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{{Short description|Murder of a prominent person, especially for political or ideological reasons}}
:''"Assassin" and "Assassins" redirect here. For other uses, see [[Assassin (disambiguation)]].''
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{homicide}}
{{Redirect-multi|3|Assassin|Assassinated|Assassinating|other uses|Assassin (disambiguation)|and|Assassination (disambiguation)}}
An '''assassination''' is the targeted [[killing]] of a [[public figure]].
[[File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|Depiction of the [[assassination of Abraham Lincoln]]]]
{{Homicide}}
'''Assassination''' is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a person{{Emdash}}especially if [[Very important person|prominent or important]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-24 |title=Definition of ASSASSINATION |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assassination |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=Merriam-Webster |language=en}}</ref><ref>Black's Law Dictionary "the act of deliberately killing someone especially a public figure, usually for money or for political reasons" (''Legal Research, Analysis and Writing'' by William H. Putman [https://books.google.com/books?id=M0nlVU6M26AC p. 215] and {{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://hir.harvard.edu/leadership/on-the-offensive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206230433/http://hir.harvard.edu/leadership/on-the-offensive|archive-date=December 6, 2010 |website= Harvard International Review |date=May 6, 2006 |first1=Kristen |last1=Eichensehr |title=On the Offensive — Assassination Policy Under International Law }}</ref> It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, personal, financial, or military [[Motive (law)|motives]].<ref>{{Citation |title=assassination, n. |date=2023-03-02 |work=Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://oed.com/dictionary/assassination_n |access-date=2024-12-05 |edition=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/oed/5671820672}}</ref> Assassinations are ordered by both individuals and organizations, and are carried out by their accomplices. Acts of assassination have been performed since [[Ancient history|ancient times]]. A person who carries out an assassination is called an '''assassin'''.<ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assassin ''“Assassin.”'' Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary]. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.</ref>


==Etymology==
Assassinations may be prompted by [[religion|religious]], [[ideology|ideological]], [[politics|political]], or [[military]] reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by [[contract killing|financial gain]], [[revenge]], or [[celebrity|personal public recognition]].
{{Main|Hashshashin}}
[[File:Schauman shoots Bobrikov.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Nikolay Bobrikov]], the Russian [[Governor-General of Finland]], [[assassination of Nikolay Bobrikov|assassinated]] by [[Eugen Schauman]] on June 16, 1904, in [[Helsinki]].<ref>{{cite journal | first1 = George B. | last1 = Kauffman | first2 = Lauri | last2 = Niinistö | author-link1 = George B. Kauffman |url = http://chemeducator.org/bibs/0003003/00030208.htm | title = Chemistry and Politics: Edvard Immanuel Hjelt (1855–1921) | journal = The Chemical Educator | year = 1998 | volume =3 | issue = 5 | doi = 10.1007/s00897980247a | pages = 1–15| s2cid = 97163876 }}</ref> The author of the drawing is unknown.]]
[[File:Lee Harvey Oswald arrest card 1963.jpg|thumb|upright=.90|Mugshot of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], who was deemed [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|responsible for the assassination]] of U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] on November 22, 1963. Oswald was assassinated two days later by [[Jack Ruby]], the first such event to occur during live television coverage.|left]]


''Assassin'' comes from the Italian and French Assissini, believed to derive from the word ''[[hashshashin]]'' ({{langx|ar|حشّاشين|ḥaššāšīyīn}}),<ref>''American Speech'' – McCarthy, Kevin M. Volume 48, pp. 77–83</ref> and shares its etymological roots with ''[[hashish]]'' ({{IPAc-en|h|æ|ˈ|ʃ|iː|ʃ}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|æ|ʃ|iː|ʃ}}; from {{lang|ar|حشيش}} ''{{transliteration|ar|DIN|ḥašīš}}'').<ref name="OED">{{cite web |title=assassinate |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/assassinate |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=28 February 2024}}</ref><ref name="The Assassins: a radical sect in Islam">''The Assassins: a radical sect in Islam'' – Bernard Lewis, pp. 11–12</ref> It referred to a group of [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Ismailis]] known as the [[Order of Assassins]] who worked against various political targets.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
Assassination may also refer to the government-sanctioned killing of opponents or to targeted attacks on high-profile enemy combatants.<ref name="ARIEL">''[http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/mar/25/20040325-091452-7923r/ Commentary: Targeted killing…]'' — [[Ariel Cohen|Cohen, Ariel]], ''[[Washington Post]]'', Thursday 25 March 2004</ref>


Founded by [[Hassan-i Sabbah]], the Assassins were active in the [[Near East]] from the 11th to the 13th centuries. The group killed members of the [[Abbasid dynasty|Abbasid]], [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]], [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]], and Christian [[Crusades|Crusader]] elite for political and religious reasons.<ref>Secret Societies Handbook, Michael Bradley, Altair Cassell Illustrated, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-84403-416-1}}</ref>
In [[Literal and figurative language|figurative language]] usage, the word ''assassination'' may also be used in colloquial speech as a [[hyperbole]], as in the phrase "[[character assassination]]," meaning an attempt to impugn another's character, and thus kill ("assassinate") his reputation and credibility.


Although it is commonly believed that members of the Order of Assassins were under the influence of [[hashish]] during their killings or during their indoctrination, there is debate as to whether these claims have merit, with many Eastern writers and an increasing number of Western academics coming to believe that drug-taking was not the key feature behind the name.<ref name="C:AH">{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=O7AoY6ljSygC&q=hashishiyya | author= Martin Booth | title= Cannabis: A History |year= 2004 | publisher= Macmillan| isbn = 978-0-312-42494-7}}</ref>
==Etymology==
{{Main|Hashshashin}}
The word ''assassin'' is derived from the Arabic word ''[[Hashshashin]]'' ({{lang-ar|حشاشون \ جماعة الحشاشين}}<ref>''American Speech'' - McCarthy, Kevin M. Volume 48, pp. 77–83</ref>), the Arabic designation of the [[Nizari]] branch of the [[Ismā'īlī]] [[Shia]] [[Muslims]] during the Middle Ages. They were active in the coastal mountains of the Levant, then moved to [[Alamut]] by the [[Caspian Sea]] from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This group killed members of the crusaders, [[Abbasid]] and [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuq]] élite for political and religious reasons, but mostly targeted the Sunni Muslims.<ref>Secret Societies Handbook, Michael Bradley, Altair Cassell Illustrated, 2005. ISBN 978-1844034161</ref>


The term "assassinare" (assassin) was used in [[Medieval Latin]] from the mid 13th century.<ref name="OED"/>
Although commonly believed that assassins were under the influence of [[hashish]] and [[opium]] during their killings or during their indoctrination, and that ''assassin'' derives from ''"takers of [[hashish]],"'' 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]] 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]], [[William, Archbishop of Tyre]] and others following, popularized the names and stories in Europe, oblivious to their origin in factional propaganda.<ref name=C:AH>{{cite book| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=O7AoY6ljSygC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Cannabis:+A+History#v=onepage&q=hashishiyya&f=false | author= Martin Booth | title= "Cannabis: A History" |date= 2004 | publisher= Macmillan}}</ref>


The earliest known literary use of the word ''assassination'' is in ''[[Macbeth]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]] (1605).<ref>"Assassination." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, second edition, 1989</ref><ref>Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language, Seth Lerer, 2007</ref>
The earliest known use of the verb "to assassinate" in printed English was by [[Matthew Sutcliffe]] in ''A Briefe Replie to a Certaine Odious and Slanderous Libel, Lately Published by a Seditious Jesuite'', a pamphlet printed in 1600, five years before it was used in ''[[Macbeth]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]] (1605).<ref>''A briefe replie to a certaine odious and slanderous libel, lately published by a seditious Iesuite.'' Imprinted at London: By Arn. Hatfield, 1600 (STC 23453) p. 103</ref><ref>"assassinate, v." OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. August 11, 2016.</ref>


==Use in history==
==Use in history==
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===Ancient to medieval times===
===Ancient to medieval times===
Assassination is one of the oldest tools of [[power politics]]. It dates back at least as far as recorded history.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
Assassination is one of the oldest tools of [[power politics]], dating back at least as far as recorded history. Perhaps the earliest recorded instance is the murder around 586 BC of [[Gedaliah]], describedBOB IS A NINJA BUT NINJA PAGE WAS BLOCKED]] and lamented by [[Jew]]s to this day in the [[Fast of Gedaliah]]. [[Philip II of Macedon]], the father of [[Alexander the Great]], and [[Julius Caesar]] are famous victims. [[Emperors of Rome]] often met their end in this way, as did many of the [[Shia Imam]]s. The practice was also well known in [[History of China|ancient China]]. An example of this is [[Jing Ke]]'s failed assassination of [[Qin Shi Huang]]. The [[History of India|ancient Indian]] military adviser [[Chanakya]] wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise ''[[Arthashastra]]''. On April 28, 1192, [[Conrad of Montferrat]] was assassinated by two hashshashin.


The Egyptian pharaoh [[Teti]], of the [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] (23rd century BCE), is thought to be the earliest known victim of assassination, though written records are scant and thus evidence is circumstantial. Two further ancient Egyptian monarchs are more explicitly recorded to have been assassinated; [[Amenemhat I]] of the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt|Twelfth Dynasty]] (20th century BCE) is recorded to have been assassinated in his bed by his palace guards for reasons unknown (as related in the ''[[Instructions of Amenemhat]]''); meanwhile [[Judicial Papyrus of Turin|contemporary judicial records]] relate the assassination of [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] [[Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt|Twentieth Dynasty]] monarch [[Ramesses III]] in 1155 BCE as part of a [[Harem conspiracy|failed coup attempt]]. Between 550 BC and 330 BC, seven Persian kings of [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Dynasty]] were murdered. [[The Art of War]], a 5th-century BC Chinese military treatise mentions tactics of Assassination and its merits.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Withington |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9sBEAAAQBAJ&q=history+of+assassination |title=Assassins' Deeds: A History of Assassination from Ancient Egypt to the Present Day |date=2020-11-05 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78914-352-2 |language=en}}</ref>
The apocryphal Old Testament story of Judith illustrates how a woman frees the Israelites by tricking and assassinating [[Holofernes]], a war-lord of the rival [[Assyria|Assyrians]] with whom the Israelites were at war.


In the [[Old Testament]], King [[Jehoash of Judah|Joash]] of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] was assassinated by his own servants;<ref>2 Kings 12:19-21</ref> [[Joab]] assassinated [[Absalom]], [[King David]]'s son;<ref>2 Samuel 3:26–28 RSV</ref> King [[Sennacherib]] of Assyria was assassinated by his own sons;<ref>2 Chronicles 32:21</ref> and [[Jael]] assassinated [[Sisera]].<ref>Judges 4 and 5</ref>
In the [[Middle Ages]], [[regicide]] was rare in Western Europe, but it was a recurring theme in the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]. Blinding and strangling in the bathtub were the most commonly used procedures. With the [[Renaissance]], [[tyrannicide]]—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe. The reigns of the French kings [[Henry III of France|Henry III]] and [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV,]] and [[William the Silent]] of the [[Netherlands]] ended with assassination.


