Great Deeds II: Perfect Storms

I am writing this on June 6, 2014: the anniversary of RFK’s assassination in 1968.

It is also the 70 Year anniversary of D-Day: a time to honor the fallen.

Robert “Bobby” F. Kennedy ran for the presidency (1968) in part to honor his brother John “Jack” F. Kennedy and to carry forth his brother’s legacy. He campaigned on an anti-Vietnam War platform having come to the belief that it was an unjustifiable war. In this he was in tune with the youth of the nation that were anti-war. To run at this time was to be against the incumbent and fellow Democrat Johnson, who was believed at the time to be seeking re-election (he later withdrew his nomination). Bobby believed that had his brother not been assassinated the current war in Vietnam would not have taken place. If elected he would end the unpopular war.

There are those that believed then as now that Johnson was behind the assassination of JFK so as to prosecute the war that the President was against. Johnson as Vice-President was aligned with many of the generals that wanted war. The reasoning is with Kennedy out of the way Johnson would then wage war against the Communists. This is the basis of most insider conspiracy theories. But this belief in the need to wage war against Communism is not a strong enough motive to actually plot an assassination. Johnson may have wished him dead and said so in passing, but this was a common vernacular of the time: I wish he was dead! To actually mean this and to act on it requires a twisted mind like Oswald. Johnson had many faults but he was clearly sane and I believe that even if he didn’t like his President, he respected him. It is highly possible that President Johnson believed that the Communists had something to do with the assassination and that this was a motivating factor in waging the war.

The world we live in today is in many ways a more dangerous place. Both from within a nation and from without, we hear of those that threaten to kill and annihilate innocent people and then do it. The threats voiced by terrorists are real and will unfortunately continue. The Cold War of Kennedy/Johnson has been replaced by the War on Terrorism along with unpopular wars. Our era is similar to that era in that we are living in the shadow of a possible nuclear war.

Also, the threat of assassination was feared then as now. Because of what happened to President Kennedy there was a fear that his brother Bobby would suffer the same fate if he ran for political office. The shadow of assassination seemed to follow Bobby on the campaign trail. This fear had its beginnings in his time as serving as Attorney General in his brother’s administration. It was believed that he was as much a target as was the president. This was attributed to the pressure being put on organized crime by the Kennedy’s at the time. This would also play into other conspiracy theories as well. So, who killed the Kennedys?

Is it credible to believe that the Mob/Mafia had anything to do with JFK’s murder? In October, 2011 it was reported by the AP of an alleged Iranian plot to hire Mexican drug cartel killers to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. The then Secretary of State Clinton spoke out against Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism by saying that this foiled attempt “crosses a line.” The press attaché at Iran’s mission to the U.N. said the accusation was “totally baseless.” (Matthew Lee, Associated Press) What matters here is the attempt by a foreign power that is hostile to the U.S. to use another hostile power to solicit murder-for-hire on American soil; also, the expected denial of any conspiracy in this matter.

In February, 2012 another attempted assassination orchestrated by Iran was reported by the AP. This was to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan with Israeli targets. According to authorities in the capital Baku, each step in the plot was overseen by Iran’s intelligence services. This included among other weapons, a sniper rifle with silencer and a dossier with photos, names and details like workplace drawings. It is believed that this attempt along with others in Bangkok, Thailand and New Delhi, India were payback for the slayings of at least five Iranian nuclear scientists by Israel. It was reported that Iran’s alleged plots have different scenarios. In Baku: local mercenaries suspected of being recruited by a well known gangster with ties to Iranian secret services. (Brian Murphy, Associated Press)

The Baku allegation can be applied to the JFK assassination. In this case Oswald was recruited by the Mob in the U.S. The well known gangster was Jack Ruby with local connections. It was Cuban intelligence that had ties with Oswald and the Mob. The ones behind the plot would be Khrushchev of the Soviet Union and his proxy Castro of Cuba. The payback would be for the Bay of Pigs and blockade of Cuba, the attempted assassinations of Castro and the stand against Khrushchev and communism.

