for some time, though it did not affect the battle itself. Skorzeny later denied in an interview with the New York Times^{[citation needed]} that he had ever intended to assassinate Eisenhower during Operation Greif and he said that he could prove it.^[13]
  • There was a planned British commando raid to capture or kill the German General Erwin Rommel (also known as "The Desert Fox").^[13]

    Use of assassination has continued in more recent conflicts:

    • During the Vietnam War, partly in response to Viet Cong assassinations of government leaders, the USA engaged in the Phoenix Program to assassinate Viet Cong leaders and sympathizers, and killed between 6,000 and 41,000 individuals, with official 'targets' of 1,800 per month.^[14]
      • From 1991 till 2006, Russia targeted the top commanders of the separatist groups they were fighting in Chechenya, killing several of them (including Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev)
      • During World War II, underground factions sympathizing with the Allies have been known to assassinate rival underground leaders to ensure their chances on governing their nation upon liberation from the Axis, as opposed to their rivals. Naturally, the reason given to the assassin would be that the rival leader was an Axis sympathizer.

      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'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 separatists 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 on civilians - especially the technique of suicide bombs.

      In the Vietnam War, assassinations were routinely carried out by communist insurgents against government officials and private individuals 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, prior to the US intervention.^[15]

      For money or gain

      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 who kills 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.

      Psychology

      This short section requires expansion.

      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.^[16]

      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 2/3rds 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.^[16]

      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 via 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]} Poisoners could often be identified via metaposcopy, adding increased risk.

      In ancient Rome, paid mobs were sometimes used to beat political enemies to death.

      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. Additionally the engagement of targets at greater distance dramatically increased the chances for survival of an assassin. It is considered that William the Silent of the Netherlands was the first leader assassinated by firearms (July 10, 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.

      Explosives, especially the car bomb, become far more common in modern history, with grenades and remote-triggered landmines 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 became a useful tool given the popularity of armored cars (discussed below), while Israeli forces have pioneered the use of aircraft-mounted missiles for assassination,^[17] 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 and relatively rare, often costing thousands of dollars because of the high level of precision machining and hand-finishing required to achieve extreme accuracy.^[18]

      However, many hunting rifles are accurate enough in the hands of an experienced marksman to fatally hit a target at up to 300 meters (330 yards) or more, such as the Savage Arms Model 111 rifle that was recently tested as having a calculated effective range on a human torso of over 500 yards (450 m).^[19] Modern hunting cartridges also have a flat enough trajectory to not require the shooter to compensate for bullet drop for targets up to about 250 meters (275 yards) and are powerful enough to penetrate most types of body armor with relative ease. The difficulty for an assassin lies thus more in gaining the required marksman skills, than in procuring a suitable weapon.

      Despite their comparative disadvantages, easy-to-acquire and hard-to-trace handguns are much more commonly used. 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).^[16]

      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 Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, of involvement in his assassination. President Putin denies he had any part in Litvinenko's death.^[20]

      Counter-measures

      Early forms

      One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins is without doubt the bodyguard. He acts as a shield for the potential target, keeps lookout for potential attackers (sometimes in advance, for example on a planned tour), and is literally supposed to put himself 'in harm's way' - both by his simple presence, forming a barrier in front of the target^[16][21] and by shielding the target during any attack. He is also, if possible, to neutralize an attacker as fast as possible, and thus often carries weapons (where legal or possible).

      This bodyguard function was often executed by the leader's most loyal warriors, and was extremely effective throughout most of early human history, leading to attempts via subterfuge, such as poison (which was answered by the food taster).

      Notable examples of bodyguards would include the Roman Praetorian Guard or the Ottoman janissaries - although, in both cases, it should be noted that the protectors often became assassins themselves, exploiting their power to make the head of state a virtual hostage at their whim or eliminating threatening leaders altogether. 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 leads to assassinations such as that 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.^[22] 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 restrictive;^[23] 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 next-to-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.

      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.^[24]

      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 extremist's 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.^[23]

      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. Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein are known to have used body doubles.^[25] According to Joe R. Reeder, a former under secretary for the U.S. Army from 1993-1997 writing in Fox News, Fidel Castro had also used body doubles, though no details were specified.^[25]

      In the final analysis, counter-measures can never be fully effective. If the assassin is committed beyond reason (i.e. insane) or without concern for his own for self-preservation (suicide attacker), then the task of protecting a person will be made much more difficult.

      Notable assassinations and attempts

      See also: List of assassins

      The following is a list of some of the most notable assassinations and assassination attempts. It is not intended to be exhaustive.