[[Chanakya]] ({{circa|350}}–283 BC) wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise ''[[Arthashastra]]''. His student [[Chandragupta Maurya]], the founder of the [[Maurya Empire]], later made use of assassinations against some of his enemies.<ref>{{cite journal |author-link = Roger Boesche | first = Roger | last = Boesche |date=January 2003 | title = Kautilya's ''Arthaśāstra'' on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India | journal = The Journal of Military History | volume = 67 | issue = 1 | pages = 9–37 | doi = 10.1353/jmh.2003.0006 | s2cid = 154243517 | url=http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_military_history/v067/67.1boesche.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_military_history/v067/67.1boesche.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live| doi-access = free }}</ref>
===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]]. In [[Imperial Russia|Russia]] alone, four emperors were assassinated within less than two hundred years: [[Ivan VI of Russia|Ivan VI]], [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]], [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]], and [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]].


Some famous assassination victims are [[Philip II of Macedon]] (336&nbsp;BC), the father of [[Alexander the Great]], and Roman dictator [[Julius Caesar]] (44&nbsp;BC).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kloWAAAAYAAJ&q=famous+assassinations |title=Famous assassinations of history&nbsp;... |date=March 3, 2008 |access-date=October 27, 2010|last1=Johnson|first1=Francis}}</ref> [[Emperors of Rome]] often met their end in this way, as did many of the Muslim [[Shia Imam]]s hundreds of years later. Three successive Rashidun caliphs ([[Umar]], [[Uthman Ibn Affan]], and [[Ali ibn Abi Talib]]) were assassinated in early civil conflicts between Muslims. The practice was also well known in ancient China, as in [[Jing Ke]]'s failed assassination of [[Qin (state)|Qin]] king [[Qin Shi Huang|Ying Zheng]] in 227&nbsp;BC. Whilst many assassinations were performed by individuals or small groups, there were also specialized units who used a collective group of people to perform more than one assassination. The earliest were the [[sicarii]] in 6 AD, who predated the Middle Eastern [[Order of Assassins|Assassins]] and Japanese [[shinobi]]s by centuries.<ref>Pichtel, John, ''Terrorism and WMDs: Awareness and Response'', CRC Press (April 25, 2011) pp. 3–4. {{ISBN|978-1439851753}}</ref><ref name="Ross">Ross, Jeffrey Ian, ''Religion and Violence: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict from Antiquity to the Present'', Routledge (January 15, 2011), Chapter: Sicarii. 978-0765620484</ref>
[[Image:The Assassination of President Lincoln - Currier and Ives 2.png|right|thumbnail|[[Abraham Lincoln assassination|Assassination of Abraham Lincoln]], artist's depiction from 1865. Assassin [[John Wilkes Booth]] on the right.]]


In the [[Middle Ages]], [[regicide]] was rare in Western Europe, but it was a recurring theme in the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]. Strangling in the bathtub was the most commonly used method. With the [[Renaissance]], [[tyrannicide]]—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Veronesi |first=Gene |title=Chapter 1: The Italian Renaissance and Western Civilization |url=https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/italian-americans-and-their-communities-of-cleveland/chapter/chapter-1/ |journal=Italian Americans and Their Communities of Cleveland}}</ref>
In the [[United States]], four presidents, [[Abraham Lincoln assassination|Abraham Lincoln]], [[James A. Garfield assassination|James Garfield]], [[William McKinley assassination|William McKinley]], and [[John F. Kennedy assassination|John F. Kennedy]] died at the hands of assassins. There have been at least [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts|20 known attempts]] on U.S. presidents' lives.


===Modern history===
In [[Europe]] the [[assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand]] by [[Serbia]]n [[nationalist]] [[Insurgency|insurgent]]s ([[Black Hand|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 [[Operation Anthropoid|Czech partisan]] killers, and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the U.S. to carry out [[Death of Isoroku Yamamoto|a targeted attack]], killing [[Japan]]ese [[Admiral]] [[Isoroku Yamamoto]] while he was travelling by [[airplane]]. The Polish [[Armia Krajowa|Home Army]] conducted a regular [[Operation Heads|campaign of assassinations]] against top Nazi German officials in occupied Poland. [[Adolf Hitler]], meanwhile, was almost [[July 20 Plot|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).
[[File:Lincoln assassination slide c1900 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|alt=Image of Lincoln being shot by Booth while sitting in a theater booth.|Shown in the presidential booth of Ford's Theatre, from left to right, are assassin [[John Wilkes Booth]], [[Abraham Lincoln]], [[Mary Todd Lincoln]], [[Clara Harris]] and [[Henry Rathbone]].|left]]
During the 16th and 17th centuries, international lawyers began to voice condemnation of assassinations of leaders. [[Balthazar Ayala]] has been described as "the first prominent jurist to condemn the use of assassination in foreign policy".<ref name=Thomas2000>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Ward |title=Norms and Security: The Case of International Assassination |journal=International Security |date=July 2000 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=105–133 |doi=10.1162/016228800560408 |jstor=2626775 |s2cid=57572213 }}</ref> [[Alberico Gentili]] condemned assassinations in a 1598 publication where he appealed to the self-interest of leaders: (i) assassinations had adverse short-term consequences by arousing the ire of the assassinated leader's successor, and (ii) assassinations had the adverse long-term consequences of causing disorder and chaos.<ref name=Thomas2000/> [[Hugo Grotius]]'s works on the law of war strictly forbade assassinations, arguing that killing was only permissible on the battlefield.<ref name=Thomas2000/> In the modern world, 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]].<ref name="Gillen">M. Gillen 1972 ''Assassination of the Prime Minister: the shocking death of Spencer Perceval''. London: Sidgwick & Jackson {{ISBN|0-283-97881-3}}.</ref>


In Japan, a group of assassins called the [[Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu]] killed a number of people, including [[Ii Naosuke]] who was the head of administration for the Tokugawa shogunate, during the [[Boshin War]].<ref>Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War''. Tuttle Publishing; 1 edition (August 5, 2014). p. 182. {{ISBN|978-4805312940}}</ref> Most of the assassinations in Japan were committed with bladed weaponry, a trait that was carried on into modern history. A video-record exists of the [[Assassination of Inejirō Asanuma|assassination of Inejiro Asanuma]], using a sword.<ref name=chun>{{cite book |title=A Nation of a Hundred Million Idiots?: A Social History of Japanese Television, 1953–1973 |last=Chun |first=Jayson Makoto |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9miRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA184 |pages=184–185 |isbn=978-0-415-97660-2 |access-date=March 22, 2014}}</ref>
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]].<ref>Michael Ellman. ''[http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/famine/ellman.pdf The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931 – 1934].'' Europe-Asia Studies, 2005. p. 826</ref>


In 1895, a group of Japanese assassins [[Assassination of Empress Myeongseong|killed the Korean queen]] (and posthumously empress) Myeongseong.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nagai |first=Yasuji |date=2021-11-21 |title=Diplomat's 1895 letter confesses to assassination of Korean queen |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14482741 |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=The Asahi Shimbun |language=en}}</ref>
[[India]]'s "Father of the Nation," [[Mohandas K. Gandhi]], was [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|shot to death]] on January 30, 1948, by [[Nathuram Godse]].


In the United States, within 100 years, four presidents—[[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln]], [[Assassination of James A. Garfield|James A. Garfield]], [[Assassination of William McKinley|William McKinley]] and [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]]—died at the hands of assassins. There have been at least [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts|20 known attempts]] on U.S. presidents' lives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Appendix 7 |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix7.html |website=National Archives |access-date=20 May 2023 |language=en |date=15 August 2016}}</ref>
===Cold War and beyond===
{{See also|Cold War|War on Terrorism}}
During the [[Cold War]], there was a dramatic new increase in the number of political assassinations, likely due to the [[ideology|ideological]] polarization of most of the [[first world|First]] and [[Second world]]s, whose adherents were often more than willing to both justify and finance such killings.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}}


In Austria, the [[assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand]] and his wife [[Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg]] was carried out in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by [[Gavrilo Princip]], a Serbian nationalist. He is blamed for igniting [[World War I]]. [[Reinhard Heydrich]] died after an attack by British-trained Czechoslovak soldiers on behalf of the Czechoslovak government in exile in [[Operation Anthropoid]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.army.cz/images/id_7001_8000/7419/assassination-en.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.army.cz/images/id_7001_8000/7419/assassination-en.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Assassination&nbsp;– Operation Arthropoid, 1941–1942 |access-date= July 5, 2011 |last=Burian |first=Michal |author2=Aleš |year=2002 |publisher=Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic}}</ref> and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the United States to carry out [[Death of Isoroku Yamamoto|a targeted attack]], killing Japanese [[Admiral]] [[Isoroku Yamamoto]] while he was travelling by plane.<ref name=McNaughton2006>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHdFDZwbnkkC&pg=PA185 |page=185 |last=McNaughton |first=James C. |date=2006 |title=Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=9780160867057}}</ref>
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 [[Communist]]s and antagonism towards the [[Soviet Union]], were potential reasons for his assassination.


During the 1930s and 1940s, [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[NKVD]] carried out numerous assassinations outside of the Soviet Union, such as the killings of [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]] leader [[Yevhen Konovalets]], [[Ignace Poretsky]], [[Fourth International]] secretary Rudolf Klement, [[Leon Trotsky]], and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ([[POUM]]) leadership in [[Catalonia]].<ref>Michael Ellman. ''[http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/famine/ellman.pdf The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931–1934] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227181110/http://www.paulbogdanor.com/left/soviet/famine/ellman.pdf |date=February 27, 2009 }}.'' Europe-Asia Studies, 2005. p. 826</ref> India's "Father of the Nation", [[Mahatma Gandhi]], was [[Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi|shot to death]] on January 30, 1948, by [[Nathuram Godse]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardiman |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52127756 |title=Gandhi in his time and ours : the global legacy of his ideas |date=2003 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-13114-3 |location=New York |oclc=52127756}}</ref>
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."<ref>[http://www.history-matters.com/archive/church/reports/ir/html/ChurchIR_0043a.htm Church Committee - Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders Part III.B, page 71] (from the 'history-matters.com' website. Accessed 2008-08-22.)</ref>


The African-American civil rights activist, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], was [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|assassinated]] on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel (now the [[National Civil Rights Museum]]) in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. Three years prior, another African-American civil rights activist, [[Malcolm X]], was assassinated at the [[Audubon Ballroom]] on February 21, 1965.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karim |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26931305 |title=Remembering Malcolm |date=1992 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |others=David Gallen, Peter Skutches |isbn=0-88184-901-4 |edition=1st Carroll & Graf |location=New York |oclc=26931305}}</ref>
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]],<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050912.html Haaretz]Israel targets senior Hamas, Islamic Jihad commanders in fresh Gaza strikes 30 December 2008</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7925254.stm BBC] Air raids kill militants in Gaza 5 March 2009</ref> [[USA]], [[Argentina]], [[Paraguay]], [[Chile]] and other nations accused of still regularly engaging in such operations.<ref>John Dingles (2004) The Condor Years ISBN 1-56584-764-4</ref> 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 al-Gaddafi|Muammar Gaddafi]]. Gaddafi escaped unharmed; however, his adopted daughter [[Bombing of Libya (April 1986)#Casualties|Hanna]] was one of the civilian casualties.
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[Image:Shot Dead on Arrival.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The Aquino assassination aftermath caught on video (August 21, 1983).]] -->
In the [[Philippines]], the assassination of [[Benigno Aquino, Jr.]] triggered the eventual downfall of the 20-year autocratic rule of [[President of the Philippines|President]] [[Ferdinand Marcos]]. Aquino, a former [[Senate of the Philippines|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]].


