'Assassination' is the
murder of an individual; usually a political or famous figure.
[1] An added distinction between assassination and other forms of killing is that an assassin usually has an
ideological or
political motivation, though many assassins (especially those who are not part of an organised movement) also show elements of
insanity. Other motivations may be
money (as in the case of a
contract killing),
revenge, or as a
military operation.
The
euphemism 'targeted killing' (also called 'extrajudicial execution') is also sometimes used for sanctioned assassinations of opponents, especially where undertaken by governments.
[2] 'Assassination' itself, along with terms such as '
terrorist' and '
freedom fighter', may in this context be considered a
loaded term, as it implies an act where the proponents of such killings may consider them justified or even necessary.
Etymology
The term 'Assassin' is generally assumed to be derived from its connections to the
Hashshashin, a militant religious sect of
Ismaili Muslims, thought to be active in the Middle East in the 8th to 14th centuries. This mystic
secret society killed members of the
Abbasid elite for political or religious reasons.
[3]
Stories claim that these early assassins were drugged during their murders, often with materials such as
hashish and
opium. The name ''assassin'' is derived from either ''hasishin'' for the supposed influence of the drugs, and disregard for their own lives in the process, or ''hassansin'' for their leader,
Hassan-i-Sabah.
Today it is known that ''hashishinnya'' was an offensive term used to depict this cult by its Muslim and Mongolian detractors; the extreme zeal and cold preparation to murder makes it unlikely they ever used drugs.
The earliest known use of the derived term "Assassination" is found in William Shakespeare's theatrical play Macbeth, first published in the year 1605.
[4][5].
Definition problem
The formal definition of the term 'Assassination' varies between sources. For example, according to ''The
American Heritage Dictionary'', to assassinate is:
:''"...to
murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons."''
[6]
However, the
Oxford English Dictionary defines assassination as:
:''"The action of assassinating; the taking the life of any one by treacherous violence, esp. by a hired emissary, or one who has taken upon him to execute the deed."
[7]
There is also the problem regarding motivation: should the term include killings where the primary motivation is to attract attention to a cause, took place for purely personal reasons with the target itself being of secondary importance, or should the use of this term be restricted to murders where the victim is a political leader or public figure hostile to the agenda of the killer? One can take various positions on this definitional problem (note that this consideration is of necessity based upon language, not law), stating that an assassination is:
★ the killing of someone ''by treacherous violence'' (no matter the motivation or target)
★ the killing of someone ''in the public view'' (i.e. a politician or celebrity, no matter the motivation)
★ the killing of someone ''for political, moral, or ideological reasons'' (usually requiring a specific, connected target)
For the purposes of this article, the third definition predominates, even though it is likely that the second is most popular, and the first would often be found in colloquial use. Open for debate is when military action within a declared war with a group or nation becomes "assassination." Targeting officers on a battlefield, sniping at Civil War generals behind their own lines, bombs or missiles aimed at particular opposing military officers or officials?
Use in history
Ancient history
Assassination is one of the oldest tools of
power politics, dating back at least as far as recorded history.
Philip II of Macedon, the father of
Alexander the Great, and
Julius Caesar can be noted as famous examples.
Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the
Shia Imams. The practice was also well-known in
ancient China like
Jing Ke's failed assassination of
Qin Shi Huang. The
ancient Indian military advisor
Chanakya wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise ''
Arthashastra''.
In the
Middle Ages,
regicide was rare, but with the
Renaissance,
tyrannicide - or assassination for personal or political reasons - became more common again. Rulers like
Henry III and
Henry IV of France as well as
William the Silent of the
Netherlands fell to it.
Modern history
As the world moved into the present day and the stakes in political clashes of will continued to grow to a global scale, the number of assassinations concurrently multiplied. In
Russia alone, four emperors were assassinated within less than 200 years -
Ivan VI,
Peter III,
Paul I, and
Alexander II .
In the
USA, Presidents
Abraham Lincoln,
James Garfield,
William McKinley, and
John F. Kennedy died at the hands of assassins, while many other presidents survived attempts on their life. Most of these assassinations however turned out to have no more than nebulous political backgrounds, adding a new threat - the mentally deranged assassin.