Recently, In June, 2014 it was reported in the news that five men were sentenced in the shooting death of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. In this case the men convicted were contract killers, and no one has been charged with killing them. Her son Ilya Politkovskaya said: “We will never consider the case closed unless the person or persons who ordered her killed are found and tried in court.” She was shot twice in the body and once in the head as she entered an elevator carrying shopping bags. The shooter and organizers were brought to justice. (Sergei Loiko, LA Times)

In the JFK assassination only the shooter Oswald was caught and subsequently silenced. The organizers in this case would be the Cuban secret service with the help of the American Mob. The order to take out Kennedy would come from Khrushchev and given to Castro who would then direct his secret service to explore and organize. Secrecy would be at a premium so few would be involved. However, there were those that knew something big was to take place, what is known as “chatter.” Yet, secrecy was maintained and this was symbolized by the shooting of Oswald: not only to shut him up but as a warning to others who might think of saying something for profit or as guilt relief.

Why is it likely that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was behind the assassination? Clearly, as leader of the then superpower Soviet Union he was in competition with the U.S. for supremacy in the world. This is revealed in his famous quote: “Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!” This was said in reference to the rivalry between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. He later said: “I once said, ‘We will bury you,’ and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.” This is eerily close to the truth as regards Oswald. Khrushchev did not “bury” the U.S. but he did see President Kennedy buried.

Another quote that showed his disdain for his rivals: “Support by the U.S. rulers is rather in the nature of the support that the rope gives to a hanged man.” What we have is the leader of a powerful nation that does not like or respect his rival leaders in the U.S. In particular Khrushchev saw Kennedy as being a weak leader. His likely strategy in the Cuban Missile Crisis was to intimidate his rival and to make him back down. Khrushchev would then win the battle over nuclear missiles in Cuba. With the missiles in place, he could threaten Kennedy with nuclear war and the U.S. would have to back down over any Soviet aggression in the world. When Kennedy ordered the blockade of Cuba in defiance of Khrushchev, the Soviet leader was reportedly furious, acting like a mad man, cursing and threatening Kennedy for this action. That a proud man like Khrushchev could have wanted Kennedy dead for this insult is not only possible but probable. This was the beginning of the end for Kennedy.

A possible scenario was that he contacted the KGB to initiate an assassination plot. They would have been in contact with the intelligence service in Cuba (DI also known as G2) to explore the possibility. Khrushchev could also have whispered in the ear of Castro: I want that S.O.B. Kennedy dead, make it happen. Both the KGB and the DI had contact with Oswald who later would volunteer to kill Kennedy for his own personal agenda and prove that he was a true revolutionary. Castro more than likely distanced himself from this knowing the heat that would come on him and Cuba if any link to him was made. Oswald is seen as the perfect patsy given his unstable character, radical views and prior training in the military and KGB. That he has a Russian wife with ties to the KGB could be problematic, but worst case scenario he could just be eliminated.

Oswald is put in contact with the mob that still has contacts in Cuba from their days of gambling interests on the island. The mob has their own agenda to get the heat off of them that is coming from Attorney General Bobby Kennedy. Oswald proclaims to his contact, Jack Ruby that he can get the heat off of the mob and accomplish his personal agenda by killing the president. Oswald would be warned not to get caught. Oswald assures him that he has a laid-out plan. Oswald succeeds in the assassination of the president that most if not all in the chain of events assumed he would fail. In this case a failed attempt could succeed in getting the heat off of all involved: it would force policy change and a re-evaluation of priorities.

However, Oswald succeeded and the shock and horror that followed frightened most involved. No one expected the gravity of the event nor could anyone anticipate the reaction that took place. This was way too big for anyone to even contemplate taking credit for. Then the worst case thing takes place when Oswald is captured and declares to the world that he is just a patsy, implying that others were involved. Ruby is fearful that Oswald will spill his guts and so he symbolically shoots him in the gut. Ruby clams up and Oswald is determined to be a deranged lone gunman. Before Ruby died he said that no one will know the truth of who was behind the killing of the president as it was all covered up. It will never be known how much Ruby knew or how high it went. It was all done verbally with nothing written down so as not to leave a trail.