===Cold War and beyond===
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]].<ref>[http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/No-Safe-Haven_May08.pdf No Safe Haven]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Murder-at-Mykonos_Mar07.pdf Murder at Mykonos: The Anatomy of a Political Assassination]</ref> Evidence indicates that Fallahian’s personal involvement and individual responsibility for the murders were far more pervasive than his current indictment record represents.<ref>[http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Condemned-by-Law_Nov08.pdf Condemned by Law: Assassination of Political Dissidents Abroad]</ref>
{{See also|Cold War|War on terror}}

[[File:IndiraGandhi-SareeAtTimeOfDeath.JPG|thumb|[[Indira Gandhi]]'s blood-stained [[sari]] and belongings at the time of her assassination. She was the [[Prime Minister of India]].]]
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|date=August 2008}}

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|date=April 2007}} In return, in post-Saddam [[Iraq]], the Shiite-dominated government has used death squads to perform countless [[Extra-judicial killing|extrajudicial executions]] of radical [[Sunni]] Iraqis, with some alleging that the death squads were trained by the U.S.<ref>''[http://www.newsweek.com/id/47986 "The Salvador Option" - The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq]'' - ''[[Newsweek]]'', Friday 14 January 2005</ref><ref>''[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/eveningnews/main2064668.shtml CBS: Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals]'' - ''[[CBS|CBS Evening News]]'', Wednesday 4 October 2006</ref><ref>''[http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/1/is_the_u_s_training_iraqi Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight the Insurgency?]'' - ''[[Democracy Now]]'', Thursday, December 1, 2005</ref>

In [[India]], [[Prime Minister of 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, India|Punjab]] and northern [[Sri Lanka]], respectively.

In [[Israel]], [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]] [[Yitzhak Rabin]] was assassinated on November 4, 1995. [[Yigal Amir]] confessed and was convicted of the crime. [[Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories|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 [[Syria]]n involvement, prompted the [[Cedar Revolution]] which drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon.


Most major powers repudiated Cold War assassination tactics, but many allege that was merely a smokescreen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia, Israel, the U.S., [[Argentina]], Paraguay, Chile, and other nations accused of engaging in such operations.<ref>John Dingles (2004) The Condor Years {{ISBN|978-1-56584-764-4}}</ref> 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 countries have been linked to the senior leadership of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/No-Safe-Haven_May08.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902192858/http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/No-Safe-Haven_May08.pdf | archive-date=September 2, 2010| title=English front cover – No Safe Haven | access-date=June 2, 2010 | page=100}}</ref> The 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 Iranian intelligence.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Murder-at-Mykonos_Mar07.pdf |title=Mykonos front cover |access-date=May 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902192942/http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Murder-at-Mykonos_Mar07.pdf |archive-date=September 2, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Evidence indicates that Fallahian's personal involvement and individual responsibility for the murders were far more pervasive than his current indictment record represents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Condemned-by-Law_Nov08.pdf |title=Condemned by Law – Report 11-10-08.doc |access-date=May 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307043035/http://www.iranhrdc.org/httpdocs/English/pdfs/Reports/Condemned-by-Law_Nov08.pdf |archive-date=March 7, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In [[Pakistan]], former prime minister and opposition leader [[Benazir Bhutto]] was [[Benazir Bhutto assassination|assassinated in 2007]], while in the process of running for re-election. Bhutto's assassination drew unanimous [[International reaction to the Benazir Bhutto assassination|condemnation]] from the international community.<ref>''Benazir Bhutto shot dead at suicide bombing of rally; 20 feared dead'' - ''[[The Canadian Press]]'', Thursday 27 December 2007</ref>


In India, [[Prime Minister of India|Prime Ministers]] [[Indira Gandhi]] and her son [[Rajiv Gandhi]] (neither of whom was related to [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who had himself been assassinated in 1948), were assassinated in 1984 and 1991 in what were linked to [[separatist]] movements in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] and northern [[Sri Lanka]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=India: Extremism & Terrorism |url=https://www.counterextremism.com/countries/india-extremism-and-terrorism |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Counter Extremism Project |language=en}}</ref>
In [[Guinea Bissau]], President [[João Bernardo Vieira]] was assassinated in the early hours of Monday 2 March 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 1994, the [[assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira]] during the [[Rwandan Civil War]] sparked the [[Rwandan genocide]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Jacquemin |first=Céline A. |title=Hegemony and Counterhegemony |date=2015 |url=https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137555007_6 |work=The Roots of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: From Grievance to Violence |pages=93–123 |editor-last=Nasong’o |editor-first=Wanjala S. |access-date=2023-08-14 |place=New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137555007_6 |isbn=978-1-137-55500-7}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=Opportunity II: Death of the Nation's Father |date=2021 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/path-to-genocide-in-rwanda/opportunity-ii-death-of-the-nations-father/C7E379604EFF1D0CE0CAA512F67198D8 |work=The Path to Genocide in Rwanda: Security, Opportunity, and Authority in an Ethnocratic State |pages=178–247 |editor-last=McDoom |editor-first=Omar Shahabudin |access-date=2023-08-14 |series=African Studies |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108868839.005 |isbn=978-1-108-49146-4|s2cid=235502691 }}</ref>
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".<ref name="nytimes.com">[http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/international/15INTE.html?pagewanted=all&position=bottom Nytimes.com]</ref> 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.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>


In Israel, Prime Minister [[Yitzhak Rabin]] was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by [[Yigal Amir]], who opposed the [[Oslo Accords]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-assassination-of-yitzhak-rabin |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1993–2000 - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1993-2000/oslo |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref> In [[Lebanon]], the assassination of former Prime Minister [[Rafik Hariri]] on February 14, 2005, prompted an investigation by the United Nations. The suggestion in the resulting ''[[Mehlis report]]'' that there was involvement by [[Syria]] prompted the [[Cedar Revolution]], which drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}
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.<ref>CIA Pakistan Campaign is Working Director Say, Mark Mazzetti and Helene Cooper, New York Times, 26 February 09, A15</ref><ref>http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/us_world/Panetta_warns_against_politicization.html?extpar=polit</ref>


On 2 September 2022, a 35 year old Brazilian national attempted to assassinate the then vice-president of Argentina, [[Cristina Fernández de Kirchner]]. However, the attempt was unsuccessful because the assassin's gun jammed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Binley |first1=Alex |last2=Murphy |first2=Matt |title=Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: Gun jams during bid to kill Argentina vice-president |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62762421 |access-date=22 May 2024 |agency=BBC |date=2 September 2022}}</ref>
On 14 July 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".<ref>CIA Secret Program: PM Teams Targeting Al Qaeda, Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2009, A1</ref> There is some question as to whether former Vice President [[Richard Cheney]] instructed the CIA not to inform Congress.<ref>CIA Had Plan To Assassinate Qaeda Leaders, Mark Mazzetti and Shane Scott, New York Times, 14 July 09, A1</ref> Per senior intelligence officers, this program was an attempt to avoid the civilian casualties that can occur during [[MQ-9 Reaper|Predator]] drone strikes using [[AGM-114 Hellfire|Hellfire]] missiles.<ref>CIA Plan Envisioned Hit Teams Killing al Qaeda Leaders, Siobahn Gorman, Wall Street Journal, 14 July 09, A3</ref>


==== United States government killing of citizens ====
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's believed he was killed sometime this year. A senior U.S. counterterrorism said U.S. intelligence agencies are "80 to 85 percent" certain that Saad bin Laden is dead.<ref>Bin Laden Son Reported Killed In Pakistan, Mary Louise Kelly, NPR.org, July 22, 2009, [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106903109 NPR.org]</ref>
In 2012, ''[[The New York Times]]'' revealed that the Obama administration maintained a "kill list" containing terrorism suspects.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Becker |first1=Jo |last2=Shane |first2=Scott |date=May 29, 2012 |title=Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/world/obamas-leadership-in-war-on-al-qaeda.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The list is sometimes referred to as a "disposition matrix," and President Obama made a final decision on whether anyone listed would be killed, without court oversight and without trial.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-06-13 |title=How Obama's 'Disposition Matrix' Kill List Could Be Used on U.S. Soil |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna52192630 |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> In September 2011, American citizens [[Anwar Al-Awlaki]] and [[Samir Khan]] were assassinated in [[Yemen]] by the United States government via drone strikes. Two weeks later, Awlaki's 16-year-old son, also an American citizen, was killed in a strike targeting [[Ibrahim al-Banna]], a senior operative in [[Al-Qaeda]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Whitlock |first=Craig |date=October 22, 2011 |title=U.S. airstrike that killed American teen in Yemen raises legal, ethical questions |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-airstrike-that-killed-american-teen-in-yemen-raises-legal-ethical-questions/2011/10/20/gIQAdvUY7L_story.html |access-date=September 21, 2024 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Greenwald |first=Glenn |date=5 February 2013 |title=Chilling legal memo from Obama DOJ justifies assassination of US citizens |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/05/obama-kill-list-doj-memo |access-date=8 July 2023 |website=The Guardian}}</ref> Al-Banna was not killed in the strike.<ref name=":0" />


==Further motivations==
==Further motivations==
===As military doctrine===
{{See also|Manhunt (military)}}


===As a military and foreign policy doctrine===
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]]''{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}. Nearly 2000 years later [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] also argued assassination could be useful in his book ''[[The Prince]]''.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} In medieval times, an army and even a nation might be based upon and around a [[cult of personality|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.
{{See also|Manhunt (military)|Decapitation (military strategy)|Covert operation}}
[[File:Hokusai-sketches---hokusai-manga-vol6-crop.jpg|thumb|The functions of the [[ninja]] included espionage, [[sabotage]] and assassination.]]


Assassination for military purposes has long been espoused: [[Sun Tzu]], writing around 500&nbsp;BC, argued in favor of using assassination in his book ''[[The Art of War]]''. Over 2000 years later, in his book ''[[The Prince]]'', [[Machiavelli]] also advises rulers to assassinate enemies whenever possible to prevent them from posing a threat.<ref>Machiavelli, Niccolò (1985), The Prince, University of Chicago Press. Translated by Harvey Mansfield</ref> An army and even a nation might be based upon and around a [[cult of personality|particularly strong, canny, or charismatic leader]], whose loss could paralyze the ability of both to make war.
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]]. There are a number of additional examples from [[World War II]] which show how assassination was used as a military tool at both tactical and strategic levels:


For similar and additional reasons, assassination has also sometimes been used in the conduct of [[foreign policy]]. The costs and benefits of such actions are difficult to compute. It may not be clear whether the assassinated leader gets replaced with a more or less competent successor, whether the assassination provokes ire in the state in question, whether the assassination leads to souring domestic public opinion, and whether the assassination provokes condemnation from third-parties.<ref name="iraja" /><ref name=Thomas2000/> One study found that perceptual biases held by leaders often negatively affect decision making in that area, and decisions to go forward with assassinations often reflect the vague hope that any successor might be better.<ref name="iraja">{{cite journal | title=Decision Making in Using Assassinations in International Relations | url=http://www.psqonline.org/article.cfm?IDArticle=19545 | journal=[[Political Science Quarterly]] | volume=131| issue=3 | date=Fall 2016 | pages= 503–539 | last1=Schilling | first1=Warner R. | author-link=Warner R. Schilling | last2= Schilling | first2=Jonathan L. |doi = 10.1002/polq.12487}}</ref>
*The American interception of General [[Isoroku Yamamoto|Isoroku Yamamoto's]] airplane during World War II, after his travel route had been decrypted.