In
Europe the
assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serb nationalist insurgents finally triggered
World War I after a period of building conflicts, while
World War II saw the first known use of specifically trained assassination operatives since the original ''Assassins''.
Reinhard Heydrich was killed by British-backed killers, and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the US to carry out a targeted attack, killing Japanese Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto while he was en-route in an airplane. Adolf Hitler meanwhile was almost
killed by his own officers, and survived numerous attempts by other individuals and organizations.
Cold War and beyond
During the
Cold War, there was a dramatic increase in the number of political assassinations, likely because of the
ideological polarization of most of the
First and
Second worlds, whose adherents were often more than willing to both justify and finance such killings.
Nawabzadah Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan was assassinated by Saad Akbar a lone assassin in 1951. Conspiracy theorists believe his conflict with certain members of the Pakistan military (Rawalpindi conspiracy) or suppression of Communists and antagonism towards the Soviet Union, were potential reasons for his assassination.
During the Kennedy era, Cuban President
Fidel Castro narrowly escaped death on several occasions at the hands of the CIA. At the same time, the
KGB made creative use of assassination to deal with high-profile defectors and
Israel's
Mossad used them to eliminate
Palestinian guerrillas and Palestinian political leaders.
Most major powers were not long in repudiating Cold War assassination tactics, though many allege that this was merely a smoke screen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia, Israel and other nations accused of still regularly engaging in such operations. In 1986, U.S. President
Ronald Reagan ordered the
Operation El Dorado Canyon air raid on Libya where one of the primary targets was the home residence of Libyan ruler
Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi escaped unharmed, however his adopted daughter
Hanna was one of the civilian casualties.
On
August 17,
1988 President of
Pakistan Gen. M. Zia ul Haq died along with his staff and the American Ambassador to Pakistan when his C- 130 transport plane exploded in mid-air because of an on flight bomb. The CIA, KGB and Indian secret service RAW all have been implicated by various conspiracy theorists.
During the
1991 Gulf War, the United States also struck many of Iraq’s most important command bunkers with
bunker-busting bombs in hopes of killing Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein.
Various dictators around the world, such as
Saddam Hussein, have also used assassination to remove individual opponents, or to terrorize troublesome population groups. In return, in post-Saddam
Iraq, the Shiite-dominated government has used death squads to perform countless extrajudicial executions of
Sunni Iraqis, with some alleging that the death squads were trained by the U.S.
[8][9][10]
Since the rise of
al-Qaeda and similar organizations, who themselves often engage in assassination tactics, both the US administrations of
Clinton and
Bush have backed assassinations, mostly directed against terrorist leaders like
Osama bin Laden, but also against elected political leaders and opponents like
Mullah Omar. Most of these attempts were undertaken with remote-controlled missiles and similar tactics, often using remote surveillance for the decision where and when to strike as well. One of the most well-known examples of recent assassinations carried out by the United States was the killing of
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and
Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, both killed as a result of two guided bombs on a safe house outside of Baghdad.
Outside of the larger-scale conflicts of Cold War and the War on Terrorism, assassinations stemming from internal or historical conflicts did not cease either. For example, in
India, two Prime ministers,
Indira Gandhi and her son
Rajiv Gandhi, were both assassinated for political reasons in the 1980s.
Further reasons
As military doctrine
Assassination for military purposes has long been espoused -
Sun Tzu argued for such in ''
The Art of War'', as did
Machiavelli in ''
The Prince''. In medieval times, an army and even a nation might be based upon and around a particularly strong, canny or charismatic leader, whose loss could paralyze the ability of both to make war. However, in modern warfare a soldier's mindset is generally considered to surround ideals far more than specific leaders, while command structures are more flexible in replacing officer losses. While the death of a popular or successful leader often has a detrimental effect on morale, the organisational system and the belief in a specific cause is usually strong enough to enable continued warfare.
There is also the risk that the target could be replaced by an even more competent leader or that such a killing (or a failed attempt) will "
martyr" a leader and support his cause (by showing the moral ruthlessness of the assassins). Faced with particularly brilliant leaders, this possibility has in various instances been risked, such as in the attempts to kill the Athenian
Alcibiades during the
Peloponnesian War. There are a number of additional examples from
World War II, the last major
total war, which show how assassination was used as a military tool at both tactical and strategic levels:
★ The American interception of
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto airplane during World War II, after his travel route had been decrypted.
