US/Assassinations since 1945
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Countries where the US has assassinated or attempted to assassinate a movement leader
The US has made more than 50 attempts to assassinate political party leaders according to William Blum in "Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II", 2003. Noam Chomsky called this book "Far and away the best book on the topic.". Former CIA officer John Stockwell called the same book "The single most useful summary of CIA history."
All such operations are illegal and almost all such killings are aimed at geopolitical objectives. In almost no cases can any clear humanitarian benefit be identified, even if the target is/was indeed tyrannical.
While bombings with aircraft leave evidence in many cases, covert operations may be difficult to prove.
| Date | Country | Details | Disputed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Category:Pakistan | Osama Bin Laden. Killing of a captured man. | Maybe |
| 2003 | Category:Iraq | Saddam Hussein and his two sons. Two killings and a semi-judicial execution. | Maybe |
| 2002 | Category:Afghanistan | Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Islamic leader and warlord | Maybe |
| 2001 | Category:Afghanistan | Invasion of Afghanistan, followed by an unsuccessful attempt to catch Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Tora Bora. | No |
| 1998 | Category:Afghanistan | Osama bin Laden, leading Islamic militant. Cruise missiles followed by a full-scale invasion. | Maybe |
| 1993 | Category:Somalia | Mohamed Farah Aideed, prominent clan leader. Failed attempt but he died later. | Maybe |
| 1991 | Category:Iraq | Saddam Hussein, leader. Attempt to kill him? | Maybe |
| 1985 | Category:Lebanon | Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Shiite leader (80 people killed in the attempt) | Maybe |
| 1984 | Category:Nicaragua | The nine comandantes of the Sandinista National Directorate | Maybe |
| 1983 | Category:Nicaragua | Miguel d'Escoto, Foreign Minister | Maybe |
| 1983 | Category:Morocco | Gen. Ahmed Dlimi, Army commander | Maybe |
| 1982 | Category:Iran | Ayatollah Khomeini, leader | Maybe |
| 1980- 1986 |
Category:Libya | Muammar Qaddafi, leader, several plots and attempts upon his life | Maybe |
| 1976 | Category:Jamaica | Michael Manley, Prime Minister | Maybe |
| 1976 | Category:Chile | exiled Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier is blown up in Washington DC, part of Operation Condor with at least tacit US support | ? |
| 1975 | Category:Zaire | Mobutu Sese Seko, President. | Maybe |
| 1972 | Category:Panama | General Manuel Noriega, Chief of Intelligence. Captured alive and been imprisoned ever since. | Maybe |
| 1970s, 1981 |
Category:Panama | General Omar Torrijos, leader | Maybe |
| 1970 | Category:Chile | Gen. Rene Schneider, Commander-in-Chief of Army. | Maybe |
| 1970 | Category:Chile | Salvador Allende, President unsuccesful US supported coup "Project FUBELT" | No |
| 1967 | Category:Bolivia | Che Guevara, revolutionary leader. CIA-organized military operation ends in capture and execution by the Bolivian Army. | Maybe |
| 1965 - 1956 |
Category:France | Charles de Gaulle, President | Maybe |
| 1965 | Category:Dominican Republic | Francisco Caamaño, opposition leader | Maybe |
| 1965 | Category:Zaire | President overthrown and replaced by Mobutu, see entry for 1961, deposing of Lumumbu. | No |
| 1960s | Category:Cuba | Raúl Castro, high official in government | Maybe |
| 1960s - 1970s |
Category:Cuba | Fidel Castro, President, many attempts on his life including poisoned cigars. | Maybe |
| 1963 | Category:South Vietnam | Ngo Dinh Diem, President. Successful attempt to replace one puppet leader with another. | Maybe |
| 1963 | Category:Iraq | The CIA supports the Ba'athists, including Saddam Hussein, in a coup in Iraq against the Qassim government.[1][2][3] | No [4] |
| 1961 | Category:Dominican Republic | Gen. Rafael Trujillo, dictator since 1930 shot dead in 1961.[5][6] | Yes |
| 1961 | Category:Zaire | In June 1960, Patrice Lumumba became the Congo's first prime minister after independence from Belgium. Calls for the nation's economic liberation and is branded a communist. Eleven days later, the mineral rich Katanga province, owned by Belgium and prominent Eisenhower administration officials, seceedes. Lumumba dismissed in September at the instigation of the United States, and in Jan 1961 assassinated at the express request of Dwight Eisenhower. Several years of civil conflict and chaos end in the CIA backed deposing of President Joseph Kasavubu and the 1965 accession to power of the CIA linked Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu ruled and robbed the country for more than 30 years (a "kleptocracy") while the Zairian people lived in abject poverty. | No |
| 1961 | Category:Haiti | Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, leader | Maybe |
| 1950s- 1970s |
Category:Costa Rica | José Figueres, President, two attempts on his life | Maybe |
| 1960 | Category:Iraq | Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem, leader | Maybe |
| 1959 | Category:Cambodia | Norodom Sihanouk, leader. And again, 1963, 1969. | Maybe |
| 1957 | Category:Egypt | Gamal Abdul Nasser, President | Maybe |
| 1955 | Category:India | Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister | Maybe |
| 1951 | Category:Iran | Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister | Maybe |
| 1951 | Category:North Korea | Kim Il Sung, Premier | Maybe |
| 1950s (mid) | Category:Philippines | Claro M. Recto, opposition leader | Maybe |
| 1950s, 1962 | Category:Indonesia | Sukarno, President | Maybe |
| 1950s | Category:China | Prime minister Chou En-lai, several attempts on his life | Maybe |
| 1950s | Category:Germany | CIA/Neo-Nazi hit list of more than 200 political figures in West Germany to be "put out of the way" in the event of a Soviet invasion | Maybe |
| 1949 | Category:Korea | Kim Koo, opposition leader | No |
Recent Developments
The CIA has long had a policy of assassinating individuals for a mixture of reasons. Increasingly, attacks are being made on individuals or leaders of quite small groups designated "terrorists". Since 2011 there have been killings of nuclear technicians in Iran. Drones are proving increasingly effective at killing targets, and are even being programmed to make autonomous decisions about whom to kill.
References
- ↑ A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making New York Times March 14 2003.
- ↑ The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq Princeton University Press. 1978.
- ↑ Iraq Since 1958 Peter and Marion Sluglett. 1990.
- ↑ Regarding the CIA's "Health Alteration Committee's work in Iraq, see U.S. Senate's Church Committee Interim Report on Assassination, page 181, Note 1.
- ↑ Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders History Matters website.
- ↑ Church Committee Report - Trujillo