In both military and foreign policy assassinations, there is the risk that the target could be replaced by an even more competent leader, or that such a killing (or a failed attempt) will prompt the masses to contemn<!-- not a typo for "condemn" --> the killers and support the leader's cause more strongly. Faced with particularly brilliant leaders, that 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 tool:
*The American perception that [[Otto Skorzeny|Skorzeny's]] [[commando]]s were planning to assassinate [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|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|date=February 2007}} that he had ever intended to assassinate Eisenhower during [[Operation Greif]] and he said that he could prove it.<ref name="Skor">''Commando Extraordinary'' - Foley, Charles; Legion for the Survival of Freedom, 1992, page 155</ref>
* The [[Operation Anthropoid|assassination of Reinhard Heydrich]] in Prague on May 27, 1942, by the British and Czechoslovak government-in-exile. That case illustrates the difficulty of comparing the benefits of a foreign policy goal (strengthening the legitimacy and influence of the [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]] in London) against the possible costs resulting from an assassination (the [[Lidice massacre]]).<ref name="iraja"/>

* The American interception of Admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto]]'s plane during World War II after his travel route had been decrypted.
*There was a planned British commando raid to capture or kill the German General [[Erwin Rommel]] (also known as "The Desert Fox").<ref name="Skor"/>
* [[Operation Gaff]] was a planned British commando raid to capture or kill the German field marshal [[Erwin Rommel]], also known as "The Desert Fox".<ref name="Skor">''Commando Extraordinary'' – Foley, Charles; Legion for the Survival of Freedom, 1992, page 155</ref>


Use of assassination has continued in more recent conflicts:
Use of assassination has continued in more recent conflicts:
* During the [[Vietnam War]], the US engaged in the [[Phoenix Program]] to assassinate [[Viet Cong]] leaders and sympathizers. It killed between 6,000 and 41,000 people, with official "targets" of 1,800 per month.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barnett |first1=James |url=https://strausscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Barnett_James.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://strausscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Barnett_James.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=When Culture Eats Strategy: Examining the Phoenix/Phung Hoang Bureaucracy in the Vietnam War, 1967-1972 |website=Strauss Center |access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=McCoy, Alfred W.|title=A question of torture: CIA interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror |publisher=Macmillan|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8050-8041-4|page=68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVwUYSBwtKcC&pg=PA68|author-link=Alfred W. McCoy }}</ref><ref name=hersh03>{{cite magazine |author-link=Seymour Hersh |last=Hersh|first=Seymour|title=Moving Targets|magazine=The New Yorker|date=December 15, 2003|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/12/15/031215fa_fact?currentPage=all|access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref>
* With the January 3, 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike, the US [[Assassination of Qasem Soleimani|assassinated]] the commander of Iran's [[Quds Force]] General [[Qasem Soleimani]] and the commander of Iraq's [[Popular Mobilization Forces]] [[Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis]], along with eight other high-ranking military personnel. The assassination of the military leaders was part of escalating tensions between the US and Iran and the [[American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)|American-led intervention in Iraq]].<ref>{{cite news | title=Qassem Suleimani: 'Death to America' chants at Baghdad funeral procession | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/04/huge-crowds-expected-in-baghdad-for-funeral-of-iranian-general-killed-by-us | first=Ghait|last=Abdul-Ahat|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date= January 4, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title=Iran Says It Has Decided How to React to U.S. Strike That Killed Soleimani | url=https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/four-rockets-hit-military-base-near-baghdad-airport-report-says-1.8350357 | first=Amos|last=Harel|newspaper=[[Haaretz]]|date= January 4, 2020}}</ref>


===As a tool of insurgents===
*During the [[Vietnam War]], partly in response to [[Viet Cong]] assassinations of government leaders, the [[United States|USA]] engaged in the [[Phoenix Program]] to assassinate Viet Cong leaders and sympathizers, and killed between 6,000 and 41,000 persons, with official 'targets' of 1,800 per month.<ref>''[http://www.serendipity.li/cia/operation_phoenix.htm CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam]'' - McGehee, Ralph; from a [[usenet]] discussion citing numerous references, 19 February 1996</ref>
Insurgent groups have often employed assassination as a tool to further their causes. Assassinations provide several functions for such groups: the removal of specific enemies and as propaganda tools to focus the attention of media and politics on their cause.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}


The [[Irish Republican Army (1917–22)|Irish Republican Army]] guerrillas in 1919 to 1921 killed many [[Royal Irish Constabulary]] Police intelligence officers during the [[Irish War of Independence]]. [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] set up a special unit, [[The Squad (IRA unit)|the Squad]], for that purpose, which had the effect of intimidating many policemen into resigning from the force. The Squad's activities peaked with the killing of 14 British agents in [[Dublin]] on [[Bloody Sunday (1920)|Bloody Sunday]] in 1920.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
*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]])


The tactic was used again by the [[Provisional IRA]] during [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland (1969–1998). Assassination of [[unionism in the United Kingdom|unionist]] politicians and activists 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 [[Brighton hotel bombing|bombing the Conservative Party Conference]] in a [[Brighton]] hotel. [[Ulster loyalism|Loyalist paramilitaries]] retaliated by killing Catholics at random and assassinating [[Irish nationalist]] politicians.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
*In the Global [[War on Terrorism]], American special operations forces and intelligence agencies employed [[Manhunt (Military)|manhunting]]<ref>[http://www.analyst-network.com/profile.php?user_id=408 George A. Crawford], ''[[Manhunting: Reversing the Polarity of Warfare]]'', 2008, ISBN 1-60441-332-8</ref> operations against key opponents and [[Al Qaeda]] terrorist leaders.


[[Basque people|Basque]] separatists [[ETA (separatist group)|ETA]] in Spain assassinated many security and political figures since the late 1960s, notably the president of the [[Francoist]] government of Spain, [[Luis Carrero Blanco]], 1st Duke of Carrero-Blanco Grandee of Spain, in 1973. In the early 1990s, it also began to target academics, journalists and local politicians who publicly disagreed with it.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
===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 [[Red Brigades]] in Italy carried out assassinations of political figures and, to a lesser extent, so did the [[Red Army Faction]] in Germany in the 1970s and the 1980s.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
The [[Irish Republican Army]] guerrillas of 1919–1921 assassinated many [[Royal Irish Constabulary|RIC]] Police Intelligence officers during the [[Irish War of Independence]]. [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] set up a special unit - [[The Squad (IRA unit)|the Squad]] - for this purpose, which had the effect of intimidating many policemen into resigning from the force. The Squad was headed up by the infamous Bevis Pole. The Squad's activities peaked with the assassination of 14 British agents in [[Dublin]] on [[Bloody Sunday (1920)|Bloody Sunday]] in 1920.


In the [[Vietnam War]], communist insurgents routinely assassinated 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 [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] regime to collapse before the US intervened.<ref>Pike, Douglas (1970). ''Viet Cong'' (new edition). The MIT Press.</ref>
This tactic was used again by the [[Provisional IRA]] during [[the Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]] (1969-present). Assassination of [[Royal Ulster Constabulary|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. [[Ulster loyalism|Loyalist paramilitaries]] retaliated by killing Catholics at random and assassinating [[Irish nationalist]] politicians.


==Psychology==
[[Basque people|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.
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 "impulsive" actions.<ref name="SS"/>


However, about 25% of the actual attackers were found to be [[delusion]]al, a figure that rose to 60% with "near-lethal approachers" (people apprehended before reaching their targets). That shows that while mental instability plays a role in many modern assassinations, the more delusional attackers are less likely to succeed in their attempts. The report also found that around two-thirds of attackers had previously been arrested, not necessarily for related offenses; 44% had a history of serious depression, and 39% had a history of substance abuse.<ref name="SS"/>
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.


==Techniques==
[[Middle East]]ern 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 bomb]]s.
===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 deter determined killers, who no longer needed to engage directly or even to subvert the guard to kill the leader in question. Moreover, the engagement of targets at greater distances dramatically increased the chances for assassins to survive since they could quickly flee the scene. The first heads of government to be assassinated with a firearm were [[James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray]], the regent of Scotland, in 1570, and [[William the Silent]], the Prince of Orange 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.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}


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 the Balkans; the initial attempt on [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|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), and Israeli forces have pioneered the use of aircraft-mounted missiles,<ref>''[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/17/mideast.violence/index.html Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike]'' – [[CNN]], Saturday April 17, 2004</ref> as well as the innovative use of explosive devices.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
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.<ref>''Viet Cong'' - Pike, Douglas, The MIT Press; New Ed edition, Wednesday 16 December 1970</ref>


[[File:Mannlicher-Carcano rifle owned by Lee Harvey Oswald.jpg|thumb|[[John F. Kennedy assassination rifle|Carcano Model 38]] of [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], the assassin of President [[John F. Kennedy]]]]
===For money or gain===
[[File:Booth deringer.jpg|thumb|[[Derringer]] of [[John Wilkes Booth]], the assassin of President [[Abraham Lincoln]]]]
{{Refimprovesect|date=January 2009}}
A [[sniper]] with a precision rifle is often used in fictional assassinations; however, certain pragmatic difficulties attend 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, which is 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 handfinishing required to achieve extreme accuracy.<ref name="Austria">''[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1542559/Iraqi-insurgents-using-Austrian-rifles-from-Iran.html Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran]'' – [[The Daily Telegraph]], Tuesday February 13, 2007</ref>
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 [[Contract killing|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.


Despite their comparative disadvantages, handguns are more easily concealable and so are much more commonly used than rifles. Of the 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, 15% used knives, and 8% explosives (the use of multiple weapons/methods was reported in 16% of all cases).<ref name="SS"/>
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 case of state-sponsored assassination, poisoning can be more easily denied. [[Georgi Markov]], a dissident from [[Bulgaria]], was assassinated by [[ricin]] poisoning. A tiny pellet containing the poison was injected into his leg through a specially designed [[Bulgarian umbrella|umbrella]]. Widespread allegations involving the Bulgarian government and the [[KGB]] have not led to any legal results. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was learned that the KGB had developed an umbrella that could inject ricin pellets into a victim, and two former KGB agents who defected stated that the agency assisted in the murder.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/history/story/2007/01/070117_markov.shtml The case of the poisoned umbrella]. [[BBC]] World Service, 2007.</ref> The [[CIA]] made several [[assassination attempts on Fidel Castro|attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro]]; many of the schemes involving poisoning his cigars. In the late 1950s, the 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.<ref>Christopher Andrew and [[Vasili Mitrokhin]]. ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB.'' [[Basic Books]], 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-465-00312-9}} p. 362</ref> A 2006 case in the UK concerned the [[poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko|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.<ref>"[http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/20082851241951 Putin 'Deplores' Spy Death]" – [[Sky News]] Friday November 24, 2006 {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
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==
==Targeted killing==
{{Main|Targeted killing}}
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". The concept and term "targeted killing" has been adopted by a large part of the [[legal doctrine]], the media and international organizations such as the [[United Nations]].<ref name="Melzer-TargetedKillinginInternationalLaw">{{cite book|last=Melzer|first=Nils|title=Targeted Killing in International Law|editor=Vaughan Lowe|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=|date=2008|series=Oxford Monographs in International Law|page=468|chapter=|isbn=978-0199533169|accessdate=2009-04-11}}</ref>
[[File:MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft.jpg|thumb|[[General Atomics MQ-1 Predator|Predator]] [[Unmanned combat aerial vehicle|combat drone]]; sometimes used in targeted killings]]


Targeted killing is the intentional killing by a government or its agents of a civilian or "[[unlawful combatant]]" who is not in the government's custody. The target is a person asserted to be taking part in an armed conflict or terrorism, by bearing arms or otherwise, who has thereby lost the immunity from being targeted that he would otherwise have under the [[Third Geneva Convention]].<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> It is a different term and concept from that of "targeted violence", as used by specialists who study violence.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
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. In addition, challegenes arise when one considers targeted killing in the context of both international humanitarian law and international human rights law.<ref>The Program for Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, "Brief Primer on Targeted Killings", [http://ihl.ihlresearch.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=1646 Ihlresearch.org]</ref> 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.


