Stealth Assassination

While many assassinations are public, assassination is obviously best performed in stealth to avoid capture, which is probably why many assassins tend to be more discreet in their attempts.

For example, during the French Revolution, in 1793, Jean-Paul Marat, a radical French journalist, was assassinated while taking a bath. Under the pretence of being a journalist who wanted to interview Marat, Charlotte Corday, who supported the opposition Girondists, gained access to his private chambers, and the rest is history. Over two centuries later, al-Qaeda, a Muslim terrorist organisation, used the same pretence to get close to the Northern Alliance rebel leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud. In the latter case, however, the two assassins were killed along with the target when their fake camera exploded.

Another famous example of a stealth assassination was that of Leon Trotsky in 1940. Trotsky’s rival, Josef Stalin, had him exiled, but still had the KGB track him, with the intention of assassinating him. Trotsky’s assassinator, Ramón Mercader, also posed as a journalist to obtain a private interview, even going as far as to seduce a woman with close ties to Trotsky in order to gain his trust.

Even the CIA is alleged to have carried out or supported many stealth assassinations, including a botched attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro by poisoning his cigar. Many believe the CIA also supported or had a hand in the assassinations and attempted assassination of myriad world leaders, such as Saddam Hussein. Some believe the CIA was also behind the Kennedy assassination. What do you think?