The book is closed (Warren Commission), yet few are satisfied with the lone gun man conclusion. It just doesn’t feel right that a lone gunman could succeed as a military-like sniper and not be a shooter-for-hire. This does not have the feel of a murderous rampage with bullets spraying in all directions. The precision with which Kennedy was killed has the feel of a hired gunman doing what he was paid to do: assassinate a target. This all plays out like a slick movie: only the consequences are real, the stakes were high and a family, a people and a nation still mourn.

Basically, what you have in this scenario is a select few involved, all with a strong desire not to reveal or take credit for any role played. Forces like Castro in Cuba and the mob in America would maintain silence. This is one of the reasons that a conspiracy was not exposed and why any persons involved will more than likely not see justice. Also, there was a lack of political will at the time to make accusations that could not be corroborated or would prove only to stir things up with the Cold War and fear of a nuclear war in the mix. The Vietnam War that was a proxy war against communism was also on the minds of those in power and the populace that was divided over the war.

The importance of knowing the forces involved in the JFK assassination is that they foreshadow the forces in the world today. The Cold War has given way to the War on Terrorism with a renewed focus of the fear of a nuclear Armageddon. The clash over Islamic idealism and aggression is similar to the battle over communist ideology and advancement. The threat to Western civilization was of communism taking over the world piece by piece, likewise with Islamism.

Kennedy’s stand in the Cuban Missile Crisis was a stand against this piece by piece approach as much as it was the events on the ground. In today’s world, the terrorists have taken over the role of seeking the destruction of democracy; to be replaced with their beliefs and system of government. The terrorist agenda is to begin with revolution as in Iran and the Arab Spring revolution. Next is to set up a caliphate to rule over Islamic lands, while continuing to expand into non-Islamic lands until they are the majority, revolt against the government and set up a government based on Islamic laws.

Another example of terrorism was the killing of two police officers in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 2014. The shooters were a married couple with radical anti-government beliefs who believed that the killings would trigger a revolution against the government. It is believed that they acted on their own agenda and did not have links to other organizations: they were lone gunmen. The declared lone gunman Oswald was probably in a similar state of mind when he determined to kill the president. He was full of hate for his nation and government and in particular President Kennedy. He was pro-communism and pro-communist Cuba. If not for Kennedy’s actions, communism could have spread into the U.S. Maybe he believed that the killing of the president would begin a revolution. More than likely it was a simple act of revenge with Oswald taking out his hate on the president.

The assassination of Bobby Kennedy could also be seen as an act of terrorism. He was killed by a lone gunman with a stated motive: to prevent Bobby from becoming president because he supported the nation of Israel and was going to further arm them. The shooter Sirhan Sirhan was a 24-year-old Arab Palestinian/Jordanian immigrant who was inflamed by the June 5th one-year anniversary of the Six- Day War that had taken place the day of the shooting. Bobby would die one day later. Bobby had been outspoken in his support of Israel and this was the political motivation for the assassination.

Bobby’s support for the Israeli cause began when he visited the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948 prior to the formation of the nation of Israel in May 1948. As a journalist he wrote that he grew to admire the Jewish inhabitants of the area. As a Senator from New York, he had a hand in the arming of Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (Six-Day War, June 5-10). Bobby’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan killed him out of a desire to be a martyr for the Palestinian cause. There have been conspiracy theories over his death with involvement of the CIA or the Mafia but they are inconclusive. That Bobby had made enemies is well documented but Sirhan acting on his own is most likely true.

Bobby Kennedy died because of the conflict in the Middle East just as his brother Jack Kennedy died because of the Cold War. Both brothers lost their lives to politics and ideologies in conflict with their stated goals for America and the world. Jack had famously fought in WWII sustaining injuries that would later lead to surgery and a need for pain medications. Their older brother Joseph had died in the war.

