During the 1991 Gulf War, the United States struck many of Iraq’s command bunkers with bunker-busting bombs trying to kill Saddam Hussein, who also used assassination to remove opponents, or to terrorize irksome groups. In post-Saddam Iraq, the Shiite-dominated government used death squads to perform countless extrajudicial executions of Sunni Iraqis, with some alleging that the death squads were trained by the U.S.
In India, Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were assassinated in 1984 and 1991. The assassinations were linked to separatist movements in Punjab and northern Sri Lanka, respectively.
In Pakistan, former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, while in the process of running for re-election.
Bhutto's assassination drew unanimous condemnation from the international community.
Military doctrine assassination for military purposes have long been discussed. Around 500 B.C, Sun Tzu, praised assassination over war in his book The Art of War. 2000 years later Machiavelli lauded assassination in The Prince. In the Middle Age, a nations were based around strong charismatic leaders, whose loss could paralyze the ability to make war.
Sometimes, the target is replaced by a more competent leader; sometimes an assassination will "martyr" the leader. Faced with brilliant leaders, this has been risked, such as in the attempts to kill the Athenian Alcibiades during the Peloponnesian War. The conclusion by Americans that Skorzeny was planning to assassinate Eisenhower during the Battle of the Bulge played havoc with Ike's personal plans; Skorzeny later denied in an interview with the New York Times that he had ever intended to assassinate Eisenhower during Operation Greif.
During the Vietnam War, partly in response to Viet Cong assassinations of government leaders, the USA engaged in the Phoenix Program to assassinate Viet Cong leaders and sympathizers, and killed between 6,000 and 41,000 persons, with official 'targets' of 1,800 per month. From 1991 till 2006, Russia targeted the top commanders of the separatist groups they were fighting in Chechenya, killing several.
During World War II, underground factions sympathizing with the Allies assassinated rival underground leaders in order to govern their nation upon liberation from the Axis. The reason given to the assassin would be that the rival leaders were Axis sympathizers.
In the to-some-ill-founded "Global War on Terrorism," American special operations forces and intelligence agencies employed man-hunting operations against Al Qaeda terrorst leaders.
The Irish Republican Army guerrillas of 1919-1921 assassinated many RIC Police Intelligence officers during the Irish War of Independence. Michael Collins set up the Squad, which intimidated many policemen into resigning.
Theaw activities peaked with the assassination of 14 British agents in Dublin on Bloody Sunday in 1920.
Many years later, the IRA also attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by bombing a Conservative Party Conference in a Brighton hotel. Loyalist paramilitaries retaliated by killing Catholics at random and assassinating Irish nationalist politicians.
Basque separatists ETA in Spain have assassinated many security and political figures since the late 1960s, notably Luis Carrero Blanco. They
have targeted academics, journalists and local politicians who publicly disagreed with them. The Red Brigades in Italy carried out assassinations of political figures, as did the Red Army Faction in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. Middle Eastern groups, such as the PLO and Hezbollah, have engaged in assassinations.
In the Vietnam War, assassinations were carried out by communist insurgents against government officials and individuals, and these attacks almost brought the Diem regime to collapse, long efore the US intervention.
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. In the United States, Murder, Inc., partner to the Mafia,
was formed for the sole purpose of performing assassinations for organized crime. In Russia, the vory (thieves), Russian organised crime syndicates, provide assassinations for the "right price."
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. However, about 25% of the actual attackers were found to be delusional, a figure that rose to 60% with 'near-lethal approachers.' This 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 first assassinations were stabbing, strangling or bludgeoning. Substantial planning or coordination would not have been involved, as tribal groups were small, and the connection to the leaders too close.
As the concept of ostensible "civilization" took root, leaders had greater importance, and become more detached from the groups they ruled. The key technique was likely infiltration, with the assassination by stabbing, smothering or strangulation. Poisons also started to be used in many forms. Death cap mushrooms and similar plants became traditional, especially if they could not be perceived as poisonous by taste, and the symptoms of the poisoning did not show until after some time. In ancient Rome, paid mobs were sometimes used to beat political enemies to death.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