On the other hand, [[Gary D. Solis]], a professor at [[Georgetown University Law Center]], in his 2010 book ''The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Solis |first1=Gary D. |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FKf0ocxEPAC |title=The law of armed conflict |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=December 27, 2011|isbn=978-1-139-48711-5}}</ref> wrote, "Assassinations and targeted killings are very different acts."<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> The use of the term "assassination" is opposed, as it denotes murder (unlawful killing), but the terrorists are targeted in self-defense, which is thus viewed as a killing but not a crime ([[justifiable homicide]]).<ref name="HOV">''[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/26/EDGK65QPC41.DTL Targeted killing is a necessary option]'', Sofaer, Abraham D., [[Hoover Institution]], March 26, 2004</ref> [[Abraham D. Sofaer]], former federal judge for the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|US District Court for the Southern District of New York]], wrote on the subject:
*'''Pro''': Various groups and individuals have supported assassinations such as those undertaken by Israel against opposed terror groups, claiming that the killing of people like [[Ahmed Yassin|Sheikh Ahmed Yassin]] is justified because people like him provide "both religious and political cover" (for terrorist groups to operate), and that the fact that they may not have been physically involved in such crimes does not reduce their role. Arguing that the killings may produce leadership vacuums and disorganise their organisations.<ref>''{{cite web |url=http://www.defenddemocracy.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=218872 |title= The Targeted Killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071212080743/http://www.defenddemocracy.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=218872 |archivedate=2007-12-12}}'' - Snow, Jonathan L., [[Foundation for Defense of Democracies]] policy institute, [[Washington DC]], [[United States]], March 26, 2004</ref><ref name="HOV"/> They also oppose the use of the term assassination, as it denotes murder, where targeting such leaders is seen as a move in self-defence, and thus killing, but not a crime.<ref name="HOV">''[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/26/EDGK65QPC41.DTL Targeted killing is a necessary option]'' - Sofaer, Abraham D., [[Hoover Institution]], Friday 26 March 2004</ref>. They argue that there is evidence that target killing has been salutary in reducing the ''effectiveness'' of terrorist attacks. In Israel after adopting a policy of targeted killings deaths resulting from terrorist attacks by HAMAS plunged from a high of 75 in 2001, to 21 in 2005.<ref>"Do targeted killings work?", Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2006, Volume 85, Number 2, p. 95-112</ref>. Some argue that even if the killing has little effect on the number and severity of terrorist attacks,<ref>''[http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/david.pdf Fatal Choices: Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing]'' - David, Steven R. ; [[Johns Hopkins University]], [[United States]], 2002</ref> targeted killing should be continued for '[[retribution]] and [[revenge]]'.


<blockquote>When people call a targeted killing an "assassination", they are attempting to preclude debate on the merits of the action. Assassination is widely defined as murder, and is for that reason prohibited in the United States&nbsp;... U.S. officials may not kill people merely because their policies are seen as detrimental to our interests... But killings in self-defense are no more "assassinations" in international affairs than they are murders when undertaken by our police forces against domestic killers. Targeted killings in self-defense have been authoritatively determined by the federal government to fall outside the assassination prohibition.<ref name="sfgate2004"/></blockquote>
*'''Con''': Criticism of targeted killings focuses on a number of aspects, from being claimed to be against [[international law]] to being destabilising to local situations and thus causing more violence,<ref>''[http://en.epochtimes.com/news/4-4-18/20983.html Israel's Targeted Killings Threaten Peace in Entire Region, say Arab Leaders]'' - ''[[Epoch Times]]'', 18 April 2004</ref> an opinion also held by such intermediaries as [[Álvaro de Soto]], former [[United Nations|UN]] Middle East peace envoy.<ref>''[http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-03/07/article02.shtml Palestinian PM-designate Not Immune: Mofaz]'' - 'Islam Online' website</ref> Criticism often also focuses on the murder of innocent victims of the more heavy-handed or failed targeted killings, in which civilians are often murdered in large numbers.


Author and former U.S. Army Captain Matthew J. Morgan argued that "there is a major difference between assassination and targeted killing... targeted killing [is] not synonymous with assassination. Assassination... constitutes an illegal killing."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morgan |first1=Matthew J. |title=The Impact of 9/11 and the New Legal Landscape: The Day that Changed Everything? |date=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-230-60838-2 }}{{page needed|date=June 2024}}</ref> Similarly, [[Amos Guiora]], a professor of law at the [[University of Utah]], wrote, "Targeted killing is... not an assassination."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guiora |first1=Amos |title=Targeted Killing as Active Self-Defense |journal=Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law |date=2004 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=319–334 |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol36/iss2/4/ |id={{ProQuest|211100211}} |ssrn=759584 }}</ref> [[Steven R. David|Steve David]], professor of international relations at [[Johns Hopkins University]], wrote, "There are strong reasons to believe that the Israeli policy of targeted killing is not the same as assassination." [[Syracuse University College of Law|Syracuse Law]] William Banks and [[George Washington University Law School|GW Law]] Peter Raven-Hansen wrote, "Targeted killing of terrorists is... not unlawful and would not constitute assassination."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Banks |first1=William |last2=Raven-Hansen |first2=Peter |title=Targeted Killing and Assassination: The U.S. Legal Framework |journal=University of Richmond Law Review |date=March 2003 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=667–750 |url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol37/iss3/4/ }}</ref> Rory Miller writes: "Targeted killing... is not 'assassination.{{' "}}<ref name="google3">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5lnAAAAMAAJ&q=assassination+%22targeted+killing%22 |author=Rory Miller |title=Ireland and the Middle East: trade, society and peace |publisher=Irish Academic Press |isbn=978-0-7165-2868-5 |year=2007 |access-date=May 29, 2010}}</ref> Eric Patterson and Teresa Casale wrote, "Perhaps most important is the legal distinction between targeted killing and assassination."<ref>{{cite report |last1=David |first1=Steven R. |title=Fatal Choices: Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing |date=2002 |jstor=resrep04271 |publisher=Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies |url=https://www.besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/09/msps51.pdf |author-link=Steven R. David }}</ref>
Targeted killings are also sometimes called "extrajudicial punishment",<ref name="LOGICISRAEL">[http://www.meforum.org/article/515 The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing]'' - Luft, Gale; ''Middle East Quarterly'', Volume X: Number 1, Winter 2003</ref> as some states require some form of judicial trial [[in absentia]] before such an undertaking.


On the other hand, the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] also states on its website, "A program of targeted killing far from any battlefield, without charge or trial, violates the constitutional guarantee of [[due process]]. It also violates [[international law]], under which [[lethal force]] may be used outside armed conflict zones only as a last resort to prevent imminent threats, when non-lethal means are not available. Targeting people who are suspected of terrorism for execution, far from any war zone, turns the whole world into a battlefield."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aclu.org/national-security/frequently-asked-questions-about-targeting-killing |title=Frequently Asked Questions About Targeting Killing &#124; American Civil Liberties Union |publisher=Aclu.org |date=August 30, 2010 |access-date=August 13, 2012}}</ref>
==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.<ref name="SS"/>


Yael Stein, the research director of [[B'Tselem]], the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, also stated in her article "By Any Name Illegal and Immoral: Response to 'Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing{{' "}}:<ref name="Stein">{{cite journal |last1=Stein |first1=Yael |title=Any Name Illegal and Immoral |journal=Ethics & International Affairs |date=March 2003 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=127–137 |id={{Gale|A109352000}} {{ProQuest|200510695}} |doi=10.1111/j.1747-7093.2003.tb00423.x }}</ref>
However, about 25% of the actual attackers were found to be [[delusion]]al, 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 (mood)|depression]], and that 39% had a history of substance abuse.<ref name="SS"/>


<blockquote>The argument that this policy affords the public a sense of revenge and retribution could serve to justify acts both illegal and immoral. Clearly, lawbreakers ought to be punished. Yet, no matter how horrific their deeds, as the targeting of Israeli civilians indeed is, they should be punished according to the law. David's arguments could, in principle, justify the abolition of formal legal systems altogether.</blockquote>
==Techniques==
===Ancient methods===
It seems likely that the first assassinations would have been direct and simple: [[stabbing]], [[strangle|strangling]] or [[bludgeon]]ing. 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|date=February 2007}}


[[Targeted killing]] has become a frequent tactic of the United States and Israel in their fights against terrorism.<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others">{{cite book |doi=10.1017/9781108917797.015 |chapter=Targeting Combatants and Others |title=The Law of Armed Conflict |date=2021 |pages=425–463 |isbn=978-1-108-91779-7 |first1=Gary D. |last1=Solis |author-link=Gary D. Solis }}</ref><ref name="nytimes2">{{cite news |last1=Kaplan |first1=Eben |title=Q&A: Targeted Killings |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/cfr/international/slot3_012506.html |work=The New York Times |date=25 January 2006 }}</ref> The tactic can raise complex questions and lead to contentious disputes as to the legal basis for its application, who qualifies as an appropriate "hit list" target, and what circumstances must exist before the tactic may be used.<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> Opinions range from people considering it a legal form of self-defense that decreases terrorism to people calling it an [[extrajudicial killing]] that lacks due process and leads to further violence.<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/><ref name="sfgate2004">{{cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Responses-to-Terrorism-Targeted-killing-is-a-2775845.php |author=Abraham D. Sofaer |title=Responses to Terrorism / Targeted killing is a necessary option |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 26, 2004 |access-date=May 20, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829072847/http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-03-26/opinion/17416329_1_self-defense-killings-deadly-force |archive-date=August 29, 2011 |author-link=Abraham D. Sofaer}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V122/N54/long4-54.54w.html |author=Dana Priest |title=U.S. Citizen Among Those Killed In Yemen Predator Missile Strike |newspaper=The Tech (MIT); [[The Washington Post]] |date=November 8, 2002 |access-date=May 19, 2010 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203204727/http://tech.mit.edu/V122/N54/long4-54.54w.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="google1426">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e08gAAAAIBAJ&pg=1426,2445697 |author= Mohammed Daraghmeh|title=Hamas Leader Dies in Apparent Israeli Targeted Killing |newspaper=Times Daily |date=February 20, 2001 |access-date=May 20, 2010 |agency=The Associated Press }}</ref> Methods used have included firing [[Hellfire missile]]s from [[MQ-1 Predator|Predator]] or [[MQ-9 Reaper|Reaper]] [[Unmanned aerial vehicle|drone]]s (unmanned, remote-controlled planes), detonating a cell phone bomb, and long-range [[sniper]] shooting. Countries such as the US (in Pakistan and Yemen) and Israel (in the West Bank and Gaza) have used targeted killing to eliminate members of groups such as [[Al-Qaeda]] and [[Hamas]].<ref name="Solis Targeting Combatants and Others"/> In early 2010, with President Obama's approval, [[Anwar al-Awlaki]] became the first [[US citizen]] to be publicly approved for targeted killing by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]. Awlaki was killed in a [[drone strike]] in September 2011.<ref name="latimes3">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jan-31-la-fg-cia-awlaki31-2010jan31-story.html|author=Greg Miller |title=U.S. citizen in CIA's cross hairs |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 31, 2010 |access-date=May 20, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100507132759/http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/31/world/la-fg-cia-awlaki31-2010jan31| archive-date= May 7, 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="washingtonpost3">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040604121.html|author=Greg Miller |title=Muslim cleric Aulaqi is 1st U.S. citizen on list of those CIA is allowed to kill |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 7, 2010 |access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref>
The key technique was likely [[Infiltration tactics|infiltration]], with the actual assassination by stabbing, smothering or strangulation. [[Poison]]s 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|date=February 2007}}


