Ghanima Atreides (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreideslioness) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2023-12-06 12:20 pm
atreideslioness) wrote in fandomhigh2023-12-06 12:20 pm
Entry tags:
The History of Assassination. Wednesday, First Period [12/6]
Students might notice as they came in that Trebor's pack-and-play had expanded slightly in size this week -- from the 'my baby is a potato and I need a safe place to set him down' to 'he will not stop crawling and I need a Space' -- now situated (mostly) behind her desk and filled with soft blocks. Mostly in the vain hopes that he wouldn't be too distracting to the rest of the class.
"Last week, we talked about the Russian government's love affair with assassination, and their more distinctive chosen methods," Ghanima said cheerfully once the class had arrived, unwinding her son's grip on her hair and placing him in the playpen despite his squeal of disapproval. "Today, we're going to look at the other side of the coin, and the United States of America."
"It may surprise you to know that assassination as a crime wasn't even explicitly outlawed in the United States until In 1981, when President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12333, which codified a policy first laid down in 1976 by the Ford administration. It stated, 'No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.'" Ghanima didn't bother to hide her mirth. "Clearly, the United States has not followed their own guidelines."
"Though to be clear, American authorities usually define these killings as 'targeted killings,' which is the coward's way of calling a spade a spade, or, these days, a drone strike a murder. Using sanitised language does not make it any less of an assassination."
"And while the American CIA adores finding new and interesting ways to violate people's basic human rights as defined by this planet since their inception, most assassinations carried out by the United States have been in the last thirty years, starting with President George W. Bush and the refining of drone technology, rendering Presidents Ford and Reagan's efforts futile. The rise of technology has allowed the facsimile of 'clean hands,' and always justifying it as part of the war paradigm for counter-terrorism. Of course, these assassinations have been widely critiqued as being extrajudicial, which is technically illegal under both US and international law."
Ghanima stopped her pacing to face the class directly. "It is always easy to justify a death in which you did not have to take action yourself. It is easy to kill someone you have never seen, because then it is easy to mentally make them into a non-person. This is always the wrong choice. If you are going to assassinate someone, you must acknowledge both their humanity and your own, and you must own the act and the consequences, including collateral damage."
"What's fascinating about American assassinations, however, is how often Americans try to assassinate their own leaders." Ghanima's serious expression instantly brightened. "Good for you!"
"The most notable assassination victim within early U.S. history was President Abraham Lincoln. Three other U.S. Presidents have been killed by assassination: James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. Presidents Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan survived significant assassination attempts. Former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot and wounded during the 1912 presidential campaign."
"During the Lincoln assassination, there were also attacks planned against current Vice-president Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward, but Johnson's did not go through, and Seward survived the attack. An assassination plot against Jefferson Davis, known as the Dahlgren Affair, may have been initiated during the American Civil War."
"Not to mention that two different people planned to kill Richard Nixon, there was an attempt on Herbert Hoover by Argentine anarchists, an attack on Bush senior was eventually used as part of the reasoning behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq, we know of at least six different times people made plans against President Clinton, two against Bush-the-younger, over a half dozen against Obama, and my personal favorite... the North Dakota man who stole a forklift to attempt to flip the presidential limousine with Donald Trump inside." Ghanima smiled brightly. "Now that is creativity, excellent concept, but it fails for a lack of planning to make sure the forklift would be able to drive the planned route without getting stuck."
"The most recent attempt by an American citizen on the life of a president was this May, when a teenager from St. Louis attempted to drive a truck onto the White House grounds, and when taken into custody, expressed his intentions were to kill Joe Biden and 'seize power.'"
"Mind you, this does not take into account how many times members of the government challenged each other to duels in the early days, and how many of those people died. It was murder, for a cause, but does that count as assassination?" Ghanima shrugged. "In any case, citizens attempting to murder a president has become such a national pastime, that in the 1990s someone wrote a musical about how often it happens."
"This planet really is amazing sometimes."
"Last week, we talked about the Russian government's love affair with assassination, and their more distinctive chosen methods," Ghanima said cheerfully once the class had arrived, unwinding her son's grip on her hair and placing him in the playpen despite his squeal of disapproval. "Today, we're going to look at the other side of the coin, and the United States of America."
"It may surprise you to know that assassination as a crime wasn't even explicitly outlawed in the United States until In 1981, when President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12333, which codified a policy first laid down in 1976 by the Ford administration. It stated, 'No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.'" Ghanima didn't bother to hide her mirth. "Clearly, the United States has not followed their own guidelines."
"Though to be clear, American authorities usually define these killings as 'targeted killings,' which is the coward's way of calling a spade a spade, or, these days, a drone strike a murder. Using sanitised language does not make it any less of an assassination."
"And while the American CIA adores finding new and interesting ways to violate people's basic human rights as defined by this planet since their inception, most assassinations carried out by the United States have been in the last thirty years, starting with President George W. Bush and the refining of drone technology, rendering Presidents Ford and Reagan's efforts futile. The rise of technology has allowed the facsimile of 'clean hands,' and always justifying it as part of the war paradigm for counter-terrorism. Of course, these assassinations have been widely critiqued as being extrajudicial, which is technically illegal under both US and international law."
Ghanima stopped her pacing to face the class directly. "It is always easy to justify a death in which you did not have to take action yourself. It is easy to kill someone you have never seen, because then it is easy to mentally make them into a non-person. This is always the wrong choice. If you are going to assassinate someone, you must acknowledge both their humanity and your own, and you must own the act and the consequences, including collateral damage."
"What's fascinating about American assassinations, however, is how often Americans try to assassinate their own leaders." Ghanima's serious expression instantly brightened. "Good for you!"
"The most notable assassination victim within early U.S. history was President Abraham Lincoln. Three other U.S. Presidents have been killed by assassination: James Garfield, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy. Presidents Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan survived significant assassination attempts. Former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot and wounded during the 1912 presidential campaign."
"During the Lincoln assassination, there were also attacks planned against current Vice-president Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward, but Johnson's did not go through, and Seward survived the attack. An assassination plot against Jefferson Davis, known as the Dahlgren Affair, may have been initiated during the American Civil War."
"Not to mention that two different people planned to kill Richard Nixon, there was an attempt on Herbert Hoover by Argentine anarchists, an attack on Bush senior was eventually used as part of the reasoning behind the 2003 invasion of Iraq, we know of at least six different times people made plans against President Clinton, two against Bush-the-younger, over a half dozen against Obama, and my personal favorite... the North Dakota man who stole a forklift to attempt to flip the presidential limousine with Donald Trump inside." Ghanima smiled brightly. "Now that is creativity, excellent concept, but it fails for a lack of planning to make sure the forklift would be able to drive the planned route without getting stuck."
"The most recent attempt by an American citizen on the life of a president was this May, when a teenager from St. Louis attempted to drive a truck onto the White House grounds, and when taken into custody, expressed his intentions were to kill Joe Biden and 'seize power.'"
"Mind you, this does not take into account how many times members of the government challenged each other to duels in the early days, and how many of those people died. It was murder, for a cause, but does that count as assassination?" Ghanima shrugged. "In any case, citizens attempting to murder a president has become such a national pastime, that in the 1990s someone wrote a musical about how often it happens."
"This planet really is amazing sometimes."
Re: Discussion: Presidents!