★ The American perception that
Skorzeny's commandos were planning to assassinate
Eisenhower during the
Battle of the Bulge played havoc with Eisenhower's personal plans for some time, though it did not affect the battle itself. Skorzeny later denied in an interview with the ''New York Times'' that he had ever intended to assassinate Eisenhower during
Operation Greif and he said that he could prove it.
[11]
★ There is also mention of a planned British commando raid to capture German General
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (also known as "The Desert Fox"), which might have had strategic effects in removing one of the most skilled Axis commanders.
★ The British in turn decided not to try to assassinate Admiral
Wilhelm Canaris, head of the
Abwehr (''German military intelligence''), because to do so was considered risking to improve the service and to remove an officer who was plotting to remove Hitler from power.
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 symphatizers, and killed between 6,000 and 41,000 individuals, with official 'targets' of 1,800 per month.
[12]
Israel uses targeted killings of Palestinian political leaders to paralyze the activities of the Palestinians. In recent years, Russia has adopted a similar style and has done so during the wars against
Chechenya.
As tool of insurgents
Insurgent groups have often employed assassination as a tool to further their causes. Assassinations provide several functions for such groups, namely the removal of specific enemies and as propaganda tools to focus the attention of media and politics on their cause.
The
Irish Republican Army guerrillas of 1919-1921 assassinated many
RIC Police Intelligence officers during the
Irish War of Independence.
Michael Collins set up a special unit -
the Squad - for this purpose, which had the effect of intimidating many policemen into resigning from the force. The Squad's activities peaked with the assassination of 14 British agents in
Dublin on
Bloody Sunday in 1920.
This tactic was used again by the
Provisional IRA during
the Troubles in
Northern Ireland (1969-present). Assassination of
RUC officers and politicians was one of a number of methods used in the
Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997. The IRA also attempted to assassinate British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher by bombing the Conservative Party Conference in a
Brighton hotel.
Loyalist paramilitaries retaliated by killing Catholics at random and assassinating
Irish nationalist politicians.
Basque separatists
ETA in
Spain have assassinated many security and political figures since the late 1960s, notably
Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973. Since the early 1990s, they have also targeted academics, journalists and local politicians who publicly disagreed with them, meaning that many needed armed police bodyguards.
The
Red Brigades in
Italy carried out assassinations of political figures, as to a lesser extent, did the
Red Army Faction in
Germany in the 1970s and 1980s.
Middle Eastern groups, such as the
PLO and
Hezbollah, have all engaged in assassinations, though the higher intensity of armed conflict in the region compared to western Europe means that many of their actions are either better characterized as
guerrilla operations or as random attacks on civilians - especially the technique of
suicide bombs.
In the
Vietnam War, assassinations were routinely carried out by communist insurgents against government officials and private individuals deemed to offend or rival the revolutionary movement. Such attacks, along with widespread military activity by insurgent bands, almost brought the
Diem regime to collapse, prior to the US intervention.
[13]
For money or gain
Individually, too, people have often found reasons to arrange the deaths of others through paid intermediaries. One who kills with no political motive or group loyalty who kills ''only'' for money is known as a hitman or contract killer. Note that by the definition accepted above, while such a killer is not, strictly speaking, an assassin, if the killing is ordered and financed towards a political end, then that killing must rightly be termed an assassination, and the hitman an assassin by extension.
Entire organizations have sometimes specialized in assassination as one of their services, to be gained for the right price. Besides the original
hashshashin, the
ninja clans of
Japan were rumored to perform assassinations - though it can be pointed out that most of what was ever known about the ninja was
rumor and
hearsay.
In the
United States,
Murder, Inc., an organization partnered to the
Mafia, was formed for the sole purpose of performing assassinations for organized crime. In
Russia, the ''vory'' (thieves), their version of the Mafia, are often known to provide assassinations for the right price, as well as engaging in it themselves for their own purposes. A professional hitman is called "cleaner" in Russia; he is used to clean away the target. The Finnish as well as the Swedish underworld uses the word "
torpedo" for a contract killer.