United Nations investigator [[Ben Emmerson]] said that US drone strikes may have violated [[international humanitarian law]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/18/drone-strikes-us-violate-law-un Drone strikes by US may violate international law, says UN ]. ''The Guardian.'' October 18, 2013.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=MacAskill |first1=Ewen |last2=Bowcott |first2=Owen |title=UN report calls for independent investigations of drone attacks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/un-report-independent-investigations-drone-attacks |work=The Guardian |date=10 March 2014 }}</ref> ''The Intercept'' reported, "Between January 2012 and February 2013, [[United States special operations forces|U.S. special operations]] airstrikes [in northeastern Afghanistan] killed more than 200 people. Of those, only 35 were the intended targets."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/the-assassination-complex/ |title=The Assassination Complex |work=[[The Intercept]] |date=October 15, 2015}}</ref>
In ancient Rome, paid mobs were sometimes used to beat political enemies to death.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}


==Countermeasures==
===Modern methods===
With the advent of effective [[ranged weaponry]], and later [[firearm]]s, 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 [[James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray|Regent Moray of Scotland]] was the first prominent figure to be assassinated by a firearm in 1570, and the first leader of (a rebellious) state was [[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 [[grenade]]s and remote-triggered [[land mine|landmines]] also used, especially in the [[Middle East]] and Balkans (the initial attempt on [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|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,<ref>''[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/17/mideast.violence/index.html Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike]'' - [[CNN]], Saturday 17 April 2004</ref> 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.<ref name="Austria">''[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1542559/Iraqi-insurgents-using-Austrian-rifles-from-Iran.html Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran]'' - [[The Daily Telegraph]], Tuesday 13 February 2007</ref>

Despite their comparative disadvantages, [[handgun]]s 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).<ref name="SS"/>

In the case of state-sponsored assassination, poisoning offers the greatest level of deniability{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} (the allegations are rarely proven{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}). [[Georgi Markov]], a [[Bulgaria]]n dissident was assassinated by [[ricin]] poisoning. A tiny pellet containing the poison was injected into his leg through a specially designed [[Bulgarian umbrella|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.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/history/story/2007/01/070117_markov.shtml The case of the poisoned umbrella]. [[BBC]] World Service, 2007.</ref> 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.<ref>Christopher Andrew and [[Vasili Mitrokhin]]. ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB.'' [[Basic Books]], 1999. ISBN 0465003125 p. 362</ref> A 2006 case in the [[United Kingdom|UK]] concerned the [[Alexander Litvinenko poisoning|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.<ref>''[http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/20082851241951 Putin 'Deplores' Spy Death]'' - [[Sky News]] Friday 24 November 2006</ref>

James Bell proposed "Assasination Politics" both as a political idea and as a logical consequence of anonymous cash.<ref>[http://cryptome.org/ap.htm Cryptome.org]</ref> 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===
===Early forms===
[[File:Sattar Bodyguard.JPG|thumb|upright=.5|A bodyguard who was killed by an [[improvised explosive device|IED]] during [[Abdul Sattar Abu Risha#Death|Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha's assassination]] in 2007.]]
One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins was employing [[bodyguard]]s. 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,<ref name="SS">''[http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ntac_jfs.pdf Assassination in the United States: An Operational Study]'' - Fein, Robert A. & Vossekuil, Brian, ''[[Journal of Forensic Sciences]]'', Volume 44, Number 2, March 1999</ref><ref>[http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix7.html Lincoln] - Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964</ref> and by shielding the target during any attack. In order to neutralize any attacker, bodyguards are typically armed as much as permitted by legal and practical concerns.
One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins was employing [[bodyguards]], who act as a shield for the potential target; keep a lookout for potential attackers, sometimes in advance, such as on a parade route; and putting themselves in harm's way, both by simple presence, showing that physical force is available to protect the target,<ref name="SS">''[http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ntac_jfs.pdf Assassination in the United States: An Operational Study]'' – Fein, Robert A. & Vossekuil, Brian, ''[[Journal of Forensic Sciences]]'', Volume 44, Number 2, March 1999. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620171200/http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ntac_jfs.pdf |date=June 20, 2006}}</ref><ref>[https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix7.html Lincoln] – Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964</ref> and by shielding the target if any attack occurs. To neutralize an attacker, bodyguards are typically armed as much as legal and practical concerns permit.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

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 [[food taster|another person taste the leader's food]] first).


Notable examples of bodyguards include the Roman [[Praetorian Guard]] or the Ottoman [[Janissary|Janissaries]], but 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 whom they were supposed to protect. The loyalty 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 allowed the assassination of Indian Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]], who was assassinated by two [[Sikh]] bodyguards in 1984.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
Another notable measure is the use of a [[political decoy|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|date=July 2009}}


The bodyguard function was often executed by the leader's most loyal warriors, and it was extremely effective throughout most of early human history, which led assassins to attempt stealthy means, such as [[poison]], whose risk was reduced by having [[food taster|another person taste the leader's food]] first.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
Notable examples of bodyguards include the Roman [[Praetorian Guard]] or the Ottoman [[Janissary|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 [[Prime Minister of India|Indian Prime Minister]] [[Indira Gandhi]], assassinated by two [[Sikh]] bodyguards in 1984.


===Modern strategies===
===Modern strategies===
[[File:Reagan assassination attempt 4 crop.jpg|thumb|left|[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|Assassination attempt]] on President [[Ronald Reagan]]]]
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 [[brigade|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.
With the advent of gunpowder, ranged assassination via bombs or firearms became possible. One of the first reactions was simply to 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 that entire sections of a city might be shut down.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}


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 car (VIP)|armored car]]s or [[armored limousine]]s were put into service for safer transport, with modern versions rendering them virtually invulnerable to [[small arms]] fire and smaller bombs and [[Land mine|mines]].<ref>''[http://www.alpha-armouring.com/bulletproof/cars.php How to choose the appropriate bulletproof cars]'' (from Alpha-armouring.com website, includes examples of protection levels available)</ref> [[Bulletproof vest]]s 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.
As the 20th century dawned, the prevalence and capability of assassins grew quickly, as did measures to protect against them. For the first time, [[armored car (VIP)|armored cars or limousines]] were put into service for safer transport, with modern versions virtually invulnerable to [[small arms]] fire, smaller bombs and [[land mine|mines]].<ref>''[http://www.alpha-armouring.com/bulletproof/cars.php How to choose the appropriate bulletproof cars] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103071805/http://www.alpha-armouring.com/bulletproof/cars.php |date=January 3, 2007 }}'' (from Alpha-armouring.com website, includes examples of protection levels available)</ref> [[Bulletproof vests]] also began to be used, but since they were of limited utility, restricting movement and leaving the head unprotected, they tended to be worn only during high-profile public events, if at all.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}


Access to famous persons, too, became more and more restricted;<ref name="Report">[http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix7.html The Need For Protection Further Demonstrated] - Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964</ref> 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 detector|metal]] and [[Bomb disposal|bomb detector]]s. This is, of course, assuming that the assassin does not decide to simply use his or her bare hands.
Access to famous people also became more and more restricted;<ref name="Report">[https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/appendix7.html The Need For Protection Further Demonstrated] Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964</ref> 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 their life, especially with the common use of [[metal detector|metal]] and [[Bomb disposal|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 of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] and former [[Pakistan]]i Prime Minister [[Benazir Bhutto]], or as part of [[Coup d'état|coups d'état]] where security is either overwhelmed or completely removed, such as with [[Patrice Lumumba]] and likely [[Salvador Allende]].<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761554059/Allende_Gossens_Salvador.html Salvador Allende Gossens] (biography from the [[Encarta]] website). [http://www.webcitation.org/5kwKkgX8I Archived] 2009-10-31.</ref>
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 U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] and former Pakistani Prime Minister [[Benazir Bhutto]], or as part of a coup d'état in which security is either overwhelmed or completely removed, such as with [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congolese]] Prime Minister [[Patrice Lumumba]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}


[[File:Popemobil Mai 2007.jpg|thumb|[[Pope Benedict XVI]] in a modified [[Mercedes-Benz M-Class]] [[Popemobile]] in São Paulo, Brazil]]
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]] [[Pope John Paul II|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.<ref name="Report"/>
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 [[MRAP]]-like [[Popemobile]] of [[Pope John Paul II]], built following an attempt at his life. Politicians often resent the need for separation and sometimes send their bodyguards away from them for personal or publicity reasons. US President [[William McKinley]] did so at the public reception in which he was assassinated.<ref name="Report"/>


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 [[political decoy|body doubles]], a person built similar to the person he is expected to impersonate. These persons are then [[makeup|made up]], as well as in some cases [[plastic surgery|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.<ref name="FOX">''[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41210,00.html It's Bin Laden ... or Is It?]'' - [[Fox News]], Thursday 20 December 2001</ref>
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 [[Political decoy|body doubles]], people with similar builds to those they are expected to impersonate. These people are then [[makeup|made up]] and, in some cases, undergo [[plastic surgery]] 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 to 1997, [[Fidel Castro]] used body doubles.<ref name="FOX">{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/its-bin-laden-or-is-it |title=It's Bin Laden&nbsp;... or Is It? |publisher=[[Fox News]] |date=December 20, 2001 |first=Catherine |last=Donaldson-Evans |access-date=December 8, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805130250/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41210,00.html |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[US Secret Service]] protective agents receive training in the psychology of assassins.<ref>{{cite news |first=Scott |last=Pelley |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mind-of-the-assassin-14-03-2000/ |title=Mind of the Assassin |publisher= CBS 60&nbsp;Minutes II |date=August 15, 2000 |access-date= March 30, 2010}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
{{Div col}}
* [[Assassinations in fiction]]
* [[Assassinations in fiction]]
* [[Contract killing]]
* [[Contract killing]]
* [[List of assassins]]
* [[History of assassination]]
* [[List of assassinated people]]
* [[List of contract killers and hitmen]]
* [[List of unsuccessful assassinations]]
* [[List of assassinated and executed heads of state and government]]
* [[List of assassinations and assassination attempts]]
* [[List of assassinations]]
* [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts]]
* [[List of assassinations by firearm]]
* [[List of people who survived assassination attempts]]
* [[Special Activities Division]]
* [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots]]
* [[Special Activities Center]] of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]
{{Div col end}}