That three brothers would die as a result of three major world conflicts is strongly symbolic: one of the reasons why the Kennedy family name has such a strong connection to the American consciousness. Another is the Camelot years (White House years) of Jack and Jackie Kennedy with the sense of royalty and hope for the future that came with it. This ended with the tragic assassination of Jack and a brief revival with Bobby that also ended with tragedy. I believe that it is what they stood for and died for that the Kennedy name endures like the name of Lincoln before them. They were martyrs and casualties of war and not just of political assassination by deranged killers.

Why the Kennedy years matter to the world of today is the on-going threat of a nuclear war. This fear began with the first nuclear bombs being dropped on Japan at the end of WWII. This led to the Cold War nuclear stand-off between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The Cold War was a conflict between these two nations and was labeled a cold war because they did not engage in large scale direct battles. There were, however, regional proxy battles called wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. No direct military engagement was done intentionally in order to prevent a confrontation that might end in a nuclear Armageddon.

What was China’s role in the wars in Korea and Vietnam that they bordered and not the Soviet Union? Red or Communist China was created in October, 1949 and by February, 1950, China and the Soviet Union had signed a treaty to work together. After WWII ended Korea was divided in two occupied zones with the Soviets in the North and the U.S. in the South. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was the force behind North Korea’s invasion of South Korea. The U.S. supported South Korea and the proxy Korean War (June, 1950 – July, 1953) took place. The Chinese Communist government felt threatened during the war and sent aid to North Korea. The Chinese and North Koreans wanted to end the war by late 1952, but Stalin insisted that they continue. The Armistice that ended the war was approved after Stalin’s death.

North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung created a dictatorship that exists to this day. Kim Jong-Il succeeded his father and continued the military build-up. After his death, his son and current leader Kim Jong-Un has continued to be a threat to world peace. On March, 2013 North Korea announced intentions to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S.: the “sworn enemy of the Korean people.” With nuclear-armed missiles, North Korea is a danger to America and a threat to start nuclear war.

A breakdown of the China-Soviet alliance came when Khrushchev attacked Stalin’s record after his death. China’s leader Mao Zedong defended Stalin and rejected Khrushchev as a superficial upstart. Khrushchev responded by referring to the Chinese leader as a “lunatic on a throne.” Despite their differences, Both China and the Soviets armed North Vietnam in the proxy battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union with neither side threatening to use nuclear weapons.

During the Cold War the two superpowers in the world at that time heavily armed themselves against the threat of an all-out nuclear war. The closest the two superpowers came to nuclear war was the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April, 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962. The latter ended with a compromise on both sides and the removal of nuclear weapons from Cuba by the Soviets and in Turkey by the U.S. The end of the Cold War began when Soviet leader Gorbachev pulled Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989 and declared “the postwar period is over.”

The other major conflict was in the Middle East that was also post- WWII. This began with the dispute over the land of Palestine when the nation of Israel was born on May, 1948. After the suffering of the Jews at the hands of the Nazi’s during the war, they were granted a homeland by the British who ruled over the land. The Arab’s saw the land as belonging to them as Palestinians and the surrounding Arab nations went to war with Israel to take back the land. Israel survived the war and the subsequent Arab-Israeli War of 1967. The conflict over the land of Israel-Palestine is on-going with many failed peace agreements lying tattered on the ground.

The role of Russia (former Soviet Union) in the world today is in dispute. There are those that claim that Russia is still a threat to world peace with their arming of Islamic nations. Others see Russia as a once-again Christian nation that is fighting a battle with terrorists along with Western nations. When push comes to shove, I believe that Russia will be an ally with the West as in both WWI and WWII. The on-going war in the world today is the global War on Terrorism that could lead to a nuclear war.

To summarize, Khrushchev and Kennedy symbolized the build-up of nuclear weapons between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. that came dangerously close to nuclear annihilation of both sides. It was remedied with a nuclear détente (relaxation of hostilities). The Cold War established the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), a policy that assumes that each side has enough nuclear arms to destroy the other side and would deter their usage. This policy is still in effect but is put in question by the suicide actions of terrorist and of deranged individuals and organizations that would use a nuclear weapon to start a revolution or war.

#rfk #robertkennedy #1968 #assassination #baku