Psychology
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' (people apprehended before reaching their target). This incidentally shows that while mental instability plays a role in many modern-age assassinations, the more delusional attackers are less likely to succeed in their attempt. The report also found that around 2/3rds of the attackers had previously been arrested for (not necessarily related) offenses, that around 44% had a history of serious
depression, and that 39% had a history of substance abuse.
Techniques
Ancient methods
It seems likely that the first assassinations would have been direct and simple:
stabbing,
strangling or
bludgeoning. Substantial planning or coordination would rarely have been involved, as tribal groups were too small, and the connection to the leaders too close. As
civilization took root, however, leaders began to have greater importance, and become more detached from the groups they ruled. This would have brought planning,
subterfuge and weapons into successful assassination plans.
The key technique was likely
infiltration, with the actual assassination via stabbing, smothering or strangulation.
Poisons also started to be used in many forms.
Death cap mushrooms and similar plants became a traditional choice of assassins especially if they could not be perceived as poisonous by taste, and the symptoms of the poisoning did not show until after some time.
Modern methods
With the advent of effective
ranged weaponry, and later
firearms, the position of an assassination target was more precarious. Bodyguards were no longer enough to hold back determined killers, who no longer needed to directly engage or even subvert the guard to kill the leader in question. Additionally the engagement of targets at greater distance dramatically increased the chances for survival of an assassin. It is considered that
William the Silent of the
Netherlands was the first leader assassinated by fireams.
Gunpowder and other explosives also allowed the use of bombs or even greater concentrations of explosives for deeds requiring a larger touch; for an example, the
Gunpowder Plot could have 'assassinated' almost a thousand people.
Explosives, especially the
car bomb, become far more common in modern history, with
grenades and remote-triggered
landmines also used, especially in the
Middle East and Balkans (the initial attempt on
Archduke Franz Ferdinand's life was with a grenade). With heavy weapons, the
rocket propelled grenade (RPG) has became a useful tool given the popularity of armored cars (discussed below), while Israeli forces have pioneered the use of aircraft-mounted missiles for assassination,
[14] as well as the innovative use of explosive devices.
A
sniper with a precision rifle is often used in fictional assassinations. However, there are certain difficulties associated with long-range shooting, including finding a hidden shooting position with a clear line-of-sight, detailed advance knowledge of the intended victim's travel plans, the ability to identify the target at long range, and the ability to score a first-round lethal hit at long range, usually measured in hundreds of meters. A dedicated
sniper rifle is also expensive and relatively rare, often costing thousands of dollars because of the high level of precision machining and hand-finishing required to achieve extreme accuracy.
[15]
However, many hunting rifles are accurate enough in the hands of an experienced marksman to fatally hit a target at up to 300 meters (330 yards) or more, such as the
Savage Arms Model 111 rifle that was recently tested as having a calculated
effective range on a human torso of over 500 yards (450m).
[16] Modern hunting cartridges also have a flat enough
trajectory to not require the shooter to compensate for bullet drop for targets up to about 250 meters (275 yards) and are powerful enough to penetrate most types of
body armor with relative ease. The difficulty for an assassin lies thus more in gaining the required marksman skills, than in procuring a suitable weapon.
Despite their comparative disadvantages, easy-to-acquire and hard-to-trace
handguns are much more commonly used. Of 74 principal incidents evaluated in a major study about assassination attempts in the US in the second half of the 20th century, 51% were undertaken by a handgun, 30% with a rifle or shotgun, while 15% of the attempts used knives and 8% explosives (usage of multiple weapons/methods was reported in 16% of all cases).
A 2006 case in the
UK concerned the
assassination of Alexander Litvinenko who was given a lethal dose of radioactive
polonium-210, possibly passed to him in aerosol form sprayed directly onto his food. Litvinenko, a former
KGB agent, had been granted asylum in the UK in 2000 after citing persecution in
Russia. Shortly before his death he issued a statement accusing
Vladimir Putin, the
Russian president, of involvement in his assassination. President Putin denies he had any part in Litvinenko's death.