==Notes==
== Notes and references ==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Ayton |first1=Mel |title=Plotting to Kill the President: Assassination Attempts from Washington to Hoover |date=2017 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1-61234-879-7 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=James W. |title=Defining Danger: American Assassins and the New Domestic Terrorists |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-52317-2 }}
* {{cite news |last1=Clarke |first1=James W. |title=America's History of Crazy Political Assassins Didn't Begin with Loughner |url=https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/americas-history-of-crazy-political-assassins-didn |work=History News Network }}
* {{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Lindsay |title=Assassination: A History of Political Murder |date=2010 |publisher=Overlook Press |isbn=978-1-59020-348-4 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Trenta |first1=Luca |title=President's Kill List |date=2024 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-1-3995-1952-6 }}
* {{cite news |last1=Leonard |first1=Max |title=Assassination: A History of Political Murder by Lindsay Porter |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/7545208/Assassination-A-History-of-Political-Murder-by-Lindsay-Porter.html |work=The Telegraph |date=6 April 2010 }}
* {{cite web |title=Practice relating to Rule 65 Perfidy |url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule65 |website=Customary IHL Database }}
** {{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hague04.asp#art23 |title=Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 (23.b.)|publisher=Yale University}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
* [http://www.assassinology.org/ Assassinology.org] a website dedicated to the study of assassination
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/22792/notorious-assassinations Notorious Assassinations] - slideshow by ''[[Life magazine]]''
{{commons category|Assassination}}
* [[CNN]] [http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/04/us.assassination.policy A short article on the U.S. policy banning political assassination since 1976] from CNN.com/Law Center, November 4, 2002. See also [[Gerald Ford|Ford's]] 1976 [http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/760110e.htm#assassination executive order]. However, [[Executive Order 12333]] which prohibited the CIA from assassinations was relaxed by the [[George W. Bush administration]].
{{NIE Poster|year=1905}}
* Kretzmer, David ''{{cite web |url=http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol16/No2/art1.pdf |title= Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists: Extra-Judicial Executions or Legitimate Means of Defence? |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080307150752/http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol16/No2/art1.pdf |archivedate=2008-03-07}}'' (PDF)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091125153936/http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/22792/notorious-assassinations Notorious Assassinations] – slideshow by ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine
* [[CNN]]. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/04/us.assassination.policy "U.S. policy on assassinations"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114100650/http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/04/us.assassination.policy |date=January 14, 2015 }} from CNN.com/Law Center, November 4, 2002. See also [[Gerald Ford|Ford]]'s 1976 [https://web.archive.org/web/20040409090921/http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/760110e.htm executive order]. However, [[Executive Order 12333]], which prohibited the CIA from assassinations, was relaxed by the [[George W. Bush administration]].
* {{cite journal |last1=Kretzmer |first1=David |title=Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists: Extra-Judicial Executions or Legitimate Means of Defence? |journal=European Journal of International Law |date=April 2005 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=171–212 |doi=10.1093/ejil/chi114 }}
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/8/is_the_cia_assassination_order_of Is the CIA Assassination Order of a US Citizen Legal?] – video by ''[[Democracy Now!]]''


{{Massacres}}
[[Category:Assassinations| ]]
{{List of Terrorist Incidents}}
[[Category:Murder]]
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Crime]]


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[[yi:הינריכטונג]]
[[zh:暗杀]]

Latest revision as of 17:27, 17 December 2024

Depiction of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a person—especially if prominent or important.[1][2] It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, personal, financial, or military motives.[3] Assassinations are ordered by both individuals and organizations, and are carried out by their accomplices. Acts of assassination have been performed since ancient times. A person who carries out an assassination is called an assassin.[4]

Etymology

[edit]
Nikolay Bobrikov, the Russian Governor-General of Finland, assassinated by Eugen Schauman on June 16, 1904, in Helsinki.[5] The author of the drawing is unknown.
Mugshot of Lee Harvey Oswald, who was deemed responsible for the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Oswald was assassinated two days later by Jack Ruby, the first such event to occur during live television coverage.

Assassin comes from the Italian and French Assissini, believed to derive from the word hashshashin (Arabic: حشّاشين, romanizedḥaššāšīyīn),[6] and shares its etymological roots with hashish (/hæˈʃʃ/ or /ˈhæʃʃ/; from حشيش ḥašīš).[7][8] It referred to a group of Nizari Ismailis known as the Order of Assassins who worked against various political targets.[citation needed]

Founded by Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in the Near East from the 11th to the 13th centuries. The group killed members of the Abbasid, Seljuk, Fatimid, and Christian Crusader elite for political and religious reasons.[9]

Although it is commonly believed that members of the Order of Assassins were under the influence of hashish during their killings or during their indoctrination, there is debate as to whether these claims have merit, with many Eastern writers and an increasing number of Western academics coming to believe that drug-taking was not the key feature behind the name.[10]

The term "assassinare" (assassin) was used in Medieval Latin from the mid 13th century.[7]

The earliest known use of the verb "to assassinate" in printed English was by Matthew Sutcliffe in A Briefe Replie to a Certaine Odious and Slanderous Libel, Lately Published by a Seditious Jesuite, a pamphlet printed in 1600, five years before it was used in Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1605).[11][12]

Use in history

[edit]

Ancient to medieval times

[edit]

Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics. It dates back at least as far as recorded history.[citation needed]

The Egyptian pharaoh Teti, of the Old Kingdom Sixth Dynasty (23rd century BCE), is thought to be the earliest known victim of assassination, though written records are scant and thus evidence is circumstantial. Two further ancient Egyptian monarchs are more explicitly recorded to have been assassinated; Amenemhat I of the Middle Kingdom Twelfth Dynasty (20th century BCE) is recorded to have been assassinated in his bed by his palace guards for reasons unknown (as related in the Instructions of Amenemhat); meanwhile contemporary judicial records relate the assassination of New Kingdom Twentieth Dynasty monarch Ramesses III in 1155 BCE as part of a failed coup attempt. Between 550 BC and 330 BC, seven Persian kings of Achaemenid Dynasty were murdered. The Art of War, a 5th-century BC Chinese military treatise mentions tactics of Assassination and its merits.[13]

In the Old Testament, King Joash of Judah was assassinated by his own servants;[14] Joab assassinated Absalom, King David's son;[15] King Sennacherib of Assyria was assassinated by his own sons;[16] and Jael assassinated Sisera.[17]

Chanakya (c. 350–283 BC) wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise Arthashastra. His student Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire, later made use of assassinations against some of his enemies.[18]

Some famous assassination victims are Philip II of Macedon (336 BC), the father of Alexander the Great, and Roman dictator Julius Caesar (44 BC).[19] Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Muslim Shia Imams hundreds of years later. Three successive Rashidun caliphs (Umar, Uthman Ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib) were assassinated in early civil conflicts between Muslims. The practice was also well known in ancient China, as in Jing Ke's failed assassination of Qin king Ying Zheng in 227 BC. Whilst many assassinations were performed by individuals or small groups, there were also specialized units who used a collective group of people to perform more than one assassination. The earliest were the sicarii in 6 AD, who predated the Middle Eastern Assassins and Japanese shinobis by centuries.[20][21]

In the Middle Ages, regicide was rare in Western Europe, but it was a recurring theme in the Eastern Roman Empire. Strangling in the bathtub was the most commonly used method. With the Renaissance, tyrannicide—or assassination for personal or political reasons—became more common again in Western Europe.[22]

Modern history

[edit]
Image of Lincoln being shot by Booth while sitting in a theater booth.
Shown in the presidential booth of Ford's Theatre, from left to right, are assassin John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, international lawyers began to voice condemnation of assassinations of leaders. Balthazar Ayala has been described as "the first prominent jurist to condemn the use of assassination in foreign policy".[23] Alberico Gentili condemned assassinations in a 1598 publication where he appealed to the self-interest of leaders: (i) assassinations had adverse short-term consequences by arousing the ire of the assassinated leader's successor, and (ii) assassinations had the adverse long-term consequences of causing disorder and chaos.[23] Hugo Grotius's works on the law of war strictly forbade assassinations, arguing that killing was only permissible on the battlefield.[23] In the modern world, 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.[24]

In Japan, a group of assassins called the Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu killed a number of people, including Ii Naosuke who was the head of administration for the Tokugawa shogunate, during the Boshin War.[25] Most of the assassinations in Japan were committed with bladed weaponry, a trait that was carried on into modern history. A video-record exists of the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, using a sword.[26]

In 1895, a group of Japanese assassins killed the Korean queen (and posthumously empress) Myeongseong.[27]

In the United States, within 100 years, four presidents—Abraham Lincoln, James A. 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.[28]

In Austria, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg was carried out in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist. He is blamed for igniting World War I. Reinhard Heydrich died after an attack by British-trained Czechoslovak soldiers on behalf of the Czechoslovak government in exile in Operation Anthropoid,[29] and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the United States to carry out a targeted attack, killing Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto while he was travelling by plane.[30]

During the 1930s and 1940s, Joseph Stalin's NKVD carried out numerous assassinations outside of the Soviet Union, such as the killings of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists leader Yevhen Konovalets, Ignace Poretsky, Fourth International secretary Rudolf Klement, Leon Trotsky, and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) leadership in Catalonia.[31] India's "Father of the Nation", Mahatma Gandhi, was shot to death on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse.[32]

The African-American civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel (now the National Civil Rights Museum) in Memphis, Tennessee. Three years prior, another African-American civil rights activist, Malcolm X, was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965.[33]

Cold War and beyond

[edit]
Indira Gandhi's blood-stained sari and belongings at the time of her assassination. She was the Prime Minister of India.

Most major powers repudiated Cold War assassination tactics, but many allege that was merely a smokescreen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia, Israel, the U.S., Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and other nations accused of engaging in such operations.[34] 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 countries have been linked to the senior leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[35] The 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 Iranian intelligence.[36] Evidence indicates that Fallahian's personal involvement and individual responsibility for the murders were far more pervasive than his current indictment record represents.[37]

In India, Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi (neither of whom was related to Mahatma Gandhi, who had himself been assassinated in 1948), were assassinated in 1984 and 1991 in what were linked to separatist movements in Punjab and northern Sri Lanka, respectively.[38]

In 1994, the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira during the Rwandan Civil War sparked the Rwandan genocide.[39][40]

In Israel, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995, by Yigal Amir, who opposed the Oslo Accords.[41][42] In Lebanon, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005, prompted an investigation by the United Nations. The suggestion in the resulting Mehlis report that there was involvement by Syria prompted the Cedar Revolution, which drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon.[citation needed]

On 2 September 2022, a 35 year old Brazilian national attempted to assassinate the then vice-president of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. However, the attempt was unsuccessful because the assassin's gun jammed.[43]

United States government killing of citizens

[edit]

In 2012, The New York Times revealed that the Obama administration maintained a "kill list" containing terrorism suspects.[44] The list is sometimes referred to as a "disposition matrix," and President Obama made a final decision on whether anyone listed would be killed, without court oversight and without trial.[45] In September 2011, American citizens Anwar Al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were assassinated in Yemen by the United States government via drone strikes. Two weeks later, Awlaki's 16-year-old son, also an American citizen, was killed in a strike targeting Ibrahim al-Banna, a senior operative in Al-Qaeda.[46][47] Al-Banna was not killed in the strike.[46]

Further motivations

[edit]

As a military and foreign policy doctrine

[edit]
The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage and assassination.

