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Assassination
is one of the most dramatic events that can shape the world, yet it remains a poorly understood phenomenom. At assassinology.org,
Kris Hollington, journalist, assassinologist and author of How to Kill examines assassination in detail - the facts, the figures, the conspiracies and scandals in an effort to
achieve clarity in an area that generally attracts confusion.
Click here to play video footage of the attack on the Pope
Assassination in the 20th Century In December 1960, Socialist Party Chairman Inejiro Asanuma was speaking at a debate that would kick off campaigning
for the following month's general election when Otoya Yamaguchi, a 17-year-old right-wing fanatic and son of an army colonel
stabbed him twice with a Samurai sword. Watch the TV footage of the assassination by clicking on the link below.
Click here to play video footage (8MB) of the Asanuma assassination
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What is Assassination?
The act of
assassination occurs when someone important is murdered for one of three reasons:
- Political beliefs: the selective killing of an
individual enemy in the hope that their policies die with them.
- Power: committed simply to take the place of a
VIP, or to transfer their power to someone else. As international terrorist Carlos the Jackal put it: “To get anywhere,
you have to walk over corpses”.
- Notoriety: Disturbed individuals who want to achieve
fame through the elimination of a VIP. Sirhan Sirhan told his interrogators: “They can gas me, but I am famous; I have
achieved in one day what it took Robert Kennedy all his life to do”.
Sirhan Sirhan (below) managed to shoot several other people besides Robert F Kennedy before he was
restrained.
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Assassination Prevention
In the above photo, President Ronald Reagan is waving to crowds in 1981. Seconds later he was shot
by John Hinckley Jnr. Hinckley should never had made it this close. To find out more about assassination prevention,
click here.
Assassination Research
Many exclusive assassination facts put together from
the detailed analysis of thousands of assassinations can be found here. For example, guns are by far the assassin's weapon
of choice. They
were used in 64.9% of high-profile assassinations (9% of these were snipers) carried out between 1950 and 2000 with a 68.3%
success rate.
The next most favoured method was bombing at 11.2% followed by poisoning at 7.9% (source: How to Kill).
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