[17]
Counter-measures
Early forms
One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins is without doubt the
bodyguard. He acts as a shield for the potential target, keeps lookout for potential attackers (sometimes in advance, for example on a planned tour), and is literally supposed to put himself 'in harm's way' - both by his simple presence, forming a barrier in front of the target
[18][19] and by shielding the target during any attack. He is also, if possible, to neutralize an attacker as fast as possible, and thus often carries weapons (where legal or possible).
This bodyguard function was often executed by the leader's most loyal warriors, and was extremely effective throughout most of early human history, leading to attempts via
subterfuge, such as poison (which was answered by the
food taster).
Notable examples of bodyguards would include the Roman
Praetorian Guard or the Ottoman
janissaries - although, in both cases, it should be noted that the protectors often became assassins themselves, exploiting their power to make the
head of state a virtual hostage at their whim or eliminating threatening leaders altogether. The fidelity of individual bodyguards is an important question as well, especially for leaders who oversee states with strong ethnic or religious divisions. Failure to realize such divided loyalties leads to assassinations such as that of
Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, assassinated by two
Sikh bodyguards in 1984.
Modern strategies
With the advent of gunpowder, ranged assassination (via bombs or firearms) became possible. One of the first reactions was to simply increase the guard, creating what at times might seem a
small army trailing every leader; another was to begin clearing large areas whenever a leader was present, to the point where entire sections of a city might be shut down.
As the 20th century dawned, the prevalence of assassins and their capabilities skyrocketed, and so did measures to protect against them. For the first time,
armored cars or
armored limousines were put into service for safer transport, with modern versions rendering them virtually invulnerable to
small arms fire and smaller bombs and
mines.
[20] Bulletproof vests also began to be used, though they were of limited utility, restricting movement and leaving the head unprotected - as such they tended to be worn only during high-profile public events if at all.
Access to famous persons, too, became more and more restrictive;
[21] potential visitors would be forced through numerous different checks before being granted access to the official in question, and as
communication became better and
information technology more prevalent, it has become next-to-impossible for a would-be killer to get close enough to the personage at work or in private life to effect an attempt on his or her life, especially given the common use of
metal and
bomb detectors.
Most modern assassinations have been committed either during a public performance or during
transport, both because of weaker security and security lapses, such as with US
President John F. Kennedy or as part of
coups d'état where security is either overwhelmed or completely removed, such as with
Patrice Lumumba and likely
Salvador Allende.
[22]
The methods used for protection by famous people have sometimes evoked negative reactions by the public, with some resenting the separation from their officials or major figures. One example might be traveling in a car protected by a bubble of clear
bulletproof glass, such as the
Popemobile of
Pope John Paul II (built following an extremist's attempt at his life). Politicians themselves often resent this need for separation - which has at times caused tragedy when they sent their bodyguards from their side for personal or publicity reasons, as U.S. President
William McKinley did during the public reception at which he was assassinated.
Other potential targets go into seclusion, and are rarely heard from or seen in public, such as
writer Salman Rushdie. A related form of protection is the use of
body doubles, a person built similar to the person he is expected to impersonate. These persons are then
made up, as well as in some cases
altered to look like the target, with the body double then taking the place of the person in high risk situations. Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein are known to have used body doubles.
[23] According to Joe R. Reeder, a former under secretary for the U.S. Army from 1993-1997 writing in
Fox News,
Fidel Castro had also used body doubles, though no details were specified.
In the final analysis, counter-measures can never be fully effective. If the assassin is committed beyond reason (i.e.
insane) or without concern for his own for self-preservation (
suicide attacker), then the task of protecting a person will be made much more difficult.
Notable assassinations & attempts
The following is a list of some of the ''most notable'' assassinations and assassination attempts. It is ''not intended'' to be exhaustive.