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. Over 2000 years later, in his book The Prince, Machiavelli also advises rulers to assassinate enemies whenever possible to prevent them from posing a threat.[48] 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.

For similar and additional reasons, assassination has also sometimes been used in the conduct of foreign policy. The costs and benefits of such actions are difficult to compute. It may not be clear whether the assassinated leader gets replaced with a more or less competent successor, whether the assassination provokes ire in the state in question, whether the assassination leads to souring domestic public opinion, and whether the assassination provokes condemnation from third-parties.[49][23] One study found that perceptual biases held by leaders often negatively affect decision making in that area, and decisions to go forward with assassinations often reflect the vague hope that any successor might be better.[49]

In both military and foreign policy assassinations, there is the risk that the target could be replaced by an even more competent leader, or that such a killing (or a failed attempt) will prompt the masses to contemn the killers and support the leader's cause more strongly. Faced with particularly brilliant leaders, that 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 tool:

  • The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague on May 27, 1942, by the British and Czechoslovak government-in-exile. That case illustrates the difficulty of comparing the benefits of a foreign policy goal (strengthening the legitimacy and influence of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London) against the possible costs resulting from an assassination (the Lidice massacre).[49]
  • The American interception of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plane during World War II after his travel route had been decrypted.
  • Operation Gaff was a planned British commando raid to capture or kill the German field marshal Erwin Rommel, also known as "The Desert Fox".[50]

Use of assassination has continued in more recent conflicts:

As a tool of insurgents

[edit]

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

The Irish Republican Army guerrillas in 1919 to 1921 killed many Royal Irish Constabulary Police intelligence officers during the Irish War of Independence. Michael Collins set up a special unit, the Squad, for that purpose, which had the effect of intimidating many policemen into resigning from the force. The Squad's activities peaked with the killing of 14 British agents in Dublin on Bloody Sunday in 1920.[citation needed]

The tactic was used again by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1969–1998). Assassination of unionist politicians and activists 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.[citation needed]

Basque separatists ETA in Spain assassinated many security and political figures since the late 1960s, notably the president of the Francoist government of Spain, Luis Carrero Blanco, 1st Duke of Carrero-Blanco Grandee of Spain, in 1973. In the early 1990s, it also began to target academics, journalists and local politicians who publicly disagreed with it.[citation needed]

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

In the Vietnam War, communist insurgents routinely assassinated 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 Ngo Dinh Diem regime to collapse before the US intervened.[56]

Psychology

[edit]

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 "impulsive" actions.[57]

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 targets). That shows that while mental instability plays a role in many modern assassinations, the more delusional attackers are less likely to succeed in their attempts. The report also found that around two-thirds of attackers had previously been arrested, not necessarily for related offenses; 44% had a history of serious depression, and 39% had a history of substance abuse.[57]

Techniques

[edit]

Modern methods

[edit]

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 deter determined killers, who no longer needed to engage directly or even to subvert the guard to kill the leader in question. Moreover, the engagement of targets at greater distances dramatically increased the chances for assassins to survive since they could quickly flee the scene. The first heads of government to be assassinated with a firearm were James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, the regent of Scotland, in 1570, and William the Silent, the Prince of Orange 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.[citation needed]

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 the 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), and Israeli forces have pioneered the use of aircraft-mounted missiles,[58] as well as the innovative use of explosive devices.[citation needed]

Carcano Model 38 of Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy
Derringer of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln

A sniper with a precision rifle is often used in fictional assassinations; however, certain pragmatic difficulties attend 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, which is 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 handfinishing required to achieve extreme accuracy.[59]

Despite their comparative disadvantages, handguns are more easily concealable and so are much more commonly used than rifles. Of the 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, 15% used knives, and 8% explosives (the use of multiple weapons/methods was reported in 16% of all cases).[57]

In the case of state-sponsored assassination, poisoning can be more easily denied. Georgi Markov, a dissident from Bulgaria, 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 the KGB have not led to any legal results. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was learned that the KGB had developed an umbrella that could inject ricin pellets into a victim, and two former KGB agents who defected stated that the agency assisted in the murder.[60] The CIA made several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro; many of the schemes involving poisoning his cigars. In the late 1950s, the 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.[61] 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.[62]

Targeted killing

[edit]
Predator combat drone; sometimes used in targeted killings

Targeted killing is the intentional killing by a government or its agents of a civilian or "unlawful combatant" who is not in the government's custody. The target is a person asserted to be taking part in an armed conflict or terrorism, by bearing arms or otherwise, who has thereby lost the immunity from being targeted that he would otherwise have under the Third Geneva Convention.[63] It is a different term and concept from that of "targeted violence", as used by specialists who study violence.[citation needed]

On the other hand, Gary D. Solis, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, in his 2010 book The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War,[64] wrote, "Assassinations and targeted killings are very different acts."[63] The use of the term "assassination" is opposed, as it denotes murder (unlawful killing), but the terrorists are targeted in self-defense, which is thus viewed as a killing but not a crime (justifiable homicide).[65] Abraham D. Sofaer, former federal judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, wrote on the subject:

When people call a targeted killing an "assassination", they are attempting to preclude debate on the merits of the action. Assassination is widely defined as murder, and is for that reason prohibited in the United States ... U.S. officials may not kill people merely because their policies are seen as detrimental to our interests... But killings in self-defense are no more "assassinations" in international affairs than they are murders when undertaken by our police forces against domestic killers. Targeted killings in self-defense have been authoritatively determined by the federal government to fall outside the assassination prohibition.[66]

Author and former U.S. Army Captain Matthew J. Morgan argued that "there is a major difference between assassination and targeted killing... targeted killing [is] not synonymous with assassination. Assassination... constitutes an illegal killing."[67] Similarly, Amos Guiora, a professor of law at the University of Utah, wrote, "Targeted killing is... not an assassination."[68] Steve David, professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University, wrote, "There are strong reasons to believe that the Israeli policy of targeted killing is not the same as assassination." Syracuse Law William Banks and GW Law Peter Raven-Hansen wrote, "Targeted killing of terrorists is... not unlawful and would not constitute assassination."[69] Rory Miller writes: "Targeted killing... is not 'assassination.'"[70] Eric Patterson and Teresa Casale wrote, "Perhaps most important is the legal distinction between targeted killing and assassination."[71]

On the other hand, the American Civil Liberties Union also states on its website, "A program of targeted killing far from any battlefield, without charge or trial, violates the constitutional guarantee of due process. It also violates international law, under which lethal force may be used outside armed conflict zones only as a last resort to prevent imminent threats, when non-lethal means are not available. Targeting people who are suspected of terrorism for execution, far from any war zone, turns the whole world into a battlefield."[72]

Yael Stein, the research director of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, also stated in her article "By Any Name Illegal and Immoral: Response to 'Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing'":[73]

The argument that this policy affords the public a sense of revenge and retribution could serve to justify acts both illegal and immoral. Clearly, lawbreakers ought to be punished. Yet, no matter how horrific their deeds, as the targeting of Israeli civilians indeed is, they should be punished according to the law. David's arguments could, in principle, justify the abolition of formal legal systems altogether.

Targeted killing has become a frequent tactic of the United States and Israel in their fights against terrorism.[63][74] The tactic can raise complex questions and lead to contentious disputes as to the legal basis for its application, who qualifies as an appropriate "hit list" target, and what circumstances must exist before the tactic may be used.[63] Opinions range from people considering it a legal form of self-defense that decreases terrorism to people calling it an extrajudicial killing that lacks due process and leads to further violence.[63][66][75][76] Methods used have included firing Hellfire missiles from Predator or Reaper drones (unmanned, remote-controlled planes), detonating a cell phone bomb, and long-range sniper shooting. Countries such as the US (in Pakistan and Yemen) and Israel (in the West Bank and Gaza) have used targeted killing to eliminate members of groups such as Al-Qaeda and Hamas.[63] In early 2010, with President Obama's approval, Anwar al-Awlaki became the first US citizen to be publicly approved for targeted killing by the Central Intelligence Agency. Awlaki was killed in a drone strike in September 2011.[77][78]

United Nations investigator Ben Emmerson said that US drone strikes may have violated international humanitarian law.[79][80] The Intercept reported, "Between January 2012 and February 2013, U.S. special operations airstrikes [in northeastern Afghanistan] killed more than 200 people. Of those, only 35 were the intended targets."[81]

Countermeasures

[edit]

Early forms

[edit]
A bodyguard who was killed by an IED during Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha's assassination in 2007.

One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins was employing bodyguards, who act as a shield for the potential target; keep a lookout for potential attackers, sometimes in advance, such as on a parade route; and putting themselves in harm's way, both by simple presence, showing that physical force is available to protect the target,[57][82] and by shielding the target if any attack occurs. To neutralize an attacker, bodyguards are typically armed as much as legal and practical concerns permit.[citation needed]

Notable examples of bodyguards include the Roman Praetorian Guard or the Ottoman Janissaries, but 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 whom they were supposed to protect. The loyalty 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 allowed the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards in 1984.[citation needed]

The bodyguard function was often executed by the leader's most loyal warriors, and it was extremely effective throughout most of early human history, which led assassins to attempt stealthy means, such as poison, whose risk was reduced by having another person taste the leader's food first.[citation needed]

Modern strategies

[edit]
Assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan

With the advent of gunpowder, ranged assassination via bombs or firearms became possible. One of the first reactions was simply to 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 that entire sections of a city might be shut down.[citation needed]

As the 20th century dawned, the prevalence and capability of assassins grew quickly, as did measures to protect against them. For the first time, armored cars or limousines were put into service for safer transport, with modern versions virtually invulnerable to small arms fire, smaller bombs and mines.[83] Bulletproof vests also began to be used, but since they were of limited utility, restricting movement and leaving the head unprotected, they tended to be worn only during high-profile public events, if at all.[citation needed]

Access to famous people also became more and more restricted;[84] 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 their life, especially with 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 U.S. President John F. Kennedy and former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, or as part of a coup d'état in which security is either overwhelmed or completely removed, such as with Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.[citation needed]

Pope Benedict XVI in a modified Mercedes-Benz M-Class Popemobile in São Paulo, Brazil

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 MRAP-like Popemobile of Pope John Paul II, built following an attempt at his life. Politicians often resent the need for separation and sometimes send their bodyguards away from them for personal or publicity reasons. US President William McKinley did so at the public reception in which he was assassinated.[84]

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, people with similar builds to those they are expected to impersonate. These people are then made up and, in some cases, undergo plastic surgery 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 to 1997, Fidel Castro used body doubles.[85]

US Secret Service protective agents receive training in the psychology of assassins.[86]

See also

[edit]

Notes and references

[edit]
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  2. ^ Black's Law Dictionary "the act of deliberately killing someone especially a public figure, usually for money or for political reasons" (Legal Research, Analysis and Writing by William H. Putman p. 215 and Eichensehr, Kristen (May 6, 2006). "On the Offensive — Assassination Policy Under International Law". Harvard International Review. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010.
  3. ^ "assassination, n.", Oxford English Dictionary (3 ed.), Oxford University Press, March 2, 2023, doi:10.1093/oed/5671820672, retrieved December 5, 2024
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Further reading

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