      Related lists

      • List of assassins
      • List of unsuccessful assassinations
      • List of assassinated people
      • List of U.S. Presidential assassination attempts

      References

      1. ^ Assassin (from Wordnet, Princeton University)
      2. ^ ^{a b} Commentary: Targeted killing... - Cohen, Ariel, Washington Post, Thursday 25 March 2004
      3. ^ Secret Societies Handbook, Michael Bradley, Cassell Illustrated, 2005. ISBN 978-1844034161
      4. ^ "Assassination". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, second edition, 1989
      5. ^ Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language, Seth Lerer, 2007
      6. ^ Assassination (from the American Heritage Dictionary)
      7. ^ Cited from - "Assassination". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, second edition, 1989.
      8. ^ BBC World: The life and death of Mahatma Gandhi Retrieved on 2008-01-02
      9. ^ "The Salvador Option" - The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq - Newsweek, Friday 14 January 2005
      10. ^ CBS: Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals - CBS Evening News, Wednesday 4 October 2006
      11. ^ Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight the Insurgency? - Democracy Now, Thursday, December 1st, 2005
      12. ^ http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMb1loHZGB66_sDe0r78rgKiE5kQ The Canadian Press: Benazir Bhutto shot dead at suicide bombing of rally; 20 feared dead - The Canadian Press, Thursday 27 December 2007
      13. ^ ^{a b} Commando Extraordinary - Foley, Charles; Legion for the Survival of Freedom, 1992, page 155
      14. ^ CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam - McGehee, Ralph; from a usenet discussion citing numerous references, 19 February 1996
      15. ^ Viet Cong - Pike, Douglas, The MIT Press; New Ed edition, Wednesday 16 December 1970
      16. ^ ^{a b c d}
      17. ^ Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike - CNN, Saturday 17 April 2004
      18. ^ Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran - The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 13 February 2007
      19. ^ Packages: Remington, Savage Square Off in Value Showdown - Gun Tests, February 2006, Vol. XVIII No. 2, pp. 11-15
      20. ^ Putin 'Deplores' Spy Death - Sky News Friday 24 November 2006
      21. ^ Lincoln - Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964
      22. ^ How to choose the appropriate bulletproof cars (from Alpha-armouring.com website, includes examples of protection levels available)
      23. ^ ^{a b} The Need For Protection Further Demonstrated - Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964
      24. ^ Salvador Allende Gossens (biography from the Encarta website)
      25. ^ ^{a b} It's Bin Laden ... or Is It? - Fox News, Thursday 20 December 2001
      26. ^ (June 25, 1896) "Killed the Matabele God: Burnham, the American scout, may end uprising". New York Times. ISSN 0093-1179. 
      27. ^ Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Conspiracy Trial (from The King Center website)

      
      

      External links

      • Assassinology.org a website dedicated to the study of assassination, with particular reference to post-2000 assassinations created by Kris Hollington, author of How to Kill: The Definitive History of the Assassin [1].
      • CNN A short article on the U.S. policy banning political assassination since 1976 from CNN.com/Law CENTER, November 4, 2002. See also Ford's 1976 executive order. However, Executive Order 12333 which prohibited the CIA from assassinations was relaxed by the George W. Bush administration.
      • David, Steven R. Fatal Choices: Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing (PDF) at Johns Hopkins University. A paper prepared for the BESA Center Conference on Democracy and Limited War, 4-6 June 2002; revised July 2002.
      • Follendore III, Roy D. Targeted Killing. November 5 2002
      • Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri Cloak and Dollar (A History of American Secret Intelligence)
      • Kretzmer, David Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists: Extra-Judicial Executions or Legitimate Means of Defence? (PDF)
      • Lee, Robert.The History Guy: Biofiles: American Domestic Terrorists and Assassins, April 16, 2005
      • Tinetti, John Lawful Targeted Killing or Assassination: A Roadmap for Operators in the Global War on Terror; Joint Military Operations Dept., Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
      • Luft, Gal The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing Middle East Quarterly Winter 2003 • Volume X: Number 1
      • McDonnell, Thomas Michael Assassination/Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists — A Violation of International Law? in Jus in Bello An International Criminal Law Weblog from Pace Law School 1 December 2005
      • Snow, Jonathan L. The Targeted Killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. March 26 2004
      • Sofaer, Abraham D. Responses to Terrorism. Targeted killing is a necessary option. March 26 2004
      • Statman, Daniel Targeted Killing Vol. 5, Theoretical Inquiries in Law (Online Edition): No. 1, Article 7, 2004.