See also
★
Dan White
Related lists
★
List of assassins
★
List of unsuccessful assassinations
★
List of assassinated people
★
List of U.S. Presidential assassination attempts
References
1. Assassin (from Wordnet, Princeton University)
2. ''Commentary: Targeted killing...'' - Cohen, Ariel, ''Washington Post'', Thursday 25 March 2004
3. Secret Societies Handbook, Michael Bradley, Cassell Illustrated, 2005. ISBN 978-1844034161
4. "Assassination". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, second edition, 1989
5. Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language, Seth Lerer, 2007
6. Assassination (from the American Heritage Dictionary)
7. Cited from - "Assassination". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, second edition, 1989.
8. ''"The Salvador Option" - The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq'' - ''Newsweek'', Friday 14 January 2005
9. ''CBS: Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals'' - ''CBS Evening News'', Wednesday 04 October 2006
10. ''Is the U.S. Training Iraqi Death Squads to Fight the Insurgency?'' - ''Democracy Now'', Thursday, December 1st, 2005
11. ''Commando Extraordinary'' - Foley, Charles; Legion for the Survival of Freedom, 1992, page 155
12. ''CIA and Operation Phoenix in Vietnam'' - McGehee, Ralph; from a usenet discussion citing numerous references, 19 February 1996
13. ''Viet Cong'' - Pike, Douglas, The MIT Press; New Ed edition, Wednesday 16 December 1970
14. ''Hamas leader killed in Israeli airstrike'' - CNN, Saturday 17 April 2004
15. ''Iraqi insurgents using Austrian rifles from Iran'' - The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 13 February 2007
16. ''Packages: Remington, Savage Square Off in Value Showdown'' - ''Gun Tests'', February 2006, Vol. XVIII No. 2, pp. 11-15
17. ''Putin 'Deplores' Spy Death'' - Sky News Friday 24 November 2006
18. ''Assassination in the United States: An Operational Study'' - Fein, Robert A. & Vossekuil, Brian, ''Journal of Forensic Sciences'', Volume 44, Number 2, March 1999
19. Lincoln - Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964
20. ''How to choose the appropriate bulletproof cars'' (from Alpha-armouring.com website, includes examples of protection levels available)
21. The Need For Protection Further Demonstrated - Appendix 7, Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1964
22. Salvador Allende Gossens (biography from the Encarta website)
23. ''It's Bin Laden ... or Is It?'' - Fox News, Thursday 20 December 2001
24. Killed the Matabele God: Burnham, the American scout, may end uprising, , , , New York Times, 1896
25. Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Conspiracy Trial (from The King Center website)
External links
★
Assassinology.org a website dedicated to the study of assassination, with particular reference to post-2000 assassinations created by Kris Hollington, author of How to Kill: The Definitive History of the Assassin
[1].
★
CNN A short article on the U.S. policy banning political assassination since 1976 from CNN.com/Law CENTER,
November 4, 2002. See also
Ford's 1976
executive order. However,
Executive Order 12333 which prohibited the CIA from assassinations was relaxed by the
George W. Bush administration.
★ David, Steven R. ''
Fatal Choices: Israel's Policy of Targeted Killing'' (PDF) at
Johns Hopkins University. A paper prepared for the BESA Center Conference on Democracy and Limited War, 4-
6 June 2002; revised July 2002.
★ Follendore III, Roy D. ''
Targeted Killing''.
November 5 2002
★ Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri ''
Cloak and Dollar (A History of American Secret Intelligence)''
★ Kretzmer, David ''
Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists: Extra-Judicial Executions or Legitimate Means of Defence?'' (PDF)
★ Lee, Robert.
The History Guy: Biofiles: American Domestic Terrorists and Assassins,
April 16 2005
★ Tinetti, John ''
Lawful Targeted Killing or Assassination: A Roadmap for Operators in the Global War on Terror''; Joint Military Operations Dept., Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.
★ Luft, Gal ''
The Logic of Israel's Targeted Killing''
Middle East Quarterly Winter 2003 • Volume X: Number 1
★ McDonnell, Thomas Michael ''
Assassination/Targeted Killing of Suspected Terrorists — A Violation of International Law?'' in
Jus in Bello An International Criminal Law Weblog from
Pace Law School 1 December 2005
★ Snow, Jonathan L. ''
The Targeted Killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin''.
March 26 2004
★ Sofaer, Abraham D. ''
Responses to Terrorism. Targeted killing is a necessary option''.
March 26 2004
★ Statman, Daniel ''
Targeted Killing'' Vol. 5, Theoretical Inquiries in Law (Online Edition): No. 1, Article 7, 2004.
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