Lisa Pease on the RFK case: The Grand Illusion

[Jan Klimkowski]

What interests me about Sirhan is that he arguably marked the first appearance of the anti-Moslem meme that reached its final form with the events, or pseudo-events, of 9/11. In some sense it also marked the transition from the decapitation of the left in America to the demonization of the (oil producing) Moslem world. There is also a parallel here with the use of the "defector" Lee Oswald to demonize the Russians.

Was Sirhan a Muslim? I thought he was pretty eclectic in his choice of religion - Baptist Church, Seventh Day Adventist etc. Plus all that AMORC stuff.

The Israeli lobby often likes to argue as per the article below, that Sirhan was the first Palestinian terrorist/assassin:

June 5 (2008) is the 40th anniversary of the first act of Palestinian terrorism against America -- the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.

(snip)

The Sirhans were Christian Arabs. An American church sponsored their immigration to the United States in 1957. They settled in Pasadena.

After graduating from John Muir High School, Sirhan enrolled in Pasadena Community College. He was expelled in 1964 for poor attendance and grades. For the next several years, he drifted from job to job.

He wanted riches and respect but lacked the patience, perseverance and talent to achieve them. He began drinking and exploring mysticism and occult philosophies like Rosicrucianism and Theosophy. He practiced self-hypnosis and tried to move objects with his mind.

Sirhan blamed America for his lack of success and hated the country for its support of Israel. His anger gradually fixed on Robert Kennedy, who promised to send 50 fighter jets to Israel if elected president. He wrote in his notebook: "Kennedy must die by June 5th" -- the first anniversary of the Six-Day War.

(snip)

After his arrest, Sirhan said: "I can explain it. I did it for my country."

It was understood that Sirhan's motivation related to the Middle East conflict. The Los Angeles Times reported on June 6: "When the Jordanian nationalist, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, allegedly shot Kennedy, ostensibly because of the senator's advocacy of U.S. support for Israel, the crime with which he was charged was in essence another manifestation of the centuries-old hatred between Arab and Jew."

Apologists for Sirhan quickly sprang up. For example, Mohamed T. Mehdi, secretary-general of the Action Committee on American-Arab Relations, published "Kennedy and Sirhan: Why."

According to Mehdi, Sirhan's act had a rational rationale: "The one and only reasonable explanation for Sirhan's decision is to bring the tragedy of Palestine to the attention of the American people so that the people of the United States would not continue the strange policy of helping Zionist Jews of Europe and elsewhere go to the home of Christian and Moslem people of Palestine."

Mehdi concluded that Sirhan had acted in justifiable self-defense: "[W]hen Robert F. Kennedy supports Israel against the Arabs, he is assuming the role of an Israeli high ranking official.... Sirhan was defending himself against those 50 Phantom jets Kennedy was sending to Israel."

However, popular understanding of the ties between Kennedy's murder and his support for Israel didn't last. To begin with, the FBI found no link between Sirhan and any Arab organization, such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). A connection would have bolstered a political motive; contrariwise, the lack of a connection tended to raise doubts about such a motive.

In addition, contemporary commentators decried America's "culture of violence." Amid the calls for gun-control legislation, Sirhan became a symbol -- but of American sociopathy, not of Palestinian grievance.

(snip)

The Kennedy murder and the Palestinian connection matter today. It's important to realize how long Palestinians have used murder and terror as a primary tool of politics and how long they've found observers to excuse and justify it. Perhaps consideration of the Kennedy-Sirhan affair will lead to the clarity and strength to demand that it finally stop.

America and Israel face a common enemy in Palestinian extremism and have a common interest in supporting liberal, reformist Palestinians. America, Israel and the other liberal democracies must use their considerable political and economic leverage to help the Palestinians forge a decent society, in which terror and political murder are a receding nightmare.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/pag..._hotel_20/

The country of the quote "I can explain it. I did it for my country." is Palestine.

For me, the possible parallel with Oswald is that both were carefully chosen patsies, whose legends could potentially be used by the True Sponsors of the assassinations to point the finger at False Sponsors.

In Oswald's case, his activities meant that Cuba and the USSR could be both be targeted as (False) Sponsors.

In Sirhan's case, the True Sponsors could have pointed the finger at the nascent Palestinian liberation movement as (False) Sponsors.

It it intriguing that whilst hesitant steps were made to pin the blame on all three of these False Sponsors, none of them became part of the Official Narrative of the assassinations of JFK and RFK.