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      Assassin	Year (AD format)	Target	Result	Comments
      Jing Ke	210 BC	Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang	Survived	One of the earliest documented attempts.
      Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, and others	44 BC	Roman Dictator Julius Caesar	Killed	Resulted in Civil War and indirectly to the end of the Roman Republic
      Willam-p-Goodman	1007	Morgen Hasdon the 8th	Killed	assassination of prince Morgen Hasdon by back stab when walking in home town
      Balthasar Gérard	1584	Dutch Stadtholder William the Silent	Killed	The first assassination carried out with a firearm.
      Guy Fawkes	1605	King James I of England, Parliament of England	Survived	See the Gunpowder Plot.
      François Ravaillac	1610	King Henri IV of France	Killed	Religious murder.
      Charlotte Corday	1791	French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat	Killed	Later often seen as a patriotic act.
      John Bellingham	1812	UK Prime Minister Spencer Perceval	Killed	First and only U.K. Prime Minister to be assassinated.
      John Wilkes Booth	1865	US President Abraham Lincoln	Killed
      Charles J. Guiteau	1881	US President James Garfield	Killed	Died 80 days following the shooting.
      Ignacy Hryniewiecki	1881	Tsar Alexander II of Russia	Killed	Assassination plot concluded with bombs.
      Frederick Russell Burnham	1896	Mlimo, the Ndebele religious leader	Killed	Effectively ended the Second Matabele War.[26]
      Leon Czolgosz	1901	US President William McKinley	Killed
      Alexandros Schinas	1913	King George I of Greece	Killed	Possible conspiracy.
      Gavrilo Princip	1914	Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand	Killed	Considered the start of World War I.
      Raoul Villain	1914	French socialist leader Jean Jaurès	Killed	The assassin was tried and acquitted in 1919.
      Fritz Joubert Duquesne	1916	Lord Kitchener, British Field Marshal and Secretary of State for War	Killed	Killed on the HMS Hampshire by an act of sabotage.
      Eligiusz Niewiadomski	1922	First Polish President Gabriel Narutowicz	Killed	Killed five days after his inauguration, while attending the opening of an art exhibit at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw.
      Vlado Chernozemski	1934	Alexander I of Yugoslavia	Killed	Killed in Marseille during a state visit.
      Claus von Stauffenberg	1944	German dictator Adolf Hitler	Survived	See the July 20 plot.
      Nathuram Godse	1948	Political and Spiritual Leader Mahatma Gandhi	Killed
      Talduwe Somarama	1959	Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Solomon Bandaranaike	Killed	Assassinated by a Buddhist monk as part of a conspiracy.
      Jean Bastien-Thiry and the OAS	1962	French President Charles de Gaulle	Survived
      Nguyen Van Cu and Pham Phu Quoc	1962	President of the Republic of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem	Survived	See 1962 South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bombing
      Lee Harvey Oswald	1963	US President John F. Kennedy	Killed	Official reports have concluded that Oswald acted alone, however significant doubts remain for many.
      Jack Ruby	1963	Lee Harvey Oswald	Killed
      Norman 3X Butler, Thomas 15X Johnson, Talmadge Hayer	1965	Activist Malcolm X	Killed	Tensions and departure from the Nation of Islam
      James Earl Ray / Loyd Jowers	1968	Political activist Martin Luther King	Killed	Ray was convicted on a guilty plea but later recanted, while a 1999 civil trial convicted Jowers and 'unknown others', while also noting that 'governmental agencies were parties' to the plot.[27]
      Sirhan Sirhan	1968	US Senator Robert F. Kennedy	Killed
      Prince Faisal bin Musa'id	1975	Saudi King Faisal	Killed
      Dan White	1978	San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk	Killed	Killed over not reappointing Dan White supervisor
      Kim Jae-kyu	1979	South-Korean President Park Chung-hee	Killed	See Park Chung-hee assassination
      Mark David Chapman	1980	John Lennon	Killed	An act to become famous.
      John Hinckley, Jr.	1981	US President Ronald Reagan	Survived	To impress actress Jodie Foster.
      Khalid Islambouli	1981	Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat	Killed	Rare attack carried out by a group.
      Mehmet Ali Ağca	1981	Catholic Pope John Paul II	Survived
      Group of Army Officers	1981	Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman	Killed	Plotted by a faction of officers of Bangladesh Army led by General Abul Monjur.
      Satwant Singh and Beant Singh	1984	Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi	Killed	Assassinated by personal bodyguards.
      Provisional Irish Republican Army	1984	British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher	Survived	Detonated a bomb at the Grand Hotel during the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton.
      Unknown assassin	1986	Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme	Killed	Killed by a handgun on his way home from a cinema on a street in central Stockholm.
      Thenmuli Rajaratnam	1991	Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi	Killed	Killed in an explosion triggered by a LTTE suicide bomber.
      Janusz Walus	1993	South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani	Killed	Anti-Communist killing
      Unknown Suicide Bomber	1993	Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa	Killed	Attack carried out by LTTE on May Day parade.
      Yigal Amir	1995	Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin	Killed	Attack carried out by Israeli opposed to Oslo Accords.
      Dipendra	2001	King Birendra of Nepal	Killed	See Nepalese royal massacre.
      Volkert van der Graaf	2002	Dutch Election Candidate Pim Fortuyn	Killed	The attack took place in a parking lot outside a radio studio in Hilversum, where Fortuyn had just given an interview.
      Maxime Brunerie	2002	French President Jacques Chirac	Survived	Attempted to shoot the President during the Bastille Day Military Parade.
      Unknown	2007	Benazir Bhutto	Killed	Killed while entering a vehicle upon leaving a political rally for the Pakistan People